Skip to content

Fitness for busy people

Motivation

For me there's a number of motivations to be fit and healthy. As a dad I want to stay in shape so I can play with the little ones and keep them safer (sometimes it's useful to be able to easily outpace them or carry them down from somewhere). Our health isn't entirely in our hands, but in so far as it is I want to try and make it more likely I'll be around and able bodied for my family as long as possible. Our bodies are easily the most amazing physical object we'll ever possess, a wonderful gift from God, it makes sense to look after them. My wife also appreciates me staying fit, so I like to do it for her too.

For myself, I just feel better when I'm more in shape. I sleep better (when I get the chance to) and I am able to do more.

It's never to late to start

For most of my life I've been very cardio oriented. It used to be cycling, these days it's running. But I never did any strength training and almost completely neglected my upper body.

My little Josh is non-verbal and one of the only things I've been able to do with him he's enjoyed consistently is carry him on my shoulders. When he got to 5 and I was 40 I was finding it hard on my body. I thought I'd either have to give up (which would break his heart) or man up and get strong enough. So I started training.

I was a bit concerned I might be too old to make good progress but I have managed to get stronger and I find it easier to carry him now he's 6 than when he was 5 because of it.

Injuries

Whenever I've started a new type of physical exercise of any kind I've generally found that initially I'm really prone to minor injuries. I reckon this is because:

  • my body isn't used to that particular exercise
  • I haven't learnt to pace myself or gauge my effort

These minor injuries can be discouraging but I normally find that if I ease back into it they calm down and I can quickly do what I did that caused the injury with no issues.

Progress

Once I get into a routine I often find I have a period of quick progress. Whatever it is I'm doing I like to make it measurable so I can tell if I'm getting somewhere. Generally the progress will slow over time and unless you can dedicate more and more time to it you'll eventually plateau. You can sometimes make more gains through variation without spending more time overall. If it's running, you can switch routes, distances and paces. If it's strength you can vary types of movement, weights and repetitions.

But you can't expect progress if you don't have the discipline to keep at it. You need patience and perseverance to see results.

How to fit exercise in and keep it low cost

These are closely related in my mind. I've never had a gym membership. If I did, I'd find it hard to make the time to go. Instead of a gym I got the following:

  • pull up bars
  • parallel dip bars
  • 6, 10 and 20 kg kettle bells
  • dip belt
  • gymnastics rings.

This came to a reasonable amount altogether but I imagine I'd spend a similar amount in gym membership over a year. If you were really looking to save money you could just get gymnastics rings. You can do so many different exercises with them (and my children treat them like play equipment).

The fact that the working out equipment is at home means that it's much easier to fit the work outs in. Since I haven't travelled anywhere I don't need to do all my working out in one session. I often fit in a quick session when I make a cup of tea or at other times I have a few minutes. Even though each session is small I can comfortably do more than double over the course of a whole day than what I could do in one long, intense session. The short sessions are pretty easy to fit in and don't interfere much with family life.

I mentioned that I used to do a lot of cycling but generally run instead. I love cycling but with all the kitting up, maintenance, driving (if not going from the house), cleaning, it takes a lot of time. To run you just get in tee shirt, shorts and running shoes and you're off. My office has showers so I run during a lunch hour once a week. It doesn't take away from family time.

Benefits

Having done a reasonable amount of cardio exercises since I was young I can't really speak from experience of the benefits of taking it up. However, the benefits of adding strength training to my cardio pleasantly surprised me.

I've never had bad back issues but with the desk job I have I have had aches and pains from time to time that have got worse gradually. Since starting pull ups, they've gone.

Lots of typing would sometimes make my hands go funny (perhaps the beginning of repetitive strain). The grip strength from the pull ups has made that go away too.

When running it used to be my stomach muscles that were the first thing to give out rather than my legs. I also struggled with intermittent constipation. The core exercises have put an end to that.

For a long time I got very sharp pains in my right knee if I knelt on a hard surface. Doing pistol squats has made that all but go away.

The aches and pains that have gone away have to some degree been replaced by minor injuries from training. But to me at least, it's less concerning when I can put an ache down to some really hard work, or knowing I had poor form doing some exercise than there being no obvious reason other than getting older. Furthermore, aches and pains from exercising tend to go away.

I've also seen how good strength training is for losing fat, and keeping it off. Normally around Christmas I put on a bit of weight and it takes me most of January to get it off. Over last Christmas I found I didn't really put any weight on despite not being overly careful about Christmas treats.

The additional strength is also just practically useful. Things I might have got power tools to do I'd be more likely to just get on with with a hand tool. Things I wouldn't have lifted safely I can. It's useful for playing with and looking after the little ones.

It's helped me get better posture too which is something I've always struggled with (and still do, but I think it is a lot better).

Besides the benefits I've experienced personally there's a lot of evidence of the benefits of exercise, fitness, strength and being a healthy weight. You stand a better chance of living longer with fewer health issues.

Finishing thoughts

As a family man I'm busier now than I ever have been but I've managed to change the ways I exercise to fit it in.

I'm not as fast a runner as I was ten years ago because I can't dedicate the time to more training but I'm maintaining a level I'm comfortable with.

I'm stronger than I've ever been. Progress has slowed but I've gained a lot since before I started.

For anyone intimidated to get started I'd say don't be. Don't compare yourself to others (I've intentionally left out stats of my own progress). Make a start, measure your progress, stick with it, don't be discouraged by minor set-backs (injuries etc), although do ease back temporarily if you need to.

I find it better to look at what I've done each week than each day or month. It can be very hard to stick to a daily routine. A month can be hard to keep track of. But measuring weekly activity is relatively easy and you can juggle things to fit in your busy schedule.

It's good to set personal targets. Mainly ones you might achieve soon although it can be good to have a few ambitious ones too. Things like distance or speed of runs, number of repetitions of lifts or exercises, weight lifted, weight loss.

It's important to be realistic about your priorities. I mentioned how I've lost pace running but I'm ok with that because I've kept a certain amount and I don't want a fixation on pace to rob family time. But if I did just stop I'd be less capable of enjoying time with my family.

If you don't prioritise fitness at all you won't be fit. If you fixate on it too much it'll be an extra burden. For someone busy I think it makes sense to look for ways to exercise that minimise travel, preparation and maintenance of equipment.

I also think it makes sense to train at a fairly high intensity to make the best of limited time. If a certain type of exercise becomes easy enough over time that you could do more than you have the time to do, find something more intense to replace it that works the same muscles.

I hope this might be useful to someone.

Our bodies really are a wonderful gift. But unlike many physical objects that degrade with use, our bodies degrade without use. Laziness hurts us and by extension, those we care about.

As the preacher vividly puts it

The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

Ecclesiastes 4:5