Scheduling workouts

College students and professionals with full-time jobs have to schedule their workouts around class, meetings and work.

Add in sleeping, eating, showering and transportation, and 24 hours seems like half the amount of time you need in a day to get everything done.

It may be tempting to cut workouts in an effort to to keep yourself from going crazy or becoming sleep deprived. But in my experience, everything else becomes a little bit harder, and more stressful, when I don't work out.

As a full-time student, staff writer for the local newspaper, intern for a lifestyle magazine and varsity rower, I schedule every minute of my day to get the most out of each activity.

Outside Magazine features the nation's fittest real athletes in a special edition every year. These people achieve incredible athletic success while maintaining 9-to-5 jobs, taking care of a family and volunteering.

David Goggins, an ultramarathoner and Navy SEAL, was featured in the magazine's 2009 list of the fittest real athletes.

Goggins wakes up at 3 a.m. every morning, works out until 8 a.m., goes to work until 6 p.m. when he rides his bike home. This grueling training schedule has prepared him for a 135-mile ultramarathon in Death Valley. Next, he plans to compete in a 3,000-mile bike race over 12 days across the U.S.

Listen to Goggins talk about his training in a video interview here in Outside Magazine.

Training as an elite athlete without the time, money or staff of a professional takes discipline and dedication. While I don't keep as hectic a schedule as Goggins, I commit myself to exercising six days a week.

Fitting this in around schoolwork, class, interviews and writing stories is a daily challenge. But one I know will make me a better athlete and a more organized and effective student and employee.

And if Goggins can train for ultra-events while working as a Navy SEAL, I should surely be able to get in a couple hours of cardio and some weight training.

Go here to learn more about Outside's fittest real athletes, or to nominate someone you know.