What does your average day look like? When do you fit in exercise?!

[Rainydays55]

Just that really… what does your average weekday look like?! All I seem to do is work! What do you do after work? What exercise do you fit in and when?

I like sleep though so what time to people go to bed?

@Echobelly

I WFH - have kids (older, tween and teen). Work 9-5, can do my job in those hours so don't work outside them unless strictly necessary. No one will suffer if I don't check my emails outside those hours.

I do 20 mins yoga or HIIT every morning (jncluding weekends). Weekdays, alarm set for 7am, also I invested in a 'bike desk' and listen into meetings where I'm not expected to contribute or watch online seminars while cycling for 30-40mins at a time most weekdays.

Seems to work for me, but it wouldn't have been possible when my kids were 5 or more years younger unless I were to have persuaded DH to totally take charge of them in that time.

Is it unusual or difficult to have the DH take charge of them during that time?

Mine had ours almost entirely single-handedly while I retrained, spending 7am til 7pm out of the house, then when I'm at the gym he collects and cooks dinners and I get home at about 7 again. He works full-time but does not neglect his parenting.

He shouldn't be an anomaly.

I live 10 minutes from my gym. I get up about 6am amd get there for 6:30am, my booked slot. Workout, come home and start work about 8:30am. Go about 4 times a week if not hopefully more.

Kids wake me at 5
Get them ready for school/nursery, clean the house and take them in for 8.30
9-6 I work
6-8 dinner and bedtimes
8-10 I work
10+ zzzzzzz

So not really fitting it in. I do do the school run on a bike but but it's hardly going up kilamanjaro

DD’s school is at the bottom of a long hill so each morning I will walk briskly back up it - it’s 15 min walk bottom to top. I swim twice a week late morning, on those days I’ll have a substantial breakfast - if I swim on an empty stomach I get very hangry and hit the sugary crap which kind of defeats the purpose.

Work from 7.30am-4pm (from home at the moment) so either a run from 6.30am-7ish or a run after work 3 x a week.

Kids are 13 and 15 now so when at school I don’t go in the mornings as I am a single parent and need to make sure they get ready for school so it’s more often a longer run at the weekend and 2 x shorter runs after work in the week and in the late spring/summer/early autumn I open water swim approx a mile once a week in the evening.
Sometimes a bike ride too if I can fit it in, either alone or with a child or two if I can drag them out!

I think there is almost always time for exercise, it’s just a case of prioritising it. I know exercise makes me feel better so I prioritise it.

7am run 4x a week for while DH gives the DC breakfast and a 7pm class 2x a week while DH does bath and bed. DH does what he wants on other evenings and we share care. DH doesn’t like morning exercise and I can’t do daytime runs due to continuous work calls.

I run or walk friends dog after work at about 5.30 then long run at the weekend, sometimes a strength class at 6.15 at home. If I don't feel like it I nap as I am a very tired person!

The people who do 5 plus sessions a wk does your partner do the same?

@countrytown

how do people get up at 5 or 6am 😱

How can you not? No matter how hard I try, I can't manage to stay asleep past 5:30 or so naturally.

I work ft from home. I do online pilates two mornings a week. I go to gym classes two evenings a week and every Saturday morning. We have a dog so I walk him every day, either at lunchtime or after work - DH also walks him once a day. Dh goes to the gym two evenings a week, and runs a couple of times per week.

Like others, I get up early (6am, or before if it's long run day) and run first thing. I get home as the rest of the house are getting up. Then shower, sort kids, and get to work. Sometimes I'll go to a 6.45am spin class instead of my run.

I try and do weights or yoga at lunchtime but I'm a bit rubbish at getting around to it.

My DH is an evening exerciser, so he fits his run/gym/bike ride in before we have tea. Then bed at 10.30ish.

@gwenneh well I don't fall asleep till about 11.30pm & on the rare occasion I get woken up early I either go back to sleep or doze.

I’m not a morning person and so I’d never be on board with exercise before work.

I tend to get home at around 5. Quickly make some tea. Take the kids to whatever activity they’re doing and then go for a run while they’re in said activity. Normally 30-60 mins. Once a week after driving dd2 back and forth all evening I do a dance class at a community centre. I wait in the car while dd1 dances and then she waits in the car while I dance.

Our evenings are a bit hectic, but it works for us.

@countrytown

how do people get up at 5 or 6am 😱

Sunrise alarm and phone and Fitbit , plus I like being paid (my work start time is early, plus I don't like travelling with school children risking not being able to physically get on the bus because it's filled with kids who will then hang around outside schools and shops for another hour to ninety minutes before they have to be in).

If I can get to sleep by 1am, I can do it with an effort. If earlier, say 11pm, it's less awful - and if I exercise enough, I can be asleep before 10pm on rare occasions. If I'm still awake at 3.30am (which is not unheard of, thanks, insomnia), it's bloody hard work.

Get up, drop the dog at day care, check on elderly dad, come back and get a quick 10 mins around the block before starting work between 8 - 8.30am. Work til 12, then another quick walk, doing any errands in town, pick up any bits of shopping etc, then home for a quick bite before starting again at 1pm. Work til 6, pick up dog, check on elderly dad, do anything he needs. Take dog straight for a walk and play, then home, eat and unwind. I find doing small bits works better for me, although I do go to yoga one evening a week.

I'm a SAHM with two kids under 3 and my husband works 12 giur shifts. I don't exercise- I literally don't have any time at all without one or both of the children, 24 hours a day. I've also wondered how I'm meant to fit in exercise when I don't normally even have enough time to do a poo or have a shower

If working from home, I go for a 5k run before work. If I'm in the office, I run as part of my commute. I get off the tube a few stops early and run the rest of the way home (5k). The commute run isn't as nice as I have to run with a backpack on (I change at work) but it fits into my day.

Get up 6am to do run/HIIT work out three/four times a week. Back in time to join DH in getting DC up and ready for school and nursery. Wfh so am able to enjoy a lunchtime walk in the woods near me.

DC are aged 3 and 6 and life is challenging, so fitting exercise in is a challenge (and I am not good at early mornings!) but it's the only way I can function really and hopefully staves off the effects of a not great diet...

I have to get up at 6, otherwise I wouldn't be ready to leave for work at 730!

I do a couple of back to back gym classes once a week. Aim for a run later in the week and a long run at weekend. Runs are easier cos they slot in, but also easier to bypass. Like I did tonight cos I talked myself out of it.
Dh does similar. I've done this since kids were small. It means one day a week i see the kids for something like 10 minutes that day, but they're used to it.

I think the trick is to make the gym just as vital as going to work, so you try not to avoid it. There are times I wish I'd worked all night, instead of my one night at the gym, but then I get pissed off with myself: why should I miss a night of my own time cos of work?

Alarm 5:20, get to gym for 6-6:55, home for 7:15, shower and get dc to school. If working from home then I'll go for a walk at 8:20 for 30 mins and maybe a ten minute one at lunch time. Otherwise I'll try and go for a walk when I get home from work at 3:30 with the dc. Then dinner etc.

I walk the school run and fit in Pilates 10-15 minutes a few times a week on the lounge floor.

Up at 6:30, feed and walk the dog for half an hour
Come home and get ready for about 9
Work till 6/7
Go to the gym after work
Home and dinner, cleaning
In bed for about 10

Honestly op there is always a reason not to. I don’t do early morning and I’m hugely impressed with anyone who can, I either go to the gym in a free hour during the working day ( I don’t take a lunch hour as such as home based, so when I’ve a free hour whatever time I go to the gym) or I do it in the evening after work.

I’m quite lucky in that I’ve a small home gym, so it’s just popping along the garden, but there’s plenty things you can do if you dont, walks, runs or home exercise classes Ie joe Wickes.

For motivation I put my gym gear on if I can a couple of hours before hand, so in my head I know I’m going.

I do a mix of cardio and weights, so for two days I do thirty mins cardio, split between treadmill, bike, elliptical, rower or climber, ten mins on each as I fancy and as I get bored easily and the third day I do weights, which takes about an hour to an hour and a half as I do full body. I do that five or six days a week.

It does make a difference, not just in terms of health, both physical and mental, but also in terms of vanity, as although loosing weight is eighty percent diet and twenty percent exercise, what that doesn’t take into account is the toned, lean, fitter, tighter look your body gets if you exercise.