Overcoming Fitness Obstacles: Time July 18, 2006
This post is part of the Overcoming Fitness Obstacles series, and is a follow-up to the Fitness Obstacles: Time article.
There are two main problems with finding time to exercise:
- finding a time of day when you can actually do exercise (especially if you have kids, a job, or other demands on your schedule)
- the time it takes to exercise, when you’re already overloaded with other things you need to do
So, how have I dealt with the time problem?
The single most successful thing I did was to start getting up half an hour earlier every day and going out for a walk or run. It really isn’t too hard – I only miss half an hour of sleep, and the extra exercise seems to really wake me up and boost my alertness throughout the day.
If you need some help getting up earlier, check out Steve Pavlina’s article How To Become An Early Riser (and also Part II).
The time it takes to exercise has always bothered me, and I think it’s a big reason why I’ve never been able to maintain any regular exercise. Time spent exercising is time not spent doing any of the dozens of other things clogging up my To Do list.
My solution was to listen to podcasts and audio books on my iPod while exercising. I had a whole bunch of books I’d been meaning to read for a long time, and never found the time. I was able to find many of them in the audio book section of my local library and rip them to my iPod (deleting them after I’d listened). Others I bought on eBay, and sold again after I’d listened to them. Exercise time was no longer ‘dead time’, it was now a valuable learning time. I was actually ticking things off my To Do list while I was exercising, and I was learning a lot of stuff that helped me in other areas of my life as well.
Another trick I’ve used from time to time is riding an exercise bike while watching TV. There are a few shows I like to watch regularly, and they usually involve just sitting passively on the lounge for half an hour up to two hours. I sometimes get on the exercise bike and pedal while watching. I go fairly slow and steady during the show so I can pay attention, and then go hard during the commercials. Your family might laugh at you a bit, but it works!
Some other ideas that might work for you:
- ride a bike to work and shower when you get there
- get dropped off at work in the morning with your bike, and ride home (so you don’t have to shower at work)
- catch public transport to work, and jog home
- work out during your lunch hour and shower before returning to work
- give something up (a TV show, a hobby, or some other commitment) to get back some time for exercising
- go for a jog or walk with your significant other, combining relationship time with exercise time
If you have some more ideas for overcoming the obstacle of time, please post them in the comments below!
Technorati Tags: exercise, motivation, time, fitness
- Posted in : Fitness Obstacles
- Author : admin
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