I recently ran a poll on what people find most challenging about exercise. Finding the time came in at the top, with 42% of people voting for this as their biggest exercise challenge. Motivation came in second at 38%. I’ll cover motivation in more detail in a separate post, but motivation does play a role in being able to find the time, so I will touch on that here too.

So, how can you find the time to exercise when you’ve got a busy life?

How much time to exercise do you actually need?

If you just want to be a healthy adult with a good quality of life and a low risk of getting cardiovascular disease, it’s recommended that you get 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardiovascular activity (or 75 minutes of more vigorous activity*, or a combination of both), and two strength training sessions per week.

This might seem like a lot, but if you break it down, it’s actually more achievable than it might initially look. 150 minutes divided by a seven-day week is just 21.42 minutes per day. So, if you go for a 22 minute walk, once per day, then you’re already meeting your health related guidelines for cardiovascular activity.

You’ll get the same benefits whether you do it all at once, or break it into chunks. So if you walk for 11 minutes before work, and 11 minutes after work, you’ll get the same health improvements as if you did 22 minutes at once.

*Regarding more vigorous intensity activity, this is not something that should be jumped straight into. Remember just as you wouldn’t put 100kg on a bar the first time you lift weights, it’s important to build up to vigorous exercise over time to reduce risk to you and keep things healthy and sustainable.

How about those two strength training sessions though? How are you going to fit those in?

If you want a comprehensive training plan with high levels of muscular fitness, you’re going to need more time to train. But if you just want to be functional and prevent age related muscle and bone density loss, then you can get a full body workout in 20-30 minutes quite easily. 20-30 minutes feels a lot easier to find time for than 45-60 minutes, right?

Many people unconsciously put themselves under extra time pressure by trying to fit absolutely everything in during Monday to Friday and trying to leave their weekend clear. If you get one strength session in at the weekend though, you only have to fit one session in during the week, which relieves a lot of pressure compared to trying to fit them both in during the week around work.

My recommendation for weekend training is to pick a day and do your workout early in the morning. This leaves the rest of the day free for family time and other activities. If your workout has been done in the morning, nothing unexpected that comes up in the day can stop you doing your workout, because it’s already done!

But what if you want higher levels of fitness?

If you have higher goals than basic health related fitness, then it’s likely that you’ll need to dedicate more time. This could be in terms of exercise duration, or exercise frequency, or both.

However, exercise scientists recently made a fascinating discovery about how we can achieve great fitness results in relatively short amounts of time and with less overall training days by combining different types of exercise together. I made a short video about this which you can watch by clicking here. It’s also worth watching the follow up video here.

Troubleshooting finding time to exercise:

Finding the time to exercise feels scary or overwhelming.

You don’t have to go from zero to hitting the max recommended targets straight away! In fact, I’d recommend against it. You’re already busy, so fitting anything new into your life is going to feel like a big task. The biggest health benefits of exercise come when we go from doing nothing to doing something. It’s ok to start small and comfortable with what feels realistic for you and build up over time from there.

Believe that you’re strong enough to find the time or make the time.

Having the time to exercise is actually often less of a challenge than believing in yourself that you can find the time or make the time. Tell yourself every day: “I am strong enough to find the time, I’m worth it and this is important to me”. Repeat this often enough and you’ll be surprised at how much time you can carve out for your health, and how many creative ways you’ll find to do it.

Have a high enough goal (motivation).

I’m a personal trainer, but I’m also a real person. Finding time for exercise is hard for me too, and there are also days where I don’t feel like doing it too! But, I remind myself all the time that the exercise and workouts I do are directly tied into the quality of life that I want to have, and all the things I want to be able to do. Have a goal high enough that makes it feel like it’s worth your time. For me that goal is having a clear vision of what I want my quality of life to be like every year of my life and all the things I want to be able to do physically.

Ask yourself; “what do I love to do, and how long do I want to be able to keep doing it for?” The answer to that question should be the motivation to help you find the desire to want to exercise and make or find the time for it.

Fitting things in around the kids.

I would encourage including children in exercise activities where appropriate and safe to do so. Examples could be going for walks together, playing active games together, helping them with their sports practice. Even the humble frisbee can provide a fun bit of exercise!

Family life can be busy, and children will often come first, so there may be times where you need to ask for help from others to free up some time for you. If they understand how important your health and fitness goals are to you, they’ll almost always be willing to help out with a few things to free up a half hour for you.

Don’t feel you have to take on the world on your own-it’s a sign of strength to ask for help.

Your exercise plan doesn’t have to be the same every week.

Many people have an all or nothing mentality. If life throws them a curve-ball or they get busier than usual, the exercise plan will get abandoned because they can’t stick to it perfectly.

One thing I do for my online clients is keep in communication with them about what’s going on in their life. When they have challenges or busier times, I’ll provide them with an alternative plan, which means they can do something that still gives them benefits and keeps them on track with their overall health and fitness goals, but also fits into their busier than usual week better and doesn’t feel overwhelming. This is a heck of a lot better for both mind and body than doing nothing.

Even with my own training, I create back-up training plans that are easier to achieve during times when I’m busier than usual. Stay flexible and remember that you don’t have to be “perfect”. Anything is always better than nothing.

I hope this has helped you navigate the challenge of finding the time to exercise, If there’s anything you struggle personally with that I haven’t covered here, feel welcome to get in touch and ask for some advice.

What I can do to help:

With my Virtual Fitness Coaching services, I’ll support you for your entire training week by making sure you know what you need to do to achieve your exercise goals, how often, and even when to do it. These are all things that we’ll agree on together so that they feel comfortable for you.

I’ll give you regular support and feedback, be there to answer questions for you, and help to modify things for you when challenges come up so that you can keep moving forward without feeling overwhelmed.

We’ll start you from where you are today and build up from there, so it won’t be scary or intimidating. If you find finding time for exercise hard, you can even do everything from the comfort of your own home, so you won’t have to worry about finding extra travel time to see me or to go to a gym.

To learn more, click here, and feel free to reach out with any questions.

All the best,

Steve

Finding The Fountain Of Youth: Using Strength Training To Turn Back The Clock — Shreeve Health and Fitness (shreevehandf.com)

Fitness is the one exam you can't cram for — Shreeve Health and Fitness (shreevehandf.com)

How Does Exercise Help With Stress? — Shreeve Health and Fitness (shreevehandf.com)