People who are too busy to do exercise

OP @Hollyandivygoout if you have kids secondary school age you are likely at least in your 40s, and would be advised to do strength training of some kind along with running, to avoid losing too much muscle mass and getting injured, ans support joints better. I do two runs a week, two sessions more focused on weights and callisthenics (which still raises the heart rate), and one yoga class.

Sounds like you already fit in plenty of exercise then and wouldn't need to go running. The OP was about exercise not running, for the OP it's running, for others it's something else.

I have time. We all have the same hours in a day. I don't have that time free though. Between my 3 children and the house, with my husband working shifts, I don't have much time for myself at all.
I have a neighbouring couple who I really admire who both run regularly, together and separately. But they're in the position you are. Two high school aged children.
Some people really are too busy.
Yes I can spend time on the sofa each day. What people don't consider while I'm sat there though is that I'm pumping milk to feed my baby, who is asleep in front of me and basically always with me.
Trust me, I'd love to run. Or cycle. Or return to the yoga classes I absolutely loved before. But it's a while off for me.
It's 4something AM and I'm sat scrolling with a double pump attached to me and a 4 month old asleep on my lap. I could stay up and go for a run after this, I guess, but then I'll be running and continuing to exist all day on 3-4 hours of sleep.

Some people prefer to spend their valuable free time on more cerebral activities, which, from your post, is obviously not your thing. I get that you prefer your mindless repetitive activity. Come back and tell us how you are in coming years, once you've completely knackered your knee joints.

Oh knob off. No lots of people don't have 40 mins a day to go for a run. Lots have to work all the hours god sends and when they aren't they would like to spend some time with their kids or on things they enjoy. If that's running then whoopdy doo for you but it's not for everyone. I work 7 days a week in 2 quite physically demanding jobs,have an 8 year old daughter, 2 dogs and 5 horses to sort out and the last thing I fancy doing at the end of a long day is go for a run. Why do you give a toss what anyone else does with their often limited spare time?

I'm really sorry that with all your laudable exercise that it's clearly not making you happy to the extent you're quite horrible to other people. I feel sorry for you OP.
Kindness is free, and being that insecure to feel attacked by other people's lives, choices and struggles must be a really hard way to live. Are you ok?

Sit ups and press ups will damage me (literally can't do them and they actually aren't that great for the pelvic floor, I believe), I don't have stairs in the main house. I don't go running. However, my fitness watch, which resets on a Monday morning, says I have 177 intensity minutes so far this week, which is even more than OP runs!

Thanks for reminding me that dogs need walking. I'd totally forgotten. (Even though they did actually get an hour this morning). Though farm and working dogs don't necessarily need as much formal walking.

Ah, thank goodness you’re here! How else would anyone have worked out that dogs need walked?

Well that’s great for you. I can’t just leave my children home alone whilst I go for a run.
I get home from work and feed them/get them ready for bed. Then I tidy up and do prep for the next day. Generally takes me to 8;0.
then I finish off work as I needed to leave early to collect the from nursery in time. Generally takes me to 10pm.
theres 8 hours left till I need to get up in the morning to get ready for work / nursery and there’s a good chance I will need to get up with my toddler 1+ times in the night.
where do you want me to squeeze it in?

I think people are missing the point. It's not about running, it's about any form of exercise. You should prioritise exercise every day. There's no excuse. Run up and down the stairs 20 times, do head shoulders knees and toes , sit ups, press ups. It's not that hard to incorporate it into your say, while at home if you can't get out. And for anyone with a dog, you should be walking that poor animal at least once per day.

When I had young kids and no-one to relieve me for 40 minutes, I couldn't have gone running, like many here. How fortunate you are, OP, to have the kind of support that enabled you to do that when you had young kids. You can feel smug but not everyone is that lucky.

I hate running anyway but I get a lot more than 4 x 40 minutes of exercise a week. I aspire to more than the small amount you do.

Of course, not everyone has the health or energy to do it either. They aren't less than because of it.

What about a two year old and no childcare? As soon as he goes to bed, or my husband takes over at the weekend, I have to work as fast as I possibly can. Genuinely no rest and no time to exercise.

I 😆mean seriously though who gives a flying fuck that she manages to go running several times a week? Only her. I've lost 13 stone. I dont make posts saying how it's inexcusable that other people haven't lost weight because if I can do it then surely no one else has an excuse? I'd get my arse handed to me and it'd be justified. 😆

I used to exercise loads and now I have a small child, ft very demanding job and am literally so exhausted I cannot find the energy. I assume things will change when child gets bigger

Both in secondary school, give over, that’s a completely different situation to someone with children in primary!

I personally find routine and repetitive mindless exercise like jogging exceptionally boring. Pounding the pavement 4 times a week is my idea of hell. I like the gym, cycling, and swimming but do it when I feel like it a few times a month and that’s fine. Sometimes I do less and sometimes more, it realty doesn’t matter.

There are ways to do things , not necessarily running 4 miles a day but there are plenty of small things that can be done throughout your time at home that do add up.

Things like doing standing push ups against the kitchen counter if waiting a couple minutes for something to boil/cook.
If you're bored off your tits talking to your child while they're thrashing around the bath, be bored but be squatting.

If you have to work all day at home and your back/equipment allows it, work standing up for some of the time or sit on a balance ball.
If you're reading, try to read the first page while doing a plank.
If you're mindlessly scrolling on your phone, do that on your back but while air cycling🤣

I do highly recommend 10-minute pilates videos on YouTube. There are so many. All you need is a floor. Though I use my bad and it's fine.

Well done you but not sure of the point of the post. To say that people that don’t do what you do are lazy? That they are pretending they are so busy? I don’t understand at all why it bothers you. Surely the obvious answer is people lead different lives and don’t all see the world as you do? The more important thing is to consider why you are thinking about it so much that you needed to post.

I can’t run I have arthritis in my knee .. however exercise doesn’t need to be defined by going out to an activity - hoovering , mopping changing bedding also exercise .

everyone with limited time makes choices - some people might not change bedding as often as others, not iron , clean the bathroom less frequently , cook from scratch / ready meals ..

so yes we make choices on what is going on and for many it isn’t their top priority .

there is full time and there is full time
i for example have long hours

Im sorry op but this has really hit a nerve with me. Because you are incredibly tone deaf- have you ever considered that there are plenty of parents out there who want to work out but there isnt enough time in the day?

We have a 1yr old and a 3yr old-both shoddy sleepers, we both work, have no family nearby so childcare is mostly us/nursery. My kids wake at 7 and sleep at 8pm - at the end of a tiring day, after tidying kitchen, sorting laundry, id rather recuperate from the day and go to sleep, especially as our nights are full of nightwakes.

Pre kids, we both worked out 6x a week. Ive accepted that its not my season to workout in these years. But will be when kids are more self sufficient.

Dont assume that people who dont exercise are lazy, maybe they too worry about this.

Get off your high horse.

I’m a single parent of 3 young DC, I work full time and am also in my last year of a degree. I don’t have time to run, besides even if I did, I don’t like it, never have and even if I did, I can’t after surgery a few years ago. I do however try to walk 5 miles every day during my lunch break. I don’t criticise people who don’t exercise, it’s their life not mine. I suggest you get off your high horse and do what you want and leave others to do what they want.

And you care how other people live their life because...?

What do you want from this post? What are you achieving?

You want people to feel guilty about how shit they are in comparison to you?
You want to feel excellent about your own choices?
Do you want a list of other people's responsibilities that you don't have?
Are you interested in the multitude of things - learning Swahili, writing a novel, crocheting blankets for abandoned dachshunds - that you aren't doing while you are busy running?

Cop yourself on.

Have you always done it?

I have, on and off.

On when I'm in control and everything going to plan.
Off when life gets in the way.

Just because they're too busy now, doesn't mean they'll never make time.

It's like those people who decide to stop wearing make-up/doing their hair and expect everyone else to do so at the same time.

People have different priorities at different times.

What a judgy, patronising and tone deaf post. I was a single parent, working full time in a very active job to made ends meet with a house to run and a child to look after. To squeeze anything else into my day I would’ve had to give up sleep.