How long should I be exercising? And when is the best time to exercise?

If you read last week’s answer to the question, ‘How many days should I exercise?’ I partially answered this question in short, but I would like to extrapolate on the factors that will help determine this answer for you.

The short of the matter is that purposeful movement should be an everyday occurrence. Making exercise a part of daily life will build the routine quicker and provide more consistency to daily life. That is the secret. The fantastic mystery that everyone is looking to solve. The keys to success are in consistency. Doing the workday in and day out. That should be the foundation for all exercise routines that one can adhere to. Having a base of daily movement is the initial inertia needed to start compounding success. From there we can build to the more focused task of improving our health, building strength and muscle, and/or acquiring new skills.  

So, how much time do we spend on all this? Like all health and wellness articles say, “It depends.” It depends on the answers to some questions we need to ask ourselves. Because we all have different goals and priorities in life, someone looking to improve their marathon time is going to spend their time differently than someone who is looking to improve their health so they can spend more time playing with their grandkids. The When and How Long are different. So what questions can we ask ourselves to find the right time to exercise and what are the most common times for people to prioritize their exercise.

·         What is my main health goal? Do not answer, “I want to lose X number of pounds” or “I want to get stronger.” We need something more long term and closer to the heart

·         When do I have 20 minutes free EACH day at the same time or close to the same time?

·         How important is your health to you? Now, ask yourself if your time management reflects this answer.

·         What access do I have to exercise equipment?

·         What do I know about exercise? Do I need guidance or help with the physical act of exercising?

If you take a look at these questions, you are self-assessing your experience level, and determining where physical fitness falls on your list of things most important to you. Once you know that answer you can start laying the foundation on how much time you can happily spend on physical fitness.

One huge failure point for a lot of individuals is that their priorities do not align with their fitness goals, so time becomes hard to find. But, if you answered the questions I posed above, and you have determined where fitness falls on your list of things most important to you, finding the time could be as simple as cutting out your doom-scrolling, or watching a bit less TV or it could come with more difficult decisions like giving up time with family and friends. When it comes down to it, how important is being healthy to you?

Now that we have the mental planning complete, we have a rough idea of how much time we are able to spend exercising, based on the idea of how important it is to us and how ambitious our goal is. So, the 2nd half of this week’s question comes next, when is the best time?

The best time to exercise during your day is going to be the most routine times in your schedule. There is no way for me to know when the best times to exercise are for you. Morning, noon or night, it does not matter. Pick the time of day that you feel the best, and enjoy the process!