Squeezing In Productive Workouts

My morning is somewhat hectic. I have two children who catch the bus at different times. The first bus picks up my older son at 6:40 AM. The second bus picks up the other son at 8:10 AM. Before these buses pick them up, I have to make sure they are awake, clean, dressed, fed, and packed up for school. Admittedly, it's gotten better because they can do a lot by themselves now, but I can't ignore them quite yet. While this is going on, I need to get clean, dressed, fed, and packed up for work! And just because I love her, I make tea for my wife for her drive to work. Some days, getting a workout in before I go to work can be difficult. However, with the right mindset and focus, it can be done.

First, I think it is important to learn to be content with less volume on days where you have to squeeze in a workout. Ideally, we'd love an hour to get in a nice warm-up, our main workout, and full cool-down and stretching session. Some days we just don't have that. I believe we can still make progress towards greater fitness in short periods of time and in my case today, when the workout is interrupted. They key though is to realize this and not get too worked up about not having time to work out.

Second, we need to be creative and flexible with our workouts. On my agenda today was running and Turkish Get-ups. Normally, when I run, I like to do some non-ballistic movements to warm-up my knees (particularly my right knee that I had surgery on a couple years ago). This might be some stationary bike or some shadowboxing with slow bodyweight squats thrown in.

Today, I had to start my workout after my first son got on his bus at 6:40 AM. Also, my stationary bike is in my bedroom and my wife was still sleeping (and the bike is loud). Finally, my other son got up earlier than usual so I knew my time to workout was limited. So I ran out the door and used the first half mile to warm-up by running at a slow pace and being very deliberate about my form so that I wouldn't be pounding on my knees (which I try not to do in any case).

Finally, I have found the ability to increase my focus for short periods of time between interruptions to be critical in squeezing in workouts. After my run today, my son was up (and fortunately started his own breakfast). I told him I'd need fifteen minutes in the basement to finish working out. A couple times, he called down because he needed something. In the past, I would get exasperated at the intrusion and lose my temper. However, I realize that this is part of being a father and I would take care of what needed to be taken care of before returning to work out.

At this point (and all points during the workout), I sharpened my focus on the task at hand - the dumbbell in this case. This is very important for safety. I also think this mental practice also carries over to many parts of our lives. We are constantly bombarded with distractions from social media, co-workers, family members, notifications on our cell phone, and more! To be productive - whether to get a good workout in or in our professional lives - we need to be able to return our focus after distractions. The ability to bring our attention to the task at hand also makes the workout feel more satisfying and less like you compromised on your workout - because you didn't! I have found the practice of meditation to be useful in developing this ability.

Part of becoming healthier and more fit is prioritizing it in your life over things that are less important. For me, these were things like video games and television. However, some priorities have to take precedence like getting your kids on the bus and getting to work on time. Sometimes, we just need to squeeze a workout in. However, these workouts can be productive towards helping us reach our goals. Having the mindset of contentment, being creative and flexible, and learning to bring our attention to bear on the task will help you to squeeze in productive workouts when you are short on time.

November 16, 2015 Workout

Time of workout: 6:40 AM

Running: 2 miles in 24:28

As I mentioned above, the first mile was much slower than the second. I am pleased as this is the most I've run since my surgery a couple years ago.

At this point, I had about a 5 minute break as I was conversing with my son and getting him all set up before going into the TGU.

Turkish Get-up: 

2 reps with 8 lb. dumbbell.

2 reps with 18 lb. dumbbell

1 rep with 23 lb. dumbbell (you can check out my attempt with 23 lb. dumbbell here)

Working time: ~10 minutes

I tried holding the kettlebell, but I need to work on my grip technique and it was too heavy at this point to attempt a full TGU. I will work in some floor presses with the kettlebell over the next week I think.

Stretching - Probably about 10 minutes spread out over the next 20 as I was with my son getting him ready for school. Focused on hips, legs, and calves.

Resources

I mentioned meditation above and I wanted to give you some links to some meditation sites that I use. 

Breath Awareness Meditation on MeditationOasis.com: I use this tutorial to practice breath awareness meditation. It is easy but the focus is on bringing our attention back to our breath. Over time we can use this skill to bring our attention to whatever we need to at the moment.

Headspace.com: I am experimenting with this. There are free meditations as well as a subscription service. I am not a subscriber as of this writing, but I am finding their free Take 10 program to be of great benefit. It is a series of 10-minute meditations as well as a few video tutorials that explain the purposes of meditating and how we can use it in our life.