What exercise do you do each week ?

[Rainydays55]

What exercise do you try and do each week and what benefits do you see from it? Looking to try and get into it a bit more but not sure where to start!

Walking the school run. Pilates

@lugeforlife

God this depresses me. Pre lockdown I would run a few times a week, weekly yoga class, walk everywhere - 10k steps daily as a minimum, some YouTube HIIT and swim. Plus family activity included lots of long walks.

Now I sit.

This is due to a combination of getting out of the habit and not restarting it, my work gets hideously intense and draining, my kids getting older and sulking/stropping their way through life plus also them changing hobbies - whereas once I had 2 hours on a Saturday morning where I had to be active and loved it, now I spend that time watching her.

I am slowly making a start - trying to get back into a daily yoga habit (was going well, got Covid quite badly but now building up), back in the office 2 days a week which naturally gets me to 6k steps without effort, long walks on weekend.

My ideal would be 10k steps a day, 2x 5k runs a week, daily yoga (I like flow) and a swim. I feel I should get some weights in there too. For now I am focusing on the steps and yoga to get the habit back.

That sounds frustrating and it’s very easy to fall into the trap of not prioritising exercise, and yourself! Hopefully you can find a way to get started again. I used to exercise whilst mine were at their weekend/evening activities. Can you walk in your lunch break? Or even walk whilst making work calls?

I do spinning once a week and try to run twice a week (between 3-6k usually).

You definitely need to try some different things to see what you like, you're much more likely to carry on if you enjoy it.

I work full time with 2 primary age kids so time is limited. At the start of the year I was doing daily yoga videos at home and 10,000 steps most days (often more, sometimes less).

Life got stressful a d I stopped which is definitely the wrong answer as the yoga helps me with stress but I need to consciously build it in to my timetable or I never get round to it. Sometimes that feels like a job too many.

I wish I "enjoyed" exercise like a lot of you but other than walking I mainly see it as a chore.

HIIT 3 times and swimming a week and some an extra bootcamp session on a Saturday if I'm not too knackered.
I feel good for doing it, my body has changed but certainly nowhere near "insta" ready but I'm much healthier than I was this time last year and 3 stone lighter and I've kept it off.
Still a way to go but I'm getting there.

Good luck OP

2 easy yoga classes a week, walk most days, a couple of short cycle rides a week.
I bought a vertical stepper at the beginning of lockdown, and do 2-3 sessions a week. Very effective as it combines cardio with resistance

I do a clubbercise class which I really love. Was doing twice a week but then joined the gym so now just once. Do a couple days at the gym too

1 x PT session, mostly weights
2 x outdoor bootcamp, mix of cardio and weights
1 x roller derby training
Peleton spin when I fancy it

I then undo it all with

As this is MNs

I do 30000 steps just getting the dc up & out to school. Then a run at lunch & weights in the evening. On the days I'm not feeling lazy I do a half marathon.

People who get up at 5.30, what time do you go to bed at?

I swim twice a week, gym once a week, decent walk once a week and do classes at the gym on the other days. Oh I also run once a week with a friend but I hate it. Like chatting with her though and the feeling afterwards

I have an active job so I achieve over 10,000 steps just being at work. I walk the dog every day. And I go to a stretch class, a bit like yoga, once a week.

I get up early and swim every morning before work for about half an hour (do 1km) and do a Yoga with Adriene youtube yoga session each morning at the weekend. Prepandemic I did a yoga class at lunchtime at work as well but that hasn't restarted yet, it was really nice to do some exercise in the middle of the working day, lots of my colleagues would run or walk or swim or go to the gym at lunchtime. We have to take an hours lunch break so there is time for some exercise.

For those who are asking about such things I work FT in a relatively senior role and have 3DC. Because of the 3DC I struggle to get to any evening class (because I'm busy taking them to their various sports clubs) but I'm very much a morning person anyway.

Benefits are increased flexibility, core strength, better skin, good mood - it feels like I've started off my day productively, and I can maintain my weight without feeling like I'm starving myself. I put on weight on during the pandemic when I couldn't swim and was doing work shifts followed by homeschooling shifts so ate more.

I also like walking but don't do it as much as I would like because of the kids, DH and I would to do long walks every weekend before we had DC but they just complain about it so we don't any more. It's important to find things you enjoy, e.g. I don't do any team sports but DD1 loves them and gets a real buzz from being in a team with others. I don't like doing things that make me sweaty or negatively affects my flexibility so I don't like running or exercise classes.

Any recommendations for Youtube tutorials/workouts for resistance bands and also workouts using lightweight dumb bells. I picked some up on a whim a couple of weeks back, but not really sure what I'm doing with them and don't want an injury.

Currently, the only real exercise I do is dog walking and rowing using Dark Horse rowing workouts. I think I need to up my game!

@flounfer

People who get up at 5.30, what time do you go to bed at?

About 10pm

@flounfer

People who get up at 5.30, what time do you go to bed at?

And therein lies my problem!

Ideally I'd go at 930. I don't tho. I get very tired in the last afternoon but push through work / dinner / kids' sports (every day). I'm a single parent.

Then I'm over-tired & find it impossible to go to sleep, properly, on time.

So all my exercise is probably pointless, health wise, as I'm so tired. I'm often awake at midnight, or sleep for a few hours then wake up in the early hours. A bit of a mess really 😢

I run 4-5 times a week. Do a hoola hoop workout of 10-30 minutes and a Joe Wicks abs workout as warm up. The hoop has made a massive difference to my waist/stomach shape! Starting to look very toned and I only started it new year. I very occasionally use the row machine.

Also have a trampoline that I use once a week (20 minute YouTube workout) as I can't run for a day or 2 after! 😆

@EarringsandLipstick I'm not a single parent & don't work long hours but there's no way I could regularly be in bed before 11pm so don't blame you.

I would like to exercise more but struggle to fit it all in. With dc, seeing friends & family & spending time with DH I just don't have the time I did pre dc.

When I was growing up I was never in to sports or exercise (something I've tried to encourage with my kids, I think that's really important). While I was lower normal BMI, I was totally unfit and sedentary.

Recovery after serious illness/treatment in my 40s got me to start looking at exercise. I tried gym didn't like it, tried running and hated it.

For me I'm deliberately a lot more active in the course of my day. During the week it's small/silly things like parking far away in car park, using the downstairs coffee and toilets in work, always use stairs and never the elevator, getting off the bus one stop earlier, always going for a short 15 min walk near my home in the event. It adds up!

At weekends I deliberately put some extra physical effort into the things I normally do (some gardening, housework, cleaning, sex , etc.)

I'd also try fit in a longer 10k walk at weekends with DH or a good friend.

End result is 8-12k + daily steps with no formal exercise.

I drop dc at Stagecoach on a Friday after school and go straight to the gym. I just run on the treadmill, I am literally only a member because I don't want to get murdered running outside on my own.

If work is not too busy I might manage one lunchtime 20 minute run as well.

I started doing some 7 minute hiit workouts when dc were in bed but now I have Covid so I've taken that as a sign from the universe to just stick to the running.

Also the people who exercise a lot do their partners do the same as that's the difficult part I find trying to juggle us & the dcs after school stuff. There's no way both DH & I could separately each go to the gym 5 x a wk in the evenings.

I do something every day. 5 days a week I'll run about 5 miles.
HIT and/or yoga on the other days.
Occasionally I'll walk 5 miles instead of running.
I do it to eat guilt free and stay sane and keep my health for the long term.

Saving the nhs money innit

@NewCreatures that's what I do as walking is my main form of exercise. Most days I work to & from work & I will take stairs instead of lifts/escalators. Yesterday evening I went to meet a friend & walked the hour home instead of the tube.

None. It makes me feel like crap

That's what we find as well @flounfer. By the time we have both had an evening or two out of the house for exercise it's the week gone. We try to have a couple of evenings where we spend time together, I often have to work in the evening and we try to see friends sometimes ( although I often combine this with my exercising - makes me more motivated!) feels like a constant struggle to fit in the time for exercise, even though I do know how much better it would make me feel.