Stuck with a tight schedule? These strategies will help you fit workouts seamlessly into your daily hustle.
Balancing a hectic professional life with a fitness routine seems like an unachievable dream, right? With work and personal obligations stealing all your free time, it can certainly feel that way. But fear not! Creating time for exercise simply requires a bit of creativity and a broader understanding of how to sneak daily workouts into your day.
"The pitfall is thinking that exercise must be an hour in the gym," reveals Charles Scott, your guide in this journey. He's an executive mentor or fitness coach who transforms lives, mostly of busy professionals like yourself.
With a list of around 70 clients, he advocates for a harmonious blend of work and life. "An hour in the gym is great, but it's only one form of exercise," Scott confides to the Associated Press.
In addition to guiding endurance events, Scott has gone to extreme lengths to demonstrate his resolve, such as planning to run across the Grand Canyon in June, a grueling 46-mile (74 kilometers) trek, and accompanying his blind friend Dan Berlin on multiple challenges, including a speed ascent up Mount Kilimanjaro.
The ambitious person's trap
Instead of labeling it exercise, Scott focuses on "intentional movement" – an approach designed for his goal-driven clients.
"The ambitious person's trap is when you undermine your physical and emotional health in pursuit of your professional goals," he warns. It's a common issue among the executives he coaches.
Scott encourages busy people to prioritize aspects beyond money and professional success. He aims to emphasize a holistic perspective, incorporating the emotional, the professional, and the physical, advocating, "Our bodies need to move. No matter what age you are, our bodies must move to stay healthy."
When time is of the essence, here are some ways to incorporate exercise seamlessly into your day without the need for a gym.
- Turn meetings into walkathons. Ditch the office desk or laptop and have those crucial conversations while walking. Standing meetings are a brief, efficient alternative too.
- Embrace the power of isometric exercises. While in a meeting, tighten your stomach muscles, hold for 20 seconds, avoid holding your breath, release, and do it again. This small but impactful action burns calories, tones muscles, and requires no extra time from your schedule.
Here are a few more ideas to blend exercise and work:
- Leverage delayed flights for some extra steps. Visit the airport and hike the terminals to increase your daily step count.
- Link workouts to daily events, such as morning walks or evening push-ups after arriving home from work.
- Make workouts a social event, and exercise with a friend or group for added motivation.
- Adopt an "athlete" mindset and commit to forming habits around this identity. Scott's take on physical fitness – "meaningful discomfort" – is the birthplace of resilience.
- Treat your body with respect, and pay attention to the food you consume.
- Take quick breaks from answering emails and squeeze in a few bodyweight squats or push-ups.
"In business, many people show up to work and crank it out all day," Scott cautions, "which is like a newcomer going out too fast at the start of a marathon." Instead, strive for balance and maintain energy for the personal relationships that matter.
One of Scott's clients, Harry Kahn, the general manager of Vermont Creamery, embodies the partition approach. Kahn sets his alarm for 5 a.m. to ensure he gets in his exercise, typically running, biking, or skiing in the snowy Vermont winters before the rest of the household wakes up. Afterwards, he's able to focus solely on his work and lead a team of 120 employees.
By adopting unconventional strategies, even the busiest of professionals can maintain a healthy fitness routine without the traditional hour-long gym workouts.
- Charles Scott, a fitness coach in Toronto, Canada, advises against the misconception that exercise needs to be an hour in the gym, instead focusing on intentional movement for his goal-driven clients.
- Scott's approach to exercise includes incorporating it into daily activities, such as having stand-up meetings or performing isometric exercises during conference calls.
- In addition to promoting fitness, Scott aims to emphasize a holistic perspective, advocating for the incorporation of emotional, professional, and physical wellness in one's life.
- Scott's methods have helped many busy professionals, like Harry Kahn, the general manager of Vermont Creamery, maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle while still excelling in their career and personal endeavors.
