Daily Planning for Men: Fitting Exercise into Your Day
Get up. Eat breakfast. Workout.
Get up. Workout. Go to work. Grab a bite on the way in. Work through lunch. Go home.
Get up. Go to work. Pick up kids. Have dinner. Workout.
Which scenario sounds most familiar to you? I hope at least one. As a busy man, I understand how difficult it can be to juggle your schedule when it is ever changing. You never know when an early meeting will be called, when the kids will get sick and have to stay home from school, or when an appointment will run a lot later than planned.
It’s easy to get yourself into a daily routine but that routine can, for many, be easily broken. What alternatives do you have on the days where things just don’t seem to be going quite right?
Make Backup Plans
Make a couple of backup plans just in case you need to reorganize your daily schedule. Let’s say you’re used to getting up early to go for a run. It’s pouring rain so do you skip your workout or go down to your home gym? That one was easy – you go hit your treadmill.
But what happens when you plan to hit the gym after work, before picking up dinner for your wife, and end up stuck in a meeting that goes an hour longer than planned? Dinner is late, the kids are fighting, your wife is frazzled, and the dogs need to go out. Do you skip your workout? No. You walk the dogs; you play with the kids; and you use some of your home gym equipment while you watch your wife’s favorite TV show with her.
What are your everyday backup plans? Do you have a jogging route you can use on your lunch break at work when things don’t pan out in the morning? Will you go to a local gym near your job you can visit in the evenings when your home workout doesn’t happen in the AM? Or do you have a home workout routine you can follow when you don’t make it to the gym in the morning?
You are the only one responsible for your health and exercise is a critical component to your overall well-being. Make the time to fit your workout into your day, even if every day has to be a bit different. You’ll be thankful for the time you’ve carved out for yourself.