How to Make Time for Your Side Hustle:
Exercise Edition

Exercise is one of the most magical habits you can form, but when do we ever have time for it? Despite the fact that I have run marathons in the past, I still find it difficult to make time for the workouts I love.

Photo Credit: CircaSassy

Over the last few years I have swung back and forth between two distinct seasons of my life, one where I prioritize exercise and one where I prioritize my career.

It seems as though I can’t ever have both at the same time. The reality is that I’m probably less likely to excel if I pursue both simultaneously, but I have found that it is possible to take care of myself while maintaining a busy schedule, and you can do the same.

Let’s Be Honest For a Second

Most people don’t exercise as much as they want to and probably not even close to as much as they should (which varies widely depending on who you ask).

Before you commit to feeling guilty about not working out 7 days a week or lacking that ideal beach body, let’s take a big step back.

Where are you in your life right now?

What season are you in?

What is your most important goal?

As Steven Covey might ask, what are you big rocks? Which projects matter more than any other and demand the most resources from you?

Unless you are training for a marathon at the moment, my guess is that your big rocks are focused on your career, family, or wickedly-cool side business. The average busy professional just isn’t actively pursuing a record-breaking run at Boston.

Instead, just like you, he or she is pursuing stability, sanity, and squeezing in just enough time for a quick workout, or maybe a quick nap.

Approach the conversation of exercise through the lens of what matters most. Does exercise matter? Of course, but should you shame yourself for not meeting a high-bar when your life has other more pressing demands? No.

Making time for exercise is important, but it doesn’t have to replace your current goals. It can work in tandem with where you are right now.

Don’t forget, it’s also possible to get remarkable results in very short sessions.

Making Time For Extraordinary (and Extraordinarily Short) Workouts

A year ago in episode 28 of my podcast I discussed burst training, a form of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

I shared how burst training may be the best workout for busy people because it packs in the most effective workout in just 15-20 minutes.

Over the last year I have bounced back and forth between workout systems, incorporating vigorous strength training, hanging upside down with gravity boots, and training for a 50-mile ultramarathon.

Though I have prioritized running, inversion, and weight lifting, I am convinced that none of these are a replacement for burst training. It is still my favorite workout with a busy schedule.

Burst training simply involves elevating your heart rate with vigorous exercises in short bursts. There are dozens of different variations you can try and all of them reach the same end result: burning fat, increasing strength, and making you feel incredible.

I won’t go into all of the details here, so take a listen to that episode of my podcast and consider burst training as your ticket to big progress in a short time span.

Stick to Your Most Effective and Enjoyable Activities

If I only had one piece of fitness advice to give it would be this: do what you love.

When all else fails, you are most likely to workout when you love your workout. I’m not a fan of swimming laps, so if I found out that swimming was the best workout ever, I would still not go. It just doesn’t interest me.

I love running trails, so that’s what I do most of the time. In fact, I regularly go out of my way to make time for trail running because I love it so much, even without the amazing fitness benefits.

Watch my trail running video.

At the end of the day your most effective workout is the one you actually do. It doesn’t matter how amazing burst training is if you never do it.

Making time for exercise always begins with identifying what you love more than anything else and building a sustainable plan around it.

Marathons, Ultras, and Ironmans! Oh My!

As a guy who has run his fair share of endurance races I can summarize my advice for these amazing personal goals in one word: obsession.

It takes an obsession to cross the finish lines of these incredible races. Some people are more obsessed than others, but everyone will need to harness their inner freak when they put a marathon on their quarterly goals list.

Don’t get me wrong, you can totally train for and complete a marathon, ultramarathon, or Ironman while holding down a day-job and a family. The difference is that you will have to put just about everything else on hold.

Endurance races require intense weekly mileage, hitting the trails over and over, lapping the pool again and again, and cycling until your rear end can take no more.

Making time for these types of personal goals is very doable, but any race of this magnitude must become one of your biggest rocks if you intend to finish in style.

Sunrise Salutations

Working out before breakfast is my ideal strategy for exercise. I started my podcast after I realized how valuable marathon training was when I ran before work.

If you are struggling to prioritize your workouts, make it happen when nothing else will. Crawl your tired butt out of bed and go run.

I know it’s painful. It sucks on most days . . . until you get used to it. Then, it’s awesome.

Sunrise yoga, running at dawn, lifting weights at 5:00 am — all of these are worth every bit of time, energy, and money that it takes because nothing beats a morning routine centered around fitness.

If you want to start your day right AND make time for exercise, embrace your own 5 AM Miracle and see what happens.

I think you’ll like the results.

Next Week

Next week on the blog I will be sharing my final post in this series: how to make time for your most pivotal personal projects.