How to Find the Time to Exercise

By Erin Kreitz Shirey,

By Getty Images

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Seriously, who has the time to exercise these days? With family, work, and everything in between, it can be hard to even get sleep in the mix, let alone the recommended daily hour of exercise. But fear not — you do have the time, and if you follow these simple tips, a regular exercise routine will be as much of a part of your day as is brushing your teeth.

1. On Sundays, map out your week. Include all appointments and travel time to each destination. Try to incorporate buffer time, which are the unexpected time-sucks each week. Add in your workouts and treat them like any appointment on your calendar; such as the dentist and your kids’ classes that you drive them to. Think of your workouts as top-priority appointments.

2. Use your mobile device’s “To-Do” lists. There is a lot of wasted time in our days, and that can stem from not being organized. Incorporate better time management, which allows for more time to exercise. Some helpful time management apps are Toodle Do, To Do, and Reminders. You can set check off lists and alarms within the apps. Thus you can create alarms to exercise, and manage your time accordingly. You can manage the rest of your life with, a free, award-winning, and secure service that lets you manage your bills and accounts in one place. It reminds you when you’re bills are due so that you never miss a payment. When you don’t have to stress about tedious tasks like paying bills and keeping up with your balances, you’ll have more time to work out. Time management is key!

3. If your work and family logistics allow, exercise first thing in the day. There are no time excuses if you exercise before work and family excuses can pop into the day. Plus, people who exercise in the morning are more successful at making it a habit, according to the American Council on Exercise.

4. Incorporate time-efficient workouts, such as HIIT training and multi muscle exercises. These exercises are compounding exercises that combine many muscle groups at once. That means you are able to burn more calories, challenge your heart rate, and be time-efficient. For example, a one-minute cycle, repeated 4 times of these three exercises: Burpees, Reverse lunges with Overhead Press, Mountain Climbers with push-ups.

5. Seek out a team or workout class so you have exercise buddies. When you are accountable to someone else, you are less likely to forego your workout. You won’t want to flake on exercise if you know someone is waiting for you.

6. Set a goal. When you have a goal, such as a triathlon or half marathon, the training time is a priority because you need to finish the event. Map out each workout on your calendar, like any other appointment, and highlight the workout and miles when completed.

7. Combine meeting with friends and exercise to create fitness dates. Instead of going to happy hour with your bestie after work, meet for SoulCycle, go for a hike, or on various weekly trail-run dates. Combining playtime with working out allows you to not only get in social time, but fitness time, too.

8. When you’re at work, unless it is part of your job, turn off all social media until lunchtime and after work. I guarantee you will be more productive and by the day’s end, you’ll carve out an hour to exercise. Social media is great, but it can suck people into various conversations, and they lose their workout window. It’s OK to set the timer and give yourself limits, which allows you to create time to exercise.

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