Integrating Exercise Into a Busy Day Part 1

I wanted to share some simple tricks to add a little bit of exercise into your routine no matter how busy you are.

Walk before you Run…

If you’re an absolute beginner, a full-blown workout which incorporates cardio, weights, and flexibility may scare or discourage you. The idea is to start with small steps.

Do one exercise segment at a time. Besides, very few people can accomplish a two-hour workout more than once or twice a week.

Another way of doing it would be to integrate your favorite sport (swimming, cycling or walking) during the week and say, a particular activity like yoga which doesn’t necessitate jumping into the car and making a dash for the washrooms before cardio classes start.

With yoga for example, all you need is a mat and a quiet room in your house for about 20 minutes.

If your schedule gets you up and running beginning at 9 in the morning until six in the evening, this day represents 9 hours. There are 24 hours a day and we’re not recommending you get up at 2 in the morning to do your exercise.

But have you ever thought that if you get up at 7 to be ready for 9, maybe you can set your alarm clock 45 minutes earlier, using these 45 minutes to engage in a physical activity? If you do this three times a week, that means you get 135 minutes that you can allocate for exercise.

One easy way to do this is to do yoga in the morning (it requires only a mat and comfortable, loose clothing), or turn on a workout video, or buy a treadmill (the foldable ones) that you can jump into as soon as you wake up.

Another time management tip: not only do busy managers have back-to-back meetings, they also have luncheon and dinner meetings to meet with clients. Assess each client. Do all of them really need to be wined and dined? Is an hour-long meeting absolutely necessary? Can’t a deal be negotiated on the phone?

See how many meetings you can cancel or shorten. Then fit your fitness program into those slots that have been freed up.

How about this suggestion: instead of going to lunch with clients every day of the week, why don’t you schedule lunch meetings for say Monday and Tuesday? This way you can incorporate a fitness routine for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 12:00 to 1:00 pm.

A brisk walk inside or outside the office building, a quick swim in the neighborhood hotel, a Pilates course in the recreational center, lifting dumb bells while on the phone?

Any of these exercises is better than no exercise. Your guiding principle should be to move, move, move as frequently as you can manage it.