Blending a workout routine with your busy schedule might cost you a few minutes of sleep, but it is worth it. For professionals chasing career goals, maintaining a healthy lifestyle should definitely be on your list.
Getting up at 4:00 am just to sneak in a few reps on my workout routine is one thing I won't get used to but I do it anyway. Do you know why, if everything else is failing, at least my body goals will stay in check! (Wink)
When your day is filled with endless meetings, presentations, dropping children at school, catching that hair appointment or making it to the dentist, finding the perfect time to work out might be challenging. Should you then ignore your fitness goals and give up on your workout routine? Absolutely not. When planned well and intentionally you can always have the best of both worlds.
Doreen is a fitness model, fitness coach, influencer and statistician by profession who will make you reconsider whether you are actually too busy to work out. She juggles her life and workout routine so effortlessly as she aims to transform people’s lives by improving their health and fitness lifestyles. When it comes to following her workout routine, she won't compromise for any reason.
“Fitness changed my life. I was very unfit, out of shape and sickly. But this is all in the past now. I have never looked back. When I see people becoming more intentional about their health and fitness lifestyles with my help, it makes me happy. Fitness changes you, it starts with your habits, mood, self-esteem, nutrition and so much more”
How can you incorporate fitness into your busy workday and maintain a healthy lifestyle?
Doreen gives us 5 easy ways that can help a busy professional like yourself make this work:
1. Have a workout plan
A perfect workout plan is birthed when one knows exactly what one wants to achieve through their fitness journey. Are you trying to lose a few pounds or build your muscles? Maybe you just want to keep fit. All this is important while drafting your workout plan. Based on one’s core intention, you can decide on which day to focus on what. Let’s say Monday is leg day, Tuesday for your upper body, and Thursday and Friday are Cardio. Depending on what your body goal is, a workout plan will help you keep on track.
2. Form a habit
Now that you have a workout plan, following it comes second, but do this religiously, to ensure that you are doing the right workouts and also doing them correctly. When you become consistent, it then becomes a habit. Not all habits are good, but if fitness becomes a habit, then you are on your way to living a healthy life.
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Doreen, Fitness Trainer
3. Make your routines non-negotiable
Do not just replace anything with your workout schedule. Develop a discipline of sticking to your plan. If you chose to work out an hour each day then let that be final. Your workout routine will only be helpful if you stay true to it.
4. Try shorter sessions
A fitness journey can be overwhelming when you want to see your results overnight. Just because your favourite fitness person works out for 2 hours straight does not mean you should too. This could be why you are failing to maintain a workout routine in your busy schedule. Try shorter sessions, these can be 30-40 minutes a day. It is all about consistency. Remember, you have plenty of work to do, shorter sessions will help maintain your workout routine without tiring you out.
5. Become more active at work
Embrace sudden workouts. Instead of dreading a long walk on the stairs, be happy to go the distance. This is a very important exercise even when it seems minor. If there are 30 steps going up and down, those are 60 steps, and doing this 6 times a day will make it 360 steps. Also, do not sit for long. Get up and stretch, and take a walk such that your body stays active.
Bonus: Spice it up
It might get boring and lonely at times, but you can break the monotony of your workout routine by joining group sessions at the gym, running with your buddy or getting yourself some easy-to-use workout equipment. It is such simple things that will make you never want to miss a workout day.
Fitness is for everyone. Do not ignore your health under the guise of being too busy. After those long hours of work, working out can actually help you reset for another day. Remember, your health is as important as your career goals.
Also read: How to successfully work out at home
