To ask how you fit exercise into your work day?

[Wannahaveitall]

I work fairly standard hours 9 - 6, with an hour's commute each way. I do have the option of flexible hours, starting earlier or later. I need to start exercising for the good of my health, and wondered how other people working full time fit it in? Do you exercise at weekends?

I'm already knackered at the end of the day, shudder at the idea of dragging myself to the gym, but I know it will probably boost energy once I get into it.

Thoughts?

30 day shred is amazing and it's only 30 minutes including warm up and cool down.It's really tough at first but the results are incredible

I get up half an hour early every day and either run or walk - we have a dig so I have no choice but to get up early and walk him so I get my exercise at the same time if we didn't have a dog there is no way I'd be getting up early!

I cycle to work or park a 45 minute walk away. Making in part of work is the only way I can get any exercise done - I simply don't have the will power to do a DVD in the evenings and I don't have childcare for anything else.
Pre children I found I was more motivated to go to things like hockey or running club than to just go to the gym on my own.

elliefredrickson Can I ask what the app is that you use?

Sorry, what is the 30 day shred?

I use a yoga app for a morning 10 minute routine and the Seven interval training app in the evenings. The shorter time means I tend to do it rather than put it off. Then I run at the weekends.

I got to a bootcamp class opposite my station in London for a 7am class. I get up at 5.45, on the train by 6.20, class at 7am, over by 8 and shower and change at gym, in the office by 9.15.

I do that twice a week and then a class after work at 8pm once a week. Then a Pilates class and a swim on a Saturday.

for me work is exercise, today I chased 40 odd bastard sheep off the road and back into their bloody field, rode 8 horses, mucked out 14 horses, scraped, swept, hosed out and re bedded the cattle shed, ran all 12 gundogs and worked 4 sheepdogs, gave the tractor a (badly needed and long overdue) oil change and took out 5 hour long hacks. I'm wondering where my rest with a cuppa and a biscuit comes in??

I work Tues-Thurs so a usual week for me looks like this:

MON - spinning & kettlebell class
TUE - gym (before work)
WED - Day off
THUR - gym (lunchtime)
FRI - gym or 10k run
SAT / SUN - gym on one of the days

I try and get 4-5 sessions of exercise in a week although when I go before or during work I'm only in the gym for 45 mins rather than 1hr 15.

I'm lucky that I can exercise on my days off work and that I can go before work as OH works shifts. If his shifts don't fall that way then I try and do the Shred in the evenings instead.

Once you get used to it, it's fine. I now find that everything fits in around my gym sessions rather than the other way round!

Exercise bike parked right in front of TV.

I do at least an hour every day

I run first thing or I just won't go. Sometimes I have early starts at work and this means I have been known to get up at 4am to go running. Its just part of my day - I love obstacle races such as tough mudder so when I've entered a race, I need to train so I just don't let myself have a choice.

I also do 2 dance classes during the week in the evening. That's easy as I really love it (aerial silks and pole dancing), plus I book in advance and there's a cancellation fee. If I'm not busy at the weekend I often go to an open practise session on Saturday and another aerial class on Sunday.

I think the key is to do something you enjoy - I only sometimes enjoy running hence I have to go early but I love the races and I have to be fit, and I do my dance classes more because I love it than because its exercise.

I have started swimming before work. I also walk around 3 miles a day between home/pool/office (either side of the bus stop).

I used to get up really early and run before the DC got up, but then I injured my knee and I can't run at the moment. I have to use my flexi to start work later (I take a shorter lunch) and send DS2 and DD to breakfast club in order to fit swimming in.

Once you get into the routine it is fine. And the pool is a lot warmer than running at 6am in December!

I get up at 5.30 to run to the gym, do weights then run back home before the kids are up.

I get up at 5.30 and do shred.
But am starting to think about cycling to work some days. Dh cycles and is covered in flies and in desperate need of a showe when he gets there - does it have to be like that?

Reading with interest

I work FT and have a nearly 3 year old.

I drop him at nursery at half eight, then work till half five, then pick him up, take him home, do dinner etc, bath him and put him to bed.

It can be 9pm by the time I finally sit down.

I can't drive and don't live walking distance do a gym.

I don't get a lunch break.

I could go for a run or do an exercise DVD after he's gone down, but like I say that can be 9pm and I am shattered and want to see DH.

I can't do anything in the morning, he wakes early and I can't get up earlier than him - I am too tired.

But I am also fat, unfit and fed up with it :(

Weekends are my time with him and again I don't live near a gym and am plain knackered.

If anyone can tell me how to cram exercise into that, I would love to know

When I worked in an office I used to swim at lunchtimes. Had it down to a fine art. 10 mins in car to pool, 5 minutes to get in pool, swim 30 lengths I 20 minutes, 15 minutes to shower, dress, dry hair and reapply makeup, 10 minutes back to work.

Now I work from home I go to the gym either straight after school run or at lunch times.

Can your oh do dinner bath and bed somenights?
Do you get the bus then? Can you walk part of the way? Or cycle? Does he sleep all night and what time does he wake?
It is hard - my youngest is five and I'm only just getting to grips with having a routine.

I work 9-5 with a fifteen minute commute via train and I don't have children so it's not too bad for me. I do an hour of bootcamp Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5.20 and on Saturday morning at 9.30. Tuesday and Thursday I run 3-5mi at 6.30am, and run again on Sunday mornings whenever I happen to get up. Things do sometimes come up so it's not always 7 days a week, but that's my normal schedule.

What time do you have to set off in the morning cat? Does ds have breakfast at nursery

Thank you all for the great replies and ideas!

Something jumping out at me is that a workout (or run or whatever) of 45 mins is an option - it doesn't have to be like my student days of pottering around the gym for nearly two hours, which I think was colouring my view.

I don't think lunchtime is the answer for me, personally. It sounds rather pathetic, but I need my lunch break to zone out and breathe and re-group. Rushing to get stuff done or feeling like I had to walk a certain distance during it would make me stressed.

Do the people who exercise at lunchtime not eat?

I get up at 5:30am on work days or 6:30/6:45 at the weekend so I can squeeze in an exercise DVD before work/ the children waking up. Currently doing the body combat DVD and really loving it, there are classes near me but not at convenient times, so this is the next best thing.

Cat - 30-day shred or a half hour jog from 9pm til 9.30pm each night, plus the free Parkrun on a Saturday morning (30mins, followed by play with DS at park), and weights at home on a Sunday? Cheap dumbbells from Argos will do, you don't need a fancy gym to get fit.

Shetland

It's called Sports Tracker but I'm a weird WindowsPhone devotee so not sure if it's available for Android or Apple.

Catgirl

I agree it is very difficult with young children. I think I almost literally did no exercise for 20 years and especially while the children were young. It is only now in my 40s that I do what I should.

How about a brisk walk early on a Sunday for the whole family with your toddler in the pushchair? A family swim at weekends where you and DH can take turns so you can do 20mins of lengths? 15 mins on an exercise bike first thing in the morning? More manageable than a gym trip or a long DVD.

Or in the morning while ds awake

I am quite lucky and unless working away from home can usually manage to get to the gym at 6 - do an hour then get home in time to start cooking at 7.30
We eat at 8, which still gives me time to do other household chores and relax a little
I aim to go 5 times a week and swim once or twice, but on average manage one swim and 3 gym sessions