Using Your Other 23 hours to Your Advantage Part 2

Here is part 2 (tips 5-8) of using your other 23 hours of your day to help keep your life from interfering with your precious time in the gym.

  

 5. Get your nutrition in order

I will admit when it comes to nutrition I am not an authority figure.  However I take any opportunity I can to learn from those that are to keep my nutrition on the up and up. Take this guest blog from Chris Howard the nutrition specialist at Cressey Performance talk about getting your nutrition in order.  

 

6. Foam roll while watching Televsion

Chances are even in your busiest weeks you have a few favorite television shows that you watch every week, for me it is How I Met Your Mother and Parks and Recreation. However I hate wasting time so within those 22 minutes (from the DVR). I try and be efficient by getting on the floor and foam roll while watching them. I hit all the major muscle groups and go a little longer on the sore spots to help improve tissue quality. Be honest with yourself you can always have better tissue quality.

7. Delegate out

No matter how much control over your life you have you can not do everything yourself. Use your resources to your advantage and delegate out some aspects of your life. If you have trouble planning your workouts hire a personal trainer. It could be an online trainer, look to see if they are a good fit for you, or use one at your gym if you feel you need more hands on instruction. Giving this little bit of control to another individual will help decrease your stress levels because it will be one less thing you have to worry about.

 

 8. Meal lists are your best friend

Having all of your meals planned out for the week is the best way to hold yourself accountable for eating well to help your gym time throughout the week. Take a few minutes and look to see what is in the cabinets and refrigerator that you can build your meals around for the week then check the specials at your grocery store and make a menu for the week. Go to the grocery store to get the necessary items and start cooking! Sticking to this menu will help you save money from eating out and will help you plan out calories based on your nutrition needs. 

Using Your Other 23 hours to Your Advantage Part 1

You are a working parent to 2.2 kids, a dog, and suburban house with a white picket fence that juggles everything from homework to work. Or you are a 40+ hour a week desk jockey that can’t ever seem to put their phone down. Whatever the scenario you only have 1 hour as little as 3-4 times a week to get your foam rolling, mobility, strength training and cardio in.

It may seem like an impossible task to manage all of the responsibilities of life and get work in. In this series I hope to shed some light on using the other 23 hours of the day to your advantage in 23 tips so that you can get the most out of your time that you do have in the gym.

1.  Plan out your time

If you don’t make room to schedule working out then you can’t get yourself to the gym and workout. Use your google calendar, a sticky note on your mac, an alarm on your phone, whatever organization tool you use to put in your time to go to the gym. Then do not let anything interrupt that time. 

2.       Get your items ready the night before

This goes along with planning. If you are like me in the fall and winter months then when your alarm goes off you want to stay under the warm covers for just a few more minutes (nothing like starting the day with procrastination) then you realize that you can’t find a document you need for work and after spending 5 minutes searching for it you are late for work. Organize what you need the night before (gym bag, briefcase, food etc.) so that you have a fluid morning routine.

 3.       Keep a notepad with you

When you have a thought and say to yourself “ I should write that down” or “don’t forget to go to the dry cleaners” and then you don’t write it down and you get home with no dry cleaning, you end up forgetting a great idea and have to make a special trip to get your clothes. Keep a notepad, (or note app on your phone) and keep the list of ideas thought of at inopportune times so that you can capitalize on them, and write down the things you need to do on the way home from work so you don’t have to make special trips for errands that would  sacrifice the little time to go to the gym you have.

 4.       Keep a tennis ball/lacrosse ball at your desk or around your house

I have lacrosse balls scattered in about every room of my place (luckily my dog doesn’t chew on them). This is beneficial so when I feel some tightness in my feet or upper back I know one is around and I can roll the knot out immediately and quickly helping to improve my tissue quality.Working with the lacrosse ball/tennis ball in short frequent durations will help improve your tissue quality in the long run so you can spend less time on the foam roller or ball during warm up in a training session, maximizing the time you have.

Here are the first few ideas to help you get your life under control to maximize your time to workout. I will be back with tips 5-8 in a few days.