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Thinking Caps - More Efficient Use of Time?
Okay ladies, I'm going to outline my weekdays for you -- do any of you see anywhere I can tweak to save or swap out some time?
I feel like I'm rushed all day long. DH tells me I'm trying to fit too much into each day, but I don't know that I can give anything up, either. If the dog doesn't get walked, she goes bizerk, and if I don't get my workout, *I* go bizerk. DH will walk the dog periodically, but I walk her daily and he thinks 2x a week is fine. (ugh)
I'm looking for outside opinion 
It should be noted, though, that no, I don't want to wake up earlier to walk the dog or gym. My body is bizarre, and I basically feel nauseous every morning -- it wouldn't be conducive to trying to do physical activity.
6:30am - wake up, take dog out, feed dog, shower, get dressed for work and toss lunch in lunchbag, take dog out one last time before leaving
7:30am - commute to work
7:45-8:00 arrive at work, depending on traffic
8:00 - 4:30 - work day; 1/2 hour for lunch
4:30-6:30 - drive to gym; work out (I was doing 5x a week, down to 4x now, but my body isn't liking losing that day....)
6:30 -6:45 - commute home, put lunch dishes in sink to soak, take dog for walk/run or play in yard
7:15-7:20 - make dinner if DH isn't (he cooks a few nights a week)
7:45-8:45 - eat dinner, do dishes, cook/prep lunch for following day, quick shower from sweaty gym session, pack new gym clothes, prep clothes for work in the a.m., check email and respond to those that are necessary (i do the rest on weekends)
8:45 or 9:00 - finally get to sit down
10:30 - bedtime
Re: Thinking Caps - More Efficient Use of Time?
Well, it takes me about 10 minutes to drive there, another 10 to change into my gym clothes from my work clothes. Then I do 30 minutes cardio, 10-15 minutes of intense stretching/yoga poses (I have trouble with my hamstrings/glutes/lower back and this stretching every day is the only thing that allows me to move lol), 10 minutes of abs, then 25 minutes of strength. On a 4x week, two days are upper body (back, chest, arms) and two are lower body (glutes, legs)
upper body days right now (i swap out exercises regularly) are 6 exercises, one set each for this round. lower body days are also 6 exercises, come to think of it, and also one set each for this round.
that puts me at...just over an hour and a half. i must've estimated high...figuring a drink break, and i'm not a machine -- i dont run through all my exercises one after the other with no breaks. hehe
I hope/think I answered your question above...about 10 minutes travel from work to gym, and 10 minutes to swap out clothes, so 20 minutes is "prep" for gym. hehe
I'd been working with trainers previously, but got tired of paying for it. I plan all my workouts off of what I already know, as well as some of the more advanced moves i can find on womens health mag, fitness for women mag, etc. I've been at this for awhile, and I got to a point where I was coming up with more fun activities than the trainers were for myself.
I guess I could pay for another session and see what they have to offer me.
I like to work multiple muscle groups at once -- what pp described is exactly what my DH does. He only works one muscle group per day.
I only shower at night most of the time. Could you cut out an extra shower this way? The other reason this is helpful is I can let my hair mostly air-dry while I do other stuff at night, and then give it a quick zap to make sure there aren't any damp parts to get funky overnight.
My dog only gets to go out once in the mornings, but I'm out with her for quite awhile. (This morning was 5:30 to 6:30). Maybe your husband could take care of feeding her in the mornings, or taking her out one of the times?
It seems like there isn't much you could cut down on. The only other option I can find is to sometimes work out at home rather than at the gym.
If your workout is really important to you, I would try to cut down on the 6:30 - 8:45 time slot. Instead of doing dishes first and taking her out for awhile, try to combine things and maybe work with your H every night. If you start dinner first and do the dishes while it cooks, you might be able to make that go a little more quickly.
One of us will cook and the other will clean at the same time and prepare lunches.
This is a good idea...my long hair doesn't really love to be slept on, though. It always looks wonky in the morning lol
Might be something i should try tho.
Our morning sessions outside with her are pretty brief. They're basically potty breaks of no more than 10 minutes. Our yard isn't fenced, so when she's out, I need to be out with her...
i'm already doing some of this...i don't actually DO dishes when i get home from the gym, i just toss them in the sink to soak while i walk her. it probably only takes me 30 seconds. i'm doing some dishes while dinner cooks (like the items i used to prep dinner) but i still have dishes after dinner to do.
DH comes home for lunch every day, so he doesn't pack anything..lucky brat
Ha, I see an opportunity here for him to clean and do food prep.
Seriously though, I know it's difficult. Some nights I feel like I get nothing done. In order to catch up, we will have a quick dinner or go out and combine it with errands.
It's not fair for me to say he does NOTHING. He does any dishes in the sink at lunch, and he takes pup out for a potty break, but that's it.
He claims he doesn't have time to do anything else, and DH is NOT a food prep person. If I left him a list of things to chop/make, it totally wouldn't get done.
I do a lot of prep on Sundays, and nights before, when I can.
It was really the addition of the dog that made my evenings hectic. But I can't do my cardio with her...poor thing is just a pup so I don't want to run her with me, and walking her really isn't a workout at all.
This must be why people have children and quit working out. LOL
Probably no on the doggie day care.
DH would flip a lid. He already thinks I spoil her rotten by playing/walking her every day.
Good thought, I just don't think it would go over well AT ALL.
You've certainly got a point.
I think I'll meet with the trainer at the gym one more time and see if they have anything useful to provide on making my workouts shorter.
I'll look into a doggie daycare/walker just to price it out and see
I'll also try asking DH to suck it up and quit being a baby and walk the freaking dog on the nights I cook dinner.
Then we'll see how it goes!
i personally don't like to run with a dog until they're fully grown. it's just a personal preference.
i also had a running injury, so i'm not really running enough distance for it to be my sole workout .
no on the friends/family...the only people near us are my ILs and i won't let them cook for me hehe...and we do plan short meals/crockpot meals. i'm just looking to be sitting down to relax before 9pm. lol
ETA: Warning: I apologize for the ungodly long reply...I didn't realize I had written THIS much!!!
I definitely wouldn't run with a dog...so many dogs will just keep pushing themselves to keep the owner happy and they can get hurt especially as the weather gets warmer.
As a trainer here's my suggestions to maybe consider for your workouts...assessing the situation without knowing your exercise goals, history, body type, etc.
1. I would strongly consider trying some interval type training. One example would be do a little cardio (minimum of 10 minutes is needed to have a cardiovascular benefit) at a moderate-to vigorous intensity then move onto some weight training exercises then go back and forth through your workout. With this plan you would stay moving and keep your heart rate going throughout the entire workout as opposed to the traditional thinking of cardio then weights or vice versa. (I do this if I workout at home with the stationary bike...I bike for a little while then hop off and immediately start doing lunges or prisoner squats then hop back on the bike or jog on the treadmill then jump off and do hamstring curls with the stability ball, etc).
2. Do you go to the gym on weekends when you maybe would have more time than during the week? If so I would maybe keep that day to do a more traditional style workout (cardio then weights or whatever)
3. You could also change up your weight training by considering alternating upper body with lower body exercises. I've used this method when teaching strength training classes as part of our group exercise schedule. For example my early (6 AM) Tuesday morning class is 30 minutes of muscles toning and here's what an example of what the workout is (I change the exercise every week so no week is the same)...
15-17 exercises total all done as a superset so one immediately after the other and each exercise is done for 2 sets of 15 reps and I try to do all my standing exercises together then transition the class to lying/seated/floor work. So I do #1 then #2 then immediately back to #1 then #2 then move onto 3&4 repeating before continuing on.
1.prisoner squats
2. calf raises
3. standing bent over dumbbell row
4. standing dumbbell lateral raises
5. lateral tube walking with resistance band loops (hip work)
6. shin raises
7. Bent over tricep kickbacks or overhead extensions
8. 21's
9. stability ball dumbbell chest press
10. seated torso twists on top of ball
11. lying one leg hamstring curl with stability ball
12. hip squeeze with ball for inner thighs
13. reverse ball crunch
14. ball obliques
15. prone opposite arm/leg raises over ball
16. prone back extensions
my class does an entire list like this in 30 minutes sometimes less. I think you could be maybe going a little heavy on your abs exercises.
If you talk to a trainer at your gym I would try to talk to a woman. Not to be mean but there are alot of male trainers out there who I think have no clue how to train women so they just train them the same way they would train other guys. One of my co-workers used to be like that when I first started at my work then he seemed to have a big epipheny and changed how he trains.
I do give you credit though for changing your workouts up...alot of people will do the same workouts for years and years.
If I could interject about the being nauseous bit, I went through that for about a year (including my wedding day, where I couldn't eat or make it through my hair appt without feeling like I was going to hurl), and found out it was allergies/ dripping doing it to me. The doctor said mucous was settling in my chest while I slept at night and then would settle in my stomach once I woke up, causing me to feel ill. I was taking a sudafed every morning for a while and I don't have it anymore. HTH with the feeling sick bit....
Totally true for me too, I have since been on allergy medicines and stomach medicine for over 10 years and it has really helped.
I was also going to add that what helped me was getting equipment to use at home. I know you like the gym but I found that having time to do things at home and then not have to drive to the gym really helped. I just remembered this as I'm about to go downstairs at work out.
I've had it my entire life, and it isn't really life-prohibiting, but it is enough that I certainly don't want to go out and exercise. I'm honestly not quite bothered enough by it to be concerned about it long-run at this point, but thanks!
Not sure how you feel about leftovers, but I typically make a meal on Sunday that will provide leftovers for the early part of the week, either for lunch or dinner. THis should help to cut down on some of your prep/cooking/clean up time.
Also, I would consider moving at least one workout to the weekend, when possible, so that you have one or two "free" evenings a week. I would guess that the gym would be less congested on the weekends (depending on when you go) than it is when you go after work which might help to speed up your workout a bit as well.
Hope this helps! I know how frustrating it can be to feel like you have no free time.