Ideas for getting fit

[Hopthegoodgod]

I work full time as a teacher and at 60yrs old, I have another 7 yrs before it can retire from full time teaching and recieve a pension ( state and teacher's pension) that I can begin to live off. For several reasons I have to continue working full time . My question is one based around timing. I used to be reasonably fit and regularly swam and went to spin classes. However now my body is feeling very tired after a day in the classroom and I just eat supper and crash out at the end of the day. I tried swimming etc at weekends but again was too tired to put one foot in front of the other. Plus house and garden need cleaning/tending. Do I need to change my eating habits and not eat in evening so I have more energy to exercise as I find eating my main meal then does make me even more sluggish? I don't really drink and have a healthy bmi. What works for other older full timers with regards exercise? Advice please.

Are you much of a morning person? Could you get something in first thing in the morning before work? Follow a YouTube video or a short jog? If you have any home weights then there are lots of YouTube tutorials you could follow.

im 20 years younger so not in the same position but I do work full time. I do yoga before work and then either a run or the gym after.

Am just a few years younger than you. It is tough to find the energy. Weight bearing exercise is important at our age. Do you think it would work if you found a class you could go to straight from school? I’d really struggle to go out again once I’d got home in the evening.

I think the first thing would be to look at your diet, and perhaps going to the doctor for a blood test. Although you’re getting older, you shouldn’t be so exhausted that you can’t do anything at the weekends - that sounds more like something else going on behind the scenes.

In terms of getting fit, get your steps up (my mum is 62 and reaches 12k minimum a day!), and she does a lot of callisthenics from videos on YouTube that have helped her body strength a lot. She uses the videos she used to use as a teenager and young woman in the 70s and 80s, and they help her a lot. She also does the mr motivator workouts, some are only ten minutes or so. If she can’t get outside for a walk she’ll get on YouTube and do a walking workout, she’s lost 4 stone this way and toned her body massively!

Thanks for response. I have thought about this as used to swim before school. But it became tricky when my role changed as need to be in school extra early. I will def give it another go. I have found You Tube stuff I can do during holidays . I just need go get motivated.

Walking, walking and more walking.

I’m not quite in your age bracket but would recommend resuming morning swimming but just short regular sessions not a full hour of thrashing up and down.

My local pool has a 6am swim lane session that’s fairly quiet. If you did similar you can arrive and have a 30 min swim 6am or even mid-session at 6.15 then shower dress and straight to school. Do that three times a week and you’ll feel a difference.

This way, I can zonk in bed early and I’m still getting 7 hours sleep (up at 5am, unload dishwasher and laundry, water the plants, or do dinner prep and finish making packed lunch; short black coffee no food before swimming as I get cramp; have a flask of porridge or jar of overnight oats to eat at work afterwards.)

Im definitely a morning person not a night owl so perhaps that’s the important thing to identify

When I worked full time I just made it my routine to go to the gym every day before work. I'd either do weights, swim, a class or, if I was knackered just a gentle bob about in the pool, some stretching and a sauna.

It just made me feel better all day. I felt like whatever else happened in my day I'd done my exercise and was ahead of the game. It also, somehow, made me eat healthier and drink more water during the day.

The clock was set for the same time every day of the week to keep me in the habit. Going to bed earlier was essential to make it all happen.

Now I'm retired and I am still up early to cycle to the sea for a swim every morning.