Turning Pebbles into Sand--2: Exercise

Photo by Tiffany Skelton

I read EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey, and in it, he talks about how a budget tells our money where to go instead of wondering where it went....and then he observes that it's the same with Time Management.  We either tell our day what to do or we will wonder where it went.  He then states:  "The weird thing is that the more efficient, on task, on goal you are with your time, the more energy you have.  Working with no traction, or for that matter simply wasting away a day, does not relax you, it drains you.” (p.44)

That is so true.  I wrote an earlier post about how I was having a hard time fitting certain important pebbles into my daily jar.  I experimented with ways to fit them in, and now will share what has worked for me.  

    

EXERCISE has been hard for me to do consistently.  It isn’t fun, and I would rather clean a bathroom before doing it...almost.  Even though I know it's important (especially as I get older and blood pressure rises and weight creeps up), it's still easy to procrastinate.  But simply wasting away my days neglecting it has drained me, like Ramsey said; my new routine I've tested over the last 2 months has energized me, because I've been overjoyed with all I'm accomplishing.

My son showed me a new exercise format called Tabata that runs in 4 minute intervals.  You can google Tabata and find more in depth descriptions and timers for it, but basically it boils down to this:  Exercise for 20 seconds hard, then rest 10 seconds; and repeat 7 times.  

When I threw an extra 20-second interval on at the end, I came out with 3 intense minutes of exercise.  I made a chart with pairs of exercises (from my Jillian videos), and tallied up each time I did one of these Tabata intervals.  At the end of the day, I multiplied my Tabatas by 3 and came out with how many minutes I exercised that day.  

Breaking up exercise into bite-size chunks like this has helped me exercise daily for about 2 months now.  It’s amazing how much time we really have in the day—in bite-size morsels.  It’s hard to find time to fit a 30 minute exercise video into my day, but I haven’t found it hard at all to fit 30 minutes of exercise in during the day in 3 minute increments. 

I turn the stove on to boil water, and instead of standing around the kitchen twiddling my thumbs (which doesn’t burn many calories), I bring up a Tabata timer on the computer and do an interval while I’m waiting (maybe sit ups and jumping jacks).  There are lots of times that I can do other Tabata circuits as I'm just waiting around.  As the day progresses, I check off boxes for exercise and find it very rewarding at the end of the day to see that I fit my whole Exercise pebble into the jar...just in teeny tiny pieces.

What I’ve like about exercising this way is that since it’s so short, I don’t work up too much of a sweat, and don’t need a shower afterward (it’s extremely hard to fit in a 30 minute video and a shower when you have other things to go to at night).  

Energized--Photo by Tiffany Skelton

You don’t have to do Tabata, like me, to break up your Exercise Pebble.  You can exercise how you want with your spare minutes.  If you have a few minutes before you have to run to the doctor, then spend them doing lunges or running in place (whatever exercise you like).  Just do something physical...and you’ll be amazed at the exercise you squeeze in during odd times.  I have.

If you get feeling overwhelmed and drained by life, then break some of your pebbles into grains of sand and watch the magic happen.  Energy abounds, because accomplishing goals and tasks gives you a warm, tingly feeling.  A lot of times, it is through small and simple means that great things are brought to pass.  So go for the simple.