I had the sweetest deal ever: a gym on campus, faculty/staff only (it’s a bit awkward showering next to your students), clean, quiet (no incessant thudding music!), free towel service, best. trainers. evar., open every afternoon at 4 so I could work out before heading home, and embarassingly cheap.
But now it’s closed for the sumer. Now I have to exercise on my own time. (I still get the urge at 4 o’clock to jump up and do something aerobic. Hurray for good habits, I guess.)
To complicate things, between gas prices, and parking spots that are hell and gone from Cartagena, and . . . oh, yeah, my deep and abiding love for Mother Earth, I’ve decided to go the public transit route for the summertime. I have a free bus pass from the college, and although I live in the country, just by sheer dumb luck there’s a park-n-ride a brisk five minute walk from my house. Joy and cookies! The bus arrives at 8 AM, and will deposit me at my place of labor at 8:30. Excellent. And it will drop me off at the park-n-ride at 5:30 in the evening. Bueno!
But when to go running?
There are upsides and downsides to running in the morning or in the evening. I also could run during the day, since I have a flexible schedule, and access to a kind of scuzzy shower in the basement. I guess the main thing is that I just get off my butt and do it, but at the moment I’m paralyzed with indecision.
When do you excercise, and how did you decide when to do it?
There’s a gym where I work that has all manner of elliptical trainers, treadmills, stairmasters, weights and racks and exercise rooms and stuff. I go in a couple hours early and do cardio or weights, take a shower, and go to work. Very handy.
I used to walk briskly for an hour every day in the middle of the work day. I like the cold weather and found the walk to be invigorating. Then allergy season, AD projects and other crap prevented me from walking. I refuse to go out in the summer (I hate the heat and humidity and I would have to shower once I came back), so I’ve been forced to adjust my caloric intake accordingly.
First thing in the morning to kick start my day. I’m up at a quarter to five and I’m hating life at that moment. So my treat to myself is some great fresh coffee I brew while I make the bed and get my clothes together. I then relax for 30 minutes while I enjoy the coffee and watch CNN. I’m in the gym by 6:00am. Workout for 2 hours and then enjoy a steam room sauna or whirlpool. Shower, dress and get to work by 9:00am. On the weekends, I sleep in a bit, but I’ll usually do a longer run or (when I have a bike again) I’m out for a loooong ride. I do take one (sometimes two) days a week off to recover.
In my opinion, there is no better time to work out. I have all kinds of energy through the day and I feel tight and toned. By the time evening comes around, I’m hungry for a good dinner and ready for a relaxed and well deserved quiet evening with my kids or just in front of the TV. I’m asleep by 10pm. Rinse and Repeat.
I’m a firm advocate for early mornings. It’s just too easy to let it go if you put it off. You can always do a second session later on, if you have the time or inclination, but it’s better to start the day with some exercise and make sure you get it in.
I workout each night at 7, because that’s the first time all day I have more than 2 spare minutes. By that time dinner’s done, kids are in pjs and settled with a video, and the phone has–hopefully–stopped ringing. If I had an open schedule and could choose any time I liked, I’d still probably go with evening workouts. It gives me a second wind at night, with the added bonus of curbing my nightime snacking habit. Every few weeks I’ll go for a run on a Sunday morning, but I really have to be in the mood for it. I don’t think I’d stick with a morning routine the way I have my evening one.
I find that I am most likely to exercise on a regular basis first thing in the morning. My husband gets to snooze in with our toddler, and I get some personal time. Even though I often am sleepy at that time, it is easier for me to make sure the exercise gets done. We have a bit of a home gym in the basement, with a rowing machine, some weights and exercise mats in front of the TV/VCR which is stocked with exercise videos.
I found after-work exercise sessions were more likely to be postponed or eliminated if I did them by myself (other things like extra work and tiredness/laziness would take over). My friend and I tried to work out after work together, but found that we tended to shorten the sessions or do a less intensive workout (more of a social get together instead).
During the winter, I split up my workout, 15 in the morning, 15 in the evening. It seemed less monotonous that way. Now I bought a walk-behind mower and mow for 25-30 minutes each night. Since I have an acre, this means that the lawn is never quite mowed and never too shabby. It also cuts down on excuses not to work out, because if the lawn gets too far ahead of me, I’m hosed.
I just do what I can, when I can. Pushups, crunches, and one legged squats in the morning. Days off I hit the weights and the excercise bike. Rollerblade when I get the chance. Walks with Alias when the weather permits.
I exercise right after breakfast for 30 minutes to an hour, then take it easy until after dinner. I will exercise for a few hours usually, and that’ll be it. I love this schedule.
I fell into it because of my writing, I believe. I like to have a great chunk of the day to write, and immediately want to jump into it in the morning, but also will feel guilty if I don’t exercise. Eat, exercise, shower, and I can write until the afternoon. It’s perfect! Again – until bedtime! What a . . . hopeless life, lol.
Right after work–I consider it part of my daily routine and not optional. I go straight to the gym or, on running days, I change immediately upon returning home. The only time I give it a miss is when my runs get rained out. On Sundays, I go for a long run whenever I finish with whatever important things I planned to do that day (bills, cleaning, etc) if the weather’s good.
I’ve never tried working out in the morning before going to work. I suspect it wouldn’t work for me because I’m pretty absent-minded early in the morning.
My office has a gym. Between their stuff and my stuff at home, I get it all in. At home I exercise around 9pm. I weight train exclusively.
Generally, I am so active that I don’t need any planned running or biking time. Between my (heavey) carpentry projects, yard word and other hobbies, I easily burn up to 4,000 cals a day when I am super busy.
My neighbor drove to the gym last weekend, while I carried all the lumber I need for my 12x20 shed. That’s how I squeeze in exercise.
Joint-disease issues make exercise a necessity, but very, very tricky.
I’ve always preferred my workout to be in the evening as opposed to morning though. Possibly because I despise mornings with a passion I cannot articulate and there is just not one chance in Hell I could drag myself out of bed early JUST TO EXERCISE. I find the first half hour after I get home to be perfect for exercise.
That’s about my schedule. For you: 5:30 at the PnR. Home at 5:35, don’t dilly-dally and you’re out the door with your sneakers and shorts on at 5:45. (You don’t need to stretch. I mean it.)
Home and showered by 6:45-7:00.
And now relax into your evening, knowing “job well done, sir.”
You have a little beer, do some cooking. Have the dishes put away by the time your shows come on at 8:00. By 9:30 or 10:00 you’re ready for bed.
If I can afford it, I go to dance class twice a week. I also don’t have a car, and go on occasional lat-night walks with friends. I have a pretty weird schedule, though. And I go out dancing a couple of times a month, and get a few hours of good cardio.
If you re-read all the posts that come before this one, you’ll notice that the exercise is usually incorporated into a daily/weekly routine, so that it becomes more of a habit than an obligation.
I do different body parts in the gym on different days (and with a crowd that I know well), so if I missed a session I would have to reschedule that week and the next, provide an explanation, as well as find different spotters, which is more difficult for me than it sounds.
I’ve learned from past failed attempts that I can’t plan exercise times during the day, like saying “okay, I’m going to do 30 minutes of pilates in the morning, then do 50 crunches…” I can never stick to it. If I plan things, I naturally put them off. I’ve found something that works, because planning is not required. I’ve replace my car with my legs. I walk everywhere.
I made a promise to myself when I moved to the city that I would be more active, and boy am I. I find any excuse to walk. Since I have a way of talking myself out of things, I make sure I have to be somewhere practically every day so I can walk there. I have a weird way of shopping now, but it works. The bus I take to and from work stops right in front of my apartment, but I get off at stops that are farther away so I have to trek home. Unless I’m sick or really have to pee, I feel almost guilty if I get off right infront of the building. It also helps that there are a number of parks and a beach nearby, so there are plenty of nice places to stroll.
When the weather allows it I ride bicycle to work (10 miles each way) 2-3 times a week so that’s done in the morning and afternoon. On days during the week that I don’t ride bike I run at night after dinner, usually around 7:30-8:00. On weekends I run either in the morning or evening depending on what needs to be done that day. I’ve kept to this schedule for a year now which is the best I’ve done in over 25 years. I finally decided I had to make a commitment to running regularly or it wasn’t going to get done. Now I just make sure there is time for it, sometimes at the expense of other things I need to do but that’s OK. I could never get up early in the morning for exercise.
Now I have to exercise on my own time. (I still get the urge at 4 o’clock to jump up and do something aerobic. Hurray for good habits, I guess.)