The common excuse I give myself, as I’m sure many others have, is there is no time in the day to workout. After the eight hour work day, taking care of dependents, prior commitments, cooking, friends, school, etc…, the last thing that people want to do is go work out. You spend all day taking care of other people’s shit, but the one person you don’t take care of is yourself. That’s all well and good, but the truth is, you’re lazy.

You have the time to workout, but you choose to do other things with it. It’s as simple as that. I’m one-hundred percent guilty of this, and it’s one of the hardest things I’ve had to overcome, and continue to overcome. Not only do you have the time to workout, but you also have the time to eat well. You’re body is the only thing you’ve got, and it’s time you act like it.

I used to wake up, hop in my car, stop at some bullshit fast-‘food’ joint like McDonald’s, go sit at a desk for four hours, get an equally shitty lunch, go back to my desk for another four hours. After this I’d drive home, eat a ‘snack’ (this was probably a bag of chips, like the big bags, but then probably also a couple carrots so I could convince myself I ate healthy), play video games, then head to bed. On the days where I didn’t have time to play video games, I got upset because I did have time for myself on that day, which I realize now is absolutely ridiculous. It always seemed I had no time to be healthy. I needed video games because that was my time for myself, so where was I going to fit in cooking healthy food and going to the gym. Well…

First things first, you can wake up earlier. I don’t care when you wake up, cause there is always time before the time you just woke up. This gives you time to make your own breakfast. It takes me fifteen minutes to cook three pieces of bacon and two eggs, then grab a banana and put them in my mouth. FIFTEEN MINUTES.
Lets go over this:

If I don’t wake up fifteen minutes early, I need to stop and get breakfast. Let’s say you go to McDon’s. Medium Coffee + Egg McMuffin + Hashbrown = $6.50 – 650 kCal.
If I wake up fifteen minutes early, I can make my own breakfast (providing I bought eggs ($3 for 12), spinach ($3 for a lot), and bacon ($5 for 1/2 lbs). Glass of water + two eggs + three pieces of bacon + two cups of spinach = $1.50 – 300 kCal.
Don’t be lazy, wake up fifteen minutes earlier and make yourself a breakfast. You’ll save money and calories.

But if I wake up earlier, I wont get a good sleep 🙁
This is what I used to tell myself, and it’s true, unless you just go to bed earlier. It’s that simple, if you’re used to going to bed at midnight, and can’t fathom the idea of waking up at 5:30am, then try going to bed at ten, it’s probably going be easier.

But if I go to bed earlier, I wont have time to do all the fun things 🙁
What fun things? In my case, I wasn’t really ever having fun because I always felt self-conscious. Go out to the bar? Too fat to dance. Go out for dinner with friends? Criticize everything about everything. This is I’m sure true for a lot of people.

Becoming a healthier person isn’t hard, but it does require a commitment. I became fed up with how I looked, and I wasn’t going to fix that without making some sacrifices. Instead of going out every night, I scheduled time where I would do my meal prep, and be proud of the food I was making myself. Instead of staying up till midnight playing video games, I would be in bed at 9:30pm, and let myself fall asleep early, so I could wake-up the next morning, make breakfast, and have a good day without having to be tired Also, sleeping if fucking good for you.

So this is good. We’re on a good track right now, but we still need to fit in a workout somehow.

Well, realistically, if you’re literally unable to go to the gym because of kids, or mobility dependancies, or social/gym anxiety, then home workouts are great. You can find fitness plans online for free, as well as YouTube channels that help you workout from home. If you need more guidance, you can buy ($5) DVD’s of Jillian Michaels or that hot guy working your bun’s into shape.

If you can go to the gym though, go to the gym. It helps so much to be around like-minded individuals, and you tend to push yourself harder if your around other people (obviously don’t over do it).

I know going to the gym can be challenging, and packing your gym clothes, and going there, and blah blah blah takes so much time. No one cares. Do it. You’ll thank yourself later. The ultimate goal is to make going to the gym a routine, something you don’t think about, you just do. My really good friend, and a huge role model, Ivan Au, once told me that:

You don’t think about wiping your ass after taking a shit. You could save so much time in your life by not wiping your ass. But you still do it because having a shitty ass is uncomfortable and no one likes people with a shitty ass. So don’t think about going to the gym as you have to do it. No one has to wipe there ass.
It made sense more when he said it, but he has a great point. The ultimate goal is to include this in your life, just like you would breathing, or wiping your bum.

But I have no time for the gym 🙁
At this point, you’re already waking up fifteen minutes early, so lets say we bump that up to an hour to start. You used to wake up at 8:00am, now you wake up at 7:00am. This gives you fourty-five minutes to workout/shower, and fifteen minutes to make breakfast. That’s plenty of time to go for a run, or do some morning yoga, or even just go for a walk. Make this the time you treat yourself with. You’re doing this only for you, and it will feel so good.

Of course, as time goes on, you might need more time in the morning. I had to change when I woke up from 8:00am to 5:45am because I really like to make a big breakfast, go to the gym, lift weights, then have a ten minute sauna sesh afterwords to clear my mind and thank myself for doing this.

The best part is that when you do this routine once, the early to bed, early to rise, you will see that your body will follow along immediately. You’ll find it easier to fall asleep, and easier to wake up.

The hard part is doing this once, and convincing yourself that you have the time. Don’t be critical of yourself for not doing this, that doesn’t help anyone, especially. Don’t say “Oh, I’ll start this on Monday cause blah, blah, blah”, start it tomorrow. Be happy that you can do this, and be happy that you’re going to do it. You’re not going to be lazy anymore. You’re going to make time for yourself, and you’re going to make good use out of it.

By: Keyfer Mathewson
keyfermathewson.com