It’s almost 11:30 at night and I’m thinking about getting on my treadmill for a quick walk, but my husband thinks I’m nuts. He says it’s way too late. My thought is that it’s not like I sleep anymore anyway with a newborn, plus I’d like to keep losing weight (had planned on losing weight before I got pregnant anyway) and my time is at a premium dealing with our new baby and our three-year old while I’m on maternity leave. Late at night or at odd hours in the middle of the night after I’ve nursed our daughter and put her down again are really the only times I have to do anything that’s not baby related.
Anyway, I’m curious about what other Dopers do. When do you work out? And do you work out when you do because that’s when you have the most energy or it’s the most convenient and fits in better with your work/daily schedule?
I’m not sure whether it is doable over in the States, but I used to jog at a local park at around 9pm. Because of work, when I go swimming, I usually hit the pool at around 6pm. I know of a friend who did work-out late at night, around 10pm before going to sleep.
Most days I work out early afternoon (12:30pm) and early evening (anywhere from 6:30-8pm). I go when my gym buddies can make it, or when my classes are on, though the times coincide pretty well with my energy levels.
On my days off I’ll go anywhere between noon and four, during my working days I’ll try to go right after I get off work (3:15-3:45ish, depending on the day.)
I run in the mornings, generally pretty early. I lift weights Sunday mornings, when we can fit it in, otherwise Monday evening, and again on Thursday evenings. So, I answered the next-to-last one, but I’m not sure that’s right, since it’s a pretty set schedule and I took that choice to mean “whenever I can fit it in.”
I run in the morning. I used to jump out of bed and go right out, but I take my dog with me and we were running into another more aggressive dog. So now I wait for a while. I’m about to go now actually.
I’m a bit of an outlier. I mostly work out after I get home from work. But I sometimes go for a jog (Sort of) in the very early morning or late at night. Also, on weekends I go to the gym before lunch. But mainly after work.
Work days (Monday through Friday) I work out immediantly after work (5:00pm). I don’t work out on the weekends but I’m usually participating in an activity or running about town so I wouldn’t exactly be considered absolutely stagnant.
Monday through Friday: I get a good walk in three times a day, usually at 10, 12:30 and 2:30: but the actual times may vary. My break and lunch schedule is not set in stone. Then I work out in the evening with my kiddos. That will either involve a DVD, Dance Dance Revolution, or a family walk.
Saturday and Sunday: We all go for one long walk, but don’t have set times for them. It depends on the weather.
Also, I’d like to note that as a gym regular for years, I am not looking forward to the New Year’s Resolutionary Army, who routinely mounts a gym coup d’état that lasts about 3-4 weeks each January. Eventually, there are enough emotional and physical casulaties that the Resolutionary Army retreats and eats, hibernating until the next year.
This means I will train wherever (basement) and whenever (early morning and late evening) I can once the new year arrives. When the Resolutionary Army retreats, I find my way back to the gym and a 6pm start. Weekends can see me exercising at any point in the day.
Question–why do people hate newbies at the gym so much? Is it because there are just too many people? Or because they screw up and don’t wipe down the machines and stuff?
My gym isn’t huge but it’s open 27/7. I’ve never had a problem with newbies. I
I actually look foreward to meeting the newbies because they’re generally more friendly then the regs who are all no-nonsense workout snobs.
I’m a friendly person. I once helped an old newbie woman in the locker room who’s girdle was stuck on.
During the week I work out after work–anywhere from 6 to 8 p.m. On weekends I almost alway exercise at around 10 or 11 a.m., once I’m up and awake and have had coffee and can drag myself to the gym or for a walk or onto my bike for a nice long ride.
As for being a gym “newbie”–honestly, my gym, which is the local Y, is fairly crowded, with tons of members, so most people wouldn’t even know whether a person was a newbie or not, unless they completely didn’t know how to run the treadmill or a machine or something. It’s not a big deal, but I think the Y is possibly more friendly than other gyms full of pumped-up diehards.
While I meant what I just posted about about newbies, what you say is so true. And I like the name “Resolutionary Army”! They fill the parking lots and pack the machines to the point where those of us who have been working out at regular times for years (for me, 11 years) have to change our schedules to accommodate them. And then, yep, the crowds thin until things are back to normal again–usually by the end of February.
I’m a first-thing-in-the-morning person. We have a “gym” on site at our townhouse community, and there’s one other woman who uses it from whenever she gets there to 6 then I have it to myself from 6-6:45. So I have pick of the machines and control of the tv.
Plus, I like morning workouts because then I take a shower and I’m ready for the day. I don’t like showering in the middle of the day.
From when I did go to a real gym, I’ll agree with the others on the “Resolutionary Army”: it’s not that newbies are bad, it’s that the people who show up right after New Year’s generally aren’t serious, there are a ton of them, and they take up parking spaces and machines for a few weeks before giving up. (Actually, being on the morning end of things, I generally wouldn’t see them last for even that long. Most people have a really hard time getting into a routine that involves getting up early enough to go to the gym before work. If you’re going to do it and stick with it, you don’t wait for New Year’s to start. The Resoluationary Army is made up of the people who want to lose weight but who aren’t good at sticking to going to the gym… if they were, they’d already be there!)
I have a gym in the building which is never really all that crowded, so it doesn’t really faze me either way. I guess I could see how it would get irritating if I had to wait around for a machine a lot.
Due to my husband’s schedule and other constraints, I run either super-early in the morning (5:30 AM or so) or fairly late in the evening (7-8 PM). I mean, 7 PM isn’t really that late for most purposes, but it feels late to head out for a run. That’s when I have time to do it, though.
I was one of those New Year’s Resolutionary Army inductees last year, by the way, but this year I’m a seasoned pro.
