PUTTING THE TRAINING HOURS IN

Are your training goals ambitious? How can you find time to work out when you have a busy job and a family, yet want to train hard and long? Personal trainer Jeff Archer has some advice on finding the right balance

- Jeff Archer

There’s an enormous pleasure in completing events, especially if you’ve performed well and nailed a personal best – the joy of crossing the finish line and the satisfaction that all the training and preparation has paid off. But training for events, particularly long-distance endurance ones, when life is busy, can be a real challenge. It’s important to balance your exercise with work, family and social commitments, so what are the secrets of fitting everything in?

We often hear about those who work full time and juggle their busy jobs with 15 hours a week of triathlon or running training. How is this even possible?

GET ORGANISED

It sounds obvious, but with so many things to pack into each week, you’ll need to be proactive to maintain a balance in life. Good planning is the difference between moving seamlessly from task to task with quality results in everything you take on, versus juggling many items on your list and never feeling as though you do anything properly. Know when you’re going to train and have those training sessions scheduled into your diary. Otherwise, you’re just leaving everything to chance.

UPDATE YOUR PRIORITIES

Given that time is limited, it’s worth undertaking a quick review of anything you currently spend time on to ask yourself if there are any quicker ways to achieve the results you’re looking for or are there any jobs on your list that simply don’t need doing any more? Anything you can ditch or delegate could free up valuable training time. Be strict with your time. We talk about spending time but what if you think about investing it instead? Think about the return you get for the investment of every 15-minute period throughout the week.

DESIGN YOUR CUSTOMISED TRAINING PLAN