[quote]gonugs wrote:
Lower your standard for what a workout is.
Epiphany
A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: ?I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself? (Frank Maier).
Not to get too heavy here, but I have spent a better part of my life with a conception of, not only what a work out must be (in terms of weights, MMA, etc.) but also what I must feel like afterwards for it to be (time and goal wise) meaningful and worthwhile. I have to admit, this concept had never occured to me. Thank you for the insight. Really, this actually opens up a lot of new ideas for me.
I always exersize instead of taking lunch at work. I have flexible hours so I can even go at 10AM or 2PM when the gym is MINE. I realize you have the equipment at home but sheesh, 50-80 hours a week! They better give you some time off for lunch. I also hope you’re a multi-millionaire by now or about to cure cancer or something. You gotta have some balance in your life, that’s too much time on the job IMHO.
[quote]Kruiser wrote:
I always exersize instead of taking lunch at work. I have flexible hours so I can even go at 10AM or 2PM when the gym is MINE. I realize you have the equipment at home but sheesh, 50-80 hours a week! They better give you some time off for lunch. I also hope you’re a multi-millionaire by now or about to cure cancer or something. You gotta have some balance in your life, that’s too much time on the job IMHO.
Good Luck![/quote]
I can’t go into what I do too much other than I run installation projects. These take me all over the midwest, and time and coordination is key. It is what it is. My lunches are usually working, or I take a half hour and “clear my brain”.
I am really shocked that 50-80 hours / week is seen as a lot. In my feild, and the ones I work with, its typical. Maybe I need to get out more…
If you are working 80 hours a freaking week, open up your wallet and pay someone else to look after the little shit like mowing the lawn, cleaning the house and fixing the plumbing.
Yeah, I know, it’s tough to let go of man tasks like that, but if you are making money and have another use for your time, don’t imagine you’ll be able to spend it when you are dead.
When I travelled, it was usually 50-70 hours of work plus travel time. So I know what you mean. I was getting paid hourly, hope you are too. That always helped.
I think you do have to remember (as others have pointed out), what you do for a living is mostly a choice. If it’s worth it to you to stay with this job, then you deal with the time crunch.
I decided eventually to take a job in the same field with no travel and generally a straight 40 hour week. I see my kids and wife all the time now and it only dropped my pay by half. You gotta decide what you want and then do it. Good luck.
this thread is both inspiring and depressing at the same time. depressing because of the realities of life, but inspiring because of the powerful living.
i’m glad you posted this thread. it really helped me out a lot as well.
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
PGA200X wrote:
Buy a power rack for your home, with some adjustable dumbbells and heavy dut rubber matts and concentrate on the bigger lifts. That way you’ll be able to sneak in a workout and not haev to worry about the time spent getting to the gym and dont haev to plan around that. Its right there at home fore you. Sure you wont have as many options as a gym but you can still keep the gym memberhip adn use it for whenever you feel the need.
This is what many parents of young children do. It is worth the initial cost in the long term. Get up earlier to get a workout in before work if you are too tired to do so at night. As far as time management, there are hundreds of self-help books and tools for this. A simple attitude adjustment from “I am a victim of my hectic schedule” to " I am the master of my life" sometimes works wonders. Your schedule is NOT unusual, many people live like this, and it sure beats the hell out of living in Lebanon or Israel right now. Count your many blessings of family, home and career and stop being a master of excuses and circumstance.
[/quote]
Yo-
I missed your post. I agree totally with what you have written. I think I accidentally gave the impression similar to someone posting for advice and help without trying the search button or doing research. It was mainly a “what are your tactics” that I could try and maybe some would work better for me than what I am trying to do now. I have already gleaned a lot from what was sent out. However, ultimately, I am the lazy ass that needs to get up and do it.
[quote]enrac wrote:
The job I have now eats up enormous amounts of time, but it’s nothing compared to the previous job I had:
2.5 hrs commute each eay
8 hours at work (sometimes 10)
people I didn’t like (they used to be nice)
canadian winter (Burlington → Brrrrlington)
In any case, I’d wake up really early and do a quick workout (circuit training) either in:
my home gym
gym nearby
So, maybe that? I find on weekdays I get about 6 hours of sleep, but weekends, I get to sleep in.
Does that help?[/quote]
It helps me realize I’m a big puss.
2.5 hour commute each way. My god, that sucks!
I think I will be trying a variation of the 3-5 method, except supersetting antagonists and splitting it up betweed HD leg, Vert Push Pull, and TD Leg Horizontal Push Pull. Hammer it out and do tabata if I feel up to it every other day. Seems like a plan for now…
This may sound selfish but I always put my workout first and then juggle everything else out around it. If I didn’t do this then I would not workout. I have always selected a job that would allow me to maximize my workouts. I am fortunate now that I have long periods between work but this was not always the case. It really depends on how bad you want to workout.
Along the same lines as what DJ wrote in this article learn how to do versions of the O-lifts. If you haven’t tried it do 10-15 reps each of the snatch then clean & jerk. You will be done in about 20-30min and would have worked out the whole body. Maybe add another lift in like a squat or a press and you will be done. It’s a great cardio workout as well.
For more cardio ideas do the Tabata method with front squats or dumbell thrusters. Dan wrote another article about this on T-Nation. 4 minutes of pure hell once per week will do wonders for your conditioning and helping with maintaining low body fat levels.
I haven’t read all the replies so I may be duplicating some.
Set up a home gym so that you can work out at your convenience and not the gym’s.
Along with #1 above, incorporate your kids into your workouts. Make it a fun kids time.
Get up 1/2 hour earlier and get in 4 to 6 workouts each week.
Quit chasing your wife around the bedroom 7 nights a week.
Hire someone to mow the lawn and do some of the outdoor chores. With all those hours you work, you probably can afford it. Besides, as you point out, family time is a priority.
Move closer to work.
Get a job where you don’t have to work as hard.
Cheat on your wife with her sister. You will have plenty of workout time after the divorce.
Accept that your chosen lifestyle only allows for a limited number of workouts and adjust your training style accomodate it. If you stress out over it, you might as well hardly workout at all.
Along the same lines as what DJ wrote in this article learn how to do versions of the O-lifts. If you haven’t tried it do 10-15 reps each of the snatch then clean & jerk. You will be done in about 20-30min and would have worked out the whole body. Maybe add another lift in like a squat or a press and you will be done. It’s a great cardio workout as well.
For more cardio ideas do the Tabata method with front squats or dumbell thrusters. Dan wrote another article about this on T-Nation. 4 minutes of pure hell once per week will do wonders for your conditioning and helping with maintaining low body fat levels.
Cheers,
Ben[/quote]
Bingo. The oly lifts and variations are great when you want a quick workout.
5 min general warmup, 5 min escalating weight warmup, 5-10 minutes of oly lifts or pulls, followed by 5-10 minutes of olys into squat variations (clean into front squat or snatch into OHS)
20-30 min of a workout that’s fast, invigorating and most importantly, fun enough that you’ll do it even when you’re too tired to do any other workouts.
Throw in fast workouts once or twice a week superseting horizantal or vertical push/pulls and you have a pretty complete program. If you have to leave out one of the upper body days some weeks it isn’t a total disaster though since most muscle groups get at least mild stimulation during the oly movements.
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Buy a power rack for your home, with some adjustable dumbbells and heavy dut rubber matts and concentrate on the bigger lifts. That way you’ll be able to sneak in a workout and not haev to worry about the time spent getting to the gym and dont haev to plan around that. Its right there at home fore you. Sure you wont have as many options as a gym but you can still keep the gym memberhip adn use it for whenever you feel the need.[/quote]
This is exactly what I did about 2 years ago and it has changed my life. I dropped a good amount of money on equipment and converted my garage into my gym.
I do full body WO’s 3x a week and cardio 4x a week. The convenience of having everything right here at home has helped to collapse the time frame of going to the gym, taking clothes for work, carrying breakfast etc. Just managing everything it takes to get to the gym ate up time I could have been wotrking out.
Before I did this, I would get up at 4:30am and take my happy ass to the gym…that shit gets old fast. Now I get up at 5:30 WO for an hour - hour and half - hit th shower eat and then roll out the door.
[quote]vroom wrote:
If you are working 80 hours a freaking week, open up your wallet and pay someone else to look after the little shit like mowing the lawn, cleaning the house and fixing the plumbing.
Yeah, I know, it’s tough to let go of man tasks like that, but if you are making money and have another use for your time, don’t imagine you’ll be able to spend it when you are dead.
Make the most of the life you have.[/quote]
This is ‘nail on the head’ stuff from Vroom.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
I seriously doubt that you’ll enjoy thinking about how much you worked.
Thanks to all for your input. I commented on this before, but my basement it stocked. I have a power rack, about 600lbs of weight, heavy bags, turnstile elliptical and bike. Also a sit up beec]nch, wheel, and miscellaneous other toys that I’ve picked up along the way. Having access is not the issue.
However, I do like the O-lift idea. I was thinking about using dumbells for high rep cleans and snatches for cardio work, but that would be an even better idea. Of course, thats once I learn how to do them without wrecking my back.
This was mainly to see what others who have similar goals do with hectic / long schedules. I hope to take the advice that I can and make the most of it. Now, it just getting up at 5am thats gonna suck.
Some good advice on this thread. I travel all the time and work out at home. When I am on the road for extended periods say 2 + days I find the local Y and hit it up. I couldn’t afford to take the life style hit of switching jobs so I make it work out. The best training strategy for me when I was traveling every week and had little kids…
Sat & Sun
1 day during the week
Sat & Sun
5 work out days in an 8 day week, you can get a lot accomplished…good luck.
[quote]vroom wrote:
If you are working 80 hours a freaking week, open up your wallet and pay someone else to look after the little shit like mowing the lawn, cleaning the house and fixing the plumbing.
Yeah, I know, it’s tough to let go of man tasks like that, but if you are making money and have another use for your time, don’t imagine you’ll be able to spend it when you are dead.
Make the most of the life you have.[/quote]
Very well put. You weren’t put here to work yourself into an early grave.
It CAN be hard especially with so many other things. But one way you can do things is like this:
split up your workout into several smaller ones - you can for example fit in a single set of ~something~ in the morning for 10 minutes perhaps whilst waiting for coffee to brew or something
have a home gym. LEAVE WEIGHTS ON THE RACKS. no time spent loading/unloading.
if possible do some workout at work. some things are not taxing in a way to make you sweat, e.g one arm dumbell deadlifts for 10x1 or something. I’m also keen on dips from my office chair.
cut out ALL THE CRAP MOVEMENTS that are useless.
One Lift a Day type lifting, it is easier to fit in a single exercise than a whole lot of exercises. You could whip one out whilst cooking dinner.
Anything that can be done whilst doing something else. Again with the cooking dinner, you can do a set, cook a bit, do a set, cook a bit. At the end, a meal and a workout complete.
Just some ideas. It ain’t easy sometimes but there are things to do to work it in.
