Making Time To Workout

After reading our article about finding time to workout as a parent, we still get a lot of questions and comments about how it is not really possible to find time to actually workout. We see questions all the time about how someone can really find time to workout, and how we deal with our kids while we workout. We also see a lot of feedback about how we are just acting like you can find time to workout.

The reality of the situation is that you probably can’t simply find time in your day to workout without some effort. In other words, it’s not like you have some random free time in your busy day that you can easily shift to working out. For some parents, that may be the case, but for many that’s not true. If you’re lucky enough to have an hour of free time at some point in your day, then you’ve got your answer.

For the rest of us, you have to make the time to workout. It’s not going to make itself appear. If you want to actually work out, then you’re going to have to look at your daily routine and schedule, and determine where you can move things around or do things differently in your life in order to make (find) the time to workout. We’re not going to be able to find the time for you - you have to do it.

First off, you need to remove any excuses that you’re going to come up with. It’s going to be easy to look at your day and quickly conclude that there’s no way you can find or make the time to workout. If you want to workout, then you can make the time. If you don’t really want to, then you’re going to come up with excuses. All parents are busy, but many are still able to make the time to workout.

Once you’ve determined that you’re going to workout no matter what, the next problem to solve is how you’re going to actually make the time to workout. Remember, your workouts don’t have to be long every day. Get in the workout that you can each day in order to build consistency. Make time for 30 minutes of working out, but if you’re only able to actually workout for 15 minutes, then take advantage of that.

We’ve provided several ideas for finding time to workout in the past - it’s really you making the time to do it. Whether it’s in the morning, during a nap, late at night, or while your child is playing on a tablet in the middle of the day, it doesn’t really matter. You’ve got to make the time to take care of your body each day. Find a workout that you enjoy and can complete in the time you have available.

You may not be able to do the workout that you want to right now. For years, I was running 3 times a week. Once I had kids, that turned into once a week, and generally it became a much shorter workout. I transitioned from running outside to inside on a treadmill in order to run more. As my kids have grown, I’ve been able to transition to running outside again as they’ve started to actually sleep better. Yes, you’ll have to make compromises, but as your kids grow older, you’ll likely find that you have a bit more freedom to workout as you’d like.

Stop finding reasons why you can’t workout. Make the time to take care of your body - build the consistency. It’s up to you to make it happen.