Fitness after 8 pm

[Chulkova]

I like to sqeeze fitness in my schedule. Im leaving for office at 8 and come back at 7 pm. Have no time through the day. In the morning Im sleepy and after work have time for dinner till 8pm. Is it too late for fitness after 8pm?

[MarinaMartin]

It's far better to exercise after 8pm than to not exercise at all.

I used to train heavily; I'd spend an hour in the afternoon with my trainer at the gym and then do 90 minutes of cardio in the evening. I found that if I took a calming shower after my evening exercise (instead of a hurried 3min one) and didn't pick up any activities that would wind me up, I was still able to fall asleep at a reasonable hour.

[TesTeq]

I like to sqeeze fitness in my schedule. Im leaving for office at 8 and come back at 7 pm. Have no time through the day. In the morning Im sleepy and after work have time for dinner till 8pm. Is it too late for fitness after 8pm?

So you've got plenty of time before leaving for office at 8 am!

If you are sleepy in the morning you probably go to bed too late. :-)

Try to wake up at 6 am and jog / exercise before breakfast.

I wake up at 4:45 am.

[Chulkova]

I go to bed at 10pm. Wake up at 7.30am. I feel like I don't have enough sleep though. I mean I'm not able to exercise in the morning. And in the evening. :(

[TesTeq]

I go to bed at 10pm. Wake up at 7.30am. I feel like I don't have enough sleep though. I mean I'm not able to exercise in the morning. And in the evening. :(

I go to bed at 10pm too. And I wake up at 4:45am.

[Jamie Elis]

You may need to pick up a lot of little activities during the week days and but have dedicated exercise time on the weekends. On the weekends, if you work up to it you could do a different and intense cardio and strength training workout each weekend day (so that would be 2 big workouts two days in a row--just do not do the same thing each day) plus maybe something recreational such as bike ride, squash or racket ball (often a bit pricey for court time) , dancing, yardwork, martial arts later in the day for 30 to 60 minutes. This may take a long time to work up to --age injuries from the past and fitness level and your basic make up are factors. If you jump in too fast, it will also take ou a long time to recover. So that would be the end point, not the initial step forward.

Remember there are more opinions about fitness training than any other human human activity and you can spend a lot of time avoiding the "good" just to find the "best". The main thing is to find something you can do without injury, vary it to prevent injury and to deliberately confuse your body, and just do it. If you have not worked out or are over a certain age (12?), had an injury, or whatever, get a good physical before you start from your doc and consider booking a trainer or joining a class at appropriate level.

Weekdays: fit in a lot of little things 2 to 5 to 10 minutes each--maybe aim for 6 of them--make a list and check them off. Circumstance might dictate your actual choice.


1. I can't do this but I know someone whose fitness is such that he can get on the treadmill, warm-up in in 2 minutes and get 8 minutes of cardio-really intensely. He cools down by racing around his apartment tidying up. He does this twice a day. His wife loves the tidying and his adorable physique. He plays around with 20 pound barbell while on the phone at work and also at home and uses the hand strength resistance squeeze thing in the car.

2. Don't have a treadmill? how about an old tire in your living room or garage and build up to hitting it 100x with a light weight sledge hammer, hang a speed bag somewhere where in your place, or can you jump rope anywhere?

3. Can you take stairs at work? Can u do that a couple of times a day?4.

4. Can you sit on a ball as a chair? Hard to get the appropriate height but very effective.

5. Can you put a pedal device under your desk? Often awkward to sustain but might be a good warm up before mental work.

6. How about a stand up desk, at least part of the time7. ?

7. If your joints are good, some people feel that slow and very heavy lifting is aerobic. Like 4 rep max on a major muscle group, 10 seconds in each direction, no momentum and you can even take the negative more slowly for 12 to 15 seconds (that's the part where its is easy to let gravity take ove, just go super slowly). Find three exercises you can do with a heavy bar o plates and do them twice a week. See book Power of Ten. Not okay for arthritic joints however.

8. If you are a man ( or a women whose strength readily develops) and, your potential for fast strength development will give you a muscle advantage that can enable you to do some intense body weight work outs that will be aerobic and take little time and keep your muscles in great shape: try alternating 1 minute of pull ups on a bar (carefully) installed in your door way with mountain climbers on the floor, do one minute of each! Next day, do alternating push ups and burpees.

9. Before bed 5 minutes of stretching/ yoga, isometric core exercises like plank and side plank, or wall sit with a weight in your lap, an 8" play ball between your legs and a raised dumbell in your hand which you gently switch back and forth to the other hand. You can rotate through these by the week.

If you're just beginning: bring a smoothie for lunch and drink it while you take a walk or stair climb, and every hour or so, rise from setting to standing 5 times while pulling a stretch band over head. Wear a pedometer and aim to increase number of steps by 5% every week. If you have a good back, you could add a weighted vest to your walking but I would not do it everyday since it can throw off your gait and probably cause spinal stenosis in later life. Let me know if you find a good pedometer that you can recommend--in fact, your next action could be to buy the pedometer and a stretch band and make a chart. No bog investment and not much time either. Good luck and tell us how to make it all work.

[aeastham]

Hi guys - I too face this same problem with trying to fit my fitness training through the week around a busy job. Ideally I want to get a 45 minute run in each morning from Monday to Friday before I go to work as this just really helps me to feel good through the day. I also want to try to hit the gym 4 times a week to lift weights. Ideally this would be evenings after work. Ok here's the tricky part. I have to leave work each morning at 730am as have a 1 hour drive to my office. I then finish work at around 6pm'ish and have the same 1 hour drive back to my apartment. My gym is a 10 minute drive from my apartment. Ok given that I need time to run, shower, breakfast etc in the morning before I leave for work I'm finding that I have no time to run and hence start the day feeling pretty bad. By the time I get home at night (around 7ish) I'm tired and very hungry and so the gym once again loses out! It's pretty much the same pattern each week and I'm constantly approaching each new week thinking that I want to work out (all the benefits I know I get from this) but then it doesn't happen. Before I took my new job and had a much shorter drive to work (15 mins) I used to work out all the time and loved it! Now I have the hour drive I'm finding it much harder. By the way I don't work Saturday and Sundays. So what's the advice here? How can I make this happen as I'm not feeling good for not working out? How does everyone else fit exercise in like this around their jobs? Please, please help me with your thoughts and ideas on my schedule.

[bishblaize]

Do you have flexible working hours? Doing a longer day one day a week and leaving early late another day?

Running in your lunch time, after eating at your desk mid morning?

Split your lunchtime in two so you eat a mini-meal at about 4pm so you have the energy to go running before your evening meal (i do this one)?

Get up a 5am and run for an hour?

Get some weights to do them at home?

Park the car 20 minutes from home, run the rest of the way then leave early and walk and collect it the following morning?

Go running at 11 at night?

Change your gym to one near your office so you go straight there and then go home afterwards (probably with less traffic)?

Be creative!

[aeastham]

Thanks for the input here. Does anyone else have any ideas / comments on this? As I have a very challenging job in marketing and pr I'd really like to hear how other busy, professionals manage to maintain their work and fitness schedules. Could you guys give me some examples of your daily schedules as to how you manage to fit in exercise before leaving for work (I need to leave at 730am and have 1 hour drive to work) and then again fitting in exercise at night (I finish work at around 6pm with a 1 hour drive to my home town which is also where my gym is located)? Also how do you fit this all in around meal times etc and so you still have some quality time with your partner at night?

[Oogiem]

Ideally I want to get a 45 minute run in each morning from Monday to Friday before I go to work as this just really helps me to feel good through the day. I also want to try to hit the gym 4 times a week to lift weights. .....By the time I get home at night (around 7ish) I'm tired and very hungry and so the gym once again loses out!

Heretical idea here

Have you looked at your diet? Energy levels vary widely. If you are following some specific type might try another, if on a high carbo diet like USDA recommends try a paleo or low carb diet etc. People are different, what works for one person won't work for someone else. That might help your energy levels.

Second is to look at a different type of exercise regime. I've been reading and attempting some of the body weight stuff over on Nerd Fitness. I like them because no real equipment needed. On Saturday for instance I wanted to do some weaving on my rug over in the shop where the big loom is. It's upstairs. The building was cold so rather than run the heater I ran up and down the stairs until I got sweaty then did some stretches then wove until I cooled down. Got a bit of exercise in and a foot woven on the rug at the same time. :-) Maybe look for ways to increase the activity level of your normal work will help?

[tychinin]

My ideal schedule:

07.30 Wakeup and breakfast
08.00 Commute to work (sleepy, head akes, but sometimes learn Spanish)
10.00 Work (office, customers)
13.00 Lunch (usually with customers)
16.30 Commute to fitness center
17.00 Fitness
18.15 Eat!
20.00 Home sweet home, tired, TV watching as I'm at zero energy
22.00 Go to bed

My wife and my daughter miss me and it makes me feel guilty with that schedule.

Another schedule

07.30 Wakeup and breakfast
08.00 Commute to work (sleepy, head akes, but sometimes learn Spanish)
10.00 Work (office, customers)
13.00 Lunch (usually with customers)
17.00 Commute to home (tired!)
19.00 Home sweet home, Eat!
20.00 Fitness at home gym (it's hard, I'm tired and feel sick after it)
21.00 TV!
22.00 Bed

[TesTeq]

My ideal schedule:

07.30 Wakeup and breakfast
08.00 Commute to work (sleepy, head akes, but sometimes learn Spanish)
10.00 Work (office, customers)
13.00 Lunch (usually with customers)
16.30 Commute to fitness center
17.00 Fitness
18.15 Eat!
20.00 Home sweet home, tired, TV watching as I'm at zero energy
22.00 Go to bed


Interesting... 9.5 hours of sleep, 4 hours of sleepy or tired commute...

I go to bed at 22:00 but I wake up at 04:45. At 06:30 I am ready for a new day in my office.

[tychinin]

Maybe you don't work at work? :)

[Jamie Elis]

9.5 hours of sleep, and still sleepy...maybe need to see a doctor and see about getting a sleep study done. Maybe something is keeping you from getting a restorative sleep. But, fours hours of commuting--that could be a problem, too. If driving..yikes, that is a lot sedentary time.

[aeastham]

Interesting... 9.5 hours of sleep, 4 hours of sleepy or tired commute...

I go to bed at 22:00 but I wake up at 04:45. At 06:30 I am ready for a new day in my office.

Interesting to hear that you go to bed at 22:00 and wake at 04:45. Does this mean that you do your fitness training routine before you start work at 06:30? Do you also train at night? I'm keen to see a breakdown of your day and at what times you exercise, get ready for work, leave work, train at night etc etc.

[TesTeq]

Interesting to hear that you go to bed at 22:00 and wake at 04:45. Does this mean that you do your fitness training routine before you start work at 06:30? Do you also train at night? I'm keen to see a breakdown of your day and at what times you exercise, get ready for work, leave work, train at night etc etc.

I have published my workday schedule on my blog in Polish http://biz.blox.pl/2009/11/Moj-plan-dnia.html. Here's a translation:

04:45 Wake up, breakfast, morning toilet, Action Support folder review.
05:45 Commute to work (car), listening to podcasts.
06:30 Morning coffee, blog maintenance, morning daily GTD review.
07:00 Reading and writing @computer, @read.
08:45 Second breakfast.
09:00 Meetings, reading and writing, getting inboxes to zero.
11:45 Lunch (30 minutes).
12:15 Meetings, reading and writing, getting inboxes to zero.
14:45 End of workday GTD review.
15:00 Commute to home (car), listening to podcasts.
16:15 Small snack.
16:30 Running, windsurfing, fitness, listening to podcasts.
17:45 Family, home projects, reading, Internet, rarely TV.
19:00 One big apple.
20:00 Glass of red wine.
21:00 End of day GTD review, preparing Action Support folder for the next day.
21:30 Toilet.
22:00 Go to bed.

[bishblaize]

I see you take life as it comes... :)

[tychinin]

Are you upset when you haven't had your big apple or a glass of wine?

[TesTeq]

Are you upset when you haven't had your big apple or a glass of wine?

No, I'm delighted when I have them!

My @errands list takes care of continuous supply of big apples and red wine.

[innovyse]

9.5 hours of sleep, and still sleepy...maybe need to see a doctor and see about getting a sleep study done. Maybe something is keeping you from getting a restorative sleep.

I wrote about this a year ago here: http://davidlunsford.posterous.com/how-to-wake-up-in-the-morning

Perhaps it may be of some help.

One thing I didn't mention in that post is the idea of sleeping in multiples of 90 minutes. In other words, it's better to sleep for 6 hours than for 7, and better to sleep for 7.5 hours than 8. This has to do with waking when the sleep cycle brings you to a shallow point in your sleep (i.e., an easier point from which to wake), which happens roughly every hour and a half. If you're always groggy in the morning and you sleep 8 hours, try 7.5 for a week and see if that helps.

In your case, 9.5 hours of sleep puts you the deepest part of a sleep cycle. Try 9 hours instead.

Best,
David

[TesTeq]

One thing I didn't mention in that post is the idea of sleeping in multiples of 90 minutes. In other words, it's better to sleep for 6 hours than for 7, and better to sleep for 7.5 hours than 8. This has to do with waking when the sleep cycle brings you to a shallow point in your sleep (i.e., an easier point from which to wake), which happens roughly every hour and a half. If you're always groggy in the morning and you sleep 8 hours, try 7.5 for a week and see if that helps.

How can you implement this using standard alarm clock?

You can set the alarm clock to wake you up at any given hour but how can you guarantee that you will fall asleep exactly 7.5 hours before?

[innovyse]

How can you implement this using standard alarm clock?

You can set the alarm clock to wake you up at any given hour but how can you guarantee that you will fall asleep exactly 7.5 hours before?

Yes, this requires you to estimate about how long it takes you to fall asleep. For me, it can be 30 minutes, so I factor that in, but others know that 5 minutes after they hit the pillow, they're out, so that's probably negligible for them.

David

[TesTeq]

Maybe this product Sleeptracker (http://www.sleeptracker.com/) is a solution. I've never used it so I don't know if it really works but I think the idea of a sleep monitoring alarm clock is very promising.

[Nutrition Dude]

some good tips in here:
but I hope I can help as this is what i do for a living.

Firstly, be wary of implementing other people sleep patterns. Instead remember tired all the time, even with plenty of sleep is a modern malaise; it has a number of causes from stress, and having too much, to disturbances.

To sort out what is what you have to enter a process of external and internal causes.

People suffer because of their diets, which do not fuel them properly, usually I find that people have stressful lives, dont unwind, have bad sleeping environments, and then dont fuel themselves properly. Fixing one wont get you very far, having a go at each is much more successful.

A forum isnt the place to go through the work of getting you in a good place to be able to sleep well and feel rested.

As for your fitness: after 8:00 is fine if that is the time you have, however, exercise can make people more awake, or more sleepy - or neither. Its handy to know how it affects you when you put it in your schedule.

The next thing is to know what you have planned, is it just cardio, in which case having a treadmill that folds up at home could be a cost/time effective method because one hour is only an hour out your day, while going to the gym could take double that with travelling and changing, let alone chatting. It also introduces some flexibility, and makes it easier to get up early and have some exercise before the day starts.

If you you are weight training then its a different picture - again a productive routine and combination helps.

Finally, exercising results, eventually, in improved fitness which can make you feel more energised, but again this extra fitness doesnt go far if the rest of your life is working against you.

Hope that gets you somewhere :)

[JohnV474]

To the OP, 8 p.m. is not too late to exercise. Be aware that exercise can have a stimulating effect that can last a few hours. Much of this will depend on what you mean by "exercise". If you mean a nightly walk or a short jog, this is less of an issue than if you are, for example, lifting heavy weights at full effort.

I am not sure what point TesTeq was trying to make by sharing sleep schedules. In any case, I do not recommend adopting anyone else's schedule blindly. We do not know if TesTeq gets a full night's sleep, nor do we know how your stress, hormone, nutrition, genetic, and fitness levels compare with anyone else's. Living on less sleep than you need leads to many problems.

The point TesTeq made that you can wake up earlier is a valid point, however. You could also do things to improve the quality of your sleep (quiet, dark room; no TV/Internet/media in last hour before bed, etc.), which may lessen the quantity you need. If you wake up with an alarm clock, that is a good sign that you are not resting enough.

I regularly exercise at 8-9 p.m. and have successfully done so for a long period of time. It is important to get started, as the majority of the improvement you receive from exercise will develop quickly, and that will improve your sleep quality.

Best of luck,
JohnV474

[Bell Divirsky]

You can exercise 15 minutes in morning and just 15 minutes jogging in park. I think you can get freshness. Thanks

[Mic]

Another schedule

07.30 Wakeup and breakfast
08.00 Commute to work (sleepy, head akes, but sometimes learn Spanish)
10.00 Work (office, customers)
13.00 Lunch (usually with customers)
17.00 Commute to home (tired!)
19.00 Home sweet home, Eat!
20.00 Fitness at home gym (it's hard, I'm tired and feel sick after it)
21.00 TV!
22.00 Bed

Tychinin - All of the phenomina you describe lead to one cause - you probably don't drink enough. Just for the purpose of finding out if it is true, try drinking 4-5 glassess of water first thing in the morning for 4-5 days, and see if your whole feeling changes!

Mic