5 Ways to Squeeze Fitness Into Even the Busiest of Schedules

Being busy isn’t an excuse to give up your dream body

Despite working a 9 to 5, writing part-time, voraciously devouring books, and sleeping 8 hours every night, I work out 1.5 to 2 hours every day.

Fitness doesn’t hamper your productivity. It actually does the exact opposite — by improving your mood, defogging your mind, and boosting your energy.

An hour spent on your fitness will gift you back 3 to 4 hours

So, working out isn’t an enemy but a complement to a busy lifestyle. Here are 5 hacks to seamlessly marry it into your routine.

Choose a Workout Routine that Aligns with Your Preference and Convenience

Most people assume you have to work out for 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, to get optimal results. It’s often the opposite — you can get more done in lesser time.

Most 3-day full-body workout splits are way more effective than 6-day bodybuilder “bro-splits”.

Determine how many days you can work out and how much time you can dedicate to each session. Choose a workout program based on that:

• 2 or 3 days. A full-body workout split is your best bet. Alphadestiny Novice, Icecream Fitness 5X5, and Starting Strength are excellent programs.
• 4 days. An upper-lower split would be the most optimal. Look no further than PHUL.
• 5 days. A PPL-UL would be great. PHAT is excellent for late beginners and early intermediates. If you’re late intermediate or advanced, you can use my present program — Lvysaur Intermediate Aesthetic Routine.
• 6 days. The king split here is Push-Pull-Legs. Reddit PPL, Coolcicada PPL, and David Laid’s DUP are all excellent programs.

Adjust the sets and number of exercises based on your time constraints. Note that after a point — the lesser the time you spend working out, the lesser your potential gains are going to be.

But like with all things in life, this is a trade-off you’ll have to make.

Get Your Workout Done First Thing in The Morning

The later you schedule your workout, the harder sticking to it is going to be.

Evenings are almost always recipes for failure. Something or other will come up — a friend’s birthday bash, a work meeting that runs late, an unexpected date, or a last-minute drinks-outing.

Back in college, this made my social life the sacrificial lamb. Only a fool would repeat the same mistake — the first thing I wake up, I’m off to the gym.

Not only is the workout swept out of the way, but the energy and mood upgrade from the released endorphins will set you up to conquer the rest of the day — you can also use this to trigger your morning routine.

Prep Your Meals in Advance and In Bulk

Luckily, I stay with my family and my mom’s an incredible cook. I literally only prep my protein sources — just boiling chicken breast and eggs. Milk, I chug directly from the can.

But if you have to cook your own meals, prepping in bulk will really help. Order a batch of microwaveable boxes, do your grocery shopping in bulk, and decide a day to do your meal-prepping.

Keep it simple, but make 2 or 3 varieties so your meals don’t get boring. After weighing and portioning them out, store them away in the fridge. And when it’s mealtime, you just need to take it out and microwave it.

Meal-prepping isn’t extreme at all. Here’s an amazing video depicting some of the easiest yet healthiest meals you can prepare.

Have a Fall-Back MVR

Even with the best-suited workout plans, unexpected things can pop up and threaten to throw you off-track.

This is where the concept of a Minimum Viable Workout Routine (MVWR) comes in — just like the corporate Minimum Viable Product (MVP), your MVWR is the minimum you can work out irrespective of how busy you are.

If you’re following a full-body workout routine, your MVWR could be a functional 15 or 20-minute workout.

Or if it is a Push-Pull-Legs program, you could reduce each of your workout days to the major exercise — bench press, weighted pullups, and squats, respectively.

The goal is to get the most bang for your buck — intense heavy sets of compound lifts.

Make It a Priority

“Not enough time” is a myth. If something is a priority, you will somehow make time for it.

As long as you treat fitness as a seasonal whimsical endeavor, things like social media scrolling, binge-watches, useless naps, and late-night outings will eat up all your free time.

Make it an integral part of your life and you’ll see how time will appear out of thin air.

“Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom”

— Jack LaLanne

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