Making Time To Train

Making Time To Train

There’s no doubt about it, training takes time. Lifting weights takes time. Cardio takes time too. That’s just the way it is. The trick is not reducing the time you spend training, but making sure that it doesn’t interfere with the other important things in your life. That kind of balance is hard to learn and even harder to implement. But here are a few tips that can make it a lot easier.

I believe that fitness is something that should enhance your life. However, I don’t think it should be your life. And there is a BIG difference between the two. I think fitness is important and I certainly prioritize it in my life. But I will never break plans to go to the gym and I will never leave the office early to work out. Why? Because there are some things in my life that are prioritized higher. I think that’s the way it should be. And yet I can count on one hand the number of times I have missed a workout in the past two years.

Schedule Your Time

The biggest thing you can do to ensure that you have time to train is to plan ahead. Work off of a schedule and stick to it as much as possible. Don’t schedule things on top of your gym time and don’t schedule your gym time on top of other things. But have a routine that will work at least 90% of the time for you.

As an example, a couple of years ago I used to train at lunch like clockwork. I had a training buddy at work and when lunch time rolled around we lifted weights at least 3 days per week. The other days, I went at night. I didn’t really have anything to do after work, so that schedule worked great.

Then, I got a girlfriend, my work schedule changed a bit and my gym buddy started working from home more often than not. It was hard to train at lunch, and I sometimes had plans after work. So, my training schedule changed to mornings before work.

I was never a morning a person. So, training in the mornings was a real challenge at first. But we make time for what’s important. And now, it turns out that I like training in the mornings. But the best part is that my morning training doesn’t interfere with work or my evening plans. It’s just part of my schedule, one that I can stick to.

Plan For The Unexpected

If there’s one thing you can count on about life, it’s that the unexpected will always be right around the corner. Kids will get sick, the cat will have to go to the vet, your car will break down, and you will have to go out of town for business. No schedule can be completely bulletproof. But you can still be prepared for such occurrences.

I prepare for these unexpected moments by packing a go-bag. What’s a go-bag? A go-bag is all the stuff I might need in the case I have to just pick up and go, like in the scenarios I mentioned above. I pack protein powder, any sups & vitamins, a food scale, nuts, grains, dried fruit, and resistance bands. If the unexpected happens or if I have to go out of town, I just pack my go-bag and I am good to go. I won’t miss my diet or my training, and everything in my go-bag will handily pass through airport security.

Inconvenience Yourself Instead of Others

A passion becomes an obsession when you allow it to control you to the point of inconveniencing people close to you. That is also kind of selfish. You can and should expect your friends and family to support your interests. But you can’t ask them to bend over backwards for them.

However, if it’s really important to you then you should be willing to make sacrifices. Sacrifices mean an inconvenience to you and not others. For example, I hate waking up early. But I wake up early anyway, because (1) it only inconveniences me (2) it’s easy to schedule workouts in the morning.

When people tell me they have no time to train, then I often recommend that they train early in the morning. Generally, I get some response like, "I can't do that because <insert some bullshit reason here>." But I'd bet dollars to doughnuts if their boss told them they had to be at work an hour earlier then they'd figure out a way to leave the house an hour earlier.

Aside from morning workouts, I have a high volume day that can (and sometimes does) take a good chunk of my day. There are a number of reasons why I do that, but what’s important for the context of this post is that I do my high volume day on Sunday. Why? Mostly because my girlfriend works on Sundays. Would I prefer to do my high volume workout on Saturdays sometimes? Yes. But Sunday is my high volume day because it consumes my time, and nobody else’s.

Make It Part Of Who You Are

A typical workout only takes 1-2hours. Coincidentally, it also takes most people about an hour to eat breakfast, shower, brush their teeth and get ready in the morning. You never hear anyone complain about how they can't find the time to shower. But it seems like everyone's got an excuse why they can't work out. Why is that?

Many people see taking care of their health as optional. Whereas, other things that take time, like personal hygiene, are not optional. If you make your health a priority and something that is not optional then the "I don't have time" excuse suddenly evaporates. 

The bottom line is that if you identify yourself as someone who makes their health a priority then you will have the time because it's not just something that you do; it's part of who you are.

Posted by Clayton Long