Exercise tips for those who work ~15h days?

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sheneverfails
sheneverfails Posts: 74
in Fitness and Exercise
Please help!

Here's my day:

7:00 a.m. Get up, get dressed, drive 30 minute commute to work.
7:45 a.m. Arrive at work, make breakfast and tea.
8:00 a.m. Work.
12:00 p.m. Lunch.
12:30 p.m. Work.
4:30 p.m. Drive 30 minute commute home.
5:00 p.m. Shower
5:15 p.m. Dinner with husband.
6:00 p.m. Drive to second job.
6:30 p.m. Work.
9:30 p.m. Drive home.
10:00 p.m. Hubby goes to bed (i.e. have to keep any noise down)
11:00 p.m. Bedtime for me

Does anyone with a similarly crazy workday have any suggestions for fitting in activity? I'm really just getting started - with activity, I mean - and could use all the help I can get.

Other factors: we live in a tiny apartment - a lot of workout DVDs I've tried end up needing more space than we have, and in a bad neighborhood - so late night walks are out, unless I can coerce the man to come along.

Any help is appreciated!

Replies

  • fatima147
    fatima147 Posts: 85
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    wow. pretty heck tick day!. well i dont do as much hours as u do but once i read that how ur work time can b converted to ur exercise time. ie. 30mins of sittin in car ... take a bus or walk instead. (obviously in morning only)
    (2) instead of taking elevator to get to the work area, take stairs.
    (3)instead of sitting down and lunch, go have a walk in a cafe or park and sit for few minutes only to eat.

    i read that a research was done on this theory and they found that every little movement of body helps to burn calories an it doesnt have to be official time or space or type of exercsie, any aerobic movement makes a big difference!

    hope i helped.:happy:
  • sheneverfails
    sheneverfails Posts: 74
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    Thanks for the ideas!

    Unfortunately, I have to drive to work since it's 30 miles away!

    But I've tried the lunch walk before and I may just have to commit to that.

    Much appreciated! :)
  • Sharonks
    Sharonks Posts: 884 Member
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    I used to pack my lunch to be very portable, sandwich, apple slices, carrots and other things that I can hold in my hand. I would walk while I ate. Even a 20 or 30 min walk was helpful.

    Stairs, park a little farther away and make a point to get up as much as possible while working.

    If you get a choice, use an exercise ball for your chair for part of the time. Stabilizing yourself uses some muscles.

    If you can, I have seen under desk pedaling things, you sit in your chair and pedal all day.

    I had my own office at one point and would do squats and stuff like that during the day.

    Try to be active on your days off or the days you only work one job.

    You do an amazing amount of work all day so don't be too hard on yourself.
  • mmhendrick
    mmhendrick Posts: 2 Member
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    I too am struggling with this. I am a teacher and leave my house at 7 a.m. to be to work by 7:30 a.m. I already get up at 5:30 a.m. to get myself ready before waking kids at 6:30 a.m. to get them ready. Most days I don't make it home before 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. Then it is fix dinner, clean up, homework with kids, bathe kids, read to kids, kids in bed at 8, then I am beat and the couch with hubby and a glass of wine is very tempting but I usually have to spend from 8-10 p.m. grading papers and and planning for my lessons and students.

    My living room is very small as well but I am on day 23 of Jillian's 30 Day shred and have adequate space. I really am enjoying my workout but I am able to work it in because it is summer. I am going to try really hard when school starts back up to get up an extra 30 minutes earlier to keep with the workout since it only takes 25 minutes start to finish.

    So in a nutshell: My recommendation is get Jillian's 30 Day shred and try to workout first thing in the morning if you can allow an extra 30 minutes.
  • Brenda_Pancakes
    Brenda_Pancakes Posts: 288 Member
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    Hello there. I wish I had some additional tips that I could throw in here - but instead, I actaully learned something from this thread. When I come home from a 10 hour day - and complain that I don't have the energy to do any of my DVD workouts or hit my exercise bike for 30 minutes. I will remember this thread - and I will stop complaining... because compared to some - I have gobs of extra time.

    I feel for ya. That's a really full day.

    You get mega points for even TRYING to fit a exercise routine in there. :happy:
  • DangerJim71
    DangerJim71 Posts: 361 Member
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    Before my recent knee injury, I walked whenever and wherever I could making it as intense as I could. The knee injury is not from walking by the way.

    Breaks, lunches, park farther from my desk, if walking there is realistic and I had enough time I walked to the corner store, poker game down the street, to my kids soccer game. You name it. If there was stairs or a hill in my way, awesome, I would go up and down it until I sweat.

    20 minutes for a bike ride or some Wii Just Dance with my daughter, cool. On my days off I was walking 6 miles in 90 minutes. It helped the weight loss tremendously.
  • UWZander
    UWZander Posts: 70
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    Maybe wearing weight belts and whatnot on your legs/hips so that the everyday activities you do (like walking) will do more for you. Don't know how much that helps you.
  • blondiek91
    blondiek91 Posts: 22
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    bump
  • amyonkman
    amyonkman Posts: 25
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    I actually just came across a great website, you may wanna look into, its bodyrock.tv...has a bunch of short (12min) but intense workouts. Im going to use their workouts on days Im short on time also! :smile:
  • sheneverfails
    sheneverfails Posts: 74
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    So in a nutshell: My recommendation is get Jillian's 30 Day shred and try to workout first thing in the morning if you can allow an extra 30 minutes.

    Thanks for the tip! I am glad to know I'm not alone in this time crunch. I went to a trainer for awhile but he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that I didn't have hours and hours to spend in the gym. It was a mutually frustrating experience, so anything I can find to do on my own will be great.
  • sheneverfails
    sheneverfails Posts: 74
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    You get mega points for even TRYING to fit a exercise routine in there. :happy:

    That's kind of you, Brenda! I'd love to be able to convert the points I get from wanting to get active into actual calories burned, though! LOL :laugh:
  • sheneverfails
    sheneverfails Posts: 74
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    I actually just came across a great website, you may wanna look into, its bodyrock.tv...has a bunch of short (12min) but intense workouts. Im going to use their workouts on days Im short on time also! :smile:

    Awesome, thanks for the tip!
  • sheneverfails
    sheneverfails Posts: 74
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    Breaks, lunches, park farther from my desk, if walking there is realistic and I had enough time I walked to the corner store, poker game down the street, to my kids soccer game. You name it. If there was stairs or a hill in my way, awesome, I would go up and down it until I sweat.

    20 minutes for a bike ride or some Wii Just Dance with my daughter, cool. On my days off I was walking 6 miles in 90 minutes. It helped the weight loss tremendously.

    Thanks for the tips, Jim!

    We do have the Kinect for xbox, so maybe I can try using that after the hubby goes to bed.

    I have taken to deliberately parking far from the doors of stores, restaurants, etc just to get a few extra steps in when I'm on my own, but he's not really a fan of that. He doesn't mean to be detrimental to my weight loss, but since he's never really struggled with weight, he just doesn't always get it.

    Also thinking about wearing a pedometer just to see how far under 10k I am.
  • 12kat17
    12kat17 Posts: 2 Member
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    Try a mini stepper. Its very small and u can burn a good 300 cals in 30 odd mins, u can do it while watching tv in the front room x

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