Night shift

Tahjya7475

I work night shift and it’s hard for me to get a consistent workout going.do anyone have advice or tips for me.

nossmf

First, welcome to the forums!

I spent years rotating shifts, including the night shift. While I know some coworkers who would work out after their night shift, I personally could never do so, as my workouts suffered for lack of intensity, it interfered with my ability to sleep after, and quite simply I never had motivation. For me, I had to workout the moment I woke up in the late afternoon instead.

But the night shift offers lots of opportunities to exercise without needing an official workout. Usually there are fewer people around, so you have the opportunity to get up from your desk every 15 minutes and do some basic exercises: pushups, situps, jumping jacks, deep knee squats, something which does not require equipment nor causes sweating. If nothing else, getting up and walking around every 15 minutes adds steps, and you'll be amazed how many steps you can cover over the course of a night shift! (A side benefit of doing all this is it makes it easier to stay awake during the night shift, needing less caffeine or energy drinks if you're always moving.)

AnnPT77

Well, if weight loss is the goal, that can happen entirely on the eating side of the situation if necessary. Exercise is a health-promoting thing to do, though.

Even inconsistent exercise - but exercise that actually happens sometimes - is going to be better for a body than zero exercise. (Just don't overdo it, because regular repetition is what conditions our body to exercise and makes us able to increase it.)

Mild exercise is fine. It doesn't need to be punitively intense to have benefits. (In fact, intense exercise every day - out of proportion to current fitness - is more likely to be injurious than beneficial.)

Also, short bouts of exercise are better than no exercise. There isn't a huge world of difference between 10 minutes 3 times a day, vs. 30 solid minutes. In fact, if you can fit in the 3 x 10 minutes, but not a full half hour, the 3 x 10 minutes is going to be superior in reality.

Exercise doesn't need to happen in a gym. You may find exercise you can do at home to be easier to fit in. There are many options, but consider YouTube videos, active video or VR games, or exercises with minimal equipment (such as fitness bands). Outdoor exercise, even simple walking, is an option if you have a safe place to do it.

In many medium to large urban areas, there are 24 hour gyms, if you actually want to do gym exercise.

Exercise you enjoy (or at least tolerate well) will be easier to do more often. Practical exercise (don't have to drive for miles to get to it, for example) will be easier to do more often. Think about what's realistic for you.

Best wishes - figuring this out and working on it has great rewards over a period of time!