How to Balance Life: Work, Gym, Family/Friends

No matter how you cut it, staying healthy takes work. Body building, powerlifting, general fitness, and even taking daily walks all require a time commitment. It’s not the easiest thing to commit to when you have a family and work a full time job and/or are studying for a degree. The only way to do it right, is with planning and time management. My name is Alistair Humphreys, I am a full time consultant working 10+ hour days, love spending time with my family, and maintain a great relationship with my long-term girlfriend. How do I do it? I’ll tell you. Here are a few of the ways I manage my time week to week to do everything I love to do:

1. Plan. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” Without a solid plan, everything falls apart. This is especially true if your job and family life involve a lot of changes week-to-week or even day-to-day. Every Sunday I plan the week ahead and schedule the things I NEED to do. Once that done, I’ll fill in the rest of my available time with things I WANT to do. 

My need to do list looks something like this: Grocery shopping, Meal Prep, Work, Sleep, Eat. Once those are all accounted for, I plan out the things I want to do: Spend time with family/girlfriend, go to the gym, hang out with friends. 

2. Establish a routine. This goes hand in hand with plan, but is easier when your days mostly consist of the same activities at the same time. If you work a 9-5 job, you’ll do that every day. If you’re a student, you have class at the same time every week. Developing a routine that you can realistically maintain takes time and most importantly, consistency, but once you have it set it only gets easier and easier to stay consistent with your goals. 

3. Be efficient. Above, I mentioned meal prepping my food, and its not because I particularly love cooking days worth of food at one time. However, instead of spending an hour a day cooking, I spend two and a half hours cooking on 1 day and don’t have to worry about it again. Find a few ways to save time In the week and you’ll end up saving a ton of time in the week.

Those are a few ways Ive been able to balance my life between work, family/friends, and the gym. Feel free to share this with your friends, as well as any other tips you may have that I didn’t mention!