If there’s one thing I hear most often when speaking to someone about starting a fitness routine, its “How will I make the time?” While I certainly know this is a serious concern for many people, its actually not difficult to “make time for P90X”, if you want to. When you really want something, there is always a way. Also, remember fitness does not have to be time consuming, as you can accomplish a lot in even small amounts of time if you really work at it.
To look at this a little deeper, you have to outline your goals from fitness. Obviously if you’re looking for a really ripped physique, you’ll have to sacrifice a little more than someone looking at health as a means to a quality life. For most people, I think somewhere between these two levels is an appropriate goal. So, lets say someone is looking to improve their appearance, while getting a thumbs up from the Dr Office. Maybe they need to lose 5, 10, 25 pounds, drop a few pant\dress sizes and make sure the annual physical comes back clean. How much time is needed during an already busy week to make this happen?
- The first thing to keep in mind is we need to cut out any time related to prep, travel, or other non-result producing excess.:) To do that, working out at home makes the most sense. Always convenient and ready when you are without traveling to the gym. Home Fitness systems have come a long way, and BeachBody has a library of possible options to choose from.
- Secondly, think total body training in order to tap into as many muscles at once as possible. Exercises that focus on a specific body part may take too long to complete in a reasonable amount of time. Total Body workouts are pretty tough and get the heart rate up quick, but are super effective. Routines offered by 10 Minute Training and Power 90 have great shorter version routines that focus on Total body.
- Third, kick up the intensity to make short workouts count. It doesn’t take an hour to work up a good sweat, especially if you use High Intensity Interval Training. I can get my heart jumping, muscles burning and sweat flowing in about 10-15 minutes. This is not easy, but when time is short, pushing yourself extra hard is the key to seeing results. Think jumping, burpees, run kicks and elevated steps to name a few exercises that will spike your HR! You can find great, short ”HIIT” (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts in Tony Horton One-on-Ones, P90X2, Turbo Fire, Power 90, and Pump.
- Forth, keep your diet in check. Short, Total Body workouts are fine, but anything less than a good diet plan won’t allow you to hit your goals. Plan your meals ahead of time so you’re not caught in a bind with nothing but fast food options. Yes, this may add an extra few minutes preparing, and some forethought at the beginning of the week, but it is worth every second. For good ideas of some great lunch\dinner meals that won’t limit your progress, try any of the nutrition guides you get with BeachBody Programs, or for more variety, I really like the books ”Cooking For Life” and “Cook this, Not that”. Very good tasty ideas.
Combine these 4 ideas and you could end up with a great strong, fit, body in less time than it takes to watch your average sit-com, or reality series:) Don’t think the 10, 15 and 30 minutes you may be able to spare in a day won’t make a difference. Different days have various time constraints so do what you can, when you can. Believe me, you can make the time if you learn to prioritize a little, and make some smart decisions during the week to take advantage of all the minutes in your time pool. Make time for P90X and you’ll be happy you did.
Hope these tips help you. Let me know if you have any questions or need more guidance in this area.
