Exercise: fellow nurses and shift workers

JackieMarie1989jgw

Hello,
I am curious how other people with a similar schedule as me handle their exercise. I work 3 12 hour shifts a week. I wake up at 5 am, leave my house at 6 am and don't usually get home until 8 or 830 pm. I then help put my kids to bed, eat and am usually asleep by 930.
For this reason I have never exercised or really, done ANYTHING else but work eat and sleep on my 3 work days. I fit everything into my 4 days off.
What about you? Do you exercise every single day, even if you are working a long shift? Or do you fit it into your days off like me?
If you arent doing it every single day, do you have a problem with habit formation (as I do)?
I sometimes get discouraged that if I don't do it EVERY day it will never become habit, but doing it on my work days feels impossible without sacrificing sleep.
Thanks for your input.

Stew501

I use to work 12hr shifts. There was no time for exercise on days I worked. I did take the stairs & tried to walk a lot during my shift. I wore a step counter for a few days & was getting 5 to 6 miles per 12 hr shift. I only went to the gym on my off days

jayne7470

I work 12 hour shifts I’m planning on going to the gym 3 times a week but not going to beat myself up if some weeks I don’t manage it ... I have to juggle work, 2 horses the gym and running a house 🥵

Keto_Vampire

I do 12+ hour overnight shifts; only the basic stuff on work days (check emails, eat, bath, sleep, etc.) & only manage to fit in about 30mins of cardio on work days (burn waaay more kcals on work days). Off days, I generally spend 1 hour lifting & 2 hours of very light cardio (usually compensate for the need to rest from strenuous/odd ball schedule).

StargazerB

I'm not currently working. But I used to do 3 12's and I would not workout on my work days. But I definitely was active on those days so I feel it was ok.

JackieMarie1989jgw

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who saves their workouts for off days. I've never been successful with forming an exercise habit that lasts beyond a month, and whenever I read up on forming habits, everything I read seems to assume having a similar schedule every day (which we definitely don't, in addition to my schedule my husband works rotating so I am always watching the kids at different times)
But maybe that's just an excuse, it's definitely do-able and I need to push through.

JackieMarie1989jgw

And yes I am in hospital nursing so I am definitely not sedentary on work days, usually 10K plus steps. Just not doing cardio or strength training

amorfati601070

Depending on how well the cycling infrastructure is in your city you could ride a bike to work. Do you have lockers and a shower? Active transportation has loads of benefits. Just be careful and not too sleep deprived when cycling...trust me.

Catho36

I’m the same, 12 hr shifts as hospital nurse practitioner, when I did 8 or 10 hour shifts I’d fit in a 50 minute exercise dvd before work, now work, eat, commute and sleep is all I got. I joined a local gym this year and gone on my days off, normally a class then walk/run on treadmill. I’m normally there 1.5-2hrs but make up for when I cant work out, plus seems pointless commuting to gym for 30 min class, and I enjoy it