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Health & Fitness

I Don't Have Time To Work Out!

Health and Fitness Advice on How to Improve Your Life

Physical fitness is a function of two things: Desire and time management.  If you have the desire, you will find the time.  Sometimes creativity and the ability to delegate are needed and sometimes a little selfishness is called for.  But you have the same amount of time that I do or anyone else does, 24 hours every day.  It's about how you use it.

When someone tells me they do not have time to exercise, a few things happen in my mind.  The first is that my brain echoes the words, "Yes you do."  Then I usually think, "Poor time manager."  The fact is that you cannot afford not to exercise, and it does not require a lot of money, a tremendous amount of time (although in some cases more is better), and every little bit is a good start.  I'm not going to list 20 ways to add exercise into your day, because you can read Shape Magazine or some Yahoo! news post for that kind of semi nonsense, but I'm going to hammer home that if you wish to have the best possible life, filled with as many options as possible and few restrictions, you need to make fitness part of your day.  I will provide the basic tenet of exercise:  Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, most days of the week.  That is your baseline and you need to include it in your life starting today.  And as for nutrition, attempt to balance your diet with the four food groups.  Once you can say honestly that you consistently do those two things, you will take it from there.

Some of you suffer from an incredible phenomenon that is sweeping the nation and killing free time everywhere.  If you have this terrible affliction, you must identify it immediately so that you can cure it.  It's called "The world can't live without me" syndrome!

You know, the lady who calls work on her day off "to make sure nothing is blowing up without her there", the guy reading his email at 10:30pm "to get a jump on tomorrow", my favorite: the person who keeps their phone on them at all times "just in case the school calls in the event junior gets sick"' and of course the 82% of you who watch TV at least 2 hours a day or more!  All of you have decided that your lifestyles are what they are, and exercise and cooking good foods are not part of this equation. 

This must change if you wish to have the best life.  You cannot continue to ignore yourself if you wish to provide for your children.  To work harder and for more hours to earn money for them is worthless if your health denies you living long and strong.  Make a time budget (look at a weekly schedule of all things you must do and see where the empty slots lie.  Create slots wherever possible.  Consult a professional trainer to ensure that the time you have is utilized to the fullest extent and manage your life to the healthiest degree.  Remember, life is a long distance event, and a little bit of selfishness to extend your ability to live and work and love is smart strategic planning.

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