Advice on finding time for exercise?
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It's not always about whether or not exercise is a priority for someone.....obviously it is for everyone on here or this topic would not spark our interest. As a full-time working (traveling) mom with a 2yr old and 3yr old I I00% understand. Time for some of us is very limited. When I am in the office I eat at my desk and spend about 30-45min exercising on my lunch which usually involves a walk. I also travel a lot so I have been looking into simple exercises I can do in my hotel room or use the hotel gym. Another suggestion is to YouTube exercise videos and do that instead of TV in the evening. Just some ideas, hope that helps :-)0
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You just have to do it. I make the gym basically my number 1 priority in life. Not just the gym, yoga and running as well. If I didn't think it was that important, I'd find excuses for not doing it. I work 40 hours a week, go to college full time, and I still find time to train at least an hour every day, 6 days a week.0
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When I think about "not having time", I find this quote and read it. It changes my perspective.
“Instead of saying “I don’t have time” try saying “it’s not a priority,” and see how that feels. Often, that’s a perfectly adequate explanation. I have time to iron my sheets, I just don’t want to. But other things are harder. Try it: “I’m not going to edit your résumé, sweetie, because it’s not a priority.” “I don’t go to the doctor because my health is not a priority.” If these phrases don’t sit well, that’s the point. Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice. If we don’t like how we’re spending an hour, we can choose differently.”0 -
I work full time and I am going to school for my MBA. I also have a house to take care of, a husband, and 3 sons who all live at home. YES, it is difficult to find time to exercise, but it is possible. One thing that I do is make Saturday morning mine. It doesn't matter how much homework or housework I have to do, I COME FIRST on Saturday morning. If I haven't had the opportunity to do any other exercise during the week, at least I have my Saturday mornings.
DON'T even think about how tired you are. That is not an excuse. The best cure for being tired is to work out. HONEST!!
So - make yourself a priority, at least in one block of time, like I do on my Saturday morning. You will feel so much better, and you are worth it.0 -
Do something physical with your family..By the weekend ..... I'm catch up on housework, and spend time with my daughter, family, and boyfriend. Does anyone have any suggestions on where I might be able to squeeze in some meaningful exercises....
Hike. Bike. Badminton.
Not sure of your daughter's age, but maybe while she bikes, you can jog along side of her ?
Instead of eat and talk, why not walk & talk, while enjoying the outdoors ?
Exert more effort while doing errands.
Do not park near the store. Park at the far end of the parking lot, or even down the street !!
Walk from store to store ~ or walk from block to block. do not move your car.
Carry your items when possible (instead of using a grocery cart)
Be sure to take the view extra steps and return grocery carts to the front of the store.
Take the stairs. Do not take escalators or elevators.
If you have a bit more time, do the stairs a couple of extra times . Works for me !!
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No real suggestions. It's about prioritizing. If exercise is a lower priority then the other things you mentioned, maybe you can't exercise right now. I'd say that in all likelihood, you could find time for at least a brisk walk several times a week. Good luck!
I agree with this. It has to be a priority and you seem to have a full plate as it is! It's hard for me to find time, too, with a full-time job and a three-year old daughter. I try to be creative and walk 20 minutes at work when I can. My daughter's daycare is relatively close to home and some days, when the weather is nice, I'll go home first and change out of my work clothes and then walk to her daycare with the wagon to get her. These suggestions might not work for your situation, but it could be a start. Are there activities you could do as a family that'll at least keep you moving?0 -
Getting up earlier is not an option, I'm not a morning person at all.
this is pretty much "sub excuse" number 1 under the umbrella of "I just don't have time." Sorry, but "finding" time is a passive endeavor...you will never "find" time; you have to make time which involves putting to bed such excuses as the one above.
Honestly, I'm lucky if I can wake up in time enough for work. I have delayed sleep phase syndrome. Always have. When I say early mornings aren't an option, I mean they are medically not an option. This is something I have no control over. I was more looking for suggestions on exercises that can be done in 5 minute or less spurts throughout the day that won't be meaningless.
Exercise at night, then; take 20-30 minutes after you get home (or before you go home, if you have access to a gym or can run outside) and get it done. I don't understand your schedule during the day to know whether or not you can squeeze something in the middle of the day... or you can do a combo of the two. Just make the time; it's there!0 -
I wake up at 4 AM just to get to the gym for the express workout (Planet Fitness). It's half an hour of a combined cardio/strength type workout (much like HIIT, really) and though I hate waking up, I always feel better after I workout and have more energy on the days I workout. I have five kids, a job, a house... I get back from the gym, get ready, make lunches for the kids, drive them an hour to private school, go to work, pick them up, drive home an hour, straighten up from the whirlwind mess made in the morning, start supper, feed the masses, clean up from supper, give baths, get kids to bed, spend a little time to myself, do laundry, and then hit the hay somewhere between 1030 and midnight... depending on how many loads of clothes I have to wash to keep up.
Prioritize. If it's important to you, find a way to make it happen. Lunch break HIIT sprinting/walking for 15 minutes? When I lapsed my gym membership, I was doing a quick 10-12 minutes of HIIT with my 25# dumbbells. I'd do 45 seconds of jump rope, or jumping lunges, or burpees, rest 15 seconds, do 45 seconds of a dumbbell movement (weighted squats or lunges, or rows, etc), rest 15 seconds, 45 seconds of another cardio type... you get the idea. It would get my heart rate up quite high and have a decent burn (according to my HRM anyway--between 90 and 120 calories). Some days I'd take a 15 minute run. It's something! You don't have to bust it for hours... 0 -
Time for some of us is very limited.
Time for the vast majority of us is very limited...when that ceases to become an excuse, good things happen.
I'm up at 4:30/5:00 AM every day...I have an hour each way commute to work where I put in another good 8-10 hours, sometimes 12. I usually take about 30-45 minutes of my lunch break to go for a run or ride my bike and eat at my desk..I forgo going out with the co-workers for a fun lunch save for on occasion...my exercise is my priority. Twice per week I hit the gym in the evening...I pick my 1 y.o. and 3 y.o. up from day care and we head for the gym...I pay a little extra each month to use the child care facilities at the gym. My third lifting day is on Saturday...I usually hit the gym around 5:30 - 6:00 AM or so in order that I can get home before the kiddos and my wife are up so I can make my traditional Sat morning breakfast...then of course there's all the catching up that needs to be done in RE to cleaning and fixing and yard work, etc. I'm also the primary cook in our house and we don't eat out a lot nor do we eat much in the way of pre-packaged foods...this keeps me quite busy preparing meals and the like for the family...breakfast, lunch, and dinner most of the time.
The "I have no time" or "I'm just so busy" excuse just rubs me the wrong way...likely because I used it for a good decade plus and I always thought I was sooooo much busier than anyone else on the planet...nobody could possibly understand how sooooo busy I was. Once I realized that I wasn't any busier than anyone else and that in fact, there were people even busier than I am out there crushing their workouts and nutrition...once I put that lame *kitten* excuse to bed, everything changed for me and for the better.
I'm not going to sit here and say it's always easy...i'm not going to tell you I don't literally have to drag my *kitten* to the gym on some days and force myself to get 'er done...that would be bull****. It's hard...you just have to do it.0 -
When i am studying I try to turn it into a light workout whenever possible.
If a lot of the material covered in your profs lectures are on the exams, then record them & go take a walk while listening to it. or bring a small notebook full of detailed study notes (or flashcards) that you can bring with you on a walk.
This semester has been trickier for me because it involves a a lot of paper writing for a psych class & watching online video lectures for another course that i am taking. So far i've been able to find ample time to workout, but i just started a new job it may get tricky....since bringing notes on a walk is less of an option right now, I am thinking of getting a cheap un-motorized treadmill that i can walk on while stuck at the computer.0 -
Getting up earlier is not an option, I'm not a morning person at all.
I think it's time you become one.0 -
It's not always about whether or not exercise is a priority for someone.....obviously it is for everyone on here or this topic would not spark our interest. As a full-time working (traveling) mom with a 2yr old and 3yr old I I00% understand. Time for some of us is very limited. When I am in the office I eat at my desk and spend about 30-45min exercising on my lunch which usually involves a walk. I also travel a lot so I have been looking into simple exercises I can do in my hotel room or use the hotel gym. Another suggestion is to YouTube exercise videos and do that instead of TV in the evening. Just some ideas, hope that helps :-)
Thank you! I'm glad at least one person understands. There seems to be more criticism than encouragement on this forum. The problem for me has been that I leave the house at 8am, work from 9am-5pm with no lunch break, hour drive to school and class from 6pm-10:30pm, then home again around 11pm. I do this Monday-Friday and end up working on the weekends most of the time as well, so time and energy are an issue for me. And I'm a single parent.
When I didn't have class during the summer, I would go for jogs in the evening before dark and it made me feel good. The most I can think to do now is park at the back of the parking lot on the other side of campus from where my classes are and do a brisk walk across campus to get to class on time, but it just doesn't seem like enough. I just thought somebody might know of certain exercises that would still make a difference even when done in short spurts.0 -
Getting up earlier is not an option, I'm not a morning person at all.
I think it's time you become one.
I have delayed sleep phase syndrome. Always have. When I say early mornings aren't an option, I mean they are medically not an option. This is something I have no control over. I was more looking for suggestions on exercises that can be done in 5 minute or less spurts throughout the day that won't be meaningless.0 -
my husband walks a few miles a day just walking while talking on phone. try to walk whenever possible, take the stairs rather than elevator.0
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Do 10 solid minutes of pushups, situps, and jumping jacks for 10 straight minutes, as fast as you can, first thing in the morning when you get out of bed, five days a week. You'd be amazed at what those 10 minutes will do for you, and there is no way you you can't figure out a way to squeeze 10 minutes like that, right in your bedroom, before you shower or get dressed or whatever.0
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well become a morning person, get it done!
when you do it first thing, then it is all over and done with!0 -
It's not always about whether or not exercise is a priority for someone.....obviously it is for everyone on here or this topic would not spark our interest. As a full-time working (traveling) mom with a 2yr old and 3yr old I I00% understand. Time for some of us is very limited. When I am in the office I eat at my desk and spend about 30-45min exercising on my lunch which usually involves a walk. I also travel a lot so I have been looking into simple exercises I can do in my hotel room or use the hotel gym. Another suggestion is to YouTube exercise videos and do that instead of TV in the evening. Just some ideas, hope that helps :-)
Thank you! I'm glad at least one person understands. There seems to be more criticism than encouragement on this forum. The problem for me has been that I leave the house at 8am, work from 9am-5pm with no lunch break, hour drive to school and class from 6pm-10:30pm, then home again around 11pm. I do this Monday-Friday and end up working on the weekends most of the time as well, so time and energy are an issue for me. And I'm a single parent.
When I didn't have class during the summer, I would go for jogs in the evening before dark and it made me feel good. The most I can think to do now is park at the back of the parking lot on the other side of campus from where my classes are and do a brisk walk across campus to get to class on time, but it just doesn't seem like enough. I just thought somebody might know of certain exercises that would still make a difference even when done in short spurts.
I'm pretty sure it's illegal to be forced to work from 9 to 5 without a lunch break....at least in the few states I have worked in, it is. Why don't you get a lunch or even 15 min breaks for that matter?0 -
I understand, Mon to Fri I'm a slave to work from 6.30am-7.30pm including travelling time, but I squeeze as much exercise as I can in that time.
Can you use a bike for your travelling? I commute part way to work on my bike to add some exercise, in fact 40-50 mins per day on my bike.
Walk at lunch time, I walk for 15 min for go and buy my lunch most days.
You said you do house work, could you make it more vigorous to turn it into cardio exercise?
When weekends come, I have my 4 kids from Friday night till Sunday night. I will take them all swimming on Saturday, I will swim 2-3km while they splash about. I often walk to and from the swimming pool to add exercise.0 -
Getting up earlier is not an option, I'm not a morning person at all.
I think it's time you become one.
I have delayed sleep phase syndrome. Always have. When I say early mornings aren't an option, I mean they are medically not an option. This is something I have no control over. I was more looking for suggestions on exercises that can be done in 5 minute or less spurts throughout the day that won't be meaningless.
If you aren't getting to sleep until later on anyways, get your workout in at 11 when you get home.
Do a video and keep the volume down so as to not wake anyone up.
Do body weight exercises.
If this doensn't work, fit it into the middle of your day as some have suggested.
Nike had it right when they said just do it.0 -
I know how you feel. I am the same way. I would like to exercise to help boost weight loss and keep fit, but I hate exercising and I find it hard to make time for it because when I do have time I am either tired or would rather be doing something else. So what I do is whenever I am in a situation where I am "waiting" on something, like laundry, I do jumping jacks. I try to do to at least 50, but if I can keep going I keep going, or I take a pause and then try to do 10 more... take a pause and do 10 more. Jumping jacks are easy, you don't need equipment, you don't need a lot of room, you don't have to go anywhere. While you are at your desk at work or at school, you could stand up and jog in place or do lunges. You could do situps or crunches before bed - should only take a few minutes of your time. Even a little makes a difference, so I am sure there are times when you have to wait for something like laundry, or your kids to finish their bath, or dinner to finish cooking, or whatever. Take those few minutes to just do something like jumping jacks, lunges, situps, crunches, or arm workouts. I actually read an article in a magazine once a workout routine that Lady Gaga does. It takes about 30 minutes:
You do 5 minutes of cardio like jumping jacks or jogging in place (I use my smartphone as a timer)
Then you do an arm workout (lifts with weights, pushups, etc.) - pick a number/amount of reps you feel confident you can do, like maybe 10-20 pushups
Then you do a belly workout like crunches or situps - same theory, do an amount you feel you can accomplish
Then you do a leg workout like lunges or leg lifts - same as above, do an amount you feel you can accomplish
Then you do another 5 minutes jumping jacks/jog-in-place.
BOOM! Then as you get used to it, you can start to up the numbers of reps you do for each area of the body - and maybe add another minute to your jumping jacks/jogging.
Since it only takes about 30 minutes, and you'll probably work up a sweat, maybe do it before you shower if you shower after work or before bed. But whenever you think you can spare 30 minutes, give it a try!
Good luck!!!!0
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