Trying to decide

  • I am trying to decide when to do my workouts. I have been doing them right after getting up in the morning, around 8 am, well now I have to be to work by six am. I really like doing them first thing in my day but that means getting up at 4, working out for an hour, showering, getting ready for work, and getting my kids to daycare. I am okay with that I am just worried about being too rushed. I have also thought about doing it in the afternoon when I get off work, but I keep going back to prefering the am workout. I have even thought about doing two 45 minute workouts, one in the am and one in the evening. I guess I will have to play around with my time and see what works best. I think I am just asking what seems to work best for everyone else, especially those of you that have to be to work really early in the morning. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.
    Jen
  • I thought I'd be too rushed in the morning, too, but I found just the opposite. I seem to have more time to get everything together. I get up at 5:15, work out for 30 minutes, then have plenty of time to shower, eat breakfast, pack lunches and get ready for work. You can try it for a day or two and see how it goes. It may be the only way to find out. It was for me!
  • Morning workouts were great for me too... I'd get up at 4:30am get to the gym by 5:15 workout till 6:45, back home by 7... prepare myself and kids to be at work by 8:30... You have to be organized in the sense that your lunches should be made the night before, your clothes cleaned and ironed and put out for work and for the gym... And you must be in bed by 9PM... It's certainly doable and I know many women who do it... I know women who workout twice/day too... So experiment and have fun with it...
  • I could never do morning so I have changed my work schedule to get 2 hours for lunch. I get home an hour later, but it really keeps me motivated because I know that is what I am doing every day. This might not be feasible for you, I was suprised how willing my boss was at letting me modify my schedule.
  • Experiment and see what works best for you, just remember not to get stuck on one idea and ignore others. It might be harder for you to get enough time later in the day to do all you'd like to do, so splitting the workout into 2 would be no problem.

    I used to think there was no way I'd exercise in the afternoon, but now I'm doing it and it's working fine. I can't wait to work out in the mornings again, though, I definitely prefer that. Gets me going and feeling so good all day! Just need to fix my sleep schedule first. Getting enough sleep is really the key to a morning workout, I think. And it is good to be organized as well - having everything ready before you go to bed.
  • I had to have a varying exercise time when I was working and going to classes at night. I tried mornings, but they don't work for me. But I DID find that doing just 15 minutes in the mornings helped me to wake up and get motivated, without causing me to get up much earlier than normal.

    The bulk of my exercise however, worked best for me after work. And then I'd try to do 15 minutes of stretching before bed. However, the nights I had class, all of this was out as I was gone from 7:30 until 10:30. So I ran for 30 minutes on my lunch hour on those days.

    You may need to do a bit in the morning and more later in the day if it's just too early or work around the early hour as someone suggested by having lunches ready and clothes laid out, etc. But if one way isn't working for you, by all means, try another...until you find the one that does.