21DFC Day 9 – What is Your #1 Obstacle to Becoming Fitter – and How Do You Plan To Overcome It?

This is Day 9 of the 21-Day Fitness Challenge held in Feb 2012. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.

Hello and welcome to Day 9 (Feb 11) of the 21-Day Fitness Challenge! :D

Day 9 – What is Your #1 Obstacle to Becoming Fitter?

Today’s question is: What is your #1 obstacle to becoming fitter? And as a natural follow-up – How can you overcome this obstacle?

My #1 obstacle to becoming fitter right now is time – or more specifically, lack of time. I have a lot of things to do every day, from conducting challenges at PE, to managing the site, to conceptualizing/launching new projects, to writing new articles, to maintaining my social media pages.  Not to mention, meeting new people and  keeping in touch with old friends.

That doesn’t mean fitness should be put in the back burner though. I’ve seen the downsides of putting fitness in the backburner, be it via myself or via observing others’ lives, and it’s not pleasant. From short-term issues of weight gain, decreased attractiveness, fatigue, an inert attitude towards everything, to long-term issues of obesity, increased risk of heart diseases, weak bones, poor well being. These are not in line with my vision of my ideal self, and not what I want to see manifest in reality.

So what can I do about the time factor then? Simple:

1. Find ways to be productive while working out. I recently bought a new touchscreen smart phone which allows me to go online, check emails, listen to multimedia, surf the web, and basically do a lot of the things I do on my laptop. This means I can now get stuff done while I’m at the gym.
2. Focus on the important; chunk out the unimportant (Habit #1 of 8 Habits of Highly Productive People). Fitness is clearly an important aspect of life. I’ve realized that through 21DFC, after seeing the immense benefits from working out regularly. Other things? Perhaps not so much. If I can’t find the time, it’s an indication for me to prioritize and cut out the unimportant. Everyone has the same amount of time every day. It’s about how we manage our time, not about getting more time.
3. Work out first thing in the day. I find that working out in the morning gives a great start to the day. It’s relative easier than trying to find time later for my workout, which may not always happen.
4. Schedule it in my calendar. What doesn’t get scheduled will never get my attention. By scheduling it in my calendar, I’m setting the time aside for fitness – upfront. No “I’ll see how the day goes” or “I’ll exercise when I finish my tasks”. These almost guarantee it will never happen.
5. Integrate fitness into my life. Rather than reserve fitness for only that 30 minutes – 1 hour a day, I found it’s so much more powerful to do that AND integrate activity throughout my daily activities. From climbing the stairs, to covering short distances via walking (over taking the bus), to standing (over sitting) when taking the public transport. There are lots of opportunities everywhere, just a matter of taking them up.

Share Your Plans/Progress for Today!

What is your intended fitness plan for today? What physical activities are you going to do, and how long do you want to do them for? Share with us!

Update your progress as you go along. At the end of the day, review your progress and share your learnings.

Check out other participants’ responses and join in the discussions!

(Images: Rock climbing, Productivity)