Teaching and going to the Gym

[liquoricecolours]

Hey everyone, I'm doing a PGCE for the next year, any advice on having a routine for going to the gym from fellow teachers, I used to go to the gym before the pandemic but have fallen off the wagon and not been to the gym since. I'm a bit worried that I'm going to be so busy working that going to the gym will simply not happen as I would like to get back in to going to the gym.

As with anyone else who works full time the gym has to be fitted in early morning, straight after work or late evening. DH generally works 7.30am ish til 7pm then goes straight off to the gym for an hour before a late dinner. He will then quite often fit a couple more hours of work in before bed. He isn't a teacher btw just in another of many professions that have to work long hours without the holidays

It's not the same but when my DC were young and DH was working long hours I used to do quite a few exercise DVDs or youtube workouts. There are loads that are free. It requires more self motivation than having a class at a set time but is more flexible and cuts down any time you would spend travelling to the gym. I guess depends on the type of stuff you want to fo at the gym, though.

Just do what presumably all the non teachers do… identify a gap in your schedule which will likely be before or after work. Keep your gym bag packed with clean stuff, if you are going before work keep a bag of make up in there too (if you wear make up). Easy.

Ignore the teacher bashing OP, or get used to it as I'm sure you have noticed all threads about teaching end up like this.

It’s not teacher bashing it’s actually the opposite- people who are so blinkered to think teaching is the only profession where people have no time or energy for anything else.

I accept teaching is a full on profession, but it’s simply not the only role where people work hard, so the bashing is actually against all other roles that anyone suggests might be just as full on.

I think it's hard to explain if you aren't one/ don't live with one. Especially one with a high mark load. It's the feeling that you've never actually finished. It's the fact there's always something else that needs doing. It's how unpredictable it all is: I'll plan to do an hour from 4-5 prepping, then 5-545 marking then drive to my class at 630. But I've suddenly been hit with a load of phone calls home. And an urgent request from a parent. And that data needs looking at again. And can I see you about that essay?
So suddenly, I don't have time to go to the gym tonight. And I can't tomorrow, cos it's dh's turn and I'd also planned on marking half a class of books and tweaking some pointless paperwork.

I've been teaching 20 years. Having kids made me more efficient, but I still had to drop hours to half a work life balance.

Oh, and don't bank on having your own room after pgce either.

@lawnfever I have actually had other careers other than teaching, as has my husband and a number of my friends and family. And while I am not disputing that some other professions are very hard work, in no other profession have I ever come across the need to be working so constantly and NEVER having enough time to get everything done, and always feeling like (and being told!) that it's not enough, despite working 60 hour weeks. If you have never experienced that, you probably can't give useful advice to the OP I'm afraid. When my husband changed careers into teaching (having previously had a similar attitude to yourself) he was shocked by the reality of the workload.

Anyway, I digress. OP, best of luck. In a profession where you will never feel like you have 'done' all your work, it is important that you try to carve out at least a little time for yourself.

@Monestera you obviously change the timing to suit whatever time you need to be at work

These people who have such hard jobs and no long holidays, I wonder why they don't go in to teaching.

Give over @shouldistop. It's not just the different starting time (and teachers don't start work at 9am). It's her commute time, it's the gym opening time, it's the time taken to get to the gym. Your comment was not really any help at all.

@Monestera I didn't say teachers start at 9 my step mother is a head teacher and my gran was also a head teacher - I'm well aware of teaching. Op asked how people fitted in the gym. You'll note I used cycling for commute.

I don't think op has mentioned how far she has to commute etc. Most gyms open at 6am and don't close til 10pm.

I think my comment was more helpful than giving no ideas at all.

And btw teaching is demanding but it doesn't have monopoly on the most demanding job ever bar none. In my previous role I was on call 24/7, worked most weekends and often had to deal with calls at 2am, 5am etc.
It's the reason I don't do it now since having children.

Weve deviated from the thread but I know lots of teachers in RL and most of them are not like the typical MN teacher. They do have free time to do sports, hobbies and go away for weekends etc, along with friends from other professions (admittedly they are not in pgce year) I certainly couldnt be a teacher - the amount of admin, meetings, changing curriculum, covid protocols, dealing with parents ...before you even get to trying to engage a class of children and make lessons interesting.(and I'm sure lots of other stuff that I am unaware of)
But I think it is a little bit patronising of some on here to explain that you wont possibly be able to understand having a stressful and all consuming job, working long hours, or there being an unpredictable nature to it ...unless you are, or live with a teacher.
MN teacher ; teachers work longer, more stressful hours than any other job
MN non teachers ; some other jobs exist with stress and long hours
MN teachers ; teacher bashing!! It always ends like this.

I managed to go to the gym 4 times a week this year and was teaching full time.
7.30am get to school
Work through lunchtime (when not serving dinners 🙄)
Work until 5.30pm
Change into gym clothes, drive to gym
Shower at gym
Home, eat dinner
Put kids to bed
Any extra work after that

My DH wfh and does school runs and cooks dinner.

I didn't like coming home after work and then going out again, I prefer going straight away after work.

@Fizbosshoes I know, I don't understand how it's teacher bashing to say that other people have demanding jobs too.

I gave up the gym and invested in some weights and a rowing machine. I find it much easier to fit in workouts at home, when you find a free half hour. Much more time efficient and cheaper in the long run.

Oh and a top tip for your PGCE, and teaching in general; Parkinson's law. Work will expand to fill the time you allocate to it. This is especially true of all tasks (including other jobs!) where there is no definite end point. The lesson could always be better planned, your feedback could always be more detailed etc. (.. and yes, a patient could always require more personal attention or care, or a presentation to a prospective client could always be more thoroughly rehearsed etc.!!!!). Set yourself a time to complete your work and stick to it. If you ever find yourself in a school where you consistently go over these limits, leave the school. It probably has bad policies and an overbearing SLT.

I used to go to a gym that a lot of teachers went to. They came straight after school. I left because of them. I was sick of the moaning

They probably weren’t very keen on you either.

Just do a class early in a sat and sun morning and forget about the rest...

@waveafterwaveslowlydrifting

Read your post with interest. Wondering when you ever saw your kids aside from weekends? And did your husband do the nursery/school pickups (or are your kids self-sufficient now)? I'm asking as I'm a full time teacher in middle management with a 1 year old and 2 year old and your daily schedule looks amazing but I just can't see how it would be realistic for me...

Being a teacher isn't special. You just go to the gym like everyone else.

Depends how far away your placement schools are from where you are living. Probably more mangeable to go during your Uni weeks.

When I did mine, I had to leave home at 6am ish to drive to my placement school which was an hour away. Any later and the traffic was horrendous. I did 7am - 5pm in school, drove home, ate dinner, showered, then did prep from 8pm til 10.30pm. I only made it to the gym at weekends.

@TheMoth

I think it's hard to explain if you aren't one/ don't live with one. Especially one with a high mark load. It's the feeling that you've never actually finished. It's the fact there's always something else that needs doing. It's how unpredictable it all is: I'll plan to do an hour from 4-5 prepping, then 5-545 marking then drive to my class at 630. But I've suddenly been hit with a load of phone calls home. And an urgent request from a parent. And that data needs looking at again. And can I see you about that essay? So suddenly, I don't have time to go to the gym tonight. And I can't tomorrow, cos it's dh's turn and I'd also planned on marking half a class of books and tweaking some pointless paperwork.

I've been teaching 20 years. Having kids made me more efficient, but I still had to drop hours to half a work life balance.

Oh, and don't bank on having your own room after pgce either.

Yeah, funnily enough a lot of normal jobs are like that too. You're never actually finished, it's unpredictable, there's more to do, there's prep, there's after-hours requests.

Teachers aren't the only ones. You think people in tech don't have this? In academia? In the sciences, in publishing, in medicine, in marketing, in finance?

I knew teachers could be a bit moany over the appalling pay, which seemed fair, but now there seems to be some who think their job is somehow much harder and everyone else just shuts off at 5pm and goes home? Do y'all actually know other jobs?

[quote surreygirl1987]@waveafterwaveslowlydrifting

Read your post with interest. Wondering when you ever saw your kids aside from weekends? And did your husband do the nursery/school pickups (or are your kids self-sufficient now)? I'm asking as I'm a full time teacher in middle management with a 1 year old and 2 year old and your daily schedule looks amazing but I just can't see how it would be realistic for me...[/quote]
She says quite clearly in the post the husband does the school runs and cooks dinner.

"But when do you see your kids then", ah the old head-tilt of the nosy mother-in-law. Probably just as much as other full-time workers?

I used to get bitter old miseries at work wondering how I could go to the gym at 5pm until 6pm, "oh but how could you when you have kids?", well Hagatha, because my 11 year old isn't going to die if his mummy isn't home to wash his socks, is he. He has another parent, shocking as that may seem, who will be making dinner.

"Oh, my husband would never let me do that" they'd say. Bloody weirdos, frankly.

Fitting in the gym - as others say, before or after work. I go at 6am, in work for 7.30.

The thing that other jobs DON'T necessarily consider though is WHERE your gym is. Don't go to one near work, otherwise you will end up with workout photos on students' phones and then shared. It will happen.

When you're on teaching practice, you'll be too exhausted by day (and working too hard at night preparing lessons) , to do anything else.