Exercise Ideas for the Busiest People

Being too busy is one of the most common excuses people use for not exercising, but being short on time is not really a valid excuse at all.   Even extremely busy, successful people find time for exercise, even if they may have to make sacrifices in other areas.

You’ll be glad to know that these sacrifices don’t have to be extreme – you don’t have to kill your social life or abandon your family to make time for exercise.   It’s very possible to fit exercise in with the rest of your life with only a little bit of planning and effort.

Take a look at these exercise ideas for busy people:

Exercise Idea #1 – Multi-task.

Find ways to combine exercise with other activities.   When you go shopping at the mall, take the stairs instead of the escalator to reach the upper floors.   Speed-walk around each floor before going into any stores.   When you visit neighborhood walking trails, bring a voice recorder with you so you can record notes and ideas for upcoming projects, speeches, and goals.   Place a stationary bike in front of your television and bike while you watch.   Rather than catching up with friends over coffee, invite them to take a walk with you.   There are so many ways to fit a few minutes of exercise into other activities.

Exercise Idea #2 – Get it done early.

If you wait until your day is in full swing, you may be tempted to set exercise aside because it seems less important than other tasks.   On the other hand, if you get up early and do a workout first thing, you’ll be able to concentrate on the rest of your activities without feeling guilty.

Exercise Idea #3 – See it as “me time”.

Rather than seeing exercise as “one more chore” that you have to squeeze in, change your perspective so you start seeing it as a welcome period of “me time” during an otherwise busy day taking care of everyone else’s needs.   You’ll come to look forward to your workouts and automatically place a high priority on them.

If you still feel resistant to fitting exercise into each day, it’s possible that exercise ideas aren’t what you need at all.   Consider the possibility that you may be avoiding exercise not because you are too busy, but because you just don’t want to do it.   Maybe you’ve come to see exercise as unpleasant or boring and you need to explore some other types of workouts.   Maybe you worry that losing weight and getting fit will cause people in your life to treat you differently, and you feel comfortable with the way things are now.

Whatever the excuses, know that nothing will change until you decide that the benefits of daily exercise are worth the minor sacrifices you will have to make.   Once you commit to working out, you’ll find it much easier to stick with it no matter how busy you get, and no matter what other obstacles come up from time to time.