Fitness Friday: Ten Tips For Fitting in a Workout

Last night I attended a soiree. I like to say to word “soiree,” because it sounds all fancy-like. Anyway, it’s Kentucky Derby Time here in the great city of Louisville, so people are having these fancy-shmancy Derby soirees all over the ‘Ville. The soiree I go to every year is hosted my by husband’s company. He works for a hospital system, and every year they reserve Churchill Downs Derby Museum and pack the place with hundreds of doctors and hospital executives, each accompanied by their fancy-shmancy significant-others.

Then I get all dressed up with my fancy-shmancy dress and my fancy-shmancy shoes, eat fancy-shmancy finger foods and play the role of Corporate Trophy Wife. It’s like a costume party for me, because I am so NOT Corporate Trophy Wife material. I would much rather be in flip-flops and tank tops. Which, by the way, would make a great title for a country song.

And just to prove my point about me not being Corporate Trophy Wife Material, here is a true story: Last night as my husband was introducing me to Doctor X and his wife Mrs. X. I say to Mrs. X in my best Corporate Wife Fancy Shmancy Derby Soiree voice, “You look familiar, have we met before?”

To which she responded, “Yes, we met at that one party where you and I sang ‘Play That Funky Music White Boy’ to the karaoke machine.”

She completely blew my cover. And now all my husband’s co-workers know how I usually behave in public. But she did it too, so I didn’t feel all that embarassed.

But also at this fancy shmancy soiree Derby thingie, I got into an interesting conversation with some other corporate wives in fancy shmancy shoes about working out. Specifically, how difficult it is to find TIME to work out when you are a Corporate Trophy Wife with little Trophy Kids, running a little Trophy household.

And I thought it was just so Trophy-ironic, because that is exactly what I planned on talking about this week in my Fitness Friday post!

Yes, I WAS going somewhere with all of that!

Even as I write—very late on Friday morning, I might add—I have yet to work out and am not quite sure when I will do it today. But I’m in my work out clothes, looking for the next available opportunity to do so. I admit, even for Fitness Friday Girl, finding a time to work out consistently is a constant challenge. Especially during weeks like the last few, where I was preparing for a weekly teaching opportunity at church, trying to coordinate conflicting baseball schedules with my children and all hell was breaking loose at home.

Some weeks are more difficult than others.

If you, too, struggle with finding the time to exercise, here are some tips I recommend:

1. Do it first thing in the morning. Set your alarm a little earlier, set out your workout clothes the night before, roll into your clothes as you roll out of bed, and just do it. I know it isn’t easy. I’m the girl who loves sleep more than just about anything. But once you are up and doing it, you will feel really good. And then, voila, it’s over and you can move on with your day.

2. Keep your gym bag in the car. If you work outside the home, or spend lots of time carting kiddos from place to place, having your gym bag in the car will make it much more likely you will stop at the gym on your way home from wherever you’ve been. I pretty much just live in work out clothes so I never really have an excuse. Well, gym clothes or flip-flops and tank tops.

3. Make it a top priority. Schedule it in as you would any other important appointment so your family knows this is just what you do. If you treat it as a top priority, it’s much more likely you will shift other things around to make it happen. Honestly, next to prayer and taking care of the basic needs of my family, my workout is the most important thing I do all day.

4. Use your time wisely. On days when I’m really pressed for time, I will do a 20-minute interval workout. Either Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred DVD or interval training on my elliptical. It’s not what I want to do every day, but it’s hard to rationalize not having even 20 minutes. Going to the gym requires travel time, so be sure to have something at home you can do as a go-to workout on those busy days.

5. Do something you enjoy. It’s amazing how we will make time for things we enjoy. I love to walk outside. As soon as the weather is nice, I’m looking for every opportunity to walk. It doesn’t feel hard to me, so I find a way to make it happen.

6. Do something you can do with other people. If you want to spend time with a friend, a spouse or your kids, what better way to connect than over an activity that gets your blood pumping? Take a family walk after dinner. Meet a co-worker at the gym. Take the kids on a bike ride. Next week, for example, I am planning to meet a good friend to chat and catch up. I suggested we meet at the park and walk instead of the traditional, “meet me for coffee.” We’ll probably still get coffee, but at least we’ll burn off some calories first.

7. Do it in shorter spurts throughout the day. If you only have 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, it’s OK to get it when you can.

8. Remember something is better than nothing. How many times have you psyched yourself out of working out at all because you didn’t have a full hour? If all I have is 10 minutes to do some push-ups and crunches, then I’ll do 10 minutes. My favorite exercise mantra is “Something is better than nothing.”

9. Use weekends to get in a good, long workout. These are usually the days I’ll do my full hour or two of working out. I’ll go to the gym or do a P90X routine at home. I may walk/run at the park and then come home and lift some weights. It helps me mentally during the week, when I’m less likely to have the time for this.

10. Be flexible. With every season of life and every change in schedule, I have to shuffle around my day. That means I can’t always work out at the exact same time every day forever and ever. When circumstances change, I simply work through it and figure out when I’m going to fit it in.

Speaking of fitting it in, I better do it now before I go on to the next thing. I may have to download “Play That Funky Music White Boy” onto my IPod before I do. Why? Because it’s just how I roll.

And please tell me, for the sake of all Trophy Wives out there, how do YOU fit exercise into your busy day?