Finding the Time to Exercise

I'm a big believer in the "Do What Works for You" method of living.

I admit to some biases.  I do think we all benefit individually and as a community, and are generally healthier, when we don't smoke, try to eat healthy food and exercise regularly.  The details of what the last two mean are not written in stone.  However, there is apparently money to be made in telling us exactly what we should and should not do.  Just today, I found myself annoyed by all the Facebook posts about the 10 Things I Should Never Do If I Want to Have a Happy Life, or the 8 Things I'm Doing Wrong when I Unload my Groceries, and the 6 Things I Must Do in Order to Live Forever.  This got me thinking about When I Exercise.

I'm lucky with the flexible schedule I have for exercise.  I generally go to the gym in the morning after everyone has left for work and school.  My Darling Husband has lately been joining a class at the gym 3 days a week which meets at... 6 AM.  I used to attend the same class, which includes weight training twice a week and interval cardio once a week, a few years ago.  It was hard getting up at 5:00 AM, but I always felt great the rest of the day.  On occasion, like today when we had a 2 hour school delay, I still join my DH for the early class.  And no matter how early we get to the gym, and how smug I feel about that, there are people who have finished their workout, showered, dressed and are heading OUT of the gym before 6:00 AM!

I like the feeling of finishing my workout for the day early.  I try to exercise regularly to help keep my heart, bones and brain healthy as long as possible.  I am not an athlete and never have been, but I've discovered that everything feels better when I challenge my body on a regular basis.

The drawback of an early workout is I eat more food.  I have a small breakfast before the workout so I don't pass out from low blood-sugar.  And I have another breakfast sometime later in the morning.  If I work out later in the morning, I can usually get by with one normal-sized breakfast.

Morning workouts are associated with some benefits including a boost in metabolism and increased consistency of work outs due to fewer schedule conflicts.  There is another helpful (but annoyingly-titled) list here in the Huffington Post article "6 Benefits to Being a Morning Exerciser".

But don't feel bad if you can't exercise in the morning!  The American Heart Association has this to say about when to exercise:  “The best time of the day is when you will do it most consistently, because the benefits of physical activity are tightly linked to the amount you do on a consistent basis."

Also, the recommended 150 minutes of exercise a week can be broken up into as many chunks as you need it to be.  If you can fit in three 10 minute sessions of exercise throughout the day, you have your 30 minutes.

The important thing is to get up and move as much as possible.  Do it on your schedule.  Try different times of day to see how you feel.  If it is an option for you fight your urge to sleep later and try getting up early.  Who knows, you might love it!