Where can I get more time?

photo by pablosanz

It's quite clear I have everything for not practicing exercise: I'm a sedentary man that arrives at home a little bit late and I'm a father also. Where can I get time to do my workouts?

This is the hardest thing because if you can't set up a workout routine you'll probably stop working out.

When I see, read or hear some article about the things that people say to avoid practicing exercise, usually the main reason is: "I don't have time". In my opinion I thing that this is not an excuse because it's really very hard to get time for running or any other sport.

How much time I need?

We have to consider that, at the beginning, the duration of our workouts will be between fifteen or twenty minutes. As we start progressing in our workouts we'll need more and more time. Also, we spend time gathering our stuff (running clothes, music, pulsometer) and warming up and, at the end of the practice, warming down, stretching and having a refreshing shower.

Definitely, for an amateur runner like me, a workout with all its implications, will need between fifty minutes and an hour.

How can I plan?

At this point, we've just entered in a hard place: the sacrifice.

Are we ready to give part of our limited time to running? This is the question we have to consider.

But, how can we answer it? Before setting a timetable, I'd honestly advise you that when working out, you have to try the sport, it can be running or whatever and afterwards you have to practice it more regularly. If we really like and it motivates us, we'll find time to practice this activity every week, two or three times a week.

On the other hand, if we don't like this sport and it feels like an obligation, our sacrifice will be huge and it will become a very hard task with few options to succeed. Although you know, if you have willpower everything is possible.

In my personal case, I've planned my schedule early before going to work, so I've given up an hour or an hour and a half of sleeping in order to working out. This schedule doesn't penalize my tasks as a father or any other tasks. Even so, it's not easy to wake up a little bit early (due to the laziness), but it's absolutely compensated by my own satisfaction of doing the workout well.

I encourage you to share your experiences and your difficulties setting a timetable.

Coming soon I'll post about possible motivations for doing this exercise in a fun way.