How To Keep Fit As An Ultra-Busy Person

If there’s one thing that most people lack these days, it’s free time. Working from home has resulted in more flexibility for some, but for plenty it has merely caused office hours to bleed into the few hours of freedom they had. Keeping fit and healthy is a huge part of living a happy and productive life and all too often that falls by the wayside. Don’t give up hope though: there are many ways to maintain health and fitness that can slot into a busy day.

Build Movement Into Your Routine

Keeping fit doesn’t necessarily involve working out for hours every week. If you pay attention to how you spend your time it’s probable that you’ll notice small periods throughout your day which are spent on nothing at all – minutes during which you distractedly surf the web, wait for a kettle to boil or stare vacantly at the TV while deciding what to have to dinner.

All of us need moments like this to “reset”, but if you want to get fit or maintain your fitness then you can use this downtime to get moving. While you’re waiting for coffee do ten push-ups; every time you reach a work target do ten squats; when you feel yourself losing concentration jog on the spot for a minute or two. Physical exertion will actually recharge your mind much more effectively than browsing social media.

Find Time – Or Make Time

Sometimes people go through life with the idea that they simply do not have time to do certain things. Take a look at your free time (subtract work hours, sleep, and necessities like cooking and eating), and note down what you do in those hours. It can be quite a revelation to realise how you spend your free time – most people find that they spend time zoning out with activities that bring no real gains. If you spend an hour on social media every day, you have time to exercise. You might feel like going online is a break, but staring at a screen can become compulsive and addictive. Try spending half of that hour going for a brisk walk or run around the block.

Keep Accountable

Motivating yourself to work out can be hard when you’re fighting fatigue and lethargy – which is where accountability comes in. There are many ways of doing this: partnering up with a friend or family member, joining a club or subscribing to an online fitness class or personal trainer are some examples. Or you can motivate yourself by saying a 20 minute workout allows you to spend the same amount of time choosing your lucky balls afterwards.

Workouts needn’t be long – spending ten minutes jogging with a friend five times a week is better than trying to cram in a frantic hour at the gym every two weeks.

Make It Fun

It’s way more likely that you’ll want to make time to keep fit if the exercise is something you enjoy. Working out doesn’t just mean lifting weights or running up and down hills. Whether you love dancing, racing your children up and down the garden or learning to walk on your hands, there is a workout just right for you.