Monday, November 19, 2007

Busy Mom's Secret to Making Time for Workouts

Busy Mom's Secret - Manage Energy, Not Time










No Time? Too Busy?

What about all those Time Management strategies? You've tried carefully organizing your fitness goals, scheduling your workouts and listing out the priorities of your day all with the goal of getting more done in a shorter amount of time. So why does your workout keep getting put off?

The secret lies in managing your ENERGY rather than simply your time. Time is a finite resource yet we try to manage it every day. We only end up frustrated because we cannot get more done in less time. Energy on the other hand is something you can manage. It can be extended and renewed on a daily basis.

You know when you are feeling enthusiastic, you are more motivated to not only get more done, but to focus on the tasks that produce more energy - like fitting in your workout. When you are feeling blah or just tired, you come up with a handful of excuses not to workout or you attempt to get it in but don’t put your best efforts into it.

We all have different levels of energy at different times of the day. Most Busy Moms would say they definitely are or are not a morning person--there's not usually much gray area in the morning department. As for night owls, the more energy they have after the sun goes down to get things done, the better.

So when it comes to managing your energy, start by paying attention to your energy patterns throughout the day.

Match your Energy to the Task
From here, schedule high energy tasks to the part of the day that you work best.

~ Use high energy peaks for your most challenging tasks - your workouts, meal planning/preparation, playing with your children, etc.

~ Use low energy valleys for routine tasks such as writing in your journal, doing laundry, taking inventory of the food in your pantry, etc.

Throughout the day, ask yourself: "What’s the best use of my time and energy right now?"

Bottom line, when you find yourself saying....I just don't have the time to workout - know that time isn't really the problem. No one else has any more than you.

Making use of your peak energy times will make the challenging task of "finding the time to workout" not only easier to accomplish, but the successful completion of each one will only lead to an upward spiral of more, good feeling energy.

Combine these Energy Management Skills with the short burst exercises in the Fit Yummy Mummy Workout Plan and get fit in just 90 minutes a week!

I Have to say I am quite shocked….I usually workout for 1-1.5 hrs 3x/wk in the gym ....I do this program at home 6 days a week for 15 minutes. I try it exactly as Holly said since I'm not getting the results I'd like at the gym. When I saw the exercises in the manual, I thought "this will be easy... I do these all in my classes". WRONG!!! I do them back to back …I'm only working out for 15 minutes…. I definitely get my heart rate up and sweat. I like having the extra time at home with the kids and to get stuff done.”

Ellen Antoine

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great insight, Holly, thank you! I'm not yet a mom, but I have much respect and admiration for moms, because even I find myself feeling as if I don't have enough time to get everything done in a day. I never realized it's just about refocusing my ENERGY! No more excuses for not working out or for not getting things done now!

On a side note, I have been faithfully journaling for the past week, and I feel so much better than I did when I wasn't writing anything down - it really helps!