#makingtime

Letters: For My Dad

Corvallis, Oregon

One year ago today my father passed away. It was sudden. He was 71. There was still a lot of life left in my dad when he died. Today is difficult, and will be even more so for my mother.

I will cry, I am crying now. Yet, what I want to do in this post, is to remember my dad as he lived.

Remember the times that he was there for me. The times that he stood for me, when I…

We are all victims of busier lives, what with juggling full time jobs, home, maybe studying or kids and a social life, it’s little wonder we struggle to make time for exercise. 

It doesn't have to be like this though, there are ways of having it all, and finally achieving your fitness goals. 

So how can you do it? 

1. Make your workouts more efficient.

Use HIIT or Tabata training to get through a really effective fat-burning exercise in a short space of time. Combine arms and legs, for example a squat to an overhead press, or a side lunge with a bicep curl. Use big compound movements such as deadlifts in your weight training to use lots of muscles and thereby burn lots of calories. 

2. Workout in the morning.

I totally understand and hear you when you say, you cant get up that early, but try setting that alarm fifteen minutes earlier to start with and do a ten minute bodyweight blast. Not only does working out in the morning eliminate the chance of life getting in the way, it will give you energy for the rest of the day, and you’ll feel great sat at your desk knowing your workout is done for the day. 

3. Workout on a Sunday to jumpstart your week. 

I always used to do my long run on a Sunday, why because it meant I had done my hardest workout before the week had even started. It really gets you off to a great start knowing that a hard workout is already done. 

4.Make fitness a lifestyle change and not a chore. 

If you embrace and find something you enjoy doing, you are sure to succeed, if its a part of your life rather than something you have to do, you’ll be more likely to be consistent and therefore more likely to achieve your goals. 

How to fit it in? 

1. Join a 24hour gym so you can train whenever suits you. 

2. Leave your gym kit in the car, by the door or in your office, whatever works for you. 

3. Try to schedule at least one workout a week in your diary or calendar app. 

4. Make it a social thing and train with your other half (couples that train together, stay together) 

5. Get a personal trainer to help keep you accountable. 

So that's how you can start to fit a workout in, to finish off I've created a ten minute wake up workout and a twenty minute lunch break workout, let me know how you get on with them? 

Wake up Workout 

Jumping Jacks

Air Squats

Side Lunges

Push ups 

Plank

Perform each exercise for 45 seconds, rest for 15 seconds, before moving on to the next exercise. Once you have completed each exercise rest for 1 minute then go through the circuit again. 

20 minute lunch break gym blast

High Knees

Squat

Single leg squat

Skaters

Push ups

Mountain Climbers

Tricep Dip

Bicycle Crunches

Plank