No Time to Workout? 7 Quick Fitness Hacks For Your Busy Life

Life is crazy. You probably spend your days rushing from work meetings to school pick-ups to drinks with friends, and finding time to exercise is about as likely as finding time to train for the NYC Marathon. Hell, you might have even thrown in the towel on that too, at least for now. But what if you didn’t have to spend hours at the gym or mornings running before work to get in shape? Yes, you read that right: you can get in shape even with a crazy schedule.

Too good to be true? I know how that goes. Here’s how.

The Problem: Finding Time to Exercise

The biggest obstacle most of us have to staying fit is time – or, more accurately, the lack of it. If your day is filled from dawn to dusk with appointments and obligations, carving out an hour (or half-hour) to exercise is about as likely as it sounds. But you don’t need to dedicate big chunks of time to make a significant impact on your health and fitness.

Think miniature – think about minutes, not hours – because that’s how a little bit here and a little bit there can start to add up, and given the right strategies it can lead to real results.

Hack #1: The Power of Micro Workouts

Step one: micro workout: These are super short and pretty intensive, lasting minutes at most. They are essentially fitness on speed – 10 push-ups and 20 squats while your coffee is brewing, a 5-minute plank challenge during lunch hour. They work!

Hack #2: Turn Everyday Tasks into Exercise

No gym, no problem: stairs instead of an elevator, further away in the parking lot, calf raises by the bathroom sink – use what time you have.

Hack #3: Use Your Commute

If you’re commuting to work, then certainly make the most of it: walk or cycle if possible, and even if you’re squashed on a bus or Tube, get off a stop early and walk the remainder.

Hack #4: Multitask Your Fitness

While multitasking is not always a good idea, it is for fitness. Leg lifts during a conference call, yoga stretches during your favourite shows – it’s about making fitness a part of everyday life.

Hack #5: Make Your Workout Routine Work for You

Yes, your workout could be something different. Perhaps traditional workout routines don’t fit within your time-constraints, but that doesn’t mean you can’t move more often. Consider functional exercises where the movements mimic the activities of daily living and use your own body weight and no equipment. Squats, lunges and push-ups are a small sample of what you can do in your living room, your office or at the park while your kids play.

Hack #6: Schedule It Like a Meeting

As such, we are more likely to undertake a task if it’s written in a calendar, aren’t we? Treat your exercise session as you would any other appointment. Put it in the diary. Even if it’s 10-15 minutes at a time. If it’s in the agenda, it’s part of the day’s schedule simply because it is there.

Hack #7: Stay Consistent, Not Perfect

Third, and most importantly, remember that consistency always beats perfection. You don’t need to work out every day, or even necessarily do a good job every day with what you do. What you do need is to do something a little bit at least somewhat regularly. Miss a day of exercise? No big deal. Get back on the horse the next. Doing little things consistently adds up to large benefits over time.

Overcoming the: “But I’m Just Too Tired…”

You might be thinking at this point: Yeah yeah, all this stuff sounds good, but really I’m just too tired to do anything!’ I am not going to tell you that you aren’t tired, because of course you are. But here we come back to the bottom line: exercise gives you energy. Those little workouts I was talking about? They can give you a little natural energy boost, by boosting those endorphins. And once you get a little in the habit, you’ll probably realise that you’re not as tired as you thought you were, you’re just too sedentary.

What If You Could Start Tomorrow?

Imagine waking up tomorrow to find that your week is already planned out – not some fuzzy, ‘I’ll-find-an-hour-for-exercise-sometime-this-week’ plan, but something made up of small pieces of useful knowledge that can be fitted into your day like a puzzle. That’s what these hacks are for—making exercise become a part of your daily routine, just like making your morning cup-of-joe.

So, what’s stopping you? Your next workout could be just a few minutes away!