I DON’T HAVE THE TIME…

When I moved to Auburn this summer, I stumbled upon this wonderful yoga studio that had just opened called YogaFly. After years of not focusing on my mobility, I made a promise to myself that I would do yoga at least twice a week. Within two weeks, I noticed a difference. I no longer got out of the bed hunched over as I waited for my body to warm up and unfurl. If you are 40 or older, I bet you know what I’m talking about. I started feeling better in my workouts, and I started getting new personal records on my lifts after about a year’s plateau.

The 5:00 a.m. crew making the time!

After I decided to open ALL IN CrossFit and with the approaching holidays, life got busy. I didn’t have time to make it to yoga what with all the other “more important” things I needed to get done. Yoga slipped off my list of things to do, and guess what… within a month, I was back feeling sluggish and stiff all the time.

One of the most popular excuses that I hear for not starting a fitness program is, “I’m so busy, and I don’t have time to exercise.” I usually promptly reply, “If it were a priority to you, you would make the time for it.” And it is true, the things that we make a priority, we will always find time for. I know people that have incredibly busy schedules, but they will always find the time to get their one hour of fitness in even if it involves waking up at the crack of dawn.

One day, I realized that I wasn’t practicing what I preach. Here was something that made me feel good and made me better at something that I love to do, but I wasn’t making it a priority. I was using the same excuse that I hear way too often.

Now that the gym is open, I am back making a yoga a priority and already feel the difference. When I tell myself that I don’t have time to do yoga, I focus on how good I will feel afterwards and get myself over to YogaFly.

These ladies have their reasons for making exercise a priority.

To make exercise a priority in your life, think about why you need it in your life. Many of us think we need to exercise, well… because we’ve been told we need to exercise. But if you will set a specific reason as to why you need to exercise, you will have a better chance at making it a priority. Is it so that you will have more energy to play with your children? Is it so that you will look better for an upcoming event? Is it to get off of high blood pressure medication?

When you start coming up with all the reasons why you can’t go get that walk in or make it to the gym that day, think back to your specific reason for starting a fitness regime. Think about how exercising will take you one step closer to that goal. Once you get yourself going, you will feel so proud of yourself that you won’t even remember how you thought you didn’t have time that day to fit it in. You just have to make it a priority.