Not enough hours in the day to do all you want to do? Exercising for 60
minutes per day can seem time-consuming especially when we feel that we don’t
have those 60 minutes to spare, but when you think about it, 60 minutes is a very
small portion of the 1440 minutes available in a single day.
Now
I know that the majority of those minutes are spent working, commuting and
sleeping but if you look closely you’ll soon discover that a lot of our daily
minutes are actually wasted.
Getting
yourself organised and a bit of forward planning could easily make your day a
bit more productive.
Not having enough time is probably the
most used excuse for not exercising but the reality is we all have the time and
it’s more a matter of priorities and how much you value your health.
Even
those with the most demanding of jobs find time to fit exercise into their
daily routine as they realise the harm that the lack of exercise can do and
more importantly they realise the benefits gained from including some form of daily
exercise.
We can’t make time but we can make the most
of it.
You’ve
heard it said that time is money and if you think of it in that way then you
might be less likely to waste it.
If
you do an audit of your typical day and week you should find that windows of
opportunity do exist but we have allowed them to close and with a little bit of
strategic planning we can re-open them.
1. The
running commute
Do
you live within a reasonable distance from work? If yes, then you could try the
occasional run to work as this is a very time efficient way to fit in your
training.
If
this is inconvenient due to lack of showering facilities then you could try
running home. I find that the run home
can be invigorating and helps to clear your head rather than falling asleep on
a bus or train leaving you feeling lethargic for the rest of the evening.
2. Reclaim your lunch hour
Do
you have access to shower facilities in work? If yes, then it should be
possible to fit in a time- based session to ensure you always finish and have
time for lunch.
It’ll
take a few attempts to get into a routine and work out potential routes but it
won’t be wasted time. As an example, you could run out for 15 minutes and then
turn and retrace your steps.
3. Look for
windows of opportunity
We
all need some downtime but there’s also wasted time. Do you drop the kids to
football practice or similar and wait around for them to finish or drive home
only to go out again?
Is
there a particular programme on TV that you try avoid but your partner watches?
There are many other similar examples.
4. Keep
travel to a minimum
A
run can start from anywhere so rather than wasting time driving to a start
point just start from where you are. The travel time can sometimes be as long
as or longer than the actual run time. This
saves the need to be packing spare clothes and saves further time.
5. Get it
done early
Try
to run as early in the day as you can, as the longer you wait then the less
time you have. Do what you can when you can.
6. Follow the same morning routine at weekends
Do
you get up at 7am Monday to Friday? Do the same at the weekend and you’ll mange
to fit in your run without impacting on your day and it may even give you a few
extra hours that would have been spent in bed.
As
an added benefit it’ll also make getting up at 7am on the following Monday a
lot easier.
You
need to do the things that will move your fitness forward and bring your goal
closer.
“Those who think they have not time for
bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness,” Edward
Stanley, Earl of Derby, once said.
