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Finding time to Exercise

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Replies

  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited May 2017
    tomteboda wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.

    The average American spends 50 non-work hours a week on screen time:
    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/health/americans-screen-time-nielsen/

    Someone has to be a pretty special snowflake to not be able to find an hour a day to exercise.

    How on earth does the "average American" manage that anyway? That's 7.5 hours a DAY of "screen time". Does the "average American" neither work or have any other hobbies or interests or obligations whatsoever? I expect imminent collapse of society if this study is accurate or as broad as portrayed.

    Game of Thrones, Kim Kardashian's *kitten*, Honey Boo Boo, and, well, that's as much as I'm capable of naming off the top of my head, but you get the idea. These are the average American's hobbies and interests.

    Yep, watching who's doing who on The Bachelor then discussing it on some forum site for hours. binge watching whatever on Netflicks, watching God knows how many kitten, puppy and porn videos on YouTube, etc.

    Even if the 50 hours average per person per week was off by a factor of 2 (which I don't think it is) that would still leave an average of 25 hours a week of screen time. Pretty sad if can't carve 7 hours out of that to exercise.

    And to make matters worse, many people mindlessly eat high calorie, nutrient poor foods while watching the screen.
  • armchairherpetologist
    armchairherpetologist Posts: 69 Member
    tomteboda wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.

    The average American spends 50 non-work hours a week on screen time:
    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/health/americans-screen-time-nielsen/

    Someone has to be a pretty special snowflake to not be able to find an hour a day to exercise.

    How on earth does the "average American" manage that anyway? That's 7.5 hours a DAY of "screen time". Does the "average American" neither work or have any other hobbies or interests or obligations whatsoever? I expect imminent collapse of society if this study is accurate or as broad as portrayed.

    Game of Thrones, Kim Kardashian's *kitten*, Honey Boo Boo, and, well, that's as much as I'm capable of naming off the top of my head, but you get the idea. These are the average American's hobbies and interests.

    People ask me about television shows all the time and they think that I'm lying when I say I have no idea what they're talking about. My television "watching" is limited to the fact that I use it for background noise before I fall asleep. I can't imagine just sitting there staring at the the glowy box.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited May 2017
    tomteboda wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.

    The average American spends 50 non-work hours a week on screen time:
    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/health/americans-screen-time-nielsen/

    Someone has to be a pretty special snowflake to not be able to find an hour a day to exercise.

    How on earth does the "average American" manage that anyway? That's 7.5 hours a DAY of "screen time". Does the "average American" neither work or have any other hobbies or interests or obligations whatsoever? I expect imminent collapse of society if this study is accurate or as broad as portrayed.

    Game of Thrones, Kim Kardashian's *kitten*, Honey Boo Boo, and, well, that's as much as I'm capable of naming off the top of my head, but you get the idea. These are the average American's hobbies and interests.

    People ask me about television shows all the time and they think that I'm lying when I say I have no idea what they're talking about. My television "watching" is limited to the fact that I use it for background noise before I fall asleep. I can't imagine just sitting there staring at the the glowy box.

    Yep, my kids were young during the Seinfeld/Friends eras, People would talk about them/the characters, etc never saw the shows.
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
    if you want it, go get it, I start at 4am in the dark, its soothing. birds and quiet., people with no time, bull *kitten*,
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    Is this thread for real? I debated coming back...now I'm really debating.
  • Macy9336
    Macy9336 Posts: 694 Member
    Finding time to exercise is a challenge and you really have to prioritise it. I've done a bunch of different things. Biked to /from work, gone to gym at 4am, done lunch workouts, walked across base to meetings instead of driving, etc. We've taken turns watching the kids so we could do a workout/run/bike ride on the weekends. When the kids were babies, they upped our workout...we've put them in a sledge and towed them on cross country skis or snow shoes when we lived in upstate NY. In Colorado, hubby had the baby backpack and I gave the older one piggy back rides and we'd get some mountain hikes in. Once older, it becomes more fun! Took kids canoeing/kayaking, camping/hiking, to rock climbing gym. Horseback riding. Rambling around castles and parks. Too many people think once you have jobs plus kids it's impossible to find the time. It is difficult, especially if they're whiny and don't want to go so you have to postpone or have the whiny one go on a play date while the rest of you do something active. But it's all doable.

  • raimondasa
    raimondasa Posts: 5 Member
    edited May 2017
    In most cases you have just to find time to exercise. I would I am pretty busy with full time job and studies, but I manage to add 400-500 additional calories from exercises to my daily burn.
    I cannot go to the gym in the morning because I have to get enough sleep. But I can wake up 20 minutes earlier and walk to the bus station instead of taking a bus to it. That's around 150 kcal burned one way (I walk really fast). If I do not have enough time to go to the gym, I skip rope at home. It is intensive exercise and burns a lot of calories. I do one minute jumps, one minute rest for 20-30 minutes and it burns 100-150 kcal. I go to the gym at least 3 times a week to do weight lifting, if I go more often, I do cardio as well. One weight training session is approx 200 kcal, cardio - 500-600 kcal.
    I prioritize my activity, sleep and meals because I do not feel so well otherwise.
    So, on a bad day I burn 150x2+100=400 kcal and when I dedicate extra 40 minutes for exercise (taking bus one way would take 10 minutes less than walking).
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited May 2017
    I can honestly say that if I say I have no time to work out then I've made the active choice not to. I can't lie to myself about it. I want to be healthy and strong and that means facing reality about yourself (to me). I work 10 hour graveyard shifts plus 2 hours of commute time. So that's 12 hours gone in my day. Then I also have a completely different job that gets tons of my time. But I still find time to do an hour of weights 3 days a week. And now I'm trying to include an hour of walking/running on two other days of the week.

    For other exercise, I keep saying that I don't want to do the hour commute to kickboxing class, take an hour class then another hour commute home because it's too far away, but I KNOW that if that were to actually be a true priority for me, I would just suck it up and carve out those three hours Friday morning. But right now it's not a priority so I just keep making excuses to not go. But at least I'm HONEST with myself that I'm making excuses to not go because it's not yet a priority.
  • armchairherpetologist
    armchairherpetologist Posts: 69 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    That's another interesting question. I know from experience that if I do not get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night, there will be negative effects - my mind isn't as sharp, I start dozing off in meetings, my athletic performance suffers.

    Some people need less, some need more. To get up at 4 in the morning daily I would have to be asleep by 9 pm daily.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    The poster gets up at 5, so asleep by 10 PM gets 7 hours of sleep.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,646 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    That's another interesting question. I know from experience that if I do not get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night, there will be negative effects - my mind isn't as sharp, I start dozing off in meetings, my athletic performance suffers.

    Some people need less, some need more. To get up at 4 in the morning daily I would have to be asleep by 9 pm daily.

    Yeah I'm in bed by 10pm to get up at 3:45 For the gym.
  • armchairherpetologist
    armchairherpetologist Posts: 69 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    That's another interesting question. I know from experience that if I do not get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night, there will be negative effects - my mind isn't as sharp, I start dozing off in meetings, my athletic performance suffers.

    Some people need less, some need more. To get up at 4 in the morning daily I would have to be asleep by 9 pm daily.

    Yeah I'm in bed by 10pm to get up at 3:45 For the gym.

    You seem to do well on less sleep than I do. If I want to be asleep by 10, I have to be in bed about 20 minutes before that which means usually I'm brushing my teeth at 9:30. I get up at 5, no alarm, that's just when I wake up.

    I tried to adjust to less sleep for a while. It was an unmitigated disaster.

    To the things @CSARdiver said about meetings, I would love to do that. Do you have any suggestion for dealing with the visual component of meetings? In most of them we're presenting process diagrams, whiteboarding things, going through the bug dashboards and release planning boards for the software.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
    I can honestly say that if I say I have no time to work out then I've made the active choice not to. I can't lie to myself about it. I want to be healthy and strong and that means facing reality about yourself (to me). I work 10 hour graveyard shifts plus 2 hours of commute time. So that's 12 hours gone in my day. Then I also have a completely different job that gets tons of my time. But I still find time to do an hour of weights 3 days a week. And now I'm trying to include an hour of walking/running on two other days of the week.

    For other exercise, I keep saying that I don't want to do the hour commute to kickboxing class, take an hour class then another hour commute home because it's too far away, but I KNOW that if that were to actually be a true priority for me, I would just suck it up and carve out those three hours Friday morning. But right now it's not a priority so I just keep making excuses to not go. But at least I'm HONEST with myself that I'm making excuses to not go because it's not yet a priority.

    Totally this...
    Most people are super busy with work, kids, commuting, school, etc. We don't find the time, we make the time. I was posting about this the other day because people were giving me a hard time about the amount of time I use for workouts and the amount of workouts I do per day. Not that it's anyone's business but I have a fitness center at my work and that helps tremendously! But yeah I also spend time driving from home to gym to home to gym and I put in extra hours to get it done.

    I am in bed by 9 pm and up by 3:30-3:45 am to spend some time with my dog :smile: and get ready for my commute to the city.

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    I have 5 kids with the youngest being 6 months and I find time to gym 5-6 days a week. I even go for 3-4 hours on the weekend. I make time for me. Happy mom/wife... Happy life.

    I'm at the gym 2 hours every day during the week end too. Most people I know just spend the morning at home watching TV. I'd lose my mind if I did that.
    Dogs make really great walking partners, and having one forces you to walk as they need to get walked at least once a day.
    My daughter has 2 huskies, and she went from zero exercise to walking them an hour in the morning before work, and 2 hours after work every single day, and more on weekends. I honestly cant believe she does it lol But her love and caring for those dogs outweighs her laziness tendencies...

    I got my puppy so I can have someone with me on walks. Turns out that it takes us 40 minutes to do a mile because she stops ALL THE TIME. I hope she grows out of it. Sigh.
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    That's another interesting question. I know from experience that if I do not get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night, there will be negative effects - my mind isn't as sharp, I start dozing off in meetings, my athletic performance suffers.

    Some people need less, some need more. To get up at 4 in the morning daily I would have to be asleep by 9 pm daily.

    Yeah I'm in bed by 10pm to get up at 3:45 For the gym.

    See... I could never ever do that. I can't function on less than 7 hours of sleep (8 is better), and that's really pushing it. I'm quite sure that a lot of people would actually do better if they slept more and didn't get up at insane hours to go to the gym.

    Speaking for myself, when I'm up at 5am (more often than not sadly since I got my puppy, and I'm typically asleep by 9.40pm), I'm hungry all day, and more likely to make unhealthy choices. It makes it VERY easy to wipe those 300ish calories I would burn at the gym because I'm just too hungry... I'd be MUCH better off skipping the gym, sleeping an extra hour (almost 2 really when you count the time it takes to get there), then just try and move more the rest of the day. You NEED sleep and 7 hours is the minimum for most people.


  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,646 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I have 5 kids with the youngest being 6 months and I find time to gym 5-6 days a week. I even go for 3-4 hours on the weekend. I make time for me. Happy mom/wife... Happy life.

    I'm at the gym 2 hours every day during the week end too. Most people I know just spend the morning at home watching TV. I'd lose my mind if I did that.
    Dogs make really great walking partners, and having one forces you to walk as they need to get walked at least once a day.
    My daughter has 2 huskies, and she went from zero exercise to walking them an hour in the morning before work, and 2 hours after work every single day, and more on weekends. I honestly cant believe she does it lol But her love and caring for those dogs outweighs her laziness tendencies...

    I got my puppy so I can have someone with me on walks. Turns out that it takes us 40 minutes to do a mile because she stops ALL THE TIME. I hope she grows out of it. Sigh.
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    That's another interesting question. I know from experience that if I do not get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night, there will be negative effects - my mind isn't as sharp, I start dozing off in meetings, my athletic performance suffers.

    Some people need less, some need more. To get up at 4 in the morning daily I would have to be asleep by 9 pm daily.

    Yeah I'm in bed by 10pm to get up at 3:45 For the gym.

    See... I could never ever do that. I can't function on less than 7 hours of sleep (8 is better), and that's really pushing it. I'm quite sure that a lot of people would actually do better if they slept more and didn't get up at insane hours to go to the gym.

    Speaking for myself, when I'm up at 5am (more often than not sadly since I got my puppy, and I'm typically asleep by 9.40pm), I'm hungry all day, and more likely to make unhealthy choices. It makes it VERY easy to wipe those 300ish calories I would burn at the gym because I'm just too hungry... I'd be MUCH better off skipping the gym, sleeping an extra hour (almost 2 really when you count the time it takes to get there), then just try and move more the rest of the day. You NEED sleep and 7 hours is the minimum for most people.


    Meh ill sleep when I'm dead. *shrug*
  • armchairherpetologist
    armchairherpetologist Posts: 69 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I have 5 kids with the youngest being 6 months and I find time to gym 5-6 days a week. I even go for 3-4 hours on the weekend. I make time for me. Happy mom/wife... Happy life.

    I'm at the gym 2 hours every day during the week end too. Most people I know just spend the morning at home watching TV. I'd lose my mind if I did that.
    Dogs make really great walking partners, and having one forces you to walk as they need to get walked at least once a day.
    My daughter has 2 huskies, and she went from zero exercise to walking them an hour in the morning before work, and 2 hours after work every single day, and more on weekends. I honestly cant believe she does it lol But her love and caring for those dogs outweighs her laziness tendencies...

    I got my puppy so I can have someone with me on walks. Turns out that it takes us 40 minutes to do a mile because she stops ALL THE TIME. I hope she grows out of it. Sigh.
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    That's another interesting question. I know from experience that if I do not get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night, there will be negative effects - my mind isn't as sharp, I start dozing off in meetings, my athletic performance suffers.

    Some people need less, some need more. To get up at 4 in the morning daily I would have to be asleep by 9 pm daily.

    Yeah I'm in bed by 10pm to get up at 3:45 For the gym.

    See... I could never ever do that. I can't function on less than 7 hours of sleep (8 is better), and that's really pushing it. I'm quite sure that a lot of people would actually do better if they slept more and didn't get up at insane hours to go to the gym.

    Speaking for myself, when I'm up at 5am (more often than not sadly since I got my puppy, and I'm typically asleep by 9.40pm), I'm hungry all day, and more likely to make unhealthy choices. It makes it VERY easy to wipe those 300ish calories I would burn at the gym because I'm just too hungry... I'd be MUCH better off skipping the gym, sleeping an extra hour (almost 2 really when you count the time it takes to get there), then just try and move more the rest of the day. You NEED sleep and 7 hours is the minimum for most people.


    Meh ill sleep when I'm dead. *shrug*

    I tried it for a couple of years and my performance at everything suffered severely, I was sick all the time, and eventually I had to start sleeping more or put my employment at risk.

    I get an hour to hour and a half of exercise a day, more on the weekends when I don't have to go to work. The trade off that I would have to make to up that to two hours or two and a half hours isn't worth it. As much as I love running and cycling and being active, none of that keeps the mortgage paid.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,646 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I have 5 kids with the youngest being 6 months and I find time to gym 5-6 days a week. I even go for 3-4 hours on the weekend. I make time for me. Happy mom/wife... Happy life.

    I'm at the gym 2 hours every day during the week end too. Most people I know just spend the morning at home watching TV. I'd lose my mind if I did that.
    Dogs make really great walking partners, and having one forces you to walk as they need to get walked at least once a day.
    My daughter has 2 huskies, and she went from zero exercise to walking them an hour in the morning before work, and 2 hours after work every single day, and more on weekends. I honestly cant believe she does it lol But her love and caring for those dogs outweighs her laziness tendencies...

    I got my puppy so I can have someone with me on walks. Turns out that it takes us 40 minutes to do a mile because she stops ALL THE TIME. I hope she grows out of it. Sigh.
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.
    While I tend to agree with you, I have to wonder how much sleep you get, unless you're getting in bed fairly early.

    That's another interesting question. I know from experience that if I do not get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night, there will be negative effects - my mind isn't as sharp, I start dozing off in meetings, my athletic performance suffers.

    Some people need less, some need more. To get up at 4 in the morning daily I would have to be asleep by 9 pm daily.

    Yeah I'm in bed by 10pm to get up at 3:45 For the gym.

    See... I could never ever do that. I can't function on less than 7 hours of sleep (8 is better), and that's really pushing it. I'm quite sure that a lot of people would actually do better if they slept more and didn't get up at insane hours to go to the gym.

    Speaking for myself, when I'm up at 5am (more often than not sadly since I got my puppy, and I'm typically asleep by 9.40pm), I'm hungry all day, and more likely to make unhealthy choices. It makes it VERY easy to wipe those 300ish calories I would burn at the gym because I'm just too hungry... I'd be MUCH better off skipping the gym, sleeping an extra hour (almost 2 really when you count the time it takes to get there), then just try and move more the rest of the day. You NEED sleep and 7 hours is the minimum for most people.


    Meh ill sleep when I'm dead. *shrug*

    I tried it for a couple of years and my performance at everything suffered severely, I was sick all the time, and eventually I had to start sleeping more or put my employment at risk.

    I get an hour to hour and a half of exercise a day, more on the weekends when I don't have to go to work. The trade off that I would have to make to up that to two hours or two and a half hours isn't worth it. As much as I love running and cycling and being active, none of that keeps the mortgage paid.

    That's why we're all different. Whatever works to get the job done.

    If I don't workout in the morning I wouldn't workout period. I don't like the after work gym crowd. I have kids activities during the day. This works for me and my performance is actually better than working out on more sleep. *shrug*

    I also don't consider it an "insane hour". It's just a time I choose to have for myself.

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    tomteboda wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    As the successful have stated - it's not about finding time, it's about making time.

    I apply the Pareto Principle to this - devoting my energy to the 20% that truly matters and has impact. I intentionally neglect the 80% of lower priority issues that previously clogged up my time.

    My wife and I are both working professionals with three active kids. She gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym for an hour before work, then spend most of her day in a laboratory. I get up at 5 am and do calisthenics or take a quick run/bike, wake up the kids for 20 mins of calisthenics and get them ready for school. 45 min commute to an office setting, but I started up walking meetings for my team. We eat at our desks and use the lunch time for an afternoon workout. For teleconferences I go mobile and walk with an ear bud. My wife picks up the kids after school and starts the evening routine. I hit the gym on the way home and get my lifting in, then we all go for a walk/bike/whatever. Weekends involve hikes, climbing, swimming or something that gets us out of the house and moving.

    It's all about prioritization.

    The average American spends 50 non-work hours a week on screen time:
    http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/health/americans-screen-time-nielsen/

    Someone has to be a pretty special snowflake to not be able to find an hour a day to exercise.

    How on earth does the "average American" manage that anyway? That's 7.5 hours a DAY of "screen time". Does the "average American" neither work or have any other hobbies or interests or obligations whatsoever? I expect imminent collapse of society if this study is accurate or as broad as portrayed.

    Game of Thrones, Kim Kardashian's *kitten*, Honey Boo Boo, and, well, that's as much as I'm capable of naming off the top of my head, but you get the idea. These are the average American's hobbies and interests.

    People ask me about television shows all the time and they think that I'm lying when I say I have no idea what they're talking about. My television "watching" is limited to the fact that I use it for background noise before I fall asleep. I can't imagine just sitting there staring at the the glowy box.

    I get this too. All the time. Did you see the latest Game of Thrones? Um, no I'm less than 1/2 through season one. <blank stare> It's as if I said I'd never seen a tree.

    And worst is that people keep giving us seasons of shows to watch as gifts (we actually had to buy a bigger DVD case just for all the DVDs we'll probably never watch) and then they constantly ask if I've watched it yet and seem irritated when we say no.