If your schedule has you up and running beginning at 9 in the morning until six in the evening, this day represents 9 hours. There are 24 hours a day and we’re not advising you get up at 3 in the morning to do your exercise.

But have you ever thought that if you get up at 7 to be ready for 9, maybe you can set your alarm clock 45 minutes earlier, using these 45 minutes to engage in a physical activity? If you do this three times a week, that means you gain 135 minutes that you can allocate for exercise.

One easy way to do this is to do yoga in the morning (it requires only a mat and comfortable, loose clothing), or turn on an exercise CD/DVD, or buy a treadmill (the foldable ones) that you can jump into as soon as you wake up.

Another time management tip: not only do busy managers have back-to-back meetings, they also have luncheon and dinner meetings to meet with clients. Assess each client. Do all of them really need to be wined and dined? Is an hour long meeting really necessary? Can’t a deal be struck on the phone?

Assess how many meetings you can cancel or shorten. Then fit your exercise program into those slots that have been freed up.

How about this suggestion: instead of going to lunch with clients every day of the week, why don’t you schedule lunch meetings for say Monday and Tuesday? This way you can incorporate a fitness routine for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 12:00 to 1:00 pm.

A brisk walk inside or outside the office building, a quick swim in the neighborhood hotel, a Pilates course in the recreational centre, lifting dumb bells while on the phone?

Any of these options is better than no exercise. Your guiding principle should be to move, move, move as frequently as you can manage it.

Just as ergonomic experts are recommending to office workers to take their eyes off their computer screen every hour or so, fitness experts are advocating getting up from your chair and taking a walk and climbing up and down the stairs.

When you feel the need to take a break, offer to pick up supplies for your colleagues, take the mail downstairs instead of waiting for the trolley, or think of something you could put in your car instead of waiting until 5 pm. That way, you force yourself to get up from your seat and walk for a few minutes.

If you look into the private offices of some people, you’ll see dumb bells, mats and elastic bands – these are clues that they are doing some exercise while on the job – a good and healthy practice to adopt by busy individuals with hectic schedules.

On the weekends when you join the family in their activities, try to include exercise into these activities; if the children are into cycling, join them for bike rides. Are they off to their swimming lessons or skating lessons? See if you can sign up in the adults section, or take a walk outside the recreational center while waiting for them.

Who says you can’t burn calories while doing housework or gardening? Take a breather from your hectic schedule and devote some down time to tending to your lawn, trimming your rose bushes, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom floors, etc.

Or do some DIY tasks such as tiling. Learn to lay tile the smart way – discover more
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