How do busy People Fit Exercise into their Schedule?

Fitting exercise into a busy schedule is definitely challenging, yet at the same time extremely valuable and is not only good for our wellbeing but greatly increases our productivity during the day.

Exercise can be likened to the space on a bookshelf. If we haphazardly stack books and shove them wherever we like there is usually no space on the bookshelf and it looks messy and disorganized. If our lives are like this then we will think that we don’t have the space to fit exercise into our ‘bookshelf’ or schedules.

The first and most important thing is to see exercise as a priority and not something that we just do if we have time. Here are a couple of simple, practical ways we can make space for it and fit exercise into every day:

• Sit on a Fitball instead of a chair. This is great for core strengthening and relieves lower back pain.
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Park the car further away and walk to places
• Wear a wireless headset so you can walk and talk on the phone at the same time.
• Once or twice a week get up earlier and bike or walk to work if a reasonable distance.
• Wear a pedometer to track the number of step and distance you do each day and challenge yourself to beat it the next day.
• Instead of taking 30mins for lunch, eat lunch in 15mins and then go for a short walk outside for 15mins. 

Exercise on the weekend – If your levels of stress are elevated from Monday to Friday, try to lower them as much as possible on weekends. Take a long walk somewhere pleasant, outdoors, at food markets, or with the family. Ride to the shops instead of taking the car. If you do want to do some Lycra, do a group outdoor training cardio class at your nearest Step into Life venue. These sessions includes a good cool down and stretch.

All the things listed above are ways that have worked for me to fit exercise into my busy schedule. Admittedly, there are times when it can become difficult, however I don’t let a week go by without doing some exercise. I like to remind myself often that, 

‘I week without physical exercise makes one weak!’