Making Time For Exercise

Copyright 2000: Jeanne M. Hewitt

CAN'T FIND TIME FOR EXERCISE?
Stop waiting to FIND time. If you want exercise to be a permanent part of your life, you have to MAKE time. It boils down to time management and priorities. Aim to make exercise part of your lifestyle.

Get up earlier and exercise first thing in the morning. Getting exercise done early helps you to feel like you've accomplished something, and keeps you energized throughout the day. It gets your day started on a good foot.

If you're a full time parent, give your spouse one-on-one time with the kids when he/she gets home from work, and you take the time to exercise. Exercise helps clear your mind and gives the other parent some time with the children alone.

Instead of idle sitting while you wait for your child's piano, karate, or dance lessons, take that hour for yourself and get outside for a brisk walk or jog.

If you absolutely can't exercise at home with small children, consider joining a health club with a childcare facility. Or hire a babysitter or swap childcare with another parent in your area. Neighborhood babysitting co-ops can work well for getting time to exercise.

Bike ride, walk, swim, hike, rollerblade, ice skate, and play outdoor sports with the whole family. Get into the habit of having an active lifestyle.

While dinner is cooking, get out for a quick 30-minute walk or jog.

Do something productive on each of your one-minutes rests between weight training sets. That adds up to about 20 minutes! Pay bills, prepare food, clean, do laundry, unload groceries, iron clothes, etc.

Instead of meeting a friend for lunch or coffee, meet for an hour walk or bike ride while you visit.

Instead of meeting that client or business contact for cocktails and dinner, meet at the gym and work out together.

On those long holidays or weekends with relatives, give yourself a break and take an hour in your day to exercise. Find a local gym, or explore the area by foot.

Instead of using a vacation as reason to give up your exercise program, use the time to be more active than usual. Visit a local gym, try a new class or type of exercise. Walk everywhere. Rent bikes and rollerblades.

For air travel, use layover or flight delay time to walk the airport. It's easy to rack up 30 minutes of walking at the airport. It's even more of a workout dodging people and rolling your luggage behind you.

When traveling on business, sneak in a 20-minute workout between meetings and dinner. Use the hotel fitness facility or walk or jog outdoors.

Also when traveling, do your strength exercises in your hotel room. Push-ups, squats, lunges and abdominal exercises can be done with no equipment.

Split your exercise time. Squeeze in 15 minutes of exercise in the morning before work, and another 15 minutes at lunch or later in the day.

Instead of driving a mile to the video store, walk. Ditto for other walking distance errands.

Most importantly, SCHEDULE YOUR EXERCISE TIME AS A NON-NEGOTIABLE, NON-CANCELABLE MEETING. Treat exercise like you treat important business or social meetings.

Jeanne Hewitt, Pharm. D, and Certified Personal Trainer is author and publisher of "Time Out For Fitness", free, twice weekly e-newsletter.

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Making Time For Exercise

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