Working in a Workout
by Toddi Gutner (topic expert: balance)

Plan white space in your calendar.

Ever since I can remember, my father was up and out at the crack of dawn jogging in our suburban Chicago neighborhood. It didn't matter that he traveled nearly every week for business, ran his own company or had three little girls and a wife to enjoy. His daily workouts came first and everyone in my family knew and respected it.

That fact saved his life when at 49-years-old he had his first heart attack. I remember the doctor told him at the time that his heart was a strong as an ox and that the exercise saved his life. That comment stuck with my father. Despite all the ensuing heart condition issues he continued to experience over the years, he never stopped working out. At nearly 81, I still hear him creep downstairs to his treadmill for his early morning exercise whenever I visit him.

Even though the general public knows that exercise is good for them, 60% of Americans are not regularly active, according to the surgeon general. The most often repeated excuse is that there is no time. True, many professionals are working longer hours than ever before and the demands on their time are constant. But there is a high price to pay for long days at the office: an unbalanced life that can result in obesity, unproductive work hours and a general feeling of dissatisfaction.

My sisters and I were lucky enough to have a good role model. As a result, each of us work out four to five times a week. Despite the "lack of time," there are a few ways to fit exercise into a busy day.

• Make a commitment: Try and make exercise something you do every day like brushing your teeth or washing your face. If working out becomes a part of your daily routine, then it becomes a lot easier to find ways to find time to fit it into your day.
• Exercise same time every day: Personally, I try to exercise either first thing in the morning before my kids get up or around lunch. Because I've made a commitment to exercise daily, I plan that one-hour activity into my schedule. Even though it's tough to get up earlier, the energy boost I get from exercise more than makes up for it.
• Create a local routine: If I have to drive more than ten minutes, I would probably think I didn't have time to exercise either. My gym is seven minutes away, my spinner and weights are in my basement, and the sidewalk into town passes by my house. The close proximity of each of these options makes it much easier to jump into my exercise time even if I only have 30 minutes.
• Integrate exercise into your workday: I've read a lot of stories about walking work meetings. Instead of sitting in a conference room, why not do a walking meeting? Sometimes when I'm on the phone, I walk back and forth in my office to keep myself active.
• Workout with the family: My kids love to swim and bike ride. During the summer, my kids and I head over to the pool just before dinner for a swim. They either swim laps with me or horse around in the water. Either way, we're all getting exercise. Weekends we like to take bike rides together. These opportunities have the benefit of maximizing our family time and teaching them that exercise can be fun. It also helps support the rule in our house that you have to move your body three times a week.