How to Find Time For Your Fitness Routine for Active Woman Over 40 in Maryville, TN

Everyone knows they need to move their bodies more and eat less junk in order to live an active and energetic life.

The challenge is figuring out how to find the time to do it when each day is already so busy and full.

Maybe you can relate with this common scenario: Despite a poor night’s sleep, you start the day off with grand intentions exclaiming your daily affirmation “I’m going to make it a great day” while mere moments later hustling your hide out the door to make it to your early morning meeting. Before you ever even close your skirt in the car door, you find yourself going through your favorite coffee shop drive through for a grande skinny caffeine jump start because you forgot to make breakfast, and well, “the milk has protein”.

A long busy day and a big lunch out with the boss (to rehash everything that should have been clarified at the early morning meeting), you can’t wait to hit the gym on the way home for a stress-relieving cardio kick boxing class… except you forgot your gym bag.

Well, that’s no big deal because you can stop by the house “really quick” to change. You tip toe through the door hoping you won’t be seen and promptly hear a teenage voice holler from down the hall “Mom’s home!”  Unintentionally forgetting your lofty fitness goals, your husband greets you with his delighted “Hey Babe, welcome home. We just ordered a pizza.”

And then it begins. The voice inside your head pleading the case like a trial lawyer without a loss: “Actually, time with the family is just what I need tonight. Besides self, you didn’t sleep well last night and it would do you good to just relax instead of getting your heart rate all jacked up this late in the day. And pizza has tomatoes so that’s a veggie, plus you wouldn’t make it to class on time anyway… Just go for two classes tomorrow.”

We get it. At MOTIVFIT we’ve coached hundreds of working moms and dads, busy professionals, students, and caregivers of aging parents… and some folks struggling to balance all these at once.
Sometimes it feels like it’s enough just to get through the day, never mind squeezing in hours of fitness… even though, deep down, you really want to be fit.

We have found that you don’t need to carve out huge chunks of time to be fit. Adopting simple systems will help you improve in small areas at a time

(And speaking of time, today for the sake of time, we will focus on fitting in fitness. Feel free to reach out if you need help with nutrition or other areas of your health.)

Just like last week, the first secret to success always points back to your reason WHY. Why is being able to exercise important to you? What will happen if you don’t get physically fit now? How will you feel if you don’t exercise?

Figuring out your WHY helps you to identify your priorities.
Things of highest priority are most fulfilling and often relate to family, faith, health, and livelihood. This is where you should be spending most of your time.

Time is a commodity we can’t get back, so spend it wisely.
Moses prays about fleeting time in Psalm 90:10  saying “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away.”

After acknowledging the brevity of our time on earth he continues in 90: 12 saying “Teach me to number my days”.

In Psalm 39:4 David echoes this prayer saying “Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am.”

In order to live a healthy life of purpose and passion you need your health. Spend some time on that. You will never regret it.

Here are a few ways we found to fit fitness into a busy life:

1. Put exercise and movement in your calendar.

We spend our time on what we value most. Schedule it in and stick to it just like you would a doctor’s appointment. Because let’s face it, if you don’t make time for your health today, you’ll be forced to make time for your illness later.

2. Keep it short and simple. 

Start by scheduling your fitness priorities in shorter increments. If you’re skipping your one-hour workouts because it takes too long, try one of our express 30 minute Kick Start workouts.

Shorter workouts can reduce overuse injuries so you can stay consistent.

Shorter workouts increase intensity by reducing rest intervals so you can boost conditioning and fat burning.

Shorter workouts reduce stress and allow for more productivity in other areas you prioritize.

3. Work out from home.  Home workouts eliminate the drive time to and fro the gym.

They also create a more enjoyable experience overall since you don’t have to worry about gym memberships, gym cooties, or wearing a mask while exercising.

When you workout at home, you can forget forgetting your gym bag too. Having your exercise bands and weights conveniently available (not 30 feet up in the garage rafters in an unmarked box behind the Christmas decorations) will help to eliminate excuses not to exercise at home.

4. Double up on social time by exercising instead of sitting.

Meet a friend for a morning hike before work instead of a high calorie lunch. Fly a kite or go swim in the pool with the kids or grandkids. Or grab a few friends to join you in our Kick Start program.

5. Remove things that aren’t adding to your fulfillment or survival

TV and social media are the biggest time suckers. You don’t have to eliminate it all together, but you can easily swap out 30 minutes of “quick” news feed scrolling for a fun and uplifting 30 minute workout.

Most people know that moving the body more will make them feel stronger and more energized. They just need help applying that knowledge in the context of their busy lives.