Is your weekend exercise plan non-existent thanks to your to-do list?
Cleaning. Washing. Money stuff. Food shopping. Sorting your friend’s birthday present. Booking your holiday to Croatia. Looking for the cheapest car insurance. And ordering those bits and bobs from Amazon.
Plus, catching up with friends and family. And having time to chill and relax before it’s Monday again.
Sound familiar? My weekends were like that too, and honestly, my health often got overlooked. Exercise was something I always meant to find time for, but never quite did.
That’s why today, I’m sharing the weekend exercise plan:
- With 20+ mental, emotional and physical health benefits.
- You’ll want to make time for (& you’ll actually enjoy).
- You don’t need to find motivation or energy to do.
- That makes you feel like you made the most of your weekend.
- You can enjoy on your own, with your partner, family and friends.
- That includes brunch and coffee — yes, really.
PLUS, how to make time for exercise every weekend — including 13 ways to find 2 more hours every week.
So, if you’re at the beginning of your health journey — or feel you don’t have the time to exercise — this post’s for you.
Getting it All Done
If you’re like me and want to get “all the things” done. Life can quickly become overwhelming — and your health goals can be something you’ll get to “someday.”
Plus, by the time you’ve done everything on your to-do list, it’s hard to find the motivation or energy to exercise — right?
I’m here to tell you, not anymore. And most importantly, I’ll show you how.
Deciding What’s Most Important
I know you’re hard-working and want to get everything done — but don’t realise too late (like I did) that your weekends are also your time to do what you want — to prioritise your personal goals, not life admin!
And, since your personal goal this year is to improve your health and wellbeing, please prioritise it (I show you how below). It’s the only way you’ll fit it into your life, especially on the weekend when there’s so much other stuff you could be doing.
To help you prioritise your weekend exercise it also needs to be enjoyable and something you don’t need to find motivation for.
So, what exercise would you look forward to, no matter your energy or motivation? What enjoyable activity improves not only your mental and physical health but also your happiness and relationships?
The BEST Weekend Exercise Plan
For me, it’s the combination of 5 things:
- Your cute pup
- Your partner
- Fresh air
- Conversation and connection
- Eating out
What exercise combines all these? Walking.
And that’s why I love it.
It’s my go-to weekend exercise — and I know it’ll become yours too.
Especially when you feel ALL its benefits. (Learn about them here).
What Will You Commit To?
I committed long ago, to live a healthy and active life. Because I wanted to feel happier, healthier and more energetic.
But, I wanted a weekend exercise routine that felt different from Monday to Friday workouts. That’s when walking became a big part of my life.
And, when my partner Phil and I started making time each weekend (at least an hour or two) for a walk together. Plus, something to eat either half way, or at the end.
Sometimes it’s a strenuous fell walk in The Lakes and a pub lunch. Other times, it’s a stroll along the river at our local park, and into town for brunch and coffee. It all depends on how we feel and what we fancy.
We chat about our previous week, our plans for the next week, and everything in between. It lifts our mood, boosts our health and makes us feel good.
And, we now view it as one of the most important things we do each week. It’s prioritised above housework and life admin — no matter how long our list is.
Why? Because we know, at the end of our lives, we’ll never regret prioritising our health, happiness and relationship (but we’ll likely regret obsessing over our to-do list!).
How to Fit Exercise into Your Weekend
If you feel you don’t have enough time for a one to two-hour walk at the weekend, here’s how to make the time.
First, check in with what’s most important to you and be really honest with yourself.
It’s easy to say our health and happiness are important, but in reality, we often put everything else first. We think everything matters equally and we have to get it all done. When the truth is, things don’t matter equally. And we don’t have to get it all done.
So, prioritise your health and happiness when planning your weekend. Literally put your walk in your calendar — decide where and when you’ll do it. Then plan everything else around it — because the stuff that needs to get done will get done — it always does.
With that said, I know you want to be as productive as possible. So, to help you make time for your weekend walk, I’m sharing 13 time-saving tips below.
Making More Time
A few tweaks to your routnine could give you back over 2 hours each week — plenty of time for your weekend walk.
How much time could you save if you tried some of these:
- Reduce social media and internet use to 30 minutes a day. (Help yourself with this one by avoiding online scrolling until midday).
- Limit TV watching, YouTube videos, and reading the news or celebrity gossip. (Experts recommend no more than two hours a day watching TV or on your phone to avoid negative impacts on your mental and physical health and energy levels).
- Turn off notifications on your phone and check messages 2 to 4 times a day. (Try it for a week and see the time and mental space benefits.)
- Stop checking work emails in the evenings and weekends.
- Only clean when needed, not because it’s “bathroom day.”
- When working from home, clean for 5-10 minutes during breaks to reduce weekend cleaning time.
- Stop ironing!
- Use a car wash/pay for your car to be valetted.
- Do your food shopping after work instead of the weekend.
- Double meal portions whenever you cook to cut the time you spend in half.
- Batch similar activities together — for example, if you have bills to pay, money stuff to do, and car insurance to sort, get them all done in one focused 50-minute session — you’ll be surprised how quickly you get them done especially if you implement tip #3 too.
- Skip life admin tasks on weekends — do one task daily Monday to Friday instead.
- Use a local travel agent to book your holidays — honestly, this one is life-changing!
I’ve given you these time-saving tips because we’re all guilty of saying we don’t have time to exercise. But, the reality is we do — we just need to reprioritise and make a few changes.
Don’t Miss Out
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If you enjoyed this post, here’s some more you’ll love:
- The Simplest Exercise Plan Ever!
- 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health & Lose Weight
- 5 Easy Ways to Exercise More
Don’t Know Where to Start?
I hope this post showed you how easy it is to create a weekend exercise plan you enjoy. And how to make time for it alongside everything else you need to do.
However, if you feel overwhelmed with everything you need to do to improve your health and wellbeing. Or, if you’re struggling to stay motivated, personalised health coaching is the most supportive, encouraging and fastest way to reach your goals.
Learn more and join the waitlist here. Since places are extremely limited, you’ll be the first to hear when a spot opens.
Remember, YOU deserve to be happy and healthy. So, prioritise yourself today.
With love,
Becky x