Fitting Exercise into a Busy Lifestyle
A wise man once said, “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness,” and the words couldn’t be more true. Often we get so busy with our jobs, children, hobbies, higher education, etc., that we don’t stop to confront our lack of exercise until something has gone terribly wrong in our physical body and we are forced to face it. For most Americans, what happens is we realize that we’ve become overweight or obese, we are tired and lack energy, or that we are beginning to suffer adverse health consequences related to lack of exercise, such as heart problems.
Busy individuals who want to keep their health intact will need to sit down with a daily planner and identify gaps in their schedules in which they will have time to exercise. This prevents you from making the blanket statement “I don’t have enough time,” when on paper and in reality there are windows of opportunity for exercise.
You will also need to get creative in incorporating exercise into your daily life. It starts with small changes, such as parking further away from your workplace so that you walk further to get to work, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, taking a 20-minute brisk walk during your lunch break, etc. For those who live close enough, bicycling to work may even be an option.
Squeezing exercise into your busy day may also mean getting up an hour earlier to run or ride your bike, or staying up an hour later to hit the treadmill at a 24-hour gym or pop in that workout DVD after the kids have gone to bed. Many physical fitness experts have even said that it’s quality rather than quantity of exercise that counts. If it’s not realistic to spend an hour exercising, search out a high-intensity workout DVD meant to be completed in a short amount of time. You can do your body a lot of good in a 10- to 20-minute workout, provided you make time for it every day.
If you live in a large city, chances are there is a gym that offers cardio training of some sort after 6 p.m. In fact, more and more gyms are bringing on trainers to lead workout classes at 8 p.m. and later. The structure helps those with rigid schedules to have a firm plan in place for exercise, and the timing of the classes is designed for people who work long days.
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