Too busy to get fit? Here's how to work exercise into your packed
schedule
[May 12, 2025]
By STEPHEN WADE
You're too busy to exercise, right? Your job consumes all your time.
You're strapped by professional and family demands. As you get more and
more responsibility, your free time shrinks.
Well, these blockers don't have to be an excuse. Making time simply
calls for creativity and a broader understanding of how to get in daily
exercise.
"The trap is thinking that exercise must be an hour in the gym," said
Charles Scott, who describes himself as an executive mentor or exercise
coach.
His message is simple: If you have a very demanding job, you need to
find a work-life blend.
“An hour in the gym is exercise," Scott told The Associated Press. "But
it’s just one form of exercise.”
Scott coaches about 70 business executives — online and otherwise — and
other busy people to improve their physical and professional well-being.
He's based in New York and is relatively hardcore about his own exercise
but realizes not everyone can be — or wants to be.
He's planning to run across the Grand Canyon in June — the out-and-back
version — that covers about 46 miles (74 kilometers). He also has guided
his blind friend Dan Berlin on several endurance events including a
speed ascent up Mount Kilimanjaro and tandem cycling across the United
States with a team of blind cyclists.
The ambitious person's trap
Rather than terming it exercise, Scott talks about teaching “intentional
movement” to his goal-driven clients.
“The ambitious person’s trap is when you undermine your physical and
emotional health in pursuit of your professional goals," he said. "It's
common in this culture among the executives I mentor.”
Scott asks busy people to focus on something other than making money or
chasing fame inside the profession. He said he tries to emphasize a
holistic approach that includes the emotional, the professional and the
physical.
“Our bodies need to move," he said. "No matter what age you are, our
bodies must move to stay healthy. So if you’re not exercising, you’re
out of alignment.”
Alternative exercise for busy people
Scott has a list of ways to blend movement into your day without needing
a gym. Of course, if you can hit the gym, that's great, too.
He suggests doing one-on-one meetings while you're walking instead of
sitting behind the office desk or laptop. Or, he suggests standing
rather than sitting when you hold meetings.
“If you want a meeting to be short and efficient, choose the standing
conference room,” he said.
Or do isometric exercises during a meeting to tone, for instance, your
stomach muscles.
“Tighten up your stomach muscles. Hold for 20 seconds and don't hold
your breath,” he said. “Don't make it obvious. Release. Do it again.
You'll be sore tomorrow. It burns calories. It tones muscles. And it
takes precisely zero seconds out of your I-am-too-busy-to-exercise day.”
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Charles Scott poses for a portrait Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New
York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
 Ways to blend work and exercise
Here are a few more ideas about blending exercise into your work
schedule.
If your flight is delayed, go for a walk around the airport and add
to your daily step count.
Link workouts to daily events. For example, when you wake up, always
go for a walk. Or, when you get home from work, do a certain number
of pushups after you walk through the door.
Make a workout a social event and do it with a friend or a group.
Give yourself the title “athlete" and build habits around that
identity. Scott is an advocate of experiencing “meaningful
discomfort," which he calls the “birthplace of resilience.”
Pay attention to the food you put in your body. Treat your body with
respect.
Take a quick break from answering emails and do 10 squats or pushups
or whatever to add movement.
“In business, many people show up to work and they crank it out all
day," which he termed a “rookie mistake,” like a newcomer going out
too fast at the start of a marathon.
“Then they go home exhausted and they are fussy with the people they
love.”
The partitioning approach
One of Scott's clients is Harrison (Harry) Kahn, the general manager
of the Vermont Creamery, an artisanal dairy.
Rather than blend, Kahn uses the partition method and awakens at 5
a.m. to get in his exercise, typically running, biking, or popping
on skis in the winter in largely rural Vermont.
“I kind of get in the me stuff before the rest of the house wakes
up,” he said.
He said his wife, Elisabeth, teaches French. She sets off early as
they both combine to get their two children ready for school —
11-year-old Iris and 8-year-old Asher.
“Charles has reminded me that life isn’t a game of comparison with
other people,” he said. "You have to figure out your own stuff.”
Kahn describes himself as a routine-oriented person who is
comfortable dividing his day into chapters. Once he's in the office,
his attention is the job and 120 employees.
"I’m very focused when I’m at work, so I can get it all in as
opposed to going in and out and having the day go on really long.”
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