Too busy to workout???

Ha! I got this. Typical weekday below.

6am - getup, get showered, get 4 year old and 2 year old dressed.
7am - Feed everyone breakfast
7:30am - Leave for daycare/work
8:30am - Finally arrive at work after dropping kids
5:00pm - Leave work, collect kids from daycare, commute
6:30pm - Arrive home, cook dinner, eat dinner
7:30pm - Kids bath
8pm - Dishes
8:30pm - Put kids to bed
9pm - 10pm - go to the gym
10 pm - shower, any remaining chores I can force myself to do, spend time with husband
11:30pm Sleep

Rinse and Repeat.

Sometimes, to mix it up I'll also do a 30 minute gym session on my lunch since we have a little gym in my office building.

Oh, I've been doing this for about 8 months and I'm down about 35lbs to 189 with another 45lbs to go.

I get up at 5 am to go to work. Come back home at 7-8 pm. I work out at the weekend, there is a nice spinning class at 11 am. Because sleeping is importantn too

I have a wife and two boys (4 & 2) and I'm the CFO of the company I work for which means I often work the typical 8-5 and then some more and my work phone is rarely not by my side. I also have a two hour round trip commute to work every day. At home there is always something that needs fixing or cleaning or cooking or the boys need this or that, etc. There is never a dull moment.

During the week it is more difficult, but I made a deal with my wife that Tuesdays and Thursdays are my gym nights after work which can be hard on her because she's taking care of all of the domestic stuff those evenings until I get home. The other part of that though is that I take care of most of that stuff on Mondays and Wednesdays so she can have an hour or two of sanity. My other gym day is Saturday and Sunday is purely family time and my rest day.

I also take my bike to work with me and ride during my lunch break on Mon/Wed/Fri.

I think it's important to have a schedule and stick to that schedule as much as possible. There are times when I just can't make it to the gym because *kitten* hits the fan at work or whatever...but for me, simply being tired isn't a legit reason to skip the gym. Tired or not, if it's Tues or Thurs evening I'm there.

I think it's also important to be realistic in what you can accomplish given your time restraints and do whatever you can do to get the most bang for your buck for that time. This is one of the reasons why I follow a full body lifting routine rather than a split type of routine...I can do it in 3 days rather than 4 or 5 and I can be in and out in 45 - 60 minutes. Unless I'm training for a ride, my bike rides typically don't go more than 60 minutes either...

I think one of the reasons people fail at this is that they think they have to be doing exponentially more than they truly have to...so it seems overwhelming and they are defeated before they even start. I'm sure most people could find 30 minutes 5x weekly to get in some moderate exercise...outside of more specific fitness goals, that's really about all you need to do.

I am not posting my whole schedule, but I have 3 kids... 1, 4, and 5.... 8 cats, disabled mom I help A LOT, and I'm managing a 4.0 in school and still make the time. It might not be much time, or as much as other people on my friends list, but I don't make excuses. I do what I can do.

5 am - GYM
5:45 - 7:30 Husband leaves for work so I shower, get 4 year old ready for the day, make breakfast, pack lunches all alone
7:30am - Leave for daycare/work
8:00am - Arrive at work after dropping kids
5:00pm - Leave work, collect kids from daycare, commute
6:00pm - 7:30pm - Arrive home, cook dinner, eat dinner, do dishes, give kid a bath, put kid to bed
8pm - Work on thesis for grad school
9pm - 4:30 am - Sleep

4:45AM - wake up, preworkout Quest bar
5:00AM - work out
6:30AM - shower and get ready for work
7:30AM - feed the dog, pack my lunch, make protein shake
7:45AM - leave the house for work
8:30AM - work (I'm a legal assistant)
5:30PM - leave work and brave horrendous traffic
6:15PM - arrive at home, immediately change into pajamas
6:30PM - feed the dog, cook, do dishes
7:15PM - eat dinner, immediately followed my dessert
7:45PM - walk the dog with my husband
8:15PM - relax and watch TV
9:00PM - bed (yes, at 9:00)

No kids yet, but I still don't have much free time. Also, "too busy to work out" is a foreign language to me. You don't FIND time to work out, you MAKE time.

NerdieMcChub wrote: »

I am not posting my whole schedule, but I have 3 kids... 1, 4, and 5.... 8 cats, disabled mom I help A LOT, and I'm managing a 4.0 in school and still make the time. It might not be much time, or as much as other people on my friends list, but I don't make excuses. I do what I can do.

Lord help you!

"I don't have time" is more often a way of saying, "I don't want to."

I don't have kids, and my schedule isn't the worst, but on days I find myself stuck, I have split my workouts into two brief 20 min sessions, one when I get up in the AM and one right before dinner. I do kettlebells on those days because they are efficient and great for a joint cardio/strength workout in less time. I also walk on my lunch break.

CipherZero wrote: »

"I don't have time" is more often a way of saying, "I don't want to."

And sure enough, someone had to say it...

Notwithstanding that, it is about choices. What's notable here is almost everyone has a fairly short travel to work requirement, I think everyone so far is on no more than an hour each way, and most are significantly less than that.

To an extent it's worth looking at what opportunities that gives. Personally I have to commute 2:30 each way, so spending 5 hours a day travelling. I do about an hours worth of commute cycling in that period, so while it's not a particularly high quality session it does give me some benefit.

Commute days, I'm up at 0500, and generally home at around 2100 so once food and domestics are dealt with I'm getting to bed somewhere between midnight and 0100.

Personally, as a way of mitigating for that volume of travel, I stay at work a couple of nights a week which gives me some time to train. I run on those nights, generally for somewhere between 6 and 9 miles so about an hour to an hour and a half. I have a similar length run on a Friday evening after I finish work. I reserve my long runs, and my long rides, for the weekends.

I am never too busy to work out. My life includes being a fitness pro so I work out to pay the rent. Not lucky... by design.

Your priorities are shown by your actions. Make time for what you want in life.

I follow one of two schedules during the week:

5am - up and to gym
7am - home to shower and get ready for work
8am - leave for work
5:30pm - home from work and eat dinner
6 to 9pm - go to the barn, visit friends or family, down time, etc.
9 to 10pm - wind down and get to bed

OR

5:30am - up and ready for work
6:30am - leave for work
5:30pm - home from work and eat dinner
6 to 9pm - gym time and shower
9 to 10pm - wind down and get to bed

I get one to two rest days a week where I can either sleep in a bit or have a free evening. And you all just reminded me why I don't plan on having kids for a long time

I am a morning person. However, this does not mean I love getting up long before dawn (in the winter, at least) to hit the pool.

But I do. I am strongly in favor of morning exercise because it does several things. It gets it out of the way before you get a chance to give yourself excuses why not to. I am VERY skilled at creating excuses when my brain wakes up. It's better just to go before I can think. You get a sense of accomplishment right away, which is some nice momentum. AND if you go to a gym, you're saving money because you can have a long shower there before work instead of your own house

I find it also forces me to organize my day better, so I wind up saving time in the long run.

603reader. I have to shower every time I work out, and wash hair. I'm a head sweater...The rest of me can be totally dry, but every sweat gland in my body must be in my head because after 20 minutes of even moderate exercise my head and hair are soaked with sweat. gross.