Fitting Your Workouts into a Busy Schedule

Fitting Your Workouts into a Busy Schedule

Nick Smoot-Owner of Smoot Fitness

Smootfitness.com

 

So I just started back at ODU for the fall semester, and as my free time began to dwindle down, my respect grew for those that make time for their fitness goals despite being MUCH busier than I am.  Unfortunately, strength training is not our only obligation.

School, work, raising kids, social activities… they are all priorities that can’t be avoided simply because they fall within our “prime time” to train.  If you are truly motivated to reach your goals, you will find a way to workout no matter how hectic your schedule becomes.  It just takes a willingness to make sacrifices and unrelenting determination to get the job done.

 

It’s a Mindset

I was reading Alan Aragon’s book Girth Control the other day and I came across a diagram of the six components of a fitness program: resistance training, cardiovascular training, food and fluid intake, supplements, rest, and psychology/motivation.  Now what struck me as unique about this diagram was that the psychology/motivation block formed a border around all of the other components of the plan.  Without motivation, the entire program would fall apart, and this is an important principle to remember.

Personally, I have a passion for training, and there is a better chance of me skipping my other obligations than missing a scheduled workout.  Weird, obsessed, whatever you want to call it, making time to train has never been a problem for me.  For many individuals, especially those who view working out as something they are forced in to because of health complications, making time to workout is a daily struggle only compounded by an increasingly busy schedule.

Whatever your stance on working out, you cannot allow a lack of motivation and/or mental strength to develop first in to excuses, before translating in to missed training sessions and stalled progress.  In order to be successful, you must be consistent.  In order to be consistent, you must adopt the mindset that you will make time to train at all costs.  Commit to your workouts on the days they are scheduled and do not allow anything to throw you off track. 

 

Learning to Train in the Morning

Ok so my first tip for fitting your workouts in to a busy schedule is going to be to train first thing in the morning, and there are a few reasons for this.  First and foremost, many people work 9-5 shifts, so they have a few hours (depending on how early they wake up) to get in their training session before the work day officially starts.

Secondly, the majority of social activities and/or surprise obligations pop up in the afternoon and the temptation is much greater to skip your workout.  For me, there is nothing like starting the day with a challenging training session.  Success in the weight room seems to carry over in to all other tasks during the day, and the post workout endorphin release is something that no stimulant can provide.

I know the morning just won’t be the same without six cups of coffee and two hours of Sport Center re-runs, but sometimes sacrifices must be made.  It will take time to get used to, but eventually your body will adapt and you will perform just as well (if not better) than at any other time of the day.

 

Be Flexible

Sometimes morning and afternoon workouts are just not possible, and learning to be flexible is extremely important in exercise adherence.  A single mother might be busy all morning getting her kids prepped for school before racing to their after-school activities the moment she gets off of work.  This woman barely has a moment to breath, but an hour lunch break is more than enough time to squeeze in a brutal training session.  You may be tired and inconvenienced, but those are the conditions that generally breed some of the best training sessions.

 

Adjust Your Training Split

Generally speaking, most training programs break down in to 60- 120 minute workouts three or four days per week.  These programs have plenty of frequency and volume for optimal muscle stimulation while providing enough rest days for sufficient recovery.  It’s great if you can set up your training programs in this fashion, but what if your daily schedule only allows you thirty minutes to workout?  Well you certainly don’t abandon your program and spend those thirty minutes trolling popular YouTube channels.  Just increase you training frequency (the amount of days you are in the gym) to maintain enough volume to stimulate adaptions.

Now sometimes it may not be possible to get in to the gym more than once or twice per week.  In that case, increase volume (and consequently workout duration) on training days to make up for the lowered frequency.  Is it optimal?  Probably not, but abandoning your training all together is a quick way to detrain and lose previously acquired adaptions.

I read an article by strength and conditioning Coach Eric Cressey in which he talked about the difficulty of gaining strength, but the ease of maintaining it.  Whether or not you spark new growth training once or twice per week is largely dependent on your training age (advanced lifters will probably just end up spinning their wheels).  At the very least, training in this fashion will allow you to maintain your previously gained adaptions until you schedule opens back up.

 

Conclusion

I want to leave you with a lesson I learned from the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Sean Covey.  Imagine that you have a bucket, a pile of big rocks, a pile of small rocks, and a pile of pebbles spread out on a table in front of you.  The big rocks represent top priorities/obligations, the small rocks represent less important priorities/obligations, and the pebbles represent social events, hobbies, watching TV, etc.  The goal is to get all of the rocks and pebbles to fit in to your bucket.  Now if you try to fill the bucket with the pebbles first, you will waste space and not be able to get all of the big rocks in to the bucket.  The only way to succeed at this task is to start with the big rocks, place the small rocks in next, and allow the pebbles to fall in between the cracks.  If you can learn to view working out as a “big rock,” as a major priority of your day; if you can turn your back on excuses and face adversity with a smile, you will become an unstoppable force that only stops at the finish line.

 Contact Nick:

Email: nsmoot2@gmail.com

Twitter: Smootyn

Facebook: Smoot Fitness

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