Just started working FT, how do you fit in workouts???

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  • ElizabethKG1983
    ElizabethKG1983 Posts: 76 Member
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    Currently I work out at night. I have two kids and am in school full time. I recently started a new job and am working 4 days a week on top of that. I am soo busy now and feel like working out in the morning might be a better option. I would have to get up at 5:20am though and I am not a morning person. For those of you that work out early in the morning, a. what time do you go to bed at night and b. have you always been a morning person? If not how hard was it to adjust?
  • Hgrassi
    Hgrassi Posts: 3 Member
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    So many great ideas...
    I'm going to try early mornings for a while, and if I really hate it, I'll try late nights :)

    If I were working with a normal schedule, I'd totally whip out a workout after work. But my husband works nights and doesn't wake up until 5, and then he leaves for work at 6. So my oldest gets home from school at 3 (I have an 8 and 5 year old) and then is home while the hubby's asleep until I get there. So I'm always in a rush to get to him everyday, I feel like I really need to hang out with him once I get home. So between the kids and the dinner and my husband leaving for work, it's a big pile of stress from 4-7. The kids go to bed around 8:30, and if I'm getting up early to workout I'll be in bed by 9. If I try to workout at night, I guess I'd be up until 10 or so. I have a feeling that after all the after-work BS, I'm going to have a better time just sucking it up and getting it done at 5. :)
  • mnm424
    mnm424 Posts: 259 Member
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    I have 3 kids and work a full time (7-3:30) and part time (6-8:30).... when I work out in the am's I get up at 5 or I'll squeeze a workout in between jobs which is usually between 3:30 and 5:00. By the time I get home it's too late to do anything (aroung 9 pm) (I have tried but I find it hard to go to sleep after a workout because I'm full of energy). It's exhausting at first, but I got used to it pretty fast and easy.

    Good Luck!! Hope you find what works best for you!
  • gracielynn1011
    gracielynn1011 Posts: 726 Member
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    Hi! I am a working mom also. It was hard to get started but once I got a routine going, it made it easier. I get home about 5:30-6:00. As soon as I get home, I change clothes, load the baby (18 months) in her sling and me and the kids go for a 30 minute, 2 mile walk. As soon ad we get back home, hubby takes over baby watching if he's home yet while I get supper on the stove. If he is not home yet, then the older kids occupy the baby. When supper is on and cooking, I do my DVD for the night. By the time I am finished, it is time to set the table and put the finishing touches on supper.

    I have recently added a Kick boxing DVD and weight training to my selection, so on some days instead of walking I do one of those.

    Really, I am not getting things done any later than normal, I am just making use of the time that I would have been sitting on the couch doing nothing. So I still have my actual evenings free to spend with hubby and the kids.
  • jadethief
    jadethief Posts: 266 Member
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    Currently I work out at night. I have two kids and am in school full time. I recently started a new job and am working 4 days a week on top of that. I am soo busy now and feel like working out in the morning might be a better option. I would have to get up at 5:20am though and I am not a morning person. For those of you that work out early in the morning, a. what time do you go to bed at night and b. have you always been a morning person? If not how hard was it to adjust?

    I'm definitely a morning person. I love how quiet the house is while everyone else is sleeping. On those rare occasions that I've slept in until 8, I feel like I've wasted the best part of the day, lol. Even on the weekends, I'm up at 5:30 or 6. I'm usually in bed at night by 10:30.
  • nannukka
    nannukka Posts: 52
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    Great ideas here. Yes it is hard to fit it in, but you just need to figure out what works for you. I have to do my workout in the morning since after work I am too tired to do anything (stressful work, on my feet all day). I made all kinds of excuses forever until eventually I just decided to DO IT. In my situation I have to get up 3:30am three times to week to make it to gym around my house latest 3:50am and then I can do about an hour cardio plus weights. I just had to look at my schedule, backtrack to the wake up hour that allowed me to do everything I needed to do in the morning (workout, get ready, eat breakfast, get my kid ready etc) and after backtracking 3:30am was my "number". It is crazy and little painful if you think about it, but I usually do not. I just do it. Plus side is that the gym is nearly empty (it is 24hr Fitness) and the few people who show up at that hour are serious about exercise and we are all friends now. And I LOVE that it is then done. Needless to say that I am in bed by 9pm during my workout days....What ever works for you.
  • zhvah18
    zhvah18 Posts: 158 Member
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    Currently I work out at night. I have two kids and am in school full time. I recently started a new job and am working 4 days a week on top of that. I am soo busy now and feel like working out in the morning might be a better option. I would have to get up at 5:20am though and I am not a morning person. For those of you that work out early in the morning, a. what time do you go to bed at night and b. have you always been a morning person? If not how hard was it to adjust?

    I'm definitely a morning person. I love how quiet the house is while everyone else is sleeping. On those rare occasions that I've slept in until 8, I feel like I've wasted the best part of the day, lol. Even on the weekends, I'm up at 5:30 or 6. I'm usually in bed at night by 10:30.

    I am the exact same. I'm up at 4 am Mon-Fri and between 5 and 6 on the weekends. I can get so much more accomplished before the rest of the house is awake. During the week I'm usually in bed no later than 11:30 and weekend usually no later than 12:30. I never used to be a morning person but the past year of waking up early has totally changed that for me.
  • RunnerElizabeth
    RunnerElizabeth Posts: 1,091 Member
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    I'm a single mom of a 3 yearold and her daycare is in my office building so we travel together. There is a gym in my office building so I go there. Sometimes I run outside on my lunch and take a quick shower before going back up to work. Now that baseball season has started and our evening commute is going to start getting awful, I plan to get up early one day a week so I can take the jogger in on the train and run home with my daughter.

    The trick is we have to take a hard look at our schedules and work it in. Maybe you have to get up earlier, but take that walk on lunch too.
  • SteelySunshine
    SteelySunshine Posts: 1,092 Member
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    What kind of job is it? If it's a desk job maybe you could do some isometrics at your desk. That doesn't burn calories but they will firm up your muscles. Fidgeting can burn up to 300 calories a day if you are anywhere close to normal sized. If you get 2 15 minute breaks you could walk then if you need your whole lunch break for eating. You could take your sweet time and deliver every paper or whatever to every department by foot instead of inter office email. Ha TPTB might not like it, but it has been shown that moderately active office workers perform a lot better than people that feel or are chained to their desks.

    Also you could make your kids part of your work out. I bet they wouldn't mind going on walks with you at all or playing catch or whatever maybe some basket ball or any number of activities. It sure won't hurt them to be more active and it's great bonding time.
  • aronao
    aronao Posts: 112 Member
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    I do my exercise at night during the week (there are late classes at my gym, starting 8-8.30pm) and I do daytime classes on the weekend. I work 2 1/2 days per week and although I have free time on the other days during the week, I found this time gets eaten up doing other stuff around the house and then it's kid pick-up time. I also found that school holidays messes with my ability to get to the gym during the day so I've gotten into an evening/weekend routine and it seems to be quite easy to stick with.
  • tinat51796
    tinat51796 Posts: 16 Member
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    I just posted a similar question. It's great to see all of these tips
  • PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot
    PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot Posts: 596 Member
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    I guess you could say I'm extremely lucky in that I can take a good hour or so at lunch plus to go out on a decent run, or use the gym at work.

    Is your job in a building with a gym? I know you say you need more than 30 mins to do a good workout, but 30 minutes of exercise is better than zero minutes, right? (I can actually get in some fairly intense speed work on a treadmill in 30 minutes).

    Best of luck!

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