When should I excercise.

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I have a really busy life at the moment but need to fit some excerise in to help my mental health.

When would you say is the best time. I have two kids 2&7 and work 8-5pm Monday to Thursday.

My current routine as follows
6am get up with DD have breakfast and relax together
6:45am get dressed for work
7:30am leave for work
6pm get home cook dinner and tidy up
7:30pm kids bedtime
8:30pm shower for me
9pm relax
10pm bedtime.

My current options are get up at 5:30am and go for 30 minute run and then still get to see kids for an hour in the morning. This means I’d need to shower in the morning however and I currently shower in the evening.

Head out at 8:30pm for a run and then shower about 9-9:30. This would mean sacrificing my relax time in the evening.

I’ll run on a Sunday morning too and hopefully 2-3 times during the week.

Do you have a partner? Do you need to do bedtime every night? If you really want to do it you’ll prioritise, exercise is relax time!

The nights I exercise my OH does bedtime so I go to a class 7-8, and then 8-9 on a Saturday morning.

There are lots of exercise videos on YouTube. Joe wicks AKA the body coach has hundreds of HIIT videos that are 20-30 mins each. I do one at 7.30 when the kids are in bed or before work sometimes when I'm on a late shift. They can be done anytime In your front room

Getting up earlier or swapping relaxing for excersise makes most sense. Perhaps go to bed at 10.30 so you've got an extra half hour to wind down before bed.

DH does dropoff so my exercise time is to get up at 6am, get straight into gymwear and go to the gym on the way to work. Then I do pickup and have my time with kids in the evening.

Personally, I'd do it in the morning, you wouldn't have to do it every day. You have 45mins relaxing and having breakfast and then a further 45 mins to get dressed (you are already showered though), you could sacrifice some time here to do a 20-30 min HIIT routine and a shower? You'd also then gain 30 mins back in the evening?

How far away from work are you. Could you walk or run in or home. No time wasted. Just incorporated into your day.