Christmas and New Year are now firmly on the horizon. For many, this marks one of the best but busiest times of the year. Shopping, extra cooking, decorating, wrapping presents and more social events, all weave their way into an already hectic schedule, making any spare time magically vanish before your eyes.

So, you might be wondering if finding time to exercise is a lost cause! And you’d be forgiven. But before you surrender and condemn fitness to 2025, take a read through our tips on how to exercise when you have minimal time.

Exercise at home.
This eliminates travel time and will drastically shorten the total time needed to workout. Many good fitness providers have online workouts either live or recorded. Consider adding these in for a couple of weeks to see you through. Often home workouts require little or no equipment and take up a small amount of floor space, the equivalent size to a workout mat. Another benefit is that sessions can be timed to fit your personal schedule so you can workout whenever suits.

Stick to shorter workouts.
Yes, 150 minutes is the weekly recommendation, but anything will be better than nothing.
If you usually train for an hour, shorten it and pack in the power. Make rest times shorter and get the reps up – high intensity interval training (HIIT) is a game changer when you’re short on time.
If strength training is your thing, try lifting heavier weights but do less reps to reduce timings.
We’ve recently added 10-minute Quick Connect workouts to our online offering and learned that short sharp bursts of exercise are surprisingly beneficial. You’d be amazed what you can achieve in just 10 minutes!

Incorporate exercise into daily life.
The obvious ones are taking the stairs instead of lifts and escalators. Walking instead of driving to local places. Increasing your step count whenever possible.
If you have children, take them swimming, go for a family bike ride or do a ‘Just Dance’ together – move with them.
Walk the journey to school and then jog the long route back. Or go for a brisk morning walk before work. As daylight is scarce at this time of year let the outdoors invigorate you whenever you can.

Remind yourself why you are exercising
It’s very easy to get rundown mentally and physically when you’re burning the candle at both ends. Exercise is a great leveller. Some of its benefits include boosting mental health, improving sleep quality and helping you feel empowered and energised – all of which we need in abundance as we prepare to close out the year and see in a new one.

We hope this has given you the impetus to carve out some time for your own well-being over this festive season. We wish you a wonderful December & hope that your 2025 is a happy and healthy one.