It’s certainly hard fitting everything into this multi-faceted journey we call life. Various pictures of me and the family over the years. Trust me, I’ve felt too busy to exercise on numerous occasions. How can I fit exercise into my day? Finding time to workout is a challenge many of us face. In this article, I’ll share strategies to help you incorporate fitness into your busy schedule and achieve your own successful transformation.
The Challenge of Fitting Exercise into a Busy Life
Quite simply – I’m going to share my 3-point plan with you, so you never fail at finding time to workout and stay fit again.
For recollection and as explained in my about me section, I’m the person who previously worked out for double the frequency and duration and couldn’t get lean. That was pre-children.
Nowadays I must call upon a strategy to assist me in finding time to workout:
“Research shows that even short, intense workouts such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be just as effective as longer, steady-state exercises for improving cardiovascular fitness and reducing body fat.” — Dr. Martin Gibala, professor of kinesiology at McMaster University and author of The One-Minute Workout.
How Can I Fit Exercise into My Day? Be Like Water, My Friend
I’m confident the below self-study and insight will enable you to ‘be like water’ as quoted by the legendary Bruce Lee. It will eliminate your perception of being too busy to exercise and assist you in finding time to workout, no matter what curveballs life throws your way. Once you’re armed with the ability to adjust your trajectory and become bespoke and free-flowing, you’re set up to succeed.
Remember, you don’t need more than a few hours a week to become as fit as you desire.
You’re not too busy for exercise. It’s just not as high as other priorities in your life. Harsh but true. When you realise this, you’ll forever find ways to fit exercise into your day. If you’re going to commit to this, every minute counts and you are your own personal trainer! Discipline is key!
A Glimpse into My Hectic Life
My Professional Commitments
I currently lead 3 departments within the large financial sector. I spend my professional life within a hybrid home/office environment. It’s a 3.5-hour commute each way to one office location and a staggering 5.5-hour commute each way to another. Life is busy, long hours worked, deadlines to hit, presentations to prepare, people to engage and a constant array of meetings to attend.
My Personal Life and Family Responsibilities
I’ve been happily married for 10 years (excluding the standard toilet seat, dishes, not observing a haircut and general cohabitation minor disputes). I’m blessed with 3 children. My eldest is an 18-year man and low maintenance.
I’m also dad to an 11-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl. Both are demanding ages. In addition to the usual school attendance, my son plays cricket, football and attends local Leisure Centre classes (my gym venue) on evenings and weekends.
My daughter dances, attends Rainbows (little brownies), is partial to visiting every known park within a 50-mile radius. She also attends leisure centre classes and enjoys throwing stones in the local river.
My wife is studying a part-time degree in Child Psychology, works 30 hours a week and is a social butterfly. I’ve certainly taken the relationship role of Prince Philip to my wife’s Elizabeth and that suits me fine. Most of the time I certainly feel I’m too busy to exercise and without a plan, I certainly wouldn’t be finding time to workout and stay fit.
Your life
Your life will differ from mine, in small detail or on a grander scale. It’s irrelevant, we’re all busy regardless of our age or gender, unless you’re in the enviable position of wishing you had less free time? The below is applicable to you, irrelevant of our life differences.
Common Fitness Pitfalls and How Can I Fit Exercise into My Day
Confessions of an Imperfect Fitness Journey
Let me state this with crystal transparency. I don’t live a life devoid of mistakes, stress, personal appointment let downs and diet/fitness failures. In fact, these occur more frequently than I’d like. For the most part, I’m consistent in ensuring I’ve managed being productive within my personal and professional life.
I’ve developed a number of bespoke (being like water) strategies which have armed me with mostly maintaining a high level of fitness (without it encroaching into my personal life too much), a lean body and a decent professional/personal life balance. It’s paramount to me this blog is authentic, realistic and provides a true reflection of life and its challenges.
After digesting my previous blog posts, you’ll be aware of my contempt for all things fake and snake oil. With that said, I’ve been known to undertake the following diet, fitness and health mistakes in no particular order, contributing towards the feeling of I’m too busy to exercise and finding time to workout and stay fit.
My Fitness Screw Ups
- A healthy day has been meticulously planned. I mysteriously visited every motorway services en route to work (there’s a lot of them) and devoured too much of the wrong stuff.
- Planned to go to the gym on my commute back from work and found myself ‘teleported’ to a McDonald’s, often wondering why I’m here and a million miles away from my fat loss goals.
- Planned to complete a hotel HIIT workout. I have yet again suffered victimisation at the hand of the same teleport machine! This time it’s landed me at the bar ordering a beer or three.
- Planned to make up for a busy week by vigorously exercising over the weekend. I did exercise! I walked to the car and drove the family to a well-known local ice cream parlour, and became acquainted with a large toffee sundae or two (yep on occasion).
- I’ve planned to exercise early on a Monday am, slept through my alarm and decided a full fried breakfast was a more suitable life choice. Later in the day, I’ve felt sorry for myself by being too busy to exercise and there was 100% no chance of finding time to workout and stay fit.
We’re All human
I’m human, you’re human and we are prone to mistakes. It’s how we adapt and learn as a species. A good rule of consistency is to observe how you perform 80% of the time.
If I’ve concluded a week similar to the above, providing I dust myself off, the next few weeks will be consistent. I feel mentally and physically depleted by neglecting my diet and fitness.
Life seems more stressful and it rarely takes more than a few days to face this realisation and take positive action. To me, finding time to workout creates more productive and energetic hours within a day.
“It’s not about being perfect, but being consistent. Consistency in exercise and diet yields long-term results, even if there are occasional setbacks.” — Dr. John Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.
The Importance of Planning: A Case Study of My Typical Week
“People who plan their exercise and nutrition are more likely to achieve their fitness goals. Planning helps individuals stay accountable and overcome the common barrier of ‘lack of time’.” — Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, professor of psychology, known for his work on deliberate practice and expertise.
Part 1: Mapping Out Your Week
The very first thing I do is simply write my whereabouts for the week down. This focuses the mind towards what type of week I’m playing with and where there could be potential opportunity. It also provides a good insight into the chances of derailment and where I can be uber flexible and tighten up with my diet/exercise plan.
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. People will always complete what they fully intend to do. Think about that for a moment. Taking Mr Franklin’s and my quote to heart will set you up for success.
It takes around ten minutes on a Sunday evening to invest time planning and digesting your week ahead. There’s no requirement to be married to detail, unless you’re that way inclined. The goal is knowing where you’ll be during the week and how your nutrition and training fits into it. Knowledge is power and you can plan to not fail.
Use an App Or An old Fashioned Notebook To Keep You Honest
I complete on my notes app every Sunday evening. You’ll be taken through an entry from Sunday April 14th. The sole amendment I’ve made is that of my children’s names. The remainder is authentic and a step by step plan of my week.
I’d urge you to undertake the same and then as yourself the question, “Am I too busy to exercise and is finding time for exercise to stay fit impossible this week?” I Bet you it’s not.
If you wish to create a spreadsheet or another template, go for it. I see far too many spreadsheets in work, plain old notes is good for me and the soul. Trust me, I have entered 2024 and I do use fitness apps, and fitness wearables, just not for the planning of my week.
Part 2: Crafting Your Nutrition Strategy
You’ll be familiar with my various strategies to ensure a seamless adherence to a diet plan. This section combines my whereabouts with nutrition opportunity.
Some Worthy Nutrition Planning highlights
- Observe that my calories and protein are calculated for my fat loss goals. I have a calorie laden Saturday planned and there’s a risk that my diet will fall apart.
- I view my calories as a weekly spread as opposed to a daily allowance. I’ve deliberately saved a chunk for the weekend (primarily Saturday). Upon Sunday’s conclusion, if all goes well, I will have averaged out my 2150 calorie goal for the week. This works for me, it may not for you! The aim of my articles is to teach you some ground rules for you to tailor and adjust accordingly, principles if you like.
- I don’t consistently take any supplements. I will sporadically use a protein powder. This is to assist me hitting protein (it’s so important for health and fitness) goals and I can go weeks without taking it. I’ve never seen any positive benefits from taking many supplements.
- Trust me, I’ve taken my share of them. I’d take a micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) if any deficiencies manifested, but recent checks haven’t revealed any that can’t be topped up with more diligent diet focus.
- Notice that I eat far from a perfect diet. I attempt to make healthy choices when I can, but you’ll still lose fat providing you’re in a calorie deficit. No food causes weight loss or weight gain on its own. As per some words in another blog post, ‘perfect is the enemy of good’.
- I use meal frequency to ensure that I stay on track. My natural tendency is to crave a large meal in the evening. I’m not a breakfast person. You may differ and that’s okay. Whether you eat 1 or 4 meals a day, it doesn’t have a blind bit of difference to fat loss goals.
Part 3: Scheduling Your Workouts
This final section looks at my week from a realistic exercise perspective. I’ve spotted opportunity to get in my 3 x strength training sessions, 2 x HIIT workouts and a long hike for the weekend.
I’m conscious Saturday will be a robust calorie consumption day. I will endeavour to hit my 2650 calorie goal, but it’s looking a bit sketchy.
You’ll know by now that I’m not a fan of eating back calories/allowing additional calories for exercise (unless severely ramped up over time ( I prefer to play with a larger number over time to allow for increased activity – e.g bodyweight in lbs x 13 or 14 instead of 11 or 12). I will hike for many miles during my daughter’s dance class. I love hiking and it’s my favourite form of long steady state endurance training. This long session allows for a buffer in case I go over the planned 2650 – call it damage mitigation.
“Strength training is crucial as we age. It helps maintain muscle mass, improve metabolic rate, and prevent age-related muscle loss, which is common for men over 40.” — Dr. Stuart Phillips, professor at McMaster University and leading researcher on protein metabolism and muscle mass.
Key Takeaways
- Fitting exercise into a busy schedule is challenging but possible with a solid plan.
- Prioritising fitness is essential. It’s not about being too busy, but making time for what matters.
- Flexibility and adaptability, like Bruce Lee’s ‘be like water’ philosophy, help you adjust to life’s demands and still work out.
- Creating a weekly plan for exercise and nutrition makes it easier to stick to your fitness goals.
- Mistakes are human. The key is consistency over time, not perfection.
- Strength training, HIIT, and walking are great ways to fit exercise into busy schedules.
- Planning your workouts and meals ahead of time increases the chance of success.
- It’s okay to miss a workout now and then, as long as you stay consistent overall.
- Planning helps reduce stress and makes fitness feel more manageable.
- You don’t need hours each day for fitness. A few hours a week is enough to stay fit and healthy.
Final Thoughts on Finding Time to Workout
From the above, I’m clearly busy. How can I fit exercise into my day when I’m this occupied? Finding time to workout is a struggle, but it’s not impossible as I’ve proven above. Some weeks can look exponentially busier than the above. On these weeks, I may only manage to get my steps in, one brutal HIIT workout and 2 full body weights workouts! That’s okay and progress will continue.
Have a go at attempting your own version of a weekly plan. I’m confident that you’ll find it far easier to hit your daily, weekly and longer term fitness and fat loss goals with a plan. You can dip in and out of various fitness and nutrition strategies once you are armed with knowledge.
I promise, when you stop thinking, “How can I fit exercise into my day?” and start planning, you’ll always be finding time to workout and stay fit!
That about wraps things up. Anyone can succeed at getting fit. It’s the staying fit over time which requires something special and a plan. Be like water my friend!
“Exercise is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress, increase productivity, and boost mood. Even short bursts of exercise can have a powerful impact on mental clarity and energy levels.” — Dr. Michael Otto, professor of psychology at Boston University and co-author of Exercise for Mood and Anxiety.
Chat soon,
Matt.
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