How do you squeeze in time to exercise?

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Replies

  • Wabbit05
    Wabbit05 Posts: 434 Member
    If you want it enough, you make it happen. It's not about finding the time, it's about making the time. I go right after work so it's part of my schedule. Routines leads to habits. Other than that, I have JM 30DS which is about 25 minutes long, short enough to fit in during nap time for the little one, right before bed or before I shower for work in the morning.
  • Allie_71
    Allie_71 Posts: 1,063 Member
    Set aside 10 minutes at a time. Sometimes that's all you need. Just give yourselves a few things to do, such as holding plank, pushups, crunches, air skipping rope, pick a line on the floor and jump on either side for a minute, leg raises, lunges, squats, jumping jacks. Repeat a few of those three or four times and that should be enough of a workout.

    Buy some dumbells and you'll expand your repertoire as well. They're pretty cheap on Craigslist.

    P.S. I don't know if you have kids, or how old they are, but the little buggers love counting and timing stuff. Enlist their help :)
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,010 Member
    I can't figure out how to carve out enough time to really exercise. How do you all do it?

    BTW, not much I can give up at the moment to accommodate for exercise. I am tapped out.

    Can you post your schedule please? hour by hour? Without being able to see the current schedule I can not possibly know how to improve upon it.
  • michaelthorsonjr
    michaelthorsonjr Posts: 80
    I wake up at 4:30 a.m. to go running.
  • bekinator
    bekinator Posts: 103
    I hear that dilemma!

    I turned my daily commute to work into a bike ride (take same amount of time, maybe a few minutes less now) & lost 100lbs doing it.

    Pick your poison & don't let anything stop you!
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
    The time it took to create this and keep checking back on it. Squeeze this....
  • mrsmark2010
    mrsmark2010 Posts: 220
    I don't "squeeze it in." I schedule it. My alarm goes off at 4:45 so I can get it done and then get lunch ready and get myself out the door by 7:10. On the weekend, I get up and get it done before hubby gets up. Or if he wants to work out too and we have a plan for the day, we set the clock to get up early. My health and fitness is very important, so I plan for it.
  • stupidloser
    stupidloser Posts: 300 Member
    I do my strength training on the weekends.
  • KellyR72
    KellyR72 Posts: 51 Member
    My alarm goes off at 4:30am


    This!
  • ccckwalk
    ccckwalk Posts: 262
    so much great advice I hope you can get motivation and inspiration from all these people who took time to write you!! Good luck girl! ~Corina
  • RacerX_14
    RacerX_14 Posts: 578 Member
    I hear that dilemma!

    I turned my daily commute to work into a bike ride (take same amount of time, maybe a few minutes less now) & lost 100lbs doing it.

    Pick your poison & don't let anything stop you!

    Thats awesome!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!
  • Sweeteepi
    Sweeteepi Posts: 7 Member
    I agree with 'baby steps'. 10 or 15 minutes is better than nothing. Sometimes it feels like if you don't get out for 45 minutes and really sweat, you haven't worked out. But a brisk 10 minute walk...some situps, squats or pushups during commercials, getting up early (which is a hard one for me!! :) )...just move!! Then as you can, add 5 or 10 minutes.

    Good luck! With an 11 hour work day, It's a struggle I deal with too. It really helps to find something you enjoy to do, then you seem to WANT to make time to do it. (I do Zumba and swim - both things I love and both things I will make time for).
  • Jaccyber
    Jaccyber Posts: 620 Member
    Some how I have gotten to the point that I get up between 4:30am and 5am to do some kind of workout. Then instead of driving I walk to and from work and also take a noon walk...(Work is only 2 miles away so that makes it nice). Also I carry around a pedometer which keeps me motivated throughout the day to see how many steps I can fill it up with each day. It's the little things. :) I wish you well on your fitness journey.
  • BuckeyeBabe10
    BuckeyeBabe10 Posts: 204 Member
    Do you watch TV by yourself or with family at night/in the morning? I liked to do sets of 20 pushups. 20 situps, and 20 squats during commercial breaks if there's a show I really want to watch that night. Sometimes I see how many sets I can do, or how "fast" I can do one set. Or, I up the number of repetitions or I add in a 30-second or 1-minute plank.

    I hate TV commercials and this has actually made my TV watching more enjoyable because I feel like I'm doing something positive as well. :o)

    But I agree with a previous poster - if you can find a 10-20 minute workout DVD that you're into, try to scrunch that in each morning. I have the Women's Health 10-minute total body workout and it is 5 different areas of focus with workouts that are 10 minutes each. Sometimes I'll just focus on legs and sometimes I'll do all of them - it's all dependent on that time I have that day. The Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred is a great option as well if you have 30 minutes (25 minutes for the workout, 5 minutes to set up/tear down).

    Good luck!
  • Jennifer_Lynn_1982
    Jennifer_Lynn_1982 Posts: 567 Member
    If you really and truly have no time (can't skip a half hour of television, etc.) then just try to add more activity where you can throughout the day. Park your car farther away so you have to take more steps. Don't use elevators or escalators and take the stairs instead. Do some pushups and situps when you get out of bed before you hit the shower. Walk on your lunch break if you get one. Do squats while waiting for the microwave. You get the idea. It won't make you an endurance athlete but it will add activity.

    Exactly what I was going to say...
  • Arrabindi
    Arrabindi Posts: 169 Member
    I've turned most of my transportation time into exercise time. I bike everywhere! I live about 9 miles from my university, so that's 18 miles every single day. It takes me just over half an hour each way, and it would take me 30 minutes by bus or 20 minutes if I got a ride from my boyfriend, so I don't really spend any extra time on getting in an hour of exercise. A couple of times a week I find some time to do other work outs as well to work other muscles.
    Also, I pretty much stopped watching TV a couple of years ago. If you ever watch TV, turn it off and work out instead. Or if you have the money for it, you can buy a treadmill/elliptical trainer/stationary bike and put it in front of the TV. Then you can work out while watching TV with the rest of the family.
  • jimbo_a_logo
    jimbo_a_logo Posts: 26 Member
    I prioritize getting at least 30 minutes of excercise in at least 3 times per week.
    I ride my bike or walk to work.
    I walk or ride to the store or to do errands.
    While I was waiting for my daughter attending our church youth group last night, I went to a local park and did a half hour of kettle bell excercises.
    I hardly watch T.V. anymore. If I want to watch, I ask myself what else could I be doing that will be of greater benefit to myself or others.
  • andivaclavicek
    andivaclavicek Posts: 150
    If you want to do it, you'll figure out where you can make time. Wake up earlier, go to sleep later, work out during your lunch hour - everyone is busy, but you have to make the time for it.

    This could not be more true. We are capable of making time for anything we really want to do.
  • ronleuty
    ronleuty Posts: 14 Member
    Here are a couple of ways:

    • I try to bicycle into work a couple of times a month. I want to do it more often, but I haven't nailed down how to fit riding both ways every day into my schedule. However, that 20- to 30-minute ride in the morning gives me a nice workout while still getting me into work -- and it's faster than driving or taking public transportation.

    • There's a step aerobics class at my YMCA around the lunch hour. A healthy snack before or after, a quick shower and I'm back at work.

    • Carving out time in EARLY morning or the evening when everyone else is down for the night. This could be more intense like running outside or 15-30 minutes of simple floor exercises every morning or evening.

    That said, you also have to average eight hours of sleep per night, plus work and all the other things that happen. In the end, you'll find the balance that works for you. It is trial and error.

    (I didn't scan all the replies before writing my reply. Sorry if I'm repeating something/everything that's been said before.)
  • JoeSzup
    JoeSzup Posts: 51 Member
    My "normal" day:

    5am - wake-up and breakfast
    6am - out the door to work

    For work out days (MTTF)
    4am - wake-up and workout (50 minutes elliptical)
    5am - breakfast
    5:35am - quick shower
    6am - out the door to work.

    Make the commitment to get up early. After a month or two your body will get used to it.
  • sz8soon
    sz8soon Posts: 816 Member
    If you want to do it, you'll figure out where you can make time. Wake up earlier, go to sleep later, work out during your lunch hour - everyone is busy, but you have to make the time for it.

    This^^^

    I figured out I have to do it first thing early in the morning. My alarm goes off at 4:00, I get to the gym and I have to be back by 6:30 so my husband can go to work, then I get ready for work and am out the door again by 7:30 to take one kid to school and one to daycare then off to work. The kids and house get all my attention in the evenings.
  • zsafavian
    zsafavian Posts: 12 Member
    I have 2 kids and work 50-60 hours per week at my job. I still manage to workout for 1-1.5 hours 7 days a week. I wake up when it's still dark outside, and I'm working out at 5am. At one point when I had a newborn, due to my breastfeeding and pumping schedule, I was waking up at 4am and working out before 5 to get in my hour. You have to make a commitment and just do it. If you do it for a couple weeks -- no excuses -- you'll find that it becomes a habit and you don't even need to think about it anymore. If you're not a morning person at all and never will be, workout late at night when all your work is said and done. With a baby and a toddler I am generally operating on very little sleep, so I chug a cup of good strong coffee before my workout to wake me up and get me started.
  • JuneyJo
    JuneyJo Posts: 182 Member
    I can't figure out how to carve out enough time to really exercise. How do you all do it?

    BTW, not much I can give up at the moment to accommodate for exercise. I am tapped out.

    That was always my biggest complaint. I used to only have down time for a little while after my kids went to sleep. Not the best time to start a workout, for me at least. So what I started doing is going to bed at the same time as them and getting up an hour earlier. THAT was hard. Both parts. Giving up my moment of solitude and then getting up at 4:45am. Sometimes I can break away from work for a 15-30 min to take a quick walk.

    If you can do something in 10 minute increments throughout your day, it adds up. Just because you can't find and hour to devote to a workout, doesn't mean your out of options.

    One thing that derails me is trying to plan it. You just have to grab the monent when it comes. If you're a stay at home mom and the kids are napping and you have a spare moment between everything else you've got going on, grab it and do some situps/jumping jacks/pushups/jogging in place... whatever. If you work in an office and there's a gap between meetings or you've just finished one project and want to clear your mind before starting the next, do a lap in your building or parking lot, or do some yoga at your desk. If you're in school and have a few minutes between classes, take the long way and walk as fast as you can.

    I'm not going to downplay how difficult it is to squeeze it into a busy day, but like some other said, when you really want it, you'll find a way. It took me a long time to figure that out. Now that I have, I find that I look for those breaks and how much I can do during them. :smile: Good luck!!!
  • GeekGirl23
    GeekGirl23 Posts: 517 Member
    You make the time. Just like you schedule time to shower, get hair done, cook dinner. You budget your time for it. It's very important.

    My husband is pretty much forced into cooking dinner on the nights I work out. At first he was reluctant but he really did want good food. He's now trying new recipies and loves the way my body is changing so he's keeping it up! I appreciate all of his support and physically/verbally thank him any chance I get.

    Just make the time.
  • lmeasterling
    lmeasterling Posts: 139 Member
    It's difficult for me to find a large chunk of time at any one point in the day, so I usually break my workout time into 2 or 3 segments of 10-20 minutes each whenever I can fit them in.
  • Tamisha15
    Tamisha15 Posts: 83 Member
    Like others have said before my comment "You just have to make time". I'm a mother of three, 2 sons in football, 1 daughter in dance. I have a husband with a on-call schedule and I work full-time. I sign up at the Rec Center for as many fitness classes I can take. I take my kids with me if I have to and sometimes, I tell the coach we have to leave early so I can workout. I've found a free boot camp on Sat mornings at 7a.m. and after that its straight to the football field then daughter has dance practice. And guess what, dance is year-around and my son's season ends in November and basketball starts in December, then again in Spring and Summer and then I start over the following year, geez!!!

    I'm not for sure about your schedule but there is time if you make time. I've made losing weight my priority and whoever doesn't like it, just doesn't understand and that's okay because I know this is the best thing for me.

    GOD Bless
  • dalehall64
    dalehall64 Posts: 290 Member
    Just like 90% of the folks here, I get up earlier also.. I'm up at 0400 and done by 0500 to 0520. One thing we do at our house is, on Sundays, my wife cooks all the food we will eat for our lunches during the week and puts it in Tupperware in the fridge. We also pick out and ready all our clothes for the week. So, each morning, after work outs shower, we just grab a set from the hanger to get dressed and grab a container of food from the fridge for lunch. Saves a lot of time in the mornings. Although, granted, Sundays do suck for my wife..
    Also, if I can make time in the evenings, I try to squeeze in a 10-Minute Trainer or 3.. But, that doesn't always happen.
  • robinogue
    robinogue Posts: 1,117 Member
    I get up early for work (4:30) so I get my workout in right after work. I got straight home, change and get right to it. I don't give myself a chance to change my mind or to think about not wanting to do it.
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
    My alarm goes off at 3:15 am.

    I finally figured out that the only time no one else could put a demand on my time is when they're all asleep.
  • fit4lifeUcan2
    fit4lifeUcan2 Posts: 1,458 Member
    I work out before I get in the shower. I always have a few minutes to get some exercise in even if its using my stationary bike which I have set up in the kitchen. I get on that while dinner is cooking, waiting for water to boil, have something in the oven. Have my treadmill in the living room so on bad weather days I open it up and get in a few minutes while watching the news. There is ALWAYS time to exercise. Even do squats while folding clothes or lunges when I walk around room to room putting things away or running the vacuum.

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