5 Fitness Tips for Busy People
If you’re reading this blog, chances are you care about your health and fitness. You probably have a goal of building muscle, burning fat or getting stronger.
You also probably have a lot of other commitments in your life from family, work, friends and other things. As such, finding time for fitness and nutrition can often be a struggle.
To help you out, here are five tips to help you push past the challenges of a fast-paced lifestyle and reach your fitness goals.
Notice how I didn’t write “find” time. If you truly value your health and fitness, you’ve got to “make” time for your nutrition, especially if you have a lot going on in your life.
A lot tends to come up during the week, so it’s crucial to set aside a period of time – it can be a couple of hours – on a weekend or off-day so you can prepare your meals.
Here are a few options for those periods of preparation. Throw two or three pounds of either ground beef or another type of meat in a pan on the stove, and mix in some vegetables and seasoning to make a stir-fry. While you’ve got that going, put a few pieces of chicken covered in lemon or lime and seasoning in the oven. Then, on your counter top, toss some spinach or lettuce in a bowl and add some additional vegetables and healthy fats like coconut oil, avocado or nuts. On the other side of the stove, throw a couple of pounds of a different kind of meat in a pan and mix in some vegetables and a different type of seasoning to make another stir-fry.
You can obviously adjust the portion sizes based on the number of people you’re serving. Then, store these meals in the fridge or freezer, and you’ll have a number of meals ready to go for the week.
The idea of exercising early in the morning might not be very appealing, but you may have to do it if fitness is important to you.
If you have social obligations in the evening or you need to take your kids to sporting events after work, it’s definitely best to get your workouts done right away.
Just like in other areas of life, you perform the most important things first. That way, if something else comes up (it inevitably will), you’ve got one of your biggest projects for the day completed.
Even if you can’t make it to the gym, you can still perform a simple body weight circuit with exercises like push-ups, squats, lunge variations, single-leg RDLs and plank variations. And remember, doing it for only a few minutes is better than not doing it at all.
When you exercise alone, you can choose whether to actually do the workout. If you’ve got someone to hold you to it, you’re a lot more likely to stay consistent with your exercise or nutrition habits.
You can find a buddy with similar goals as you to either do the workouts with you or text or call you to make sure you’re really getting them done. Have daily or weekly check-ins with that person and watch your adherence to your habits improve tremendously.
Make sure you choose a partner who will actually hold you accountable. Don’t choose a partner who’s lazy or unwilling to push you.
When a lot is happening in your life, it’s easy to forget about certain things. Fitness is oftentimes one of them. If you truly desire to improve your strength or physique, you’ve got to constantly remind yourself of your goals.
Whether your goal is to build 20 pounds of muscle or lose 30 pounds of fat, you’ve got to visually remind yourself about things that are important to you. Put a note on your fridge, your bathroom mirror, your dashboard in your car or your desk at the office. Perhaps you should leave reminders all of those places.
As the old saying goes, “if a goal isn’t written down, it doesn’t exist.”
If you do spend a lot of time on the road, it’s vital to plan ahead.
Let’s be honest – nothing is ever going to be optimal when you’re traveling. Your routine is going to be different from day to day, but you can still make fairly healthy choices.
Instead of eating out at unhealthy restaurants every meal, do your homework beforehand and figure out which restaurants in the area you’ll be staying have healthy options for meals. Also, seek out local grocery stores and so you can buy quality dishes. If possible, stay at a hotel with a fridge or microwave.
You can’t always make perfect choices, but you can always make better choices.
