Does your fast-paced lifestyle stop you from sticking to a fitness routine? Trying to find ways of doing regular workouts with less time on your hands isn’t always easy BUT it’s not an excuse to avoid exercising altogether! Staying fit has many benefits and perhaps you don’t need to set aside as much time as you expect to keep your body in good shape.
Signing up for group fitness classes Sydney gyms offer locals is one way of maintaining wellness—even if you just do it once or twice a week. What other ways are there to get fit with limited time?
If you’re a busy parent, an overworked employee or an enthusiastic social butterfly with little time for getting fit, keep reading!
5 Ways to Get and Stay Fit When You Have Less Time for Exercise
1. Make Fitness Fun
If you think getting and staying fit is boring, no wonder you can’t find time to do it! When something is fun, you’re more inclined to schedule time for it. Group fitness classes can be a lot of fun as well as a way to socially engage with other people. Exercising in a group motivates you to stick to your fitness routine, especially when the camaraderie makes it more fun.
Group classes work for a variety of exercises too, making it easier to find something you’ll love doing. Options at gyms usually include any of the following:
- Bootcamp
- Yoga
- Pilates
- Spinning
When you enjoy exercising, you’ll suddenly find that you do have more than enough time to do it!’
2. Join a Gym in Your Immediate Area With Flexible Hours
Getting to a destination such as a gym can take a lot of time! Finding a fitness studio close by or en route to work saves you from spending more time on the road. Some organisations even have gyms in their office buildings for their employees to make use of.
Joining a gym in your neighbourhood with early and late opening hours makes it easier to work in an exercise routine during the week. Busy parents with little time on their hands can benefit from gyms that offer flexible times during the week or on weekends. One parent can head over once the kids are asleep, or while they’re at playdates.
Tip: sharing parental duties frees up time too for activities such as going to the gym.
3. Try a High-Intensity Interval Training Session
If you seriously can’t squeeze in much time for staying fit, you need to try a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session at your local gym. Designed for individuals living a fast-paced life, HIIT involves short, intense workouts that give you maximum health benefits in minimal time. Intense bouts of workouts balanced out with recovery periods help you to lose weight, gain muscle and improve blood flow and oxygen over a shorter period of time.
4. Look for Opportunities to Walk or Cycle
Walking and cycling are both highly beneficial forms of exercise and can be done most days of the week. Looking for opportunities to walk or cycle allows you to move your body even when your time is limited.
- Instead of taking the elevator or lift at work, opt to walk the stairs.
- Getting up earlier in the morning frees up some time to fit in a walk or cycle. Or, you could cycle to work if it’s not too far from home.
- Ask a group of friends to join you when you go walking – this turns it into a fun and social activity while improving your health at the same time.
- Choose to walk part of the way to work before hopping onto public transport.
5. Go Dancing
One of the best ways to get and stay fit is to go dancing! Not only is it fun, interactive and most suitable for social butterflies but it’s known to have many health benefits too. Dancing improves body flexibility, reduces depression and anxiety, tones muscles and enhances coordination. It can even be done while you’re cooking, playing with the kids or as part of your housecleaning schedule.
Choosing to go dancing after a meal out with friends is an excellent way of finding time to stay fit. Joining a dance class after work or on the weekend is another way of slotting in a fun fitness routine that makes good use of your time, while also making you smile!
Final Thoughts
Living a fast-paced lifestyle doesn’t mean you can’t find the time to exercise. It simply means changing your priorities and activities! Time management and drawing up a daily timetable that includes a fitness class, HIIT session or dancing class are all ways of ensuring you get and stay fit.
Look at it this way – you only need 45 minutes to do a high-intensity fitness class. With a bit of planning, determination and commitment to your overall wellbeing, you can find the time to do a workout. Just do it!
