When do you actually exercise??

[Netter123]

Do you wake up early? Before or after work? When the kids are sleeping? How often? I have just realised that I am very sedintary and need to incorperate more into my routine but I always feel so tired with having kids and work I dont know when is best to do it! Do people really feel better for it or just even more tired with achy muscles?

I feel much better for it. I did my first run in a month this morning and feel a lot better for it.

I struggle to fit in running at the moment unless ds is in his running wheelchair but I also do les mills workouts at home normally when he is in bed or having some relax time

Feel loads better - I think it unlocks energy for me. When I started running I did it first thing in the morning or after school run. Now I’m doing longer distances it tends to be in the evening though. Even just 20 mins a couple of times a week helps me feel better, otherwise I just feel I have no energy.

Early (6:30) - DH gets the kids breakfast whilst I run. I'm back for 7:30 when he leaves for work. Or if I'm working from home I run during my lunch break. If all else fails I run indoors on my treadmill once the kids are in bed. I manage to run about 5 times a week. Always run on a Saturday and Sunday, usually early morning so it doesn't impact on family time.

When DH gets back home from work. He comes in at 6.30pm, I hand the kids over to him and head out for a run. It works well for me, because if I stay at home I have to help with bedtime!

I walk the dog for an hour ish every morning then another 3/4 hour after work.
3 days a week also do yoga before work.
In the past I've also swum before work, but getting the dog has put the kybosh on that.
My DC are grown up now.

I go out and do early classes during the week, by the time I get back, my husband has the kids mostly up and fed so I grab a quick shower and pick up the final bits and bobs whilst he gets up. Usually works well for us. Are you a two parent family? I have to be honest, I'm not sure how I'd be able to do it otherwise unless I had extra childcare.

On the weekend we are super active, so for any reason if I can't do as much as I'd like in the week I still get a fix!

I didn't excersize regularly until I was late 20s. Changed my life. I'm pretty toned but by no way super skinny or healthy. I like the way it makes me feel, I have more energy, I can play with my kids and keep up with them. I don't grunt when I get off the sofa or bend down like some people my age!

Just start OP.

It has taken me ages to get regular exercise in and I know the routine I’ve got in place at the moment will change the next time the DCs have another schedule change. For background, two DCs, 7 and almost 5, and a condition called Addison’s Disease making early morning or post-8pm exercise physically impossible (and gives me days of awful fatigue where even my planned exercise doesn’t happen). I work five days a week (Mon-Fri), leaving the house at 6:45, then going straight from work to do school pick up at 3:30. I have little to no family/friends support apart from DH who also works full time. I find exercise is really important to managing my medical condition and especially to manage the fatigue. I’m on long-term steroids for it, so the exercise also helps to offset the weight gain and bone density loss associated with those.

Saturday - 8am Body Pump class at a gym 15 mins away while DH looks after the DCs
Sunday - 10am-ish, a one-hour DVD of something very sweaty at home (usually step aerobics or HIIT) while the DCs join in or try climbing on me for ‘extra resistance’
Monday - 6pm-ish, very, very occasionally I can convince DS2 to sit with music and a colouring book while I do a quick DVD eg 30 Day Shred which is about 25 minutes.
Tuesday - impossible but I’m fiddling like mad with my meds to try and manage an evening dance class (7:30-9pm) as this is my real passion. I’m hoping my exercise regime will get me managing fatigue better to get there!
Weds & Thurs - I do 45 minutes in the gym which is onsite where/while my DCs do gymnastics. They’re in the same class at the moment so the gym may have to go once they’re in different classes or decide they don’t want to go anymore.
Fri - I’m going to start trying to add in some laps in the pool today during DS2’s swimming lesson. DS1 is a good enough swimmer to entertain himself in the pool while I do this and I can keep half an eye on him between laps. He’ll then go for his swimming lesson and I’ll have to see to DS2, but it should give me 20 minutes of swimming.

This all requires a lot of coffee...

I go cycling several times a week early in the morning, ideally to be back before anyone else in the house is awake (ie. out of the house by 05:00). It's an amazing time of day particularly in summer when it's not pitch back and cold/wet and really wakes me up and makes me feel ready for the day

Then when I get home the rest of the house is coming to life and I shower and crack on with organising DC off to school and I get on with work...

I go at lunchtime or late morning when the DC are at school. After morning jobs and before school pick up. feel better for doing it although sometimes is hard beforehand to go.

I feel loads better for it!

Do it whenever I get the chance. Early morning, lunchtime, soon as kids are in bed. The trick for me is just planning that day when I can do it

I cycle to/from work and try to use it as a means of transport as much as possible to get exercise in.

Then I run sometimes early morning before work or in my lunch hour (we have showers at work).

I'm at at 6am every morning to do horsework for an hour, which I count as my daily exercise ;)
I also park as far away from work as possible and power walk in and back.

DC is only a baby at the moment so I drop him off to have a couple hours playtime with grandparents and go to the gym after work :) don't know about when he's school age tbf

Im horrible without regular exercise, my MH really suffers, I look awful & I feel like someone has pulled the plug.

I started with 20 minute HIIT sessions on my patio while the children were napping or out playing in the garden.

Now they're older, I tend to run on Sunday morning while everyone's out at a class, then try to finish work earlier on Tue/Wednesdays, and I'm trying to fit in a pilates class on a Thursday evening once kids are in bed.

If you're willing, there is a way, but I completely accept it's not easy and think that 'No excuses' is a load of guilt-trippy shite.

Wow everyone sounds so active! I think the morninga would probably work best for me as things just seem to pop up after work. For those who exercise in the morning do you feel wiped out for the rest of the day or does it energise you? One of my friends said she replaced her morning coffee with a 20 minute run but I cant quite believe it!

Monday- Thursday I go to the gym for 6am for about 45 minutes
Monday and Wednesday evenings I also do a 30 minute session ( the Monday one because I don’t want to watch the boys swimming training for 1.5 hours!!) Wednesday night is core! Sometimes I do a 30 minute boxing class on a Thursday mid morning.
I love it but only been back for the last 2.5 years

Are there any youtube recomendations? I need to tone up more than anything as I am a healthy weight just very wobbly :s

I love FitnessBlender on YouTube. They have loads of videos of different types/lengths etc and they explain the exercises well. There is no annoying music or background either which helps.

Morning workouts make me very unwell now, but back pre-diagnosis and pre-DCs I’d do 6am workouts and feel really good, as much as anything through smugness because I’d got my workout over and done with for the day! Wouldn’t say it replaced coffee, quite, and the first 10 minutes were always hell on Earth because all I wanted to do was go back to bed, but early mornings would still be my preference now if I could physically manage it. ‘Starvation’ workouts, ie early morning workouts pre-breakfast, are meant to be good for boosting your metabolism as well, but I’m willing to accept that’s bollocks.

God, I love it would be in the 7 days a week if I could!

I either go before work (6.30am) after work (5pm) or on my days off (9am) but I am lucky that my kids are now 12 & 14 so can be left at home when I go.

I didn't have time for the gym this morning so did a 20 min HIIT video instead. Ideal if you only have half an hour to get something done!

Look at HASFIT workouts on YouTube.

Insanity & Warrior are great 15 & 20 minute videos 👍

I walk the dogs for an hour, morning and evening, 7 days a week. I do a half walk half jog type thing where no one can see me over the fields!

I'm up at 5.30am and at the health club by 6am Monday to Friday. I do 3 sessions with my personal trainer, 2 yoga sessions, and I swim 3 times a week.

I also try to use the sauna and hammam 3 times a week.

I get home just in time to eat breakfast with my DC before the nanny takes them to nursery.

Occasionally, I do a class in the afternoons but I mostly exercise in the mornings

I wake up at 6am, at the gym by 7.00am.

At the moment I go 4-5 times a week.

OP, read The 4 Pillar Plan by Dr Ranjan Chatterjee (that nice doctor off the telly)

It's very sensible - recognises how difficult "exercise" is to fit into a busy week, and he instead renames it as just "Move" instead. It's so simple and achievable - incorporating a few squats while waiting for the kettle to boil, getting up from your desk every hour, etc.