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Whether you’re busy with a job and family or are without work and making the search your priority, you simply can’t function your best if you don’t exercise.
If you’ve been laid off, working out can provide a vital source of stress relief and a break from what may be a monotonous lifestyle. If you’re currently working, exercise can provide you the energy to make it through the week. And for anybody, being busy is simply no excuse for neglecting your health and not “paying yourself first.”
To that end, I’m going to offer a few tips that might make it easier for you to not only commit to exercising, but also to find time for it and to stick with your plan.
Tip 1: Add Workouts to Your Calendar and Make Them a Priority
I find I am far more diligent about sticking to an exercise routine if I add it to my calendar. Personally, I like to review my upcoming week on Sunday and determine three days for exercise (It’s almost always Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). Once my workouts are in my calendar, I make sure my husband knows about them so we can trade off days staying in to watch the kids versus being at the gym.
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Tip 2: Consider 10 or 20-Minute Exercise Plans
Not all of us have time or even want to do hour-long workouts. In that case, I would consider any number of exercise routines that can be done in 10- or 20-minute bursts. There are tons of them on the web, many of which don’t require expensive equipment. Here’s just one example: A 20-minute exercise plan from Lifehacker. Remember, although 10 minutes seems short for a workout, it is more than zero and a great place to start.
Tip 3: Make Yardwork and other Chores Part of Your Routine
I don’t know about you, but I often break in a sweat scrubbing tiles. Determine housework and home projects that give you a cardio or muscular boost, and make them a regular part of your fitness plan. If you mow the lawn, turn off the mower’s automatic push feature.
Tip 4: Seek the Exercises, Tools, that Motivate You to Exercise
You’ll be far more likely to exercise if you find activities that you look forward to. Perhaps a salsa class is more your style than weight lifting. Also, I recommend trying out different gyms and looking into fitness gadgets and smartphone apps that make exercising more enjoyable. I find my Android phone combined with apps including iFitness and Runkeeper provides the ideas and motivation I need to stay active.
Whether you’re busy with a job & family or are not working & making the search your priority, you simply can’t function your best if you don’t exercise. To that end, here are a few tips that might make it easier for you to commit to exercising.Click To TweetTip 5: The “Tie Your Shoes” Motivation Trick
So you’ve committed to perform a workout, be it a jog, a game of racquetball, or a trip to the gym. But how do you get started? I’m going to borrow from Matthew McConaughey, who suggested in Men’s Health Magazine that you make tying your shoes the first step in each workout. Sounds silly, but it’s a small step that makes it easier to progress onto bigger things.
Make No Excuses
OK, so this one is a bonus. Remember, we all lead busy lives, not all of us can afford fancy speed bikes, etc., and often working out isn’t always on the top of our minds. But by taking a “no excuses” attitude, being flexible (mentally, that is), and finding what works for you, you can achieve lasting results.
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