[JanetMorris]

Make a Date to Exercise
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Lynn Harrison, 34, customer relations coordinator for an insurance company, Guelph, Ontario
Obstacle: Lots of in-the-car time and family activities
Breakthrough: Creating breaks for exercise in the family calendar after weekly "find time" strategy sessions with spouse
Accomplishment: From lifting weights a few times a month to 3 hours a week

Her Day, Pre-Makeover
7 am: Starts work from home (checks e-mail and voice mail)
8 am: Greets babysitter for 2-year-old Olivia
8:30 am: Makes lunch for Emilie, 6, and then drives her to school
12 pm: Lunch with Olivia
1 pm: Volunteers at Emilie's school and then works
3:30 pm: Picks up Emilie at school; then takes her to dance lessons and Olivia to gymnastics
4 pm: More work
5 pm: Brings the girls home from lessons and prepares a homemade meal for the family
6:30 pm: Coaches figure skating
8 pm: Gets her daughters ready for bed and then plops on the couch to watch TV
11:30 pm: Zzz

Harrison used to do everything--figure skating, downhill skiing, golf--but over the past couple of years, her car has been logging more miles than she has. Harrison finally realized that not going to the gym--and working out at home--might just help matters, because driving to and from the gym used up 40 minutes.

"Lynn needed to schedule her exercise rather than allow it to happen ad hoc," says her coach, Mark Ellwood, author of A Complete Waste of Time. Fitting in her workouts around her daughters' many activities, her husband's hockey games and practices, and her own coaching was a logistical nightmare. So Ellwood had Harrison enlist her husband's help. Now, every Sunday, they sit down with the family calendar and everyone's schedules, and they map out the week--carpooling, meals, her workouts, and even TV time. "It only takes 10 to 15 minutes, and it really helps to get a feel for the week," she says.

Another switch: Instead of picking up the TV remote on Friday nights, Harrison picks up a pair of dumbbells and exercises while her husband watches TV. (By scheduling her TV time and watching only favorite shows, she's cut her vegging-out viewing by 4 hours a week.)

Then she plans another workout for the weekend. "I won't go to bed on Sunday until I've done my weekend workout." Although she doesn't leave the house to exercise, she avoids distractions by asking her husband and daughters to act as if she's not there--no interrupting or asking her to do something for them.

And if all else fails, Harrison has guaranteed herself at least one workout a week: She hired a personal trainer, who knocks on her door every Wednesday at 6 am.

[triarmarm]

With Prevention's help, five busy women beat the number one workout excuse "I don't have time."

by Michele Stanten

Intro & Just Do It--Early

it's the most common excuse for not exercising that I hear--even out of my own mouth. With my 40-plus-hours-per-week job, an active 3-year-old son, laundry, grocery shopping, and a little side project of writing a book, something has to give.

And I'm not alone in feeling time-crunched: 77% of Americans say that when they get busy, it's their workouts that go out the window, according to a survey of 1,200 people by Impulse Research Corporation. "As women, we are so busy taking care of everyone else that exercise becomes an if-I-have-time item. Of course, we never have the time," says Suzanne Zoglio, PhD, a psychologist in Doylestown, PA, and author of Recharge in Minutes.

To help, we paired time-starved women with time-management experts. Here's what they learned, which can help you, too.

Just Do It--Early
Liza Murphy, 44, sales director for a publishing company, NYC
Obstacle: Not wanting to take time away from her sons
Breakthrough: Discovering she can work out while her kids slumber
Accomplishment: From nothing to 2 hours of Pilates a week

Her Day, Pre-Makeover
6 am: Gets herself, 2-year-old Evan, and 13-year-old Sam dressed and fed
8 am: Out the door
8:30 am: Drops Evan off at day care and arrives at the office at 9:00
5 pm: Leaves work to pick up her toddler at day care
6:15 pm: Makes dinner, plays with Evan, helps Sam with homework, does laundry
8:30 pm: Puts Evan to bed and spends time with Sam
10 pm: Goes to sleep

Murphy hadn't exercised since her 2-year-old was born, but she'd thought about it a lot. Many of her coworkers and friends would exercise at lunch and she'd try to join them, but with five departments reporting to her, something always got in the way. "Even though exercise has really positive repercussions--looking better, fitting into clothes easier--it is the first thing to fall off my to-do list," Murphy admits. And as a single parent, she doesn't have someone with whom she can share responsibilities at home.

After tracking what she was doing every hour of the day, Murphy and her coach, Sunny Schlenger, author of Organizing for the Spirit, looked for holes in her schedule. Evening hours before her boys go to bed are off-limits. "I don't want them to feel I have no time for them, so I make a point of giving them one-on-one time with me every day," she says. And after going pretty much nonstop from 6 am until 9:30 pm, she didn't have any energy left to exercise. Her only option: Get up earlier.

That was doable, but Murphy needed a workout she could accomplish close to home; without child care, long walks and runs were out of the question. When she heard that Pilates is great for toning muscles, she decided to give it a try. At first, she followed exercises from a book and managed only 15 minutes at a time. "I was happy to be doing even a little exercise, though," she says. When she switched to a videotaped workout, she was motivated to go longer. Now she gets up at 5:30 and usually does 30 minutes of Pilates (a little less if her toddler gets up early or she has to do laundry) 4 days a week. "It gives me more energy, and it's easier to hold in my stomach," she says.

Although Murphy wishes she had more time to exercise (getting up at 5 am is just too early for her), she's really doing more than she thinks. In addition to the Pilates, every day she walks about 30 minutes to and from the subway--time that counts as exercise

[vicgirl]

Guilt-Free Workouts
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Gretta Leckbee, 32, pharmacist and manager, Austin, TX
Obstacle: Putting everyone else's needs ahead of hers
Breakthrough: Learning to steal time for exercise, but not away from her family
Accomplishment: From walking a few times a month to walking 1 to 2 hours a week

Her Day, Pre-Makeover
7 am: Awakened by her 2-year-old twin boys, Chaz and Joey
8 am: Entertains her kids while trying to make phone calls, clean up, and pay bills
11 am: Gets ready for work
1 pm: Arrives at the pharmacy
8 pm: Returns home, plays with her sons, and gets them ready for bed
9 pm: Grabs a bite to eat and watches a little TV
10:30 pm: Goes to bed

Just the thought of taking an hour away from her family, her job, or her home responsibilities to exercise left Leckbee feeling guilty. "I'd think I really should be doing the laundry or the dishes, or spending time with my boys--anything but taking time for me," she says. So although she'd eventually like to join a gym, walking with her kids is a more attractive option for now.

To fit those walks in, though, Leckbee had to limit distractions and interruptions at other times of the day. According to coach Liz Davenport, author of Order from Chaos, "the average businessperson receives 190 pieces of information each day and wastes 150 hours each year looking for stuff." Leckbee was no exception. When she learned to file instead of pile--and gave up multi-tasking--she suddenly had more time. For example, instead of trying to make calls or pay bills when she's home alone with the boys (who always want Mommy's attention), she saves those tasks for when her husband can watch the kids. "I get less frustrated, and I am a lot more efficient," she says. "For example, I used to spend an hour and a half paying bills; now I'm done in 30 minutes." And she's using that time to be more physically active.

Now on the mornings when Leckbee starts work late--usually two or three times a week--she buckles her kids into the stroller or wagon as soon as they finish breakfast and heads out for a 30- to 40-minute jaunt. Toting 60 pounds around her hilly neighborhood is quite a workout. Since Leckbee started exercising 3 months ago, she's noticed that getting the stroller up the hills has become a lot easier, she's lost 10 pounds, and she feels good about doing something for herself. In fact, she's even thinking about taking a yoga or Pilates class.

[Promotiona]

Exercise Isn't All-or-Nothing
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Cecilia Pineda Feret, 40, restaurant owner, NYC
Obstacle: A perfectionist attitude toward exercise: "I feel that if I am not going to be at the gym every day, then I might as well skip it today."
Breakthrough: Realizing that even a little exercise is a whole lot healthier than nothing
Accomplishment: From less than an hour of belly dancing to 2 hours of belly dancing and an hour-long body-sculpting workout at her gym every week

Her Day, Pre-Makeover
6:30 am: Gets up to see Elena, 10, and Julien, 6, off to school
8 am: 30-minute nap and then errands
Noon: At the restaurant to handle paperwork and phone calls
2:30 pm: Picks up kids from school and takes them to art or music class
6 pm: Brings kids home; then goes to the restaurant for the dinner rush
Midnight: Arrives home, greets babysitter, then reads or watches TV
1 am: Bed

Feret thought a PalmPilot was the answer to fitting exercise into her crazy schedule. But she quickly learned that before technology could help, she had to fix what was going on in her head. "Cecilia had to stop being so hard on herself," says Sunny Schlenger, Feret's coach. "Every time she skipped an exercise class, she got demoralized and used it as an excuse to not work out." The solution: a little taste of success in her fitness life. Schlenger had Feret focus on the one exercise she really enjoys: belly dancing. The trick was finding ways she could do it more often. Additional class times didn't fit into her schedule, so they searched the Web for a belly dancing video Feret could do at home. Now, once a week, after the kids leave for school, Feret pops in the video and shakes her hips for an hour instead of napping or working. "I feel good the rest of the day that I did something--and it's energizing," she says.

Her next step: Add another workout to her week to tackle her top trouble spot--her triceps. Because she quickly gets bored with lifting weights, Feret decided to try a body-sculpting class and zeroed in on the one that she was most likely to stick with--Saturdays at 10:15 am. Weekday classes were too early, and on the weekend her husband could watch the kids.

"Instead of driving myself crazy and getting down on myself for not doing it every day, I remind myself that this is for me, and it is going to help every other aspect of my life," says Feret. "I'm more aware of how I can add bits of exercise into my life, from taking the stairs to doing crunches in the office to going dancing, and it all counts."

[gniewkoit]

Take a Detour for Fitness
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Jennifer Campbell, 40, medical assistant, Bristow, VA
Obstacle: A killer commute that keeps her stuck in her car up to 3 1/2 hours a day
Breakthrough: Making exercise a "pit stop" on her way to work
Accomplishment: From 2 hours of running to 4 hours of running and 2 hours on the elliptical machine each week

Her Day, Pre-Makeover
5 am: The alarm goes off, and Campbell is out the door in 90 minutes
8 am: Arrives at the doctor's office where she works
5 pm: Leaves work
6 pm: Gets home, prepares dinner for two, and then cleans up the mess
8 pm: Reads or watches TV
9 pm: To bed, in an effort to get 8 hours of sleep

Campbell wanted to train for a marathon (26.2 miles), but it seemed impossible: She figured her only time to run was after work. "I am beat, and my performance isn't great at that time of the day," she says. The first thing time-management expert Ruth Klein, author of Where Did the Time Go?, did with Campbell was to review her schedule. When Campbell mentioned a health club near her office, Klein suggested an early-morning workout. But Campbell was skeptical. "I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it because I am not a morning person, but I was desperate enough to give it a try," she says.

And it paid off big-time: She still gets up at 5, but now she's out of the house by 5:30, at the gym by 6, and in the office by 7:45. By leaving her house an hour earlier, she's slashed an hour from her commuting time by avoiding traffic. She also gained another half hour in the morning by packing her bags, breakfast, and lunch the night before. As a result, she's regularly exercising 6 days a week and planning to run a marathon this fall.

Campbell's success didn't stop there. Klein helped her reorganize her weekends so she gained an entire day for herself. "I'd often end up doing the things I hated most on Sunday because I had put them off," she says. "Now I focus on getting all the icky stuff done first. I get up, eat some breakfast, and go to the grocery store--my least favorite chore. By Sunday we have everything done, and my husband and I can sleep in, watch a movie, go out to lunch--and exercise."