Although I’ve previously written about how to get through your workout more quickly, I realize that time is still very much a limiting factor for many people who want to get into an exercise routine. For some people, it can be very difficult to fit working out into their schedules. Their lives are so busy that they can barely get enough sleep each night, so trying to stick to a daily workout routine just isn’t practical.
Luckily, for those of you that this might apply to, this doesn’t mean you have to completely give up on any fitness goals you may have. Even if your schedule doesn’t really allow you time to exercise very often, there are still quite a few things you can do to gain muscle or lose fat.
In this post, I’ll share with you some tips on how to achieve your fitness goals while still accommodating a hectic and time-consuming schedule.
Focus on Compound Workouts
If you’re someone who’s very occupied with school or work and have pretty much decided that you’ll have to wait until your next life to give building muscle a try, this no longer has to be the case. Even if you could potentially only squeeze in a quick workout 2-3 times a week, including weekends, this should be enough to help you gain significant strength and muscle. However, your approach should be tailored to focus on compound movements.
Compound exercises are great because they simultaneously recruit multiple muscle groups, as opposed to isolation exercises, which target one muscle at a time. Instead of needing to train each part of the body separately, you’ll be able to work out all your major muscle groups with just a few exercises. This has the obvious advantage of cutting down the amount of time you need to spend in the gym.
Specific exercises you should prioritize include bench presses, overhead presses, rows, deadlifts, and squats. If you can manage to fit all of these exercises into a single training session, then you can essentially get in a full body workout every time you go to the gym.
Unfortunately, avoiding isolation exercises means you might not be able to maximize muscle growth in all parts of your body, but even if you only perform compound exercises a couple of times a week, you’ll still be able to increase your strength substantially and develop a decent physique.
Leverage Body Weight Exercises
Another way you can further build muscle when you’re short on time is to do some simple calisthenics, or body weight exercises.
The most common body weight exercises for building general strength include push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups, although there are plenty more out there that you can try. These exercises are perfect for when you really don’t have time to go to the gym, since they require little to no equipment and you can do them at home or pretty much anywhere.
The power of calisthenics shouldn’t be underestimated; people who specialize in it are incredibly strong and have amazing physiques, but you don’t need to invest that kind of effort to derive some of its benefits. Even if you can stick to doing just a few of these exercises consistently throughout the week, you’ll be surprised at how much you can improve your conditioning over time.
I’ve also written another post that goes over many more calisthenics exercises you can do if you’re at home and don’t have any weights at your disposal.
Walk When You Can
If you’re primarily concerned with losing weight, but don’t have the time to do a lot of cardio, simply walking more every day is a great way to increase your activity levels and help you burn more calories.
For something that doesn’t seemingly require a lot of physical exertion, walking can burn calories at a surprisingly efficient rate. Even at a moderate pace, walking 10,000 steps can burn around 300-400 calories. For most people, that equates to about five miles, or roughly an hour and a half of walking.
That might sound like a lot, but it’s not that hard to achieve if you spread it throughout the day. If you usually take public transportation to and from work, try walking instead. Take a 15-minute walk during your lunch break to refresh yourself physically and mentally. In the evening, take another walk around the neighborhood after dinner, and that might be enough to get you to 10,000 steps.
Obviously, the more you can walk, the better, but if you’re able to hit at least 10,000 steps a day, this might help you control your weight and even begin to bring it down over time.
Other ways you can increase your activity levels are by engaging in more active hobbies when you do have free time. Instead of watching TV or playing video games, play a sport or go for a bike ride at your local park. Even when you do watch TV, doing so while walking on a treadmill or spinning on an elliptical are better alternatives to just sitting on the couch.
Limit Your Calories
It’s good to know that you can live a more active lifestyle even if you can’t fit in a lot of exercise and cardio into your schedule; what’s even better is that the most important part of losing weight doesn’t require much of a time commitment at all.
In order to lose weight, you must continuously burn more calories than you take in. While being more active will help increase the amount of calories you burn, you can more effectively lose weight by watching your diet and limiting how many calories you eat.
Once you figure out how many calories you typically burn in a day, make a plan to eat under that amount by about 500 calories, which should be enough to help you lose weight at a rate of one pound per week. Yes, you’ll have to be a bit more careful with what you eat and how much you eat, but making smarter decisions about food is something that everyone should have time for.
If anything, maintaining a caloric deficit is difficult more so because of the mental challenge it presents, since it requires you to stay disciplined through periods of hunger and low energy. However, there are ways to make this process less burdensome, which you can learn more about in my post The Most Effective Diet Plan for Losing Weight.
There’s Always a Way
A lack of time is one of the biggest reasons why so many people have trouble achieving their fitness goals. As much as I want to encourage people to routinely make time for going to the gym or any form of exercise, it would be naive of me to think that this is sustainable for everyone. However, just because you can’t routinely exercise doesn’t mean you can’t still work to improve your personal fitness. No matter what, your own health is something that everyone should value and prioritize.
Hopefully, I’ve shown that even if you’re a very busy person, there are still plenty of ways to achieve muscle growth and fat loss as long as you put your mind to it.
