Workout/Life Balance
Wulfhelm
Posts: 15 Member
So I work a lot, around 11-13 hours a day for Monday through Friday, and I work half that time on Sunday and Saturday.
What are some tips you have when it comes to balancing your workout time and work time? What’s worked for you?
What are some tips you have when it comes to balancing your workout time and work time? What’s worked for you?
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Replies
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For me it's training one body part a day (30-45min max). That way I can just focus on that bodypart. I won't train it again for another week, but I'm pretty much where I want to be with muscle anyway.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Predominately exercising in my work breaks to preserve precious family time. My bosses were generally happy for me to be flexible with my breaks, some longer duration for exercise balanced by some shorter breaks to make up time. I'd mostly eat at my desk rather than use meal breaks for meals.
Making exercise outside of work time very efficient. One mile fartlek runs to compliment what was my main sport took very little time for a decent return, becoming a youth rugby coach so that I was getting exercise while spending time with my son, higher proportion of intense exercise. I'm also happy to train late in the day and it positively affects my sleep.
Getting in plenty of movement in my daily commute and as much as possible during working hours (always using stairs, walking between offices etc.).
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I hear you loud and clear - As a former auto master tech, working 6+ days a week made it difficult to find time to work out, so this is what I did:
Made work my workout. Rotor curls (literally curls holding brake rotors while walking to the lathe or parts department). Squatting (now 70lbs+, thank you stupid Ford F150 20"+ rims) wheels up to the hubs when doing a rotate. Body weight exercises - found a place to do dips at my toolbox. Walking everywhere. I know this isn't cardio, but I saw a transformation from it all.
I then had a couple of my buddies wanting to go to the gym with me - they had similar blue collar jobs, but we held each other accountable to go, even if we felt tired or not in the mood. You make work a priority, you make doctors visits a priority when you schedule them, and you make your kids sports games a priority. SO why not make the gym, or a run a priority. Literally I would put it down in my calendar - Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, or Monday, Wednesday, Friday @ 7PM at the gym, and send calendar invites to my friends. (they would do the same for me if there was a body pump class or something they wanted us to attend).
You know what works? When you tell your manager you have a physical therapy appointment on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 7. It's physical, and it should be your therapy. (so I don't consider it lying at all). But do whatever you need to do to make working out a priority.
Now I do Orange Theory, which is by appointment only, I have Wednesday night beach volleyball league, and in the summer I go surfing with my wife in the morning before work. I use my calendar and schedule to turn things that I "want" to do, to things I have scheduled and NEED to do.
I hope that helps!6 -
I make the time for working out in the evenings (wife would rather have me out of the house anyway). It's my evening priority right now. In addition, I have an office job, so, naturally, I have a pull up/dip station in my office that I also turn to throughout the day (not super effective the way I approach it, but it's something). Next week I'll be going back to my side gig a few evenings every week (I'll just have time to get home and go straight to bed afterwards). So, I have to switch to early morning workouts on those 12-13hr days. That has never been my thing, so I hope it takes. A little concerned actually.0
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My training might not be applicable to your "workout".
Would you please state what your goal is and equipment available?1 -
@ninerbuff fair enough. I suppose it’s the most efficient way. Do you workout 3, 5, or 7 days of the week?0
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@sijomial I have limited breaks during the actual work period, but I get what you mean by making everything count. Small acts compound over time. I guess I’m in this negative feedback loop at present where I’m not as energetic because I’m not that active and I’m not that active because I’m not as energetic as I used to be. I guess I’m looking for a breakthrough for the fist stage.2
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Is your job physical at all?0
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7 days.@ninerbuff fair enough. I suppose it’s the most efficient way. Do you workout 3, 5, or 7 days of the week?
M-shoulders
T-chest
W-back
TH-bicep
F-tricep
S-quads
S-hamstrings
I pick 2 compound movements and 2 isolation movements for each bodypart. Then I do a 2 set warmup, then 1 set of 12, then 10, then 8, and finishing with 6 reps. So 4 work sets total. With quads and hams, I'll usually go a little higher in reps, but progressively add weight and reduce reps. Most of the time I'm done in 30 minutes or less. Legs take longer.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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@963Nitro That was inspiring! Though I can’t exactly turn tax consultation into a workout, I like what you’re saying about weaponizing the calendar. That’s an avenue I haven’t pursued enough. The accountability system (is it a pun since I’m an accountant?) also makes a lot of sense but it’s not very impractical with the pandemic ongoing. Do you think there’s an alternative to the accountability group?
The part about the F-150 rims had me laughing!1 -
@deminimis I like the inclusion of office based workout gear. Are you working from home?0
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@Chieflrg I have a full gym membership and it’s still open right now since it’s main group of members are cops and firefighters. In terms of goals, at this point it would be to lose weight and increase energy/performance. I’d like to increase my fitness overall. Long term, I’d like to increase strength and muscle mass but I’m cognizant of time being at a premium so I don’t know how practical it is at the moment. So what’s the workout?0
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@quiksylver296 I’m a tax accountant.0
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@quiksylver296 I’m a tax accountant.
So things will chill out at work in about 8 weeks?0 -
@quiksylver296 last year the IRS extended the deadline for another 3 months so that way tax season was till 7/15. Keep in mind that S-Corps are due 9/15 and extension 10/15. So last year was one really long tax season that never ended.
Recently, Congress asked the IRS to extend things again so I might be just as busy this year as I was last year. This isn’t me making excuses as much as it is pointing out that I’m not going to have that after tax season lull that I normally would have.0 -
@Chieflrg I have a full gym membership and it’s still open right now since it’s main group of members are cops and firefighters. In terms of goals, at this point it would be to lose weight and increase energy/performance. I’d like to increase my fitness overall. Long term, I’d like to increase strength and muscle mass but I’m cognizant of time being at a premium so I don’t know how practical it is at the moment. So what’s the workout?
What equipment is available at the gym?
Is it a private or commercial gym?
It helps to know what you can do rather than suggest blindly.0 -
@quiksylver296 last year the IRS extended the deadline for another 3 months so that way tax season was till 7/15. Keep in mind that S-Corps are due 9/15 and extension 10/15. So last year was one really long tax season that never ended.
Recently, Congress asked the IRS to extend things again so I might be just as busy this year as I was last year. This isn’t me making excuses as much as it is pointing out that I’m not going to have that after tax season lull that I normally would have.
I didn't think you were making excuses. Just trying to get a realistic idea of what you're looking at.
The only way I could habitually fit in workouts while working 12 hours shifts was to get up at o'dark thirty and go before work. (I'd make excuses if I tried to go after work.) I literally got up at 3:45, went to the gym and worked out for 1.5ish hours, showered and changed for work at the gym and then went to work. This also meant I went to bed about 7:30 in the evening.1 -
@Chieflrg Good point. It’s a private gym, owned by one of the firefighters. It has a about 5 barbell stations and 3 dumbbell stations with dumbbell weights that go to the 115-160 range. About 4-5 working treadmills, 2 ellipticals, 3 of those bike fan things, plenty of weight machines, I’ll try to list what I remember here:
Leg Extension machine
Leg curls machine
Several of the squat/push leg machines
Abdominal machine (I don’t know the name)
Bicep curl machine
Chest push machine
Shoulder pushes
There’s also about 4 cable machines one with two stations built in so you can do flys and what not.
Plenty of pull-up stations, benches, dip stations, mats, weighted balls, free space, but only one shower.0 -
@963Nitro That was inspiring! Though I can’t exactly turn tax consultation into a workout, I like what you’re saying about weaponizing the calendar. That’s an avenue I haven’t pursued enough. The accountability system (is it a pun since I’m an accountant?) also makes a lot of sense but it’s not very impractical with the pandemic ongoing. Do you think there’s an alternative to the accountability group?
The part about the F-150 rims had me laughing!
Considering your line of work right now, I would weaponize the calendar. My wife and I both have office/work at home jobs, so we are more sedentary now as well - We go to Orange Theory for basically High Intensity 1 hour long workouts every other day - so we have a rest day in between.
Given your motivation factor right now, I would recommend either classes at your gym (that you can put on your calendar!), or similar training gyms like cross-fit or Orange Theory, that will give you a high intensity guided workout so you can't slack, or not give full effort - because there's a coach or a trainer there!
A lot of gyms (like gold's gym, and small family owned as well) have classes too - Ones I can recommend is body-pump, which is basically cardio weight lifting.
I understand that some gym choices are expensive - like mine. But it's cheaper then diabetes, and it holds me accountable to go when it's on the calendar - and on top of that, I've made good friends there, and they track benchmarks - so seeing myself improve feels amazing. Since I started going again in November, and tracking calories, I've dropped 32 pounds, and am now on the leader board for the 500m row, and 12min run for distance for my age group at my gym.
The key is finding something that works for you. Oh yeah, and being charged $15 for not showing up to a class motivates me even more!1 -
I'm all about efficiency. I work around 10 hours a day at a desk. I go hard at it when I'm working -- 45 minutes at a time, 15 minute breaks, without interruption on the blocks of work. I use a focus timer and avoid distractions like this site.
During that 15 minute break, I go to the restroom, get coffee, take care of my dogs (work from home). But I also will do things like 25 pushups or shoulder presses or weighted squats. I'll have over 100 pushups usually done by lunch. I do this 3X a week (along with a light weight workout before or after dinner -- 20 to 30 minutes).
At lunch, I row. Take 15 minutes to shower and clean up and another 10 to eat.
I don't have young kids but I run two companies and have five animals and do all the cooking, so I'm super busy but still find time. I end up with around 1.5 to 2 hours a day to unwind -- that's about it.
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@Chieflrg Good point. It’s a private gym, owned by one of the firefighters. It has a about 5 barbell stations and 3 dumbbell stations with dumbbell weights that go to the 115-160 range. About 4-5 working treadmills, 2 ellipticals, 3 of those bike fan things, plenty of weight machines, I’ll try to list what I remember here:
Leg Extension machine
Leg curls machine
Several of the squat/push leg machines
Abdominal machine (I don’t know the name)
Bicep curl machine
Chest push machine
Shoulder pushes
There’s also about 4 cable machines one with two stations built in so you can do flys and what not.
Plenty of pull-up stations, benches, dip stations, mats, weighted balls, free space, but only one shower.
Awesome. Sounds like you have plenty of options. So with limited time per day. I would suggest you start by determinung how many days a week you can train. If possible I would try to slot your weekend days and another day in middle of week. Determine if 45min is feasible or maybe a hour on some days.
You might have to do super sets, or lower rest periods, perform Myo reps, etc... All will help get in more stimulus in a tighter schedule. This also means that we might not see optimal "strength" gains l but that is ok if we are training and see some progress.
Something like the following would be a decent starting template but I'm sure there is better. Just throwing one off top of head.
SAT
Squat
Bench press variation(wide grip, close grip)
Leg curl/extension
SUN
Deadlift
Press
Leg press
WEDS
Touch n go bench
Squat variation(tempo or pause)
DB Inc press
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