Find Time, Not Excuses: Top 5 Fitness Tips to Stay Accountable Anywhere

Don't let vacation, travel or long weekends be a reason to forget your fitness! Top five ways to stay on track.

In life, more often than not, attaining something you truly desire or need can be very difficult, but maintaining or keeping it, is the "easy" part. This can apply to jobs, material possessions, lifestyles, even relationships, and certainly, to fitness.

However, there remains confusion, because for their job, people easily sacrifice time with family and friends for a deadline at the office. People will be frugal, miss out on experiences and save to purchase something they have always wanted. People will put themselves through physical and emotional stress to make a relationship work, yet, when it comes to staying in shape, small obstacles, temptations and loose footholds are exaggerated into eventual fitness landslides.

Why is this?

I think most people would agree that attaining your fitness goals can be one of the most difficult things to accomplish, yet in principle, staying in shape, is the easiest. So why do so many people use vacation, weddings, summer, a weekend trip, a friend visiting from out of town or you visiting a friend out of town, to be a valid reason to completely forget about your body and health. If you compare the time and effort it takes to maintain a positive relationship, work environment and lifestyle compared to the 15-90 minutes it can take to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it seems like a no brainer, yet it all comes down to priorities.

Something you will notice with people who are in great shape, is that they find time to exercise, because its a priority. Something you will notice about people who are not in shape, is that they find excuses. Both of these types of people have 24 hours in a day.

So how do you stay in shape? Well the easy answer is obviously exercise, so let's reshape the question. How does one hold themselves accountable to stay in shape?

1) Find Time, Not Excuses: Wake up 30 minutes earlier, use your lunch break, PVR your favorite show, whatever it is, there is something in your day you do not need to do as much as you need to sweat.

2) Have a Support Group, not a Pity Partner: Find a friend who you can work with towards your goals, not someone who you can count on to skip the gym with you.

3) Educate Yourself: Learn how you can workout anywhere. A few pieces of equipment, a flight of stairs, the beach, you can make anywhere your gym!

4) Set a Goal Plan: Set a proper plan of how you will achieve your goals. Put pen to paper, make it realistic, and chart it out just like a road map, with landmarks along the way to keep you on the right road. Ask yourself, how bad do you want it?

5) Be Strong: I am not talking about physical strength, I am talking mental strength. Be strict with your goals, diet, exercise schedule, and do not let things deter you.

Implement these principles into your day to day schedule, take them seriously, and you will start to see results. The main goal here, is to adapt fitness as a lifestyle. To create something like a workout, a gym class, a run, 100 burpees, swim, long walk, whatever it is, as a staple in your day, something you look forward to, something you integrate into your day so it becomes as natural as waking up at your alarm. The same alarm you set for your morning workout.

Check out Will's Fitness & Travel YouTube Channel, No Regrets Lifestyle