How to Fit Exercise into a 12 Hour Work Day: 4/13/2004

Virgil Aponte

Here’s a question I get all the time: I truly have no time to exercise. What can I do?

Simple, don’t exercise you’re to busy. Just kidding.

Let me give you an example of a client I consulted who had the same problem.

She was working full time, going to school part-time, had a 6 year old and basically felt she couldn't find time to exercise.

Since she had very little time, joining a gym was not really an option. So here's what we came up with.

Everyday she had to walk to work and back instead of taking the bus.

She worked in a high-school with access to 12 flights of stairs and a weight room.

Her goal everyday at work was as follows:

Upon entering the building she had to walk up to the sixth floor 2 times.

Anytime she had to leave her office she had to walk up to the sixth floor of the building and back down. That was 4 times a day.

Before she left for the day she had to walk up to the sixth floor 2 times.

She also had to visit the weight room and do 20 pushups, 20 dumbbell shoulder presses with 10 lbs, and 20 back rows with 50 lbs. She visited the weight room twice a week.

Is this program perfect? No of course not but what program is perfect. For someone who thought she had no time she was able to do aerobic work 5 times a week plus 2 strength work-outs. She also happened to lose 14 lbs. in nine weeks. That’s excellent progress for some one who initially thought she had no time to exercise.

The point I’m trying to make is that having no time to exercise is usually just a perception. Usually it’s just a matter of fitting it in somewhere in your day.

Another misperception is that exercise has to take place within a specific hour or time frame. In this particular case the exercise took place at intervals throughout the course of a day.

If you are truly busy (and most of are) and feel you have no time to exercise (and most of need to) try finding little spots in the day to fit it in. It really doesn’t take much for it to add up. Remember 3 ten minute sessions over the course of a day will add up to 30 minutes. Many experts agree that 30 minutes is the minimum amount of exercise people should get each day.

I hope this example gives you or someone useful ideas on fitting exercise into your busy schedule.

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