Time is something that nobody seems to be in excess of these days, especially my clients. We all have jobs, families, friends, hobbies, and other responsibilities accounting for much of our day.

But one thing my clients have learned is that they don’t need a lot of time to make exercise a consistent part of their daily routine and get in a great workout.

Wait what? You might be thinking. How can that be?

But yes, it is true.

Making a great workout a daily part of your life is less about finding more time and much more about priorities, mindset, and the efficiency of the workout.

It’s about being more consistent and less perfect with your workouts.

I know that may sound to good to be true, but roll with me for a second while I discuss exactly how to get in daily exercise + ensure it’s a great workout.

Here are 4 tips to get the most of your sweat sessions when you’re short on time.

1) Embrace Short Workouts

I remember years ago I thought I needed at least an hour of exercise to get in a good workout. Calculate time spent changing, showering, and getting back and forth to the gym, I believed I needed a 2 hour block to get in a great workout. WTH? Who has time for that?

But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. To receive the benefits of exercise it is more important to be consistent and do a short workout everyday or every other day than do sporadic 2-hour workouts when you have time.

If you struggle to get 2-3 workouts in a week you need to embrace the idea of short workouts (15-20 minutes) that you can do from home or anywhere.

Get ‘er done!

2) Choose Intensity

One of the easiest ways to get the most bang for your buck is to pump up the intensity. By doing this you’ll elevate your heart rate and burn more calories then you would in a moderate intensity longer workout.

An easy way to crank up the intensity is through strength training. Adding some weights will boost your workouts. You can also increase the intensity of your steady state cardio by substituting sprints or hills or intervals to get that heart pumping.

It’s time to really push yourself! Go all out!

3) Focus On Your Priorities

It is so easy to waste time aimlessly scrolling through Facebook or Instagram. It’s become so much a part of what we do each day we hardly recognize the time suck it can be. If you are spending 30+ mins on social, it’s time for a priority check.

Unfortunately time is not going to be added to your day, so we need to create it. This is a perfect place to carve it out from.

One of the tricks I have my clients do is schedule their workouts in their planners just like they do all their meetings, plans, or tasks for the day. By putting it on your calendar you remind yourself that this is a priority and must get done. I know it sounds simple, but it works. And what works to get ‘er done is what matters.

4) Let Go Of Perfection

It is so easy to talk ourselves out of exercise at the end of the day when we’re tired and drained of energy. We tell ourselves, this won’t be a good workout, I don’t have the energy for it. Or we tell ourselves it’s too late and we don’t have enough time.

This self talk is perfection parading around your head like reasonable thought. Ha! Don’t be fooled.

We all know that the likelihood of us finding the time for a “perfect” 1-hour workout is not likely, so we must adopt a mindset that gets ‘er done. By upping the intensity and doing workouts consistently you are going to create the perfect exercise routine for you. And that is what truly matters.

So next time you feel like you don’t have the ideal conditions for a workout, remember it doesn’t need to be perfect it just need to get done.

Now I want to hear from you, what tips help you get your workouts in each week? It’s these little things that help us implement our workouts that really can transform our exercise practice.

Have a great day and ….get ‘er done!