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Summary
On episode 176 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan shares 11 time management tips pulled straight from a listener request in the show's Facebook group, aimed at people who say they simply don't have time to work out or cook well.
His angle is that time isn't found, it's freed up, by stacking exercise and food prep into the day you already have instead of trying to carve out a separate hour for each.
The tips range from sleep and workout timing to circuit training and grab-and-go meals, all built around the idea that small structural changes remove the excuses that keep people out of the gym.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Go to bed 30 minutes earlier. Allan says a well-rested mind gets through tasks faster, so the sleep you “lose” comes back as extra productive time during the day.
- Time your workout style around your day. Save sweaty workouts for a time you're already showering, like the morning, and save non-sweaty options like a brisk walk for times like lunch when a second shower isn't practical.
- Multitask movement into things you're already doing. Squats while the water boils or while standing in line at the store add up without needing a dedicated workout block.
- Batch cook on one day to erase daily meal-prep time. Grilling several proteins at once on a Sunday and mixing them with different vegetables through the week turns nightly cooking into just reheating and assembling.
- Use circuit training to cut rest time between exercises. Moving straight from squats to push-ups to pull-ups to overhead press works different muscle groups back to back, so you get a full workout done faster than resting between sets of the same move.
- Apply the “minimum effective dose.” Allan says most people do more sets and exercises than their body can actually recover from; a focused, intense but shorter workout, like three slow sets of bench press, can deliver similar results in a fraction of the time.
- Walk into the gym with a single, specific goal. Knowing exactly what you're there to do, and sticking to it instead of socializing, keeps a workout from stretching longer than it needs to.
- Keep no-prep foods on hand. Canned sardines, raw nuts, and pre-washed salad mixes cut meal prep time down to almost nothing, which is what lets Allan use half his lunch hour to walk instead of cook.
“So the whole excuse that I don't have time to exercise, you could make hours in a day.”
Coach Allan
