Keeping fit as a full time teacher...

[bumbleclat]

I am a very un-toned teacher. I'm a size 12 but I just feel really wobbly and in need of shaping up.
I caught a glimpse of my bum in the mirror today and was shocked at how saggy and out of shape I looked. I'm just so tired. Very tired after work that there's never a time where I feel like doing any cardio, the job is so exhausting that I always feel a bit ill... What do you do to keep fit? I almost feel like leaving or going part time because prior to teaching I always managed to find time to take care of my body and now it's all teaching and sleeping. TIA

I work part time but one of my full time colleagues does yoga every morning before work.

Can you afford a weekly private session with a trainer? I pay £25 for an hour's Pilates one to one and it is far more effective than a class would be - reckon id have to do 3 classes per week to get the same benefit.

Whilst on mat leave I had been doing the t25 each day- 25 minutes of workout, 5 days a week. I loved it and it was going really well.

Now I'm back full time with two under three? I've managed it once. It's so frustrating. I just can't find the time before or after school.

At the last 2 schools I've worked at, the staff have asked the PE coach to run an after school boot camp or circuits class. We all chipped in to cover their usual hourly rate. I know of another where the GCSE PE group run classes for staff.

Oh stop making bloody excuses. One hour. ONE Hour. If that. Book up some classes. Make a list of three you could do and do at least two per week

I'm 4 days with three kids and a voluntary job. Do spin three times a week.
You just need to prioritise. Anc you know when your tired the best solution is fitness.

Running is good as it only takes the time it takes (no travelling to the gym or pool). C25K is an excellent programme if you haven't run before.

I haven't run for a year but the stresses of teaching are calling me to start again.

I run.
At 8pm 2-3 times a week. Can run 5k now after completing c25k.

Lol at Brenda and her tough love. She's right, you know. I'm four days, have a private Pilates once weekly, then run once a week and do a tap class another evening. You can find the time.

I cycle to work

Actually, schools are one of the easiest places to fit exercise in. You have showers so you can run or cycle to work (or part way to work). You have sports facilities so you can arrange to play tennis/badminton/football with other staff. I have a friend who regularly plays in the staff football team. A lot of secondaries have fitness suites. It can't be that hard if you want to do it.

Make use of your commute i run or cycle to work ( needs a bit of organisation drive in every so often to replenish clean clothes) even if do no other exercise all week my base fitness is very good.

Thanks i will try to start cycling in, I think it's the only way... Ill buy some bike lights today.
I will need to be EVEN more organised, bringing clothes etc, I work in a very small primary school so no showers or anything..
Thanks.

You don't have an SN shower? (sorry that's not the right way to phrase it, is it?) I work in a tiny primary, but we have a shower for children who have accidents. Well hidden though - if you've never had to use it you might not know it was there!

Jump, a lot of older primaries don't have shower facilities.
For me, it was more about carving out time and fighting the exhaustion and guilt in order to find 'me time'

I wouldn't know really, but both the primaries I've worked in are old buildings that "had" to fit showers a few years ago.

It;s a Victorian building, definitely no secret shower!

Look up fitnessblender on YouTube! Lots of HIIt workouts of 25 minutes or less.

I have the same problem OP. Single parent and full time teacher. Can't leave DS at night, can't cycle to work as too far, get home 530, do meals, homework, play, bed and bath - I usually sit down at about 9 and do a couple of hours marking.

I'm not a teacher but my job is very full time. I keep my gym stuff in the car and go before work once a week, Saturday am and I aim for two sessions on the way home. If I don't manage two on the way home I really notice a dip in my energy levels.

I need to do a lot of juggling to make it happen. I do approximately 1000 miles of travelling a month. That's a lot of sitting down in a car so the gym is essential.

I'm a single parent too. There's excuses and there's stuff that can be juggled to fit other stuff in.

Like I'd choose the park with the kids over steam cleaning the kitchen floor for example.

Well I do the park etc but that's not 'proper' exercise. We also walk the dog a lot. I just need time to do more

I've never worked in a primary school that had a shower! Even newer ones.

I am full time and I manage one dance class a week. I like to think of it as CPD!

I keep meaning to start C25K again, but I know what you mean about time. Leave at 6:45am so mornings no good and knackered by the evening. I need to man up of an evening!

At DD's (primary) school, a group of staff get together in one of the classrooms after school and are working their way through some hardcore Beachbody exercise DVDs on the electronic whiteboard.

A friend goes to the gym at 9pm, and aims to have all her work finished by then at least 4 nights a week.

I'm not a teacher but I work 7-7 in an office Monday- Friday (not contracted hours, just what I have to do to get through my workload). I try to go to the gym 2 nights in the week straight from work (I keep my gym bag in the car), and then Saturday and Sunday morning. It's hard to get into a routine but I've kept it up for 3 years now- I feel really grumpy and more tired if I don't get my exercise time in!