MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. --
How do you find time to exercise when your life is already filled with the responsibilities at work, children, and home?
Finding this time can be a real challenge, but it is worth making the effort. Regular exercise will help you stay healthy, and it can improve your ability to work at a steady, efficient pace, and work more safely. It can even make it easier to cope with all the responsibilities which fill your days and evenings.
If you are having trouble fitting in the traditional morning run or a stop at the gym after work, it’s time to get creative about exercise.
Consider these ideas
Come up with your own time of day for exercise. You could consider getting up earlier. Exercising first thing in the morning works well for some people. On the other hand, you might not be able to work out in the early morning when you are busy getting the children off to school.
So perhaps you could go for a long walk after supper each night. Watching the late-night news or your favorite TV show while riding an exercise bike for a half-hour is another option.
Walk or take a bike to work. If you live too far away, walk to a bus stop a mile away instead of the one in your neighborhood. Or walk instead of drive to your area park-and-ride location. Do this several times a week and just take your own vehicle once or twice a week so you can do shopping and other errands on the way home.
Exercise on your lunch break. MCB Quantico has MCBO 12792.4 Civilian Employee Wellness Program. The base has numerous fitness facilities available for use by military and civilian employees. Just getting out for a walk is good exercise.
Stretching exercises at your work station before you start work and when you take a break. These exercises can keep you flexible, prevent muscle strains and reduce muscular skeletal disorders. Here is a web site with some additional desk exercises: http://greatist.com/fitness/deskercise-33-ways-exercise-work
Carry your running/walking shoes or other workout gear in your vehicle. Then you won’t be able to use the excuse of not having the right clothing with you.
Make exercise a central part of your family life too. Shoot some baskets in the back yard with your children instead of slouching in front of the TV together.
Plan ahead for active weekends and vacations. If you are driving to another city on the weekend or across the country on your vacation, you can take some active breaks. A lunch break could include a short hike at a scenic stop near the highway. Take the opportunity to learn a new sport while you are on vacation.