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Monday, November 19, 2012

Why Time is Perhaps the Worst Excuse - Let's Drop It

Time. It affects everyone. It is precious, short, long, and needed. But, it is often used as an excuse. Time was never meant to be used as an excuse.

Time is what it is...time. It is uncontrollable because we cannot stop it. It is controllable because we can determine what goes in it. One mistake we make is using time as an adjective and not as a noun and verb to explore our health and fitness, more aptly, exercise goals. This part is where people get in trouble. As an adjective, one definition of time (dictionary.com) is defined as "containing a clock so that it will detonate at the desired moment." Do not linger on the word "desired".

Time is also respected. Take your typical seven day week and include everything that you normally do on a weekly basis. Question: did you do anything in the week that was out of the ordinary? If you did do something different (excluding family emergencies and other emergencies) that did not involve exercise, then you have time. For example:

Typical 7-day week: Work, drop the kids off at school/sports/extra-curricular activities, grocery shop, attend church/mass/service, volunteer, hang out with family or friends on Friday night.

Typical 7-day week with an addition: All of the above plus watched a 4 hours of TV on Monday and Wednesday, stayed on Facebook and Twitter for 6 hours total during the week.

Looking at this fictional individual, he has time. The problem with this picture is that many individuals fall into this category, but blame time as the reason for non-progressive fitness improvement. It feels much better to say that this example could describe lack of priority, laziness, lack of knowledge as a reason for not engaging in exercise. But, time...not an option.

Now, many schedules are extremely hectic. I get that. But, even the busiest professionals (just to name a few: doctors; lawyers; preachers; presidents; nurses; sorry if I missed yours) sneak in some workout time. Likewise, do you have a wall in your home?...Do you have a floor in your home?...Do you have a chair in your home? Answering "yes" to these questions holds the truth that you have a gym in your home. It supports why having a lack of knowledge is a much better excuse to have versus lack of time. Using these objects to your exercise advantage, may look like a mystery.

Personally, I am willing to believe that everyone has time. It is simply a matter of how to control time better when it comes to exercise.

What can be done on the floor: push-ups, squats, planks, burpees, mountain climbers, lunges, and much more.

What can be done on the wall: push-ups, squat holds, lunges, single arm holds to name a few.

What can be done with a chair: dips, sit-to-stands, push-ups, single leg squats, spidermans.

Progressing,
Derek Arledge, CSCS

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