I‘m not so sure I should actually be writing a post with this title. My life isn’t nearly as simple as I could make it if I would dedicate a little bit of time to help myself get more organized. But let’s face it, everyone wants to simplify their life because a simple life leads to a happier life with more time to truly do the things that you want to do–whatever those things are.
I spend a lot of my spare time working out. I also spend a lot of time getting ready to workout and taking care of my sweaty clothes and such after I exercise. Maybe I can save some time and money (maybe even do something good for the environment) if I thought a little bit about streamlining my exercise process. Here are just a few ideas that may help you if you find yourself in similar situations as I do.
Run from Home
Because we’ve chosen to live out in the country, there’s not a lot I can do about the amount that I drive. I have to take my kids to school, and I have to shop for groceries and run errands. Usually, I time my workouts to coincide with these errands so I’m not actually driving more to workout. BUT, I don’t spend nearly enough time running out on the beautiful country roads near my home. I used to think they were too hilly, but now that I’m in much better shape, I should definitely start taking advantage of the scenery. If you drive to get to workout, consider trying to run from home more often. Your workout will take less time, and you will spend less money on gas. Plus, you may even have a conversation with a neighbor that you don’t know very well.
Run with friends
I often wish that I had more time to be social. But finding and maintaining friendships is hard work and sometime I feel like I’m not very good at it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total loner, Pam and I do have friends. We meet them through our childrens’ activities, Pam’s job, and occasionally through exercise. One way to work on friendships is to multitask. Run with a friend so that you can be social and get your workout in at the same time. That should free up some time in your day to do other things.
Plan your meals
I’ve talked about meal planning before. Spending 30 minutes at the beginning of the week planning out all the meals for the week would probably save me 3 hours over the course of the week. By doing this, I could make one shopping trip, cook in advance, add food to my freezer for later use, and stop wasting time staring into the cupboards wondering what I’m going to cook for dinner. But do I do it? No! I smell a New Year’s Resolution.
Prep the night before
I’m actually very good at this one because I’ve learned from watching the master planner, Pam. On the nights before I’m going to run with T, I set out all my clothes that I need for the run. Sometimes I actually sleep in the running socks that I’m going to use the next morning, but that’s a little bit kooky. Then in the morning, I just get up, get dressed and brush my teeth, eat some oatmeal and head out the door. I also do this if I’m going to the gym. It sure beats the heck out of scrambling all around the house in the morning gathering up the workout gear, the kids sweatshirts and home work, and then still forgetting your towel or underwear at home. Not that I’ve ever done that.
Take it with you
Sometimes when I’m out and about during the day, the kids are still at school, my errands are done and I’m all tuckered out from exercising, I magically find myself at the Starbucks drive-thru. Sometimes, I forget about my healthy lifestyle and order a scone to go with my non-fat latte. But if I had packed some healthy snacks into the car with me when I left in the morning then I could avoid those empty calories from the scone. I’m not giving up my coffee, but I could definitely give up the scone if I had something decent to replace it with. So pack an apple and some nuts. Maybe a yogurt or a string cheese or some low-fat granola. Any of these things would be healthier and cheaper than whatever you’d buy at the drive-thru.
These are just a few tips that you can use to help simplify your fitness routine and your life. Try to add one of them in every couple of weeks to see how much time you save. Or better yet, maybe tell us a few diet/fitness tips that you use to save time, money, and the environment.
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I’ve recently found it necessary to rely on a simpler set of exercises to be able to fit things in. Rowing is still my mainstay, but instead of doing a bunch of dumbbell work, etc. after that, I just flop down on the floor and do a few sets of pushups. This is actually a reasonably complete pair of exercises, as the rowing gives me a good cardio workout, and hits my legs as well as my upper body pulling muscles. The pushups, on the other hand, hit my upper body pushing muscles. I’m not doing much in the way of ab work, but I can actually feel the pushups pretty well in my abs, so I’m getting at least a bit there.
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Great list of tips Mac. I know so many people who think that it’s not worth going to the gym if they can’t spend 2 hours there. Most of us have too many responsibilities for that to be practical. But with a little planning, it doesn’t take that time.
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