People who are too busy to do exercise

I get up at 6am and do it so im back for the kids.

Noone is too busy, but im very empathetic when people say this as i understand the true meaning behind it.

So who looks after the dc when you are out at 6am?

I used to say that all the time too. I genuinely believed it, as I had 2 small children and a husband working rotating shifts. One day a thread appeared on here, a single mum of 3 kids wanting to know how to exercise around them. I was intrigued by some answers and ordered a weighted hula hoop straight away. I now hula hoop for an hour each day and I absolutely love it. I've been doing it for years. My huge tummy has disappeared and i think I look good now. I think exchanging ideas of what people do for exercise is so helpful and encourages some people to go for it. 💪

But we don't all have the same amount of responsibilities and pressures on our time.

I don't work, I have a dh and my dc are at school....I have far more free time than a single mum who works full time and has multiple pre school dc and an elderly relative to care for for example.

I still don't exercise but that's not my point!

Personally, CURRENTLY, I don't have the mental capacity to do it. And I LOVE running. I'm also injured. Shoot me.

Also, what @Brighteningwinter said.

That's absolutely brilliant you managed to get through your insecurity, genuine kudos to you.

However, when you say "noone is too busy", what would you have done if you didn't have your husband at home to enable you to get up and out for 6am? Leave three under 11's alone? Get a babysitter? Or would you then become one of the many single mum's that, in those same circumstances that you have described, ARE too busy because they don't have help to facilitate them?

Is this for real 😂
Why do you care? Many people do much more exercise than you, do you think they find it sooo annoying that you only have time to run 4 miles ?

Oh wow OP you're so much better than us all

Also so many people who "prioritise" exercise don't seem to have partners that also have the same amount of time for exercise.

Please. All I’m hearing is excuses! You can get up at 4.30am and fit some HIIT in, in your living room.
oh, or my SIL once sent me a handy link to a woman who ‘exercises while cleaning the home’ which was fab… all you had to do was pirouette a bit and jump while dusting and run up and down the stairs at lot.
She’s lucky She lives in another country because by the time I’d seen her again I’d lost the urge to punch her patronising little face.

Absolutely this. My friend is obsessed with sodding running and had been on a mission to do.about 15 marathons before she was 45 or something... great, but being a single person with no kids makes it easier for her. It's only because it's all she has in her life apart from work.

There's nothing wrong with exercise and I used to run lots before I had children and ill health from a head injury. My friend just assumed everyone would love running as much as her, and want to see endless posts about her marathons on Facebook. Well, it's ok sometimes, but not all the time.😕😳

Strange flex - why does it bother you? I have time and I can't be arsed. I find all this fitness one upmanship very dull.

Why do people who are into exercise always want a prize for it? You’re doing it for you, no one else. Can’t you just get on with it without worrying about whether anyone else is doing it?

Our physical health is 100% down to myself. We all have the same hours in a day. We choose whether we want to be healthy or not. (not including illnesses and disease obviously)

Good for you. My lone parent friend doesn’t have that luxury as she’s either working or has her kids. She’d LOVE to have 45 mins or an hour to go off by herself…
I have time now because I can get up early before work and go out as DP is here, and kids are teens so don’t need much help getting up and out anymore. But when they were little - it was a struggle to find the time.

Obviously
I have to say it does make me laugh when parents say ‘oh I will lose weight running after the baby’. Ermmm Earth calling, a newborn can’t run and very few children can outrun an adult to the point it qualifies as cardio for a very long time.

Gold medal for you OP. Although, only 4 miles and only 4 times a week. That’s a bit lame isn’t it? Surely you should squeeze in a few extra miles….

Not everyone has the time:

I’m up at 6.15am, we leave the house at 7am. I get home at 6.30pm and then get the kids sorted and do a bit more work. I eat at 8pm. Get the school stuff sorted and the in bed at 10pm after a bit more work.

In my lunch break, when I get it, I like to actually eat lunch.

We live in the countryside, no pavement or streetlights, I can’t run in the dark through muddy fields.

So do fuck off quite frankly.

I don’t enjoy exercising, I think a lot of people do say they don’t have time for it when they are like me and just don’t want to do it. At least I’m honest….! I go for a walk to the shops and back / into town everyday, which is about an hours brisk walking (I have an active 10 app) but it’s out of necessity not joy (because I have something to do in town). I am at the stage in my life where I won’t do anything unless I either enjoy it or I have to do it. I guess I’m more active than some because I do walk everyday but there’s no way I’m going for a run etc.

It is certainly more difficult for some than others.

DH leaves at 6.30am for work gets back around 12 hours later and we eat dinner together. I usually work through my lunch break in order to take it later to pick dc up from school.

Because of dinner I wouldn't then exercise until 8.30pm earliest but which time I'm exhausted and it's dark and cold. I'm definitely a morning exerciser.

So I would typically have to choose between having dinner with my family - the only time we all connect together in the day - and exercising.

I do very occasionally do a YouTube exercise class on the weekends and I'd like to start doing it twice during the week too. But I'm v tired at the moment and sleep isn't great so I choose an extra half hour in bed.

I usually get between 7.5k and 15k steps in a day so I'm not totally sedentary.

I used to be the one that said "im too busy"

I have 3 girls under 11, 2 are in competitive sports training 17 plus hours a week each and one is only 5, I work full time as does husband and the list goes on and on.

For me it was really about being insecure, i used all of these excuses to get out of the real reason which was i was lazy and had zero confidence.

I started training about a year ago, cried walking in, took every ounce of myself to go, but then i loved it and have increased my training to 4 times a week plus running.

I get up at 6am and do it so im back for the kids.

Noone is too busy, but im very empathetic when people say this as i understand the true meaning behind it.

Does it make any difference to you if other people say they can't find the time to exercise? You have just decided that people who aren't like you are annoying. Perhaps there are things in your life which you don't have time to do. After all, nobody has time to do everything. People generally have an internal hierarchy of what is important to them. I have to say, I go through phases of exercising. When I get into the regular groove of it I can keep going. But if something comes along to disrupt it, I find it hard to get going again.

For example, I was running three times a week. Then my son had to go into hospital and I was in there with him! When he came home, our routine was completely different and I found it hard to incorporate exercise into my new life. Not because there wasn't time, but because things were different and it was a mental effort to try and figure it out. Also, I am one of the many women who suspect they have undiagnosed ADHD. Part of this is finding it difficult to just go ahead and do stuff. Other people seem to just throw on their running/gym gear, get out there and do it. I start overthinking all the different steps and they become huge mountains to climb. Getting up. Getting changed. Getting out there. Having a shower. Washing my hair that takes an age to dry. They become so huge in my head that I simply shut down. And this isn't just about exercise. It's everything.

So I think it's probably best not to judge others by your standards. When I'm managing to get out there and run/walk or whatever, I feel a sense of personal achievement. But the last thing I think is 'why are other people not like me?' That's just ridiculous.

I run every other day and fit in a strength workout where I can.

I also have a permanently messy house, eat rubbish because I’m “too busy” to meal plan/shop properly and dress like a sack of crap 90% of the time. People have different priorities 🤷‍♀️

There have of course been times in my life when exercise has been put on the back burner because life throws curveballs in the way.

Perhaps you could run along and find some empathy.

Thing is, you’re exercising for yourself, not for their admiration!! It doesn’t affect you whether they exercise or not, and it doesn’t affect them whether you do.

I’m scrolling on my phone. I could be running, yes. I guess what people mean by ‘don’t have the time’ is ‘don’t have the energy / spoons’

If it improves your life enough to make it worth forcing yourself, that’s great, and worthwhile for you. Your reward is right there.

A little?

Well done, OP. Focus on yourself instead of others, whose lives you know fuck all about.

Haven’t read the thread yet but I think you are probably right. There may be some people who genuinely work, eat, sleep but for most people (myself included!) being too busy to exercise probably just means they don’t have time to exercise AND do the other things that they want to do whether that’s watch tv, crafts, anything really.

Most of us if we are being honest with ourselves could squeeze something in.

I’m massively burnt out after a couple of years of studying part time around 2 jobs and having a toddler, so exercise has fallen by the wayside. I know it will probably help with my poor mental health, but it just feels like a hurdle too big at the moment.