Making Time for Fitness

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"I work all day. I don’t have time to exercise."

"I quit going to the gym because I have too much on my hands right now. I'm just too busy!"

"I'd love to work out more often, but I could only squeeze in the time for that if there were like 40 hours in a day."

These are just a few of the excuses people give for not being able to exercise regularly. And you know we've all been there. We'd all like to lose weight, get fit, and settle into a regular exercise routine. But somehow, there's always just too much to do during the day that we have little energy left to exercise once the work day is over. Weekends are out of the question. Many of us prefer to simply kick back and do nothing on those precious couple of days, or go out instead and party to shake off the week's stress.

But is there really no way for us to set aside time to exercise?

This doesn't have to be the case. We tend to think that working out entails grueling hour-long classes or three-hour sessions at the gym, so we often forget that there are plenty of ways for us to get in a bit of exercise throughout the day.

Walk

One thing you could do is get your feet moving and walk more often. Walking is a great form of exercise. Park some distance away from your office building, but get in early so you won't feel panicked about getting to work on time. It doesn't seem like much, but it pushes you to walk to and from the office everyday.

If you go out to lunch, find a place within walking distance of your building. You'll be able to walk off your meal that way, too.

Take the stairs

Instead of taking the elevator, you could just climb the stairs to your floor if your office isn't located too high up your building. But even if it is, you can still take the elevator partway up and climb up the last two or three floors. 

Use breaks wisely

You're not going to stick your nose to the grindstone every minute of every workday. There's bound to be some slow days, or even 10 minutes when you don't have to deal with a crisis falling into your lap. Use this time to do some stretches at your desk or a bit of work on your legs. Keep some weights handy and do several sets whenever you get a chance.

When the weekend rolls around, you don’t have to lounge around doing nothing. Even your usual activities can turn into a workout. For example, cleaning your house is one activity that helps burn calories. Do some exercises instead of flopping on your couch and channel surfing. If you really must go out and party, you can even dance off your stress and your fat.

These are some very simple things you can do to get on the road to fitness, but every little bit helps!