My client Denis just returned from vacation and filled me in on what he did to keep up with his program. On two separate days he ran 4 miles, he played golf two days, and jumped rope once. Another day he used his grandkids’ chalk to draw 12 squares on the driveway which the whole family used to run the agility and quickness drills he’s been learning in the gym. They timed each other and had a lot of fun, and when I asked who won, Denis modestly admitted he had but that his 9 year old grandson was close. He let me know that he was keeping in mind my mantra, ‘Discipline, Sacrifice, Perseverance’ and that on his goal of doing ‘something’ every day, he only missed a couple days. He also spent 30s under water when his group flipped in class 4 rapids during their white water rafting trip!
Denis, who’s 69 years old and works full time for his investment firm, has made it a priority to find time to exercise, and more importantly…PLAY. While busy school/work/travel schedules often make it hard to keep up with exercise here’s a simple way to think about your time:
There are 168 hours in everyone’s week. While [LIFE] makes it hard to find extra time to exercise, just give yourself 3 hours out of 168. Kevin Dineen, one of my mentor’s, helped me look at it that way when keeping my personal training clients accountable. If you do the math it’s less than 2% of your time.
Start by aiming for 3 sessions each week, even if you only have 20-30 minutes each. I often find my best workouts are the short ones!
As far as “finding” time, we all know that rarely happens. Make yourself a priority for just 3/168 hours each week by planning the days and times you will do, ‘something.’ If you need help planning, check out my Program Design Consultations on the Services Page.