How do you make time for exercise?

I try to work out in the morning. If I wake up with the purpose of exercising, I'll do it. If I try to do it after work, something always comes up.

This post was made by a triathlon coach that posts on an email list I am on, thought I would share it (it is geared towards triathletes obviously but I think it applies universally) "It is rare that I walk down the street and FIND money. In fact, I don't think in any aspect of my life, I have ever FOUND Money. I have to make every penny I get. I was recently having a conversation with one of my athletes and the athlete was saying "FINDING time for workouts is harder than the actual workouts". Well, first of all, she was totally correct. The chance of FINDING time is pretty well ZERO. The only way the time becomes available is when we make the time. Then the workout becomes the easy part. But MAKING time for anything is as hard as making MONEY, at least it is for most working age groupers, especially if they have young children....so I said this: ...We need to make time, like we make money, so take FIND out of your vocabulary and you'll have an entirely different approach to time management, because when people waste your time, you'll feel the exact same way as people pissing away your money. Seriously, change the vocabulary and you'll see how it changes your approach to making time :-) As the biggest challenge for most age groupers is to get to the start line of workouts, I thought that I'd share this mindset. Talk to any of the guys who seemingly have "more time to train" and it does not happen by magic. Most are really efficient time managers and do more with the 168 hours we all get in a week than the guy who they are beating who probably has better genetics but is just more disorganized."

You have to schedule it in just like everything else.

I"m married, have two little girls under 3 years old, and work full time 40-45 hours a week with a decent drive to/from work each day.

- Cardio 3-4 times a week
- Weight lifting 3-4 times a week

I joined a gym near my work recently and now do cardio on my lunch break at the gym. Takes me 5-10 minutes to get there, few minutes to change, workout 25-30 minutes, hop in private showers at gym and change back into work clothes, back to office in about an hour. Eat lunch at my desk before or after gym. This knocks out the bulk of my cardio workouts for the week without taking any time away from my family. I also belong to a community center gym near our house that I do cardio at on the weekend. Both gyms I belong to are cheap.

For weight lifting I bought a bunch of used dumbbells, a rack, and a nice adjustable bench all off of Craigslist over time and redid my basement to make it into a home gym. So I workout once or twice a week after work for 45 minutes lifting weights, and then workout down there on Saturday and Sunday as well. The cool part is once I'm done working out, I just come back upstairs and I'm back with my family again.

So far this routine has been working great. I've lost almost 15 lbs so far and have gone up on all my lifts. I just went to the doctor the other day and my blood pressure was 118/72 which is much lower than it was in the past. The best part is, my fitness routine takes very little time away from my family.

5am workouts, 5 times a week. Go to bed early. I dont even use an alarm clock anymore. If I happen to miss a workout, my body is anxious to get back to it.

I read that early am workouts before food burn more fat, but you dont want to exceed 30min or so

I live in a remote rural area, and knew that driving thirty minutes to the nearest gym (and paying $800 plus for yearly gym fees) wouldn't work for me. I am also an early morning gal, so I'm up at 5:30, eat breakfast by six, and am ready to move at 6:30 a.m.

I bought a gym-model recumbent bike at home for intense cardio 4-5 days a week at six-thirty for forty five mintues. I also have several workout DVD's including aerobic dance of various kinds.

I had a ballet barre put up under a tree in the back yard. My plan is to have a full outdoor circuit in a circle around my house with a combination of body-wieght exercises, exercises with dumbbells, exercises with kettlebells, jump rope, hula hoop, running in place in the rebounder, burpee, and walking lungets to move from one station to the next. When I get back to the tree under which the ballet barre is located, I've got resitance bands to use around it for back and back of triceps exercises. Three times around the house should be a pretty intense workout!

I also do an early morning walk with my neighbour on weekends to listen to nature waking up. There are the lambs, the calves, hundreds of differents sorts of birds, gorgeous horses, wild hares and other animals scurrying about as the mist is lifting, and the path is hilly so can be challenging.

Finally, on weekends, we sometimes drive twenty minutes in the early morning to some of the most dense forests around our home. We hike the tracks into the forest for an hour or two, and enjoy being under the canopy of trees.

If I don't work out in the morning, I find it a struggle to find time later in the day. Plus, there is nothing like encountering a problem later in the day and that feeling of calmness and well being that was established in the morning taking over and helping to keep everything in perspective.

I work 45 hours a week, with a half hour commute to and from work. I either workout before or directly after work without going home first. If I workout in the morning, I sleep in my workout clothes and have my bag, shoes, and socks ready right by the door- I even fill up my protein shaker with a scoop of powder so I just have to fill with water at the gym. If I go after work, I pack my gym bag the night before and go directly after work.

If I workout mainly nights after work a certain week, I'll cook a few large dinners Sunday evening so that I don't have to spend time after I get home (which is about 7:30pm on days I workout) making an entire dinner. If I'm mainly doing mornings a certain week, those pre-made dinners are my lunches and pre-workout meals for the week.
If I workout in the morning, I pack my lunch and lay my work clothes & vitamins/supplements out the night before so I just have to come home, get ready for work, grab my lunch and go.

It takes planning and dedication. You become very specific about utilizing your time wisely- think of it like budgeting your money. You don't waste money, so don't waste minutes.