Along with a healthy, reduced-calorie diet, a consistent exercise program is critical for successful weight loss. However, you may struggle with a busy schedule, lack of motivation to exercise, or boredom with your exercise routine. The key features of an effective workout schedule targets each of these obstacles, which will be individual to you: You plan exercise into your schedule, commit to exercises you enjoy and include variety into your routine. Additionally, it is important to be flexible to allow for unforeseen circumstances.
Schedule Exercise
The best time to exercise is a time you can commit to. If you are too exhausted to even think about exercising after work, plan to work out in the morning before work or during your lunch hour. Likewise, if you tend to hit the snooze button until you are nearly late for work, an afternoon workout may be most ideal. Also, if you have certain days of the week that are particularly busy, plan your longer workout sessions on your less-busy days.
Enjoy Your Exercise
Running may be an effective calorie-burner, but if you dread running, you will be more likely to skip the workout. If you enjoy indoor cycling or Zumba classes, find classes that fit into your schedule. If you do not enjoy or feel intimidated by weightlifting at the gym, explore other strength-training options such as Pilates, body sculpting classes or consider investing in personal trainer sessions to make resistance training more approachable. Recruiting a friend to join you in your workouts or finding a group in the community such as a running club can also keep your exercise morale high.
Vary Your Routine
Doing the same 30-minute elliptical session at the same pace every workout will bore you after several weeks. To prevent this, incorporate intervals into your cardio in which you sprint for 30 to 90 seconds, then recover for the same amount of time. Varying the type of cardio you do also prevents boredom — for example, if you mostly walk or run, substitute one of these workouts with a swim or bike ride. Similarly, changing your resistance exercise routine every few weeks will keep the workout fresh and target the muscles in a slightly different fashion, strengthening your muscles and improving fat loss.
Be Flexible
Despite your best efforts to schedule exercise to fit your schedule, you may encounter obstacles. If you miss your morning workout due to an alarm malfunction, try to fit in at least an abbreviated workout at lunch or after work, or take the stairs instead of the elevator as often as possible that day. If you miss several days due to a heavy work week, pick up where you left off the following week. If you are mostly consistent but occasionally lose motivation, a day off can refresh your mind and body and make you ready to start back up the following day.
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