HELP!
I Have ZERO Time to Workout!

Are you nodding your head “yes” right now? I assume so since you’re reading along. I remember when my life consisted of work, friends, socializing, shopping and paying a few bills. Ahh…to be 20 again. I often joke with my husband how nice it would be to pause our life for one moment and just lay on the couch all day and watch movies. I seriously fantasize about how amazing that would be…just for one day…I’ll even settle for one afternoon 🙂

Between work, kids, pets, social and family obligations, life can be crazy. Oftentimes, our day to day life can become so overwhelming that taking care of our health and our own needs can get placed on the back burner indefinitely. Have a doctor’s appointment you’ve been trying to make for the last year? What about that haircut? I’m sure you can relate.

Activities such as working out which used to be plentiful are now merely non-exisistent. Many people struggle to find time in their day to cook dinner, let alone workout. And I get it, in fact my husband and I have built a whole business on the premise of exercise and “no time.”

I spend a good deal of my week speaking with potential clients who are busy professionals, and/or full-time care givers of children or even their own parents. The conversation usually revolves around the fact that their lives are crazy, they have no time to workout, their health is declining and it’s finally time to put themselves first.

We all know that working out is important for a plethora of reasons (physical health, mental health, mobility, longevity, etc.). These benefits are hard to argue. However, what I’ve found is that the real struggle for most people doesn’t revolve around not understanding the importance of exercise, it exists around lacking the time to do so.

Today’s article is intended to help you clear the hurdle of, “HELP, I have ZERO time to workout!” Read on to learn exactly what you can do to today to start putting yourself first…

I’m going to keep this one simple. Be YOU. Don’t try and be the person in your Facebook group who lives for crossfit. Don’t try and be your friend who lives for marathons or swears by yoga. BE YOU. If you enjoy low-intensity exercise such as walking, yoga, pilates, then AWESOME.

If you’re someone who thrives off of high-intensity exercise such as crossfit, spin class, boxing, then AWESOME. If you try and squish yourself into someone else’s identity, you’re bound to fail. Pick an exercise or mode that you enjoy, because you’re the one who has to do it, and screw what anyone else thinks.

Most people don’t “have the time” to exercise. To be straight to the point, the ones that are successful, make the time. This may require a few sacrifices such as getting up a little earlier, spending part of your lunch break exercising, going to bed a little earlier, etc. Just like you make the time to spend time with your friends, family, or take the time to shower and get dressed, making the time to exercise isn’t any different.

When you are making the time to workout, start small. Going from zero workouts per week to a goal of 5 workouts per week is a recipe for failure. Ask yourself, “what is sustainable for your life?” Remember, you are working on a establishing a longterm habit here, not a 30-day fix-everything plan.
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What is Sustainable for Your Life?

If you don’t have 60 mins a day to workout, that’s OK. Most people don’t…I certainly don’t. In fact for the last year, my workouts have consisted of two strength training days per week and 1 tennis class. This frequency works for me because it’s a sustainable schedule, it’s a realistic amount of time I can commit to and it doesn’t overwhelm me (this is KEY). Think about what your level of sustainability is when it comes to working out.

Motivation is something that we all feel is essential to exercise, when in reality it’s more of a fleeting feeling. Motivation comes and goes. FACT. If we relied on feeling motivated for every workout or everything we do in life, most of us would never workout, let alone get out of bed and go to work.

The key is to always, always, always ACT FIRST. Find something you like (or even tolerate), make the time and act first. Don’t wait for motivation to strike to get moving. Chances are it may come and go or it may never come!

It may seem cheesy but following through is soooo important. Without a follow through, you virtually have no chance of creating a new habit. Treat your workout sessions like an appointment. Do your best to minimize the distractions (phone on silent, no emails, etc.) and to not let anything else come up in it’s place.

Obviously LIFE happens and sometimes you may need to reschedule with yourself. However, if you do, make sure you follow through! Re-book the time with yourself, and make that workout happen.

Hopefully you now feel confident to get out there, be YOU, make the TIME, act FIRST and follow THROUGH. And of course if you need help doing all of this, we are here for you!

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Written by Sophie DeHenzel
Help! I Have ZERO Time to Workout!

Photos: courtesy of BigStockPhoto

About DeHenzel Training Systems: DeHenzel Training Systems offers In Home Personal Training services throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC.  Aside from in home, we also offer Virtual Personal Training worldwide – workout anywhere, anytime!

For our In Home services, we cover Arlington, Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William Counties including: Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Bethesda, Burke, Centreville, Chantilly, Chevy Chase, Fairfax, Falls Church, Gainesville, Great Falls, Haymarket, Herndon, Lansdowne, Leesburg, Lorton, McLean, Oakton, Potomac, Reston, Rockville, Silver Spring, Springfield, Sterling, Tyson’s Corner, Vienna and Woodbridge.