FINDING THE TIME TO WORK OUT
Time. It’s probably the hardest thing to find these days.
Mornings often feel like an obstacle course as you mightily attempt to get yourself and your family up and out the door in one piece. The chunk of the day is slammed with meetings, phone calls and deadlines, calendar reminders, text messages, errands, and school pick-ups. Then traffic jams or delayed trains halt you, as you simply seek the solace of your home.
Once home, you’re back at it, hurriedly putting dinner on the table, followed shortly by scrubbing and cleaning away, getting your kitchen back in tip-top (okay, just decent) shape. Then, it’s quality time with your family, loved ones and friends. If you have kids, there’s bath time and bedtime routines, and once the little critters are finally asleep you throw on Netflix, and check your emails twice more, before completely checking out for the day. You are done. Phew!
With work and school, long commutes, family obligations, errands and chores filling our calendars to the brim, it’s no wonder that your health often takes the backseat.
However, if you place a high value on your health, time for exercise will be made. And it can be.
A 2018 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that on average Americans (18 years and older) have 5 hours of leisure time a day. Five hours! There’s more than enough time in there to get a good workout in, right?
It turns out, though, that even with ample time, over 80% of adults do not meet the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities. What’s more is that 28% of Americans aged six and older are physically inactive, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
So Americans have the time to exercise, but most don’t. Why is that? Exercise strengthens your body inside and out, making you feel and look better. It’s been proven that exercise has a positive impact on your mental health too. And with exercise reducing the risk of countless health issues including dementia, diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, and colon cancer, to name only a few, why not incorporate it into your life? How can exercise not be part of your life if it adds so much to your life? If it may be the reason that you’re alive in the first place?
For some, the reason can be self-consciousness, the idea that you “can’t do it. Others just haven’t found a workout they enjoy. Some may have physical limitations. Some may have monetary limitations. But for many, it comes down to time; precious time that we fill with the things we have to do and want to do.
The decision to prioritize your physical fitness, fitting it into your five hours of leisure time is part of your life’s long-term strategy. When you do so, the dominoes will more likely fall the way you want them to, elevating your overall well-being.
But you have to want to incorporate fitness into your life. You have to care about it, just as much as you do your career and the people in your life. Because it’s good health that allows you to work smart, think more clearly and spend time with those you love.
Of the average American’s five hours of leisure time, the majority (2.72 hours) is spent watching television, while only .29 hours, or 17 minutes, is spent participating in sports, exercise or recreation (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Every busy person deserves a little R&R, which may mean tuning into their favorite series, but the goal of recharging and refreshing with downtime can also be achieved through exercise.
If you’re not an average American with five hours of time on your hands each day, what can you do to make exercise a permanent fixture in your schedule? By choosing a workout that works for you on all fronts.
FIND A FULL-BODY WORKOUT
You often hear or read about how you need to incorporate cardio, strength training, flexibility and balance in your workout routine. It’s completely daunting to think you can fit all of that in, especially since you’re short on time as it is. You can’t do it all unless you find a workout that encapsulates it all.
You need a full-body workout that targets not one muscle but all of them, increasing your strength, endurance, and flexibility all at the same time. The CKO workout is designed just that way, so that you can get the most bang for your buck in the time you do have.
GET IN AND GET OUT
With the CKO workout, you’re in and out in one hour. That’s it. One hour, otherwise known as just 4% of your day. Don’t you deserve to have 4% of your day center around you and your health? Just sayin’.
And you don’t have to be a slave to the gym. CKO Kickboxing encourages its members to get their CKO workout in at least 3 times a week in order to stay in shape and experience increased fitness ability and overall health. You don’t have to work out every day to see results. If you simply give it your all during that one hour, the results will follow.
BURN MEGA CALORIES
To make the most of your time, every one of your workouts needs to count. If you want to torch those calories to a crisp you need an intense workout on hand. No la di da workout will do.
CKO has you burning up to 1200 calories an hour. But it doesn’t stop there. Because CKO incorporates high intensity interval training (HIIT) in the workout your body continues to burn calories well after your workout ends. Now that’s quite a bonus.
CHOOSE A WORKOUT WHERE PLATEAUING IS UNLIKELY
You want your workout to count, which will be obvious when you count up all the calories you burn. You also want it to work. Continuously.
You don’t want to have to worry if the workout will do its job; you don’t have the time to worry.
The potential for plateauing at CKO is slim since the workout is designed so that you always have the ability to push yourself – from a strength, speed or technique standpoint.
MAKE THE TIME
Now all you need to do is schedule the time. Build a class schedule that works for you and add it to your calendar as a recurring appointment. Your workout has officially become a part of you and your must-do list.
When you have limited time on your hands, it becomes that much more precious. You want to fill that time with things you truly value. The value placed on your health should be toward the top, if not number one on your list. Make time for your health. It’ll add time to your life.
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Article written by Kimberly Oley, CKO Contributing Author and CKO Member since 2015!
