3 Ways to Balance Work and Fitness

Exercise is one of the best things you can do to improve your quality of life.

With a consistent routine of physical activity, you will feel stronger and healthier, you’ll be less susceptible to illness, and your stress levels will plummet.

Your mental health will benefit enormously, and with every workout, you are prolonging your life.

But it’s not always easy to find enough time to exercise.

Health professionals usually recommend at least thirty minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per day, but what if you have a busy lifestyle that doesn’t give you the free time you need.

By the time you’ve made the long commute home from work, a gym session is the last thing on your mind.

All you want to do is wolf down some dinner, plop yourself down in front of the TV, and go to bed. How do people find the time to do all this exercise?

Many people find ways to fit an exercise regime around their work schedule without compromising the efficacy of either one. And you can learn to do it too.

All you need to do is be smart about how you use your time. To get you started on your fitness journey, here are three ways to balance work with fitness.

 

Use your commute

More often than not, your journey work is dead time in your day. You could spend it reading a book or responding to your emails but be honest – how often do you spend your train journey just scrolling through social media or staring out the window?

Make the most of this time by using your commute to exercise. If you live within a few miles of your office, why not get up a little earlier to walk, run, or cycle to work?

If your office is too far to run, you could commute part way and then travel the remaining distance on foot.

Make the most of breaks

We all have breaks throughout the day that we use to eat lunch, chat with colleagues, or grab a coffee.

Optimize these small spaces in your for a bit of physical activity.  Office workouts are a great way to take a break and get that blood pumping and keep you motivated throughout the day.

As soon as lunchtime rolls around, strap on your closed cell foam roll trainers and head to the gym or squeeze in a quick run. Take breaks during the workday to do a few yoga poses or have a stretch.

Schedule your day

One of the reasons you find it so difficult to fit in exercise is that you don’t make it a priority. For you, work comes first. But how often do you end up sitting through boring meetings or business lunches that don’t help you accomplish your goals?

If you can take out thirty minutes for a pointless Zoom conference, you have time to fit in a health-boosting 5k run. All you need to do is schedule it into your daily itinerary and commit. Create a plan at the start of each day listing the things you will accomplish and when.

Including an exercise session in your timetable makes you more likely to see it through.