Work out in the morning! I always feel energized post-workout, and running in the morning always gives me focus the rest of the day. Plus, then I don't have to worry about scheduling time later! It's easy for me to wake up a bit earlier, I just go to bed at a decent hour the night before. My trick is to set my alarm for 15 minutes before I actually want to get up so I can afford to hit snooze once.
If you just aren't a morning person (and many people aren't), schedule a time during the day or night that is expressly for a workout. Make it like a coffee date, and keep it! If you plan ahead, you are much more likely to go through with it.
If you absolutely don't have time to set aside for a workout, fit workouts into your daily activities. This is actually much easier than it sounds; you don't have to walk on a treadmill while at the office, but you can do little things throughout the day to get fit and strong! Ideas:
- Take the stairs. Even if it's just one flight, it makes a difference. Bonus points if you go up and down a couple of times during your lunch break!
- Ditch the shopping cart. When I get groceries, I try to carry the bags out to my car, holding the bags away from my body to work my shoulders.
- Keep light weights accessible. If you're watching TV, on the phone, etc. pick up a weight and do some bicep curls or shoulder presses. This is actually incredibly effective for me!
- Replace your chair with a stability ball for a tighter core and better posture.
- In stead of sitting at Starbucks with your coffee, take it on a walk.
- Make date night active! Rock climbing is such a fun activity, as well as skating, dance classes, and many other active options.
- Think of it all as a workout! In a study on the caloric burn of cleaning, maids who were told their activity would burn calories ended up burning more than those that were not.
