How to Fit Fitness Into Your Life

If you are like most of us, you are on the go most of the time...taking the kids to soccer practice, making dinner, paying bills, staying on top of things at work, the list goes n and on. As Americans, we are busier than ever and continue to add more stress to our lives on what seems like a daily basis. We all know that exercising regularly is extremely important for improving our health as well as for shedding a few unwanted pounds. So, why do we have such a hard time making time for working out?

A lot of us have the misconception that in order to make any real difference in our current fitness level, you need to devote hours upon hours to the gym. And who has time for that? But if you exercise smart, this is simply not true. If the busiest people can find time for fitness, so can you! The key to fitting fitness into your life is to make it convenient and practical for your schedule!

What do you spend 30 minutes doing each day? Watching your favorite television show (and this is usually more like 60 minutes or more)? Reading the paper and having a cup of coffee? Running errands? So, why not 30 minutes a day, three days a week working out? That is less than 1% of your week. (I exaggerate because of the driving time to and from the gym. But you get the idea.)

In fact, some of these things can be done while working out or in conjunction with your workouts. Let's take a look...watching your favorite television show. Why not watch your favorite television show while exercising. Some health clubs now have integrated television screens in their cardiovascular equipment (things like bikes, treadmills, etc). So, instead of munching on your favorite snack food and taking in 300 calories while watching American Idol, why not burn 300 calories while watching American Idol and walking on a treadmill? Similarly, you can bring the paper and your coffee to your gym and hop on the elliptical trainer while you read and burn off those same 300 calories. Devote just 5 of those 30 minutes to lifting weights, and you are going to change fan to muscle, allowing you to burn more calories all day long as you sit behind your desk.

Working out, whether it is cardiovascular or strength training, 30 minutes a day, three days a week can significantly improve your overall health. Cardiovascular exercise: running, biking, swimming, playing basketball, etc. decreases your chances of having a heart attack or stroke, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, while also maintaining or decreasing your weight. Strength training improves bone density, muscular strength, and as discussed above, allows you to burn more calories while you are not working out. Strength training also decreases your chances of developing diseases like osteoporosis, a disease commonly found in women as we age, that leads to weak bones.

If you are a typical Severna Park resident, you made a New Year's resolution a couple months ago to lose weight or in some way improve your health...maybe it was to quit smoking or lower your cholesterol, regardless, now is a time to check in with your self to see how you are doing. If you have fallen off the bandwagon, or not quite gotten on the bandwagon, now is the time to do so...and start with scheduling in 30 minutes! Give it a try. All you have to lose is the old body you want to replace!