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 get up at 6.15 every Tuesday to Friday morning and do a Jillian Michaels workout video (30 mins). On Saturdays and Sunday I do a Jillian video followed by yoga (an hour in total). Monday is my rest day.

I do a 4K dog walk every evening too.

@Mindyourbusiness22 I get up at 6:30, help get kids ready, leave for work at 7:30 and don't have a lunch break, rush home for 6pm, get kids into bed, cook and eat dinner, sort out eveything for the next day, and often finish work I haven't got done in the day, collapse into bed at 10:30.... I know I should exercise and I used to a lot before I had children but I work a lot and just don't know how I can fit it in while having any time with them.

@Mindyourbusiness22 a typical work day for me would be

7am - wake up, check news emails etc
Get up, check dc are up or get them up & start on breakfast. We all eat breakfast together & chat about day. DH & I have showers.
8.30am leave for school & work. If wfh I would leave at same time but just chat to school friends or DH takes them.
Home from work at 4.30, dc may have a play date or take them to park near school which is always packed with their friends.
Get home & DH has started on dinner, dc eat, do homework/reading bath in bed by 7.30. DH & I might eat then if not already, clean & tidy up, discuss anything we need to arrange etc. One of us may meet a friend or have a chat with friend or family or pop to shops if we need something. Watch a bit of telly/read/have sex & it's easily 10.30pm if not later.

my dc are 4 & 6.

Dog walking 2x30 mins. Yoga class once a week.

I hate gyms etc, but happily walk our dog.

DH & I exercised a lot pre dc & would go to the gym 5-6 x a wk but that was easily 1-1.5 hours per session including travel & obviously we were together. No way could we fit that in now each separately & still have time with dc, each other & family/friends.

I should prioritise exercise but I just don’t.

The fact that there’s no time of the day to do it other than the crack of fart or early evening when I’ve just finished working all day.

Since having kids I have got up every morning between 05:00 and 05:30 to run before they woke up (when younger) or need to be got up for school (now). I try to be back home by 06:45 to get myself ready for work. I try to make sure I get up quickly and get dressed in another room, I know DH is aware of mr getting up but he goes back to sleep. I run in the dark, I judge the risk of attack at that time of the morning to be low and worth taking if the alternative is no exercise. I worry more about road safety in the dark and always pick bright running gear. I generally work until 19:00 then do stuff with the kids then work again until bedtime. Generally go to bed around midnight, but do have a terrible habit of nodding off earlier if I’m not working.

I get up similar time at weekends so I can run before kids have sports clubs. I don’t love getting up that early, but for me maintaining a healthy weight is a priority, and I struggle to do that without running giving me freedom to eat! My Mum is morbidly obese and her life in retirement is so constrained by the impact of that on her health and mobility. From what I can see from my parent’s generation, you get the life in older age that you earned from your activity in your 30s/40s. I have a strong vision of what I want for my future and I literally think of my Mum, disabled by the effects of diabetes and old before her time when I’m cosy in bed and I can hear it raining outside and I get myself up and put on my trainers.

Many posters have said their partners exercise a lot less than them which makes sense in terms of fitting stuff in. DH & I would have to compromise as he likes exercise.

I also believe that we could all fit in 30 minutes of exercise per day if we really wanted to. It’s easy to think you don’t have time but the real problem is that it’s not a high enough priority to give up time spent doing something else. And I speak for myself too when I say that. I think it’s disingenuous to say you don’t have time when it’s really that you don’t want to make time.

For me, getting up earlier is a no no and giving up any chilling out time at night is a no no too so what’s a girl to do!

The people who do 5 plus sessions a wk does your partner do the same?*
*
Yes. DH isn't a morning person at all so his tends to be in the evening. Football training one night (after DS's training), CrossFit classes at lunch or before dinner depending on work, fives one night and then a football match on a Saturday morning.

Admittedly I don't like running/jogging so it's not something I would do & didn't do pre dc. I much prefer a group class.

I assume you won't walk in the dark either, which is a poor do if you want to meet a mate at the pub for an evening

If I was running I need music which I wouldn't have on walking. And I don't often walk at night just drive or uber.

Well i'm not working tmw & have no dc so I'm going to do body pump & my xtrainer as I feel lazy!

I might start a one week commitment thread where we commit to exercise for 30 mins per day for one week to see how it makes us feel and how we manage to fit it in.

Work FT from home 9-5. Working from home has been a game changer as it frees up time previously spent commuting.

Weekdays: 30 min walk or gentle jog at 8am once DC have left for school. 30 min lunchtime walk. 30 min walk after work. That alone accounts for 4.5 miles/12.5k steps a day. Also do a dance class one evening a week.

Weekends I will usually go for one 30 min jog and do lots of walking (7-8 miles a day)

I enjoy swimming and the gym but getting there / showering / getting changed etc just takes up too much time. Much more efficient just to plod around the block.

@countrytown

Many posters have said their partners exercise a lot less than them which makes sense in terms of fitting stuff in. DH & I would have to compromise as he likes exercise.

DH also works long hours, but goes out on his bike at the weekends while I look after the kids. During the week he chooses sleep while I choose exercise, so he gets an extra couple of hours sleep a day than me. Both of us rarely watch TV and generally only ‘chill’ together between packing up work at 22:00 ish and whenever I fall asleep!

Gym on the way home from work; if I leave it to the evening it never seems to happen (kids play up at bedtime. Every. Time.).

This is what I need to read at the moment to give myself some motivation.

I can't leave the kids in the early morning but I could use the garage gym if I got my act in gear. It's just so hard to get up when I'm exhausted but I know I'd feel better for it.

I walk school runs & dogs already but that's not really exercise to me, I need something more to feel the benefits.

I do 11 training sessions a week, only possible because I WFH and DS is a teenager so needs no looking after.

I start work at 8.30am but I have a turbo trainer at home and my local pool is only 10 minutes away, so if I get up at 6am I have time to get at least 1 run, 1 swim or 1 turbo session in before work.

I do my second training session of the day during my lunch break, this is usually something I can do from home so turbo, running or strength & conditioning.

At weekends I go out and do my long cycle and long run at 6am.

I am struggling with trying to fit in exercise too. I only work part time, 4 days a week, school hours but still seem to struggle. So I am up at 7, sort breakfast, get kids and myself ready, school run at 8, home around 9, time for a quick tidy up, start work at 9.30, finish 2.30, no real lunch break to speak of, start school run at 3, home by 4, then evenings between 4 and 7 are a combination of kids’ after school clubs, school reading/homework, and making their dinner. Bedtime from 7-8.15 (three kids, different bedtime story requirements!). Then make dinner for dh and me and usually end up eating around 9pm, then bed! Only chance I see to have some concerted exercise is before 7am but I am so not a morning person. I try to do a workout when kids are eating tea and sometimes manage, but a half hour workout means actually an hour with getting changed before and after, warmup, cool down, shower afterwards…! I don’t really know how people with kids and jobs fit it in other than at ridiculous o’clock in the morning.

Haha, I feel you. I think I waste so much time! I am fucking useless after 3pm, so I try to do a lot in the mornings.

Wake up around 6-7am. Cuddle with dog and check phone for ~15mins.

Walk dog, then yoga at home.
Rest of morning - chores, breakfast, emails, read news

Work around 10am - 3pm

Afternoon -
Waste time, look at to do list, work on projects (renovation, new business, driving lessons, etc.), waste more time.

Walk doggo again.

A few days a week, try to do 30min workout. HIIT / resistance bands / Chloe Ting / etc.

Evenings -
Dinner and tidying up
Few hours to chill
I try to do creative / social / beneficial things in the evening. Like reading, hobbies, skill building.
In reality, I listen to music, order crap I don’t need from Amazon, and binge-watch shows.

Also set aside different days of the week for different things:
Mon - cleaning hour (boring as fuck and usually half-arsed)
Fri - food shopping
Sat - adventure day with doggo (walk, be in nature, bike ride)
Sun - “pancake, self-care and pet care day” (before we set aside Sundays for this, we felt like our week was one long fucking Groundhog Day of chores and pet-related slavery…)

What is your average day like OP? :D

@therocinante I am sorry to read that. It is important that we feel safe on our streets.

I go to the gym three times a week, I'm usually back and showered by 7.30. As a family we do some sort of activity (long walk, bike ride) at the weekend. I only work 4 days a week though (compressed hours) so do have 1 day for housework etc.

I get up at 5 am, have very active, high maintenance dogs, so they need running no matter what or are impossible all day. They're also very large, and scary looking (to some) so best to go trail running on fire break trails where we won't run into any other people!

Get home about 6.15, if working in office i head straight in and get to desk for 7.30 or so. Leave at 4 and then back home for an hours hike with said dogs, then 30 to 45 mins of yoga before I go to bed or else I have restless legs and can't sleep. On WFH days I do morning power yoga / rower or in summer I tether myself in our pool and swim and then same at night.

Weekends are a run in the morning, later in the winter but tends to be early in summer before the heat comes in (I'm in Western Australia) and surfing when the swell's good, or sometimes some paddle boarding.

I walk the dog in my lunch break and I do 45 mins in the gym after school drop off.