Time is the most precious commodity.
It’s also the excuse most people give me for their lack of physical condition.
“I work long hours.”; “I’ve got kids to look after.”; “There’s just not enough hours in the day.”
With these reasons excuses in mind, here are seven quick-fire tips you can use to save time and improve your physical condition.
1. Cook en mass
Sunday evening is a time where most of us laze around the living room watching TV, depressed that our weekend is over and that we have to go back to work in the morning. This is a great opportunity to cook food en mass.
An OCD sufferers dream.
What I like to do is cook a big batch of chicken breasts, lots of veggies and a several servings of salad. I’ll also set out some nuts, seeds and whatever else I need for the week.
From there I divide it all up into meals and snacks and store them in Tupperware boxes in the fridge. It’s not exactly a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle but at least I know what I’m eating for the following few days and don’t have to worry about cooking or buying food ‘on the go’.
2. Designate set times to go to the gym
This is a biggie for me.
Regardless of what I’m doing, how busy I am or how I’m feeling, I know that between 6pm and 8pm on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night and from 11am-1pm on a Saturday morning, I’m in the gym*.
Having times set aside will keep you accountable each week and will make sure you plan the rest of your social/work commitments around your training times; as opposed to trying to squeeze in your training and making it the first thing to get dropped when you’re ‘busy’.
Something to note here is that most commercial gyms are open between 6am and 10pm and, therefore, you don’t really have an excuse not to train.
*Due to my (self diagnosed) ADHD, I struggle with ‘rest days’ so I tend to train most days; the example days I gave above are my ‘staples’.
3. Arrange your food the night before
Most people hate mornings and function well below optimum after they’ve just woken up. If this sounds all too familiar, it’s unwise to expect yourself to be able to rise, get ready, plan your world takeover and set out your meals for the day.
Spend 15-20mins (the more of a routine you get into the less time this’ll take) the night before setting out your snacks, lunch, water bottle etc.
Doing this ensures that you don’t get to lunch time and have to run to the nearest McDonalds for a Big Mac meal as “there’s nothing else around”.
4. Run sprints instead of long distance
Rather than spending an hour running at the same steady pace, try spending twenty minutes doing hill sprints*.
Perhaps a slightly unfair comparison, but I like it, so it stays.
Simply run up the hill as fast as you can (if you’re new to this style of training maybe start off at 70% of your fastest and build up gradually). Walk back down and repeat as many times as you can. Initially this will probably only be 3-5 times but as your fitness increases so will your number of repetitions.
Not only will this change save you time, it’ll burn more fat and increase your metabolism, too.
*It’s always wise to warm up before any form of exercise, but particularly before sprints. Sprinting ‘cold’ is a great way to tear a hamstring.
5. Use the left-overs from your dinner for your lunch
If you ignore recommendation number one and spend Sunday nights in front of the TV, a great way to ensure you’re not making bad food choices for lunch is by doubling the amount you cook for dinner.
Simply store the leftovers in a Tupperware box and take them into work with you the following day to have for your lunch.
This approach takes no additional time and you don’t have to sacrifice any other activities you had planned. You’re cooking dinner anyway, just double your ingredients and you’ll save time the following day as you won’t have to go out searching for a ‘healthy’ lunch; you’ll also save money: win-win.
6. Spend less time watching TV
This is pretty easy to wrap your heads around: the more time you spend sitting on your backside, the less time you’re likely to spend exercising and the more likely you are to snack on ‘naughty’ food stuffs.
Rather than religiously watching East Enders every day at 7pm*, get to the gym or go run some sprints.
If you have to watch certain shows you can record them and watch them when you have actual downtime – don’t sacrifice ‘productive times’ for TV.
*I don’t care to find out what time it’s actually on at – or whether or not it’s on every day – so don’t be trying to correct me on it. A’ight?!
7. Sleep well
Sleep is one of the most important aspects of training that is often overlooked and I find it to be all about routine.
If you go to bed at 10pm and rise at 6am for a few days in a row you’ll feel refreshed, recharged and have a ton of energy throughout your day.
Don’t let anyone or anything interrupt your sleep.
However, if you’re like the majority and you lose the plot come 5pm (or 12pm, if you’re lucky) on a Friday and stay up all night/sleep all day during the weekends, come Monday morning you’ll be running on empty and it’ll be Tuesday/Wednesday night until you get your routine locked down again…only to throw it away on Friday (again).
Having inconsistent sleeping patterns is a great way to ensure you’re lethargic and lacking in energy throughout your day. It’s also going to make you more inclined to skip the gym and make lazy food choices.
Plus, if you get up early enough, you can get your training done in the morning, watch East Enders at night and still have time to cook dinner.
Everybody’s happy.
Ross Stewart Fitness 