Strength Training on a Busy Schedule: Tips for Time Management

People are busier than ever and our attention is pulled in 100 different ways at all times. As a small business owner with a 6 month old child, I have discovered first hand how difficult the daily balance can be. Everyone knows that we should prioritize our health, but what does that mean or what does it look like? Growing up, I listened to Arnold who was preaching two hour workouts, six days a week sometimes pulling a second session in the evening. Outside of professional athletes, many people don’t have this much time to dedicate to their training and reading some of these things might be discouraging if you can’t commit that amount of time. The truth is, we can make a lot of progress towards our strength and health goals on limited time, but we have to be diligent in our approach. One of the things I really appreciate about Crossfit is their emphasis on time efficiency and bodyweight movements. It made the gyms filled with machines obsolete and showed it was an inefficient use of money, space, and muscles. Here are the top strategies we’ve used with clients to get great results on a limited schedule. 

• Prioritize your Health. Your body is your biggest asset. We make time in our schedule for work, family obligations, paying bills etc. You have to become strict with yourself and block time in your schedule for yourself. Simply put, if you don’t prioritize your health or your time, no one else will and you’ll eventually begin to miss out on things that truly matter to you. Treat yourself like a priority in your own schedule. 
• Full Body Circuit Workouts. These are great in a time crunch. These workouts won’t make you a pro athlete, but they’ll help you get some movement in each day. As humans, we’re not designed for leg day or chest day etc. Squats, lunges, push ups, Supermans, planks, and even getting up from the ground without using your arms all make for a great workout. You can do these while watching a tv show and you’ll be done in one episode. 
• Little and Often over the Long Haul. This is a quote from Dan John, one of my favorite authors in strength. Simply put, a 20 minutes workout every day of the week is much better than one 90 minute workout. Give your body a little stimulus each day and it gets used to being in motion. Exercise is a habit and the higher frequency the more our health will reward us. 
• Chunk Workouts. Some people have great success doing one workout broken into 3 or 4 chunks throughout the day. Instead of a 30 minute workout, they break it down to 3 10 minute sessions throughout the day. It could look like this 

Pre Breakfast- 10 Squats, 10 Push Ups, 10 Lunges, 10 Sit Ups- 2 Rounds

Pre Lunch- 10 Squats, 10 Push Ups, 10 Lunges, 10 Sit Ups- 2 Rounds

Pre Dinner- 10 Squats, 10 Push Ups, 10 Lunges, 10 Sit Ups- 2 Rounds

Will it put you in the top 1% of athletes in the world, no but it will have such a compounding effect doing 60 push ups everyday that the muscles in your arms will shock you over time. 

• Embrace Active Lifestyle. My wife and I go on walks with our son and dogs almost everyday together. This is time for us to connect with each other, disconnect from work and other stressors, and do something positive for our health. If you can’t walk far that’s fine. You’ll build up a tolerance and over time your ability will increase. We also enjoy things like mountain biking, kayaking, and tennis. These are much better for your health long term than sitting at the bar watching sports all afternoon. 
• Exercise with a Friend. This helps it become something you can look forward to and builds a social aspect into it. Community is a big part of what makes us tic as humans. A workout buddy also acts as someone to keep you accountable. 
• Variety is Key. Sometimes we forget what all exercise can include and we become stuck in a cycle of performing the same routine. You can set your schedule to alternate your exercise each day to help keep things fresh. Here is an example of what your week could look like for daily exercise. 

Monday- Dumbbell Full Body Strength Training

Tuesday- Yoga

Wednesday- Bodyweight Full Body Strength Training

Thursday- Walk or Run

Friday- Resistance Band Full Body Strength Training

Saturday- Bike Ride

Sunday- Walk

This helps keep things fresh and also allows for some built in recovery in between the workouts. The biggest take away from this article is to keep your body moving. Our body craves motion. The more we feed it motion, the easier it becomes because it allows us to do more physical tasks with ease. As our schedules become busier, we must keep our own health as priority for our physical and mental health. This applies for people just starting to exercise and those who have been dedicated for decades. As we get older, we move less. By continuing to move more as we age we are giving ourselves the best longevity hack known to man. No pill or procedure, just time spent moving our bodies and stimulating our minds.