With work, family, friends, cooking and everything else in life – how am I to find time for exercise?! This is the most common excuse that I hear from my clients – there’s just no time for it. And I can certainly empathize and relate to this because I know just how hard it is to maintain a regular exercise schedule when you only have 24 hours in a day. It always seems to be the first thing that we neglect when life gets really busy or crazy; which, for many of us, happens more often than not!
Which is why I want to share six sassy solutions which have worked for many of my clients and which I hope works for you too…
1. Make it Fun: if you’re anything like me, then you’re much more likely to stick to something if it’s fun. Don’t force yourself to do exercise you hate, rather find something that you enjoy. I personally don’t particularly enjoy working out at the gym – a run on the beach or a Vinyasa Yoga class is much more appealing to me. Find what works for you and you wont need to force yourself to do it; you’ll actually look forward to it, as a fun part of your day.
2. Break it Down…into manageable segments. We’ve become conditioned to an ‘all or nothing’ approach to exercise, convincing ourselves that if we cannot do an hour at the gym, we might as well do nothing at all. Yet, by the end of the week, 12 minutes a day is 84 minutes more than 0 minutes. If all you have is 12 minutes – wake up 10 minutes earlier and do a high interval workout in your bedroom.
3. Turn it Up: Put on your favorite upbeat music and just dance! Music feeds the soul, and dancing makes us feel young and alive and silly all at the same time. Which makes us forget we’re exercising, and we’re reminded only by the beads of sweat dripping from us. If you don’t want to involve the rest of the household, feel free to shut your door and really dance like no-one is watching!
4. Get Out..and enjoy nature! Here in Hawaii, we are so blessed to have an abundance of options from hiking to swimming in the ocean to long walks on the beach. To my readers whom are not living in Hawaii; wherever you are, try finding an outdoor physical activity that you enjoy. Plus, the fresh air and Vitamin D that accompanies outdoor exercising will give you an extra energy and ‘feel good’ boost!
5. Work it: We’ve all heard it before – take the stairs instead or park further away at the grocery store. Finding time to work exercise into your daily routine will make it more manageable – whether it’s taking a walk during lunch break or even closing your door and doing some workplace yoga during lunch. Get creative – your body will thank you for it!
6.Socialize: instead of meeting your friend for coffee, why not go for a brisk walk or meet up for a game of tennis, or a fun exercise class? An hour goes by in an instant and you’ll wish you had more time! Besides finding a fun way to multi-task, by supporting each other in living a healthier life your friendship can grow too.
I hope that you enjoyed these sassy solutions. I have many more tips on how to make healthy living fun and easy, and I’d love to hear from you if you’re interested. Until then, enjoy moving that beautiful body of yours!
