Between work, kids, school, sports, and whatever else occupies a normal day, we rarely have to time to think about exercise and when to squeeze it in to our busy schedules. Most of us, year after year, sit down and write a fabulous sounding New Year’s resolution to exercise daily, eat right and stick to the script from then on out. Unfortunately, life is unscripted; therefore we have to set goals and schedules to fit our ever changing lifestyles. The only way to confirm you get proper exercise and fitness daily is to restrict your exercise schedule as little as possible. After all with restrictions come rules and we all know rules were meant to be broken! With this flexible schedule you are more likely to set a schedule and stick to it.
The first and most important step in forming this exercise schedule is to pick activities that you enjoy doing. Exercise shouldn’t be work. It should be a great experience that you like to do. You should consider things like bicycling, waking, jogging, even playing with the kids in the park is a great form of exercise. The more you enjoy the activity, the easier it will be for you to stay committed to exercising. Next, take a good look at your entire week’s schedule. From Monday to Friday, check out your work schedule, school schedule or what ever your daily routine may be. Then, take a look at any extra curricular activities you may have planned for the week. If you are serious about setting a schedule for yourself, you should jot all these times down so you can actually see what your schedule looks like. Now that you have your week’s schedule written down in front of you, write down any spare time you may have for each day of the week. This includes mornings, afternoons, and nights where you have downtime.
Now you have a clear understanding of when you will be busy, and when you will have some time to exercise. Pick a time that will be open everyday of the week. For example, this could be everyday at 7am or every night at 8pm. This will be your designated time to exercise.
We all know that life throws us curve balls every chance it gets, and more than likely of all the things to eliminate and replace in our schedule, exercise would be the first. That is why it is important to do the pre-planning process of scheduling, where you sit and write down, for each day, any extra time you may have. In the event that something comes up during the time that you designated to exercising, substitute that time for an alternative time you have to spare. This technique may seem too lineate to actually work, but it will. Imagine you set 7pm to be your time to exercise, no ifs ands or buts about it.
When something comes up at 7pm, exercise becomes an inconvenience and you will most likely eliminate exercising that day all together due to the fact that you did not set aside a back up time to exercise. When you are flexible with your exercise schedule, you inconvenience yourself less and tend to stick to your exercise and fitness plan. Remember, don’t be too hard on yourself when setting your schedule. Have fun and plan activities you like and that fit in with your lifestyle.