Working Long Hours and Working Out

I work 10 hour night shifts, 4-5 days a week. I only get 4-5 hours sleep after work. I go for a walk after dinner and do pilates/ strength training after the kids are in bed, before I get ready for work. I Run and lift 25-50kg bins at work. If you want it, you make time.

I'm more of a night hawk but workout in the morning! Just keep at it. Your feet won't hurt as much - if they still do after awhile try some sole supports for @ work maybe.

Also, find YOUR workout. The 30DS is awesome, I've done it. However, when I was starting I was grossly out of shape and pushing myself too hard and getting exhausted fairly quickly was really demotivating. Set some time aside to workout, and do what you can. It gets easier.

Yup its an excuse, sorry but it is. A very familiar one may I add that I use to use ALL the time! I work 8 hours commute another 4 (2 up and 2 back), get home eat, attempt to play with my kids etc etc I have no time and I am too tired. You have to make the time. While I believe you really are tired as I was, its an excuse to comfort us in not doing. I bet if we wanted to go to the movies or to the store or something that we want to do, we suddenly find a way to make the time. It's just cuz its exercise. We have all been there....keep trying to make the time. 30 minutes is all you need....so they say.....Good Luck!

I recently started working out before I head to work. I also work long hours 8-11 in a kitchen standing most of the day. My wife and I started working out in the mornings and just getting it over with. We feel better and as weird as it sounds we are more awake at night and it helps us focus throughout the day. It sucked the first two days getting up early, but if you make it a routine it gets easier. Hope that it helps.

I think you have to experiment and see what fits best into your schedule.
Personally, I'm much better if I exercise in the morning - it give me more energy for the day ahead and I can't make excuses not to do it at night! It means getting up ealier than I would otherwise, but it's worth it.
Find what works for you, and jsut do it!

yeah, I feel for you. I am just getting started with this too, basically it comes down to me wanting to eat more than a carrot for dinner. So, even though I have worked 10-12 hours and I am tired, i work-out. I really enjoy a dance game on the WII Iwhich helps get me going even though I would rather be laying on the couch, I end up having fun. Find something you like to do that doesn't hurt so much, even an exercise bike while you watch TV would do it, be creative!

If you want it badly enough you'll find a way to get it. Today was a 13.5 hour day for me. I got up at 5 am and worked out and when I got an hour break I slipped back into my gym clothes and ran. It happens all the time but if you want to do it you quit making excuses and get it done. I work 8-12 hours a day 5 days a week and still manage to get 2-3 long workouts and 3 two-a-days in. Just make it happen. What ever it takes. Some things that help me, "pain is weakness leaving the body" "the sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise" and from some brilliant MFPee-er "the only workout you will regret is the one you didn't do."

8-9 hours a day is not long hours its normal. When I have sore knees I go swimming instead of gym, its about adapting the exercise to suit your personal situation.

If you really want to do exercise you will find time rather than an excuse.

It is a lot easier to do once you have got yourself in the right mindset. All the best.

I also work full time, have 2 little monsters to take care of beside that, so fairly busy. I have decided to get up half hour early every day to do it, my health is worth it!

Good luck to you, if you are not getting satisfaction from Gillian's dvd, you might want to think of jogging or walking, anything that you will give a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction.

Buy yourself a WII, and get the Wii sport, fit and dance DVD's. They are fun and good exercise at the same time. MFP also have most of the wii exercises already logged in and you will be surprised how many calories you can burn off without leaving the house.:happy:

HI
I think the key is finding something you enjoy. Last year I was working in a place 2 hours commute from my house. Thats 2 hours morning and night, 4 hours per day. The cheapest way to get there was by train, and the cheapest way to get to the station was by bike. I cycled 7 miles every day including when it was snowing, -10 or bucketing it down with rain. To make my train and get to work on time I had to leave the house at 6.30am, and the earliest I ever made it home was 7.30pm. Working out for me in the evening I knew wouldn't work as often I didn't get home until later than that and then I would need to go to bed just to repeat the whole process.
I signed up for personal training twice a week (I know its a luxury, but that was my solution). The trainer came to my house at 5am for an hours workout giving me 30minutes to shower, change, make lunch and get on my bike to the station. Waking up at 4.30am wasn't fun, and the sessions were hard. Knowing that he had got up at 3.30am (!! crazy trainer !!) though made me do it.
I think you have to make it part of your routine, can you incorporate exercise into your commute for example? If you are on your feet / walking around can you get a pair of MBTs or other 'negative heel' trainers to use (the ones I have are leather and smart enough for an office), get yourself a pedometer too. Make time at the weekends to do your 'hardcore' exercises and just do smaller sessions during the week. Exercise during the ad breaks. Get a stepper, a hula hoop (I love hula hooping in front of trash, less guilt!), even a skipping rope.
Keep mixing it up or you will get bored and stop. Find a new thing to try nearby you can do in the evenings / weekends, classes are great Bootcamp, climbing walls, Salsa, Aquaaerobics, whatever it is find something you love and then it is something you look forward to and not a chore.
Currently I am living in India, there are few open spaces near me so I exercise in my flat, and when I want to go outside I run around and around the bottom of the apartment building (looking like a freak) following couch to 10K. If I can do it here.....
Good luck, and remember, the beginning is always the hardest, it takes 3 weeks to make something a habit... believe it or not I miss my 7 mile cycle (though not the early mornings!)

Find other type of exercise! I don't think you should force yourself to do 1 type of exercise if you really don't like it, you will not be able to do it for long. See if there's anything you would enjoy more and is within reach. And work yourself up! Don't start with something to difficult and exhaust yourself from the beginning.

For example, I really enjoy the Body Pump classes - lifting weights - but after getting back from a pretty long break, I tried to pick it up where I left off. Of course, my muscle wasn't in the best shape and this resulted in 2 weeks of not going to the gym. I started again with less weight and will work myself back to where I left off. And it feels great again.

So find your type of exercise and enjoy it!

i work a flexible schedule, but often end up working really longer hours for several days (sometimes weeks) in a row. i understand where you're coming from. I have been successful at taking group classes with a designated time, especially when you're required to sign up. Once I sign up, I make it a priority in my calendar to be there. If I back out, I would have the trainer to hold me accountable (and a $25 fee now where I'm at).
Before when I would just want to work out on my own I would always find some excuse not to. But now I'm usually at a boot camp class at 6am, and working 10-16 hour days is not uncommon. get home at 10:15pm, and go to bed so I can get back up & do it again. I know that if I had not been working out through this really stressful time in my work life, I would likely be sick and so run down and SOOOOO crabby. My boot camp classes are a perfect stress reliever. It sucks waking up so early, but I feel so much better when I'm all finished.
Best of luck! Keep us informed how things are going!

You have a similar schedule to me it seems... i'm working 2 full time jobs that fill 6 days a week. I'm up at 4:30am Mon-Fri and put in about 15-18 hour days (including commute)... then I work out at night around 9:30pm. I found I could stick with the 30DS because it was ONLY 30 minutes. In the summer when I only work 1 full time job I'm going to try either Insanity or P90X!

To the OP: I can tell you when I did 30DS I would have good days and bad... some times the workout felt SOOO hard and painful, and other times it was really refreshing. But just do it! Now I've been switching up between Ripped in 30, Killer Buns and Thighs, and 30DS, and a 1 hour circuit power class on Wednesdays lately but still doing at least 30min/day. It just feels good!