The smallest amounts of exercise incorporated into your day can make a difference. It’s proven that even just fifteen minutes of exercise a week can help you live longer.
And the good news is that there are some simple ways to hack a little more exercise into your day. Ilija Jahura shares some of his tried and true secrets to sneaking fitness into your busy schedule.
Make It Fun
Ask yourself: is your exercise regimen fun for you? Of course, it’s not always going to be a blast to go for a morning jog, but if you’re struggling to find time to exercise, doing an exercise you enjoy could be the key.
You might realize you can’t get yourself to go running, but you’ve noticed you love doing intense yoga. If it’s an activity that brings you joy or fulfillment, you’re much more likely to make time for it. So if you’re short on time, opt for yoga, and you’re less likely to make excuses and skip exercising altogether.
Exercise from Home
Save time and work out at home! You could invest in some light equipment if you’d like, but plenty of exercises will help you break a sweat with no extra gear needed. Once you start tallying up all of the minutes of driving to the gym in your head and wondering if it’s worth it, you’re already fighting a losing battle.
Exercise apps or YouTube videos can help you maintain good form and give you direction and motivation. It’s like having a personal workout class right in your living room, and you’ve saved a bunch of time!
Quality Exercise, Not Quantity
Exercise is much more about the quality than the length of time. If you’re having difficulty penciling in exercise in your day, you may choose workouts that are too long for you.
Consider opting for shorter workouts that are high intensity. So if you’re avoiding hitting the treadmill because you know it’ll take an hour, go with a fifteen-minute HIIT or other high-intensity workouts instead.
Adjust Your Schedule
If you want to get serious about fitness, there’s always the option to adjust your schedule to make room for it. Of course, it won’t be necessary or possible for everyone to do this. But if not having enough time is the problem, sometimes carving out time is the obvious solution.
Adding your exercise routine to your planner, waking up earlier, or changing your commute so you can stop by the gym are excellent ways to commit to a healthier lifestyle fully. Even if it’s a tough adjustment, you’ll eventually get used to it and be grateful you invested the time and effort in your body.
Insights from Ilija Jahura
Ilija Jahura is a Kelowna-based fitness and health expert passionate about guiding people toward recognizing and accomplishing their goals. Through years of experience developing custom plans that involve everything from strength training to diet, Ilija empowers his clients to become their best selves.
He aims to extend this confidence and achievement into all corners of a client’s life so that they can unlock the power of healthy living.