Fitness Tips for a Busy Life

 

By Casey Stubbs

Do you know you should get into shape, but have lacked the discipline to get there? Whether you are objective is to build muscle, lose weight, or just improve your cardiovascular health, most people fall short in the "follow through". Knowing you need to get in shape, and having a fitness training plan are great, but without actually executing the plan, you are not going to meet your goals. It can be quite a task to balance your career, family, relationships, money, and a work out schedule, but there are some small things that you can do to make sure you incorporate your fitness training into your busy schedule.

Commit to a specific schedule. First thing is first. Develop a plan. As the saying goes, without a plan, your planning to fail. If your serious about your goal, write down your plan. The plan doesn't need to be complicated. A simple exercise regime will do. Your plan can be a 6 mile jog each morning, or it can be 5 push ups each morning. It can vary depending on where you are at physically and what your expectations are.

Utilize the weekends. During your week, you may have a lot of tasks to tend to. On the weekends, fitting in some time to work out will make a big difference. Doing less intense workouts during the week, and more intense work outs on the weekends will help you balance your schedule.

Make your work out a priority. Do not allow your workout program to be removed from your schedule. Things will always come up to tempt you to reschedule your workout program. Make sure that only important things and emergencies distract you. If this happens, then make sure that you reschedule your workout for a later date to compensate for it. One tip is to do your workout in the morning. Even if the workout is only a 10 minute set of push-ups and sit-ups, fitting it in will get your heart beat going and can help you burn more calories throughout your day.

Drink water before each time you eat. This is a very simple tactic, but it is a very effective tactic. Drink two 16 oz. glasses of water before each time you eat. This will not only help suppress your hunger, it can benefit your digestive system too. Many times we eat because we think we are hungry, but we are actually thirsty. This method will wash that problem away.

Invite others into your goals. It is good to inform important people in your life what you are doing so that you do not go through it alone. Ask for the support of your wife, husband, parents, children, co-workers, or your close friends so that they can help you stay committed to your fitness training plan. You can also form a buddy system with those who are also working out. With this accountability, you and your friends can help each other achieve your goals.

Do not beat yourself up. There may be times when your schedule interrupts your work out schedule. There may even be times where you get lazy and don't work out for a week. That's not good, but at the same time, don't give up. If you fall off of a horse, just jump back on. If you struggle to be disciplined with your fitness plan, the key to success is to not give up. Having friends to workout with will help you with this. They can encourage and motivate you to stay the course.

With all the responsibilities, tasks, and obligations in your life, it is easy to push your health to the side. Realize your health is important, make a decision to do something about it, and apply a few of these techniques to get you to where you want to be physically.