S/O Exercise Thread: WHEN do you find time to exercise?

[flobee76]

I need to exercise, but I find it difficult to make room in our schedules for it. My husband is an ultrarunner, so he understands the importance of exercise. I just wish we could work together on making time for me. :confused:

[JudoMom]

I wake up at 5 workout before I wake the boys up. When I'm in my routine, I like to start between 5:30 & 6 in order to be done by 6:30. I check email, drink some coffee, and pick up and putter around while I fully wake up.

[lulubelle]

I just made a major shift in my workout schedule! I was an evening exerciser and it felt like I was constantly waiting to go out and exercise. So, about 4 weeks ago I bit the bullet and am now a morning exerciser! It's a bit rough, but way worth it! I try to be at the gym or running by about 5:30. I need it, I want it, I make myself get up earlier than I would like to for it!

[spradlin02]

Right now I'm riding to work. This fall will be more difficult, but my wife understands our family is much happier when I get to exercise. So I don't see a problem. It will probably be in the morning.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I exercise about a 1/2 hour to an hour after lunch. My health is so bad that it is extremely hard to exercise. I don't sweat so I can do it at this time. It's the best time for me because of my kid's schedules.

[Brindee]

I was getting to the gym by 5:30 for some time, and it felt good. I'd get home, just in time to kiss dh goodbye as he left for work. HOWEVER, when I didn't go, my dh and I had time together in the morning to talk, I'd help him fix his lunch, he'd tell me how much he liked starting his day with me, and I loved that closeness too! So I moved my exercising to afternoon or evening. That didn't work out that well either....

 

So, I've bounced around with the exercising, but dh and I still love our time together in the mornings!

 

My kids are older now, so I may start going right after dh leaves in the morning. I like the morning workout, because then it's done, and I don't have to try to figure out how to fit it in later......just to have other things come up and I don't get the exercise in.

[Teresa in MO]

It seems that if I don't do it first thing in the morning it doesn't happen. I do not excercise alot, but try and do 35 minutes on the treadmill 5x a week.

[Brindee]

I don't exercise. I just live in a place that requires exercise. We are close to the library, rec center, grocery store, ... So if I want to get anywhere we bike. Grocery shopping is extra good exercise. :glare: (We need to start eating lighter food!!!) I use bags instead of a grocery cart, and then attach all the bags to my bike - and bike home - UP hill.

 

My kids are in very good physical shape. Both of them can easily bike 3km to the outdoor pool swim for an hour and bike home without considering it exercise. So for our family exercise time doesn't happen. But if you want to go anywhere, do anything you better get moving.

 

By the time both my boys were 4 they were able to go at a decent pace for about 5km once direction, and 5km home again without being to tired.

 

The down side is that they don't wear out easily. 2 weeks ago we were at a waterpark for 8 hours. My eldest was moving the whole time and on the way home he saw a friend and ended up walking to and from the grocery store for something to do.:confused:

See, that's great! I wish I lived close enough to do that. I'm glad you're able to have that "natural" exercise!

 

You let your ds go to the store wth a friend at age 6? That'd scare me, though I know people do... :tongue_smilie:

[LarlaB]

My kiddos are still young (6 & 2) and still have rest/nap time, so during the school year that's when I work out. We join the Y for the summer and they have child care... so its mid morning. :)

[gingersmom]

Sadly I don't.

 

I have some health issues so the only activity I can do is swimming.

 

I was going swimming on the weekends but unfortunately my daughters skating schedule is so crazy that I was just not finding the time to go. Plus they don't have swimming all day/night so it never fit into my schedule.

 

I tried going at 5am (leaving kids home alone/asleep which did not make me happy) but by 9am I was ready for a nap (not happening).

[Xuzi]

I get up at 5am and am doing an exercise DVD by 5:10-15. The kids are asleep, the house is quiet, and it's my "me time". DH usually gets up and showers about half an hour after I do, and he's usually there to watch me do the last bit of my exercise, and if I have breath still we'll chat. :lol:

 

My kids (my oldest son usually) sometimes wake up to watch me exercise, but they're still in the morning-groggy stage, so they're content to just lay on the couch behind me and watch. I actually like that aspect of working out in the mornings, because I feel I'm setting a good example for my kids when it comes to fitness.

 

We also live within walking distance of the store, library, post office, church, and dentist, plus several parks, so when the weather is nice out we do a lot of walking. :)

[bettyandbob]

Before everyone else gets up. I get up at 5 am to do it.

[Brindee]

His friend is a grownup, or I suppose I could say our neighbor. But my boys like to think of her as there friend. She lives next door and pays my boys 5 cents for every snail removed from her yard.

See? There's another good thing--good neighbors! Any houses for sale near you? :lol:

[Mrs Mungo]

My dh is an avid runner as well. He does marathons all of that. He still gets up and goes on my "runs" with me 3 mornings a week. We also walk the dog together in the evening after our younger two are in bed.

[Dawn in OH]

I need and want to exercise. In fact, I'm one of those people that really used to love it. Somehow after baby #3 I found it impossible to squeeze it in.

 

I've been try for weeks now to find a way to fit it back into my schedule. I was so pleased today that I managed to do it! My husband took the toddler for a nap with him at the same time the baby was sleeping, so my daughter and I popped in a Jillian Michaels video and worked out together. It felt great! I need to find a way to be able to work it into my life on a regular basis.

[dm379]

I go while the kids are in tae kwon do. Their class is right above the gym.

[Donna A.]

I don't exercise. I just live in a place that requires exercise. We are close to the library, rec center, grocery store, ... So if I want to get anywhere we bike. Grocery shopping is extra good exercise. :glare: (We need to start eating lighter food!!!) I use bags instead of a grocery cart, and then attach all the bags to my bike - and bike home - UP hill.

 

My kids are in very good physical shape. Both of them can easily bike 3km to the outdoor pool swim for an hour and bike home without considering it exercise. So for our family exercise time doesn't happen. But if you want to go anywhere, do anything you better get moving.

 

By the time both my boys were 4 they were able to go at a decent pace for about 5km once direction, and 5km home again without being to tired.

 

The down side is that they don't wear out easily. 2 weeks ago we were at a waterpark for 8 hours. My eldest was moving the whole time and on the way home he saw a friend and ended up walking to and from the grocery store for something to do.:confused:

 

I'd LOVE this! I grew up on a farm where people do *real work*, so there was no "exercise time", and yet, we were fit and healthy. (Well, everyone but Mom, but that was her own fault.) I HATE "exercise time". It seems like such a waste to me. :glare: But, dh and I living where we do and NOT living a farm OR close enough to walk/bike everywhere, that stupid "canned" exercise time is necessary.

 

Seriously, I think there's good reason why some people resist the forced version of "exercise" so much. It's not natural.

 

As for timing, I struggle with fitting it in, too. Doing it later in the day makes it something I dread all day long, and will allow pretty much *anything* that comes up to get in the way. But it takes me forever to wake up in the morning. I can GET up, but the girls are up and ready for school by the time I'm AWAKE. I guess I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and make it happen. :tongue_smilie:

[Granny_Weatherwax]

At the moment:

 

-walk the dog (45-70 mins) in the am, between 7:30-8:45 am

-bike to work (if weather allows)

-in the evening -10-12 mile bike ride (usually 60-90 minutes)

 

I also play tennis Wed. evenings and Fri mornings.

[Hoggirl]

During the school year, I get up a little before six. I exercise at home using Jillian Michaels DVDs. Ds gets up at 7:00. We have breakfast together and then I shower/get ready while he does his one hour of piano practice. I am NOT a morning person, but until I started doing this, I was bumming around until late in the afternoon and dreading having to exercise after we finished school. I am still half asleep during the first part of my exercise. I really like getting it out of the way.

[flobee76]

Looks like I better start setting my alarm for EARLY morning! :D

[Jen in PA]

I have tried the early morning thing, and it just wasn't a good fit for me. When we are done with school I send the kids out to play in the yard, and that's when I exercise. I do aerobic dance and some work with weights and stretching 2 or 3 days a week. I also walk, alone or with the kids, 3 or 4 times a week.

[nono]

5 a.m. and 9 p.m. are my most likely times to run. But I do have a treadmill and slideboard, and our town has free yoga at 7:30 p.m., so I'm doing that too, along with my dd.

 

In other words, I have to be flexible. What I do is make a plan for the year (or so). It shows my mileage and types of running and cross-training I want to accomplish in a week. I keep it in an Excel spreadsheet and then drag it into my daily schedule and somehow, almost always, fit it all in.

 

Good luck. It is hard to do it! But, keep at it, and you'll find a way that works for you! :)

[Saille]

I go running, hiking or snowshoeing, depending on the weather, at 6 a.m.. I'm home before dh needs to leave for work.

[Lostinabook]

I do one of three things depending on the day: get up early so that I can exercise & shower; exercise in the afternoon when we're finished with school; exercise in the evening, but before I eat supper. The first option is really the best one for me, but I am a night owl & I haaaaaaate getting up early.

[m0mmaBuck]

I get up at 5:30 a.m. so I can work out and be done by 7:30 when the rest of the house begins to stir.

[Closeacademy]

Right now we go to the gym in the afternoons around 2. I work out for about 20 minutes and then my dds get to play in the pool for an hour or so.

 

This winter we may have them in Karate at the gym and I will work out at that time.:001_smile:

[Britomart]

I either get up early (around six) or do it in the afternoon when my youngest two are napping and the older two are having their quiet time.

[KnitWit]

I prefer morning unless something prevents.

[Peela]

Most of the year, i exercise first thing in teh morning, before school. It is hot where I live and too hot to exercise any other time but first thing.

However, it is winter now and a much colder winter than normal. I am exercising either not at all, or later in the day- often at sunset.

[Pretty in Pink]

I exercise during the dinner hour Monday thru Thursday evenings because that is when our YMCA has drop-in childcare available. We eat very simple meals on those evenings, but it is so very worth it to me.

[rawbanana]

I get up at 6:30 and go for a 30min-1 hour run around the neighborhood and hubby stays home with the sleeping kids =)

[Retired]

I am the odd ball. I work out before supper. I go for a 3 -4 mile hike each evening at least 5 nights a week during the long days. I hiked from 6:00 pm till 7:30 this evening

 

I do the same in the winter months but start earlier around 3:00 pm

 

On Tuesday nights, i do the park track for about 3 miles while waiting on my son's scout meeting. 7:00 pm to 8:PM It is so boring walking in a circle.:D