Tips and tricks to help you squeeze in your exercise routine during work hours.
Life seems to buzz by with our busy schedules. We are all juggling careers, family, personal lives, and often blending it all together. Chances are you have health and fitness goals, but it may be challenging to find the time it truly takes to dedicate to living a healthy lifestyle. If you have the time to exercise in the early morning or evening you may not have the energy. That’s where the mid-day workout is a great option!
Why should you give the mid-day workout a try?
- Your energy level is likely high in the late morning and around lunchtime.
- Provides a mental health break from the office and reduces stress.
- Increases productivity for the remainder of the day.
- Frees up your mornings and evenings (more on maximizing this time below).
- Time to think. Don’t check emails, texts or talk on the phone. Use the time to think, pray, reflect and be thankful. Listen to a podcast, Ted Talk or a sermon instead of music. You might find it peaceful and invigorating.
- A time to socialize. This is an opportunity to meet people from different walks of life at the gym you attend. They’ll make fantastic workout buddies as time goes on.
Here are some tried and true tips to help you master the mid-day workout.
In a word, Preparation. The true key to succeeding at this routine is preparing for your day. Follow the steps below and you’ll be armed and ready to conquer your health and fitness goals during your work day!
- Meal Prep
Most likely you’ll be working out during your lunch hour, so you’ll be eating at your desk when you return. Spend some time on the weekend or evenings finding recipes, planning your meals, grocery shopping and preparing your lunches for the week ahead. Assemble them either for the entire week or each night, you’ll quickly find out which way you prefer. We find it easiest if the meals don’t require assembly or heating to eat, as even those few minutes can be spent maximizing your workout. Salads work great to grab and eat.
Here are some lunch recipes that don’t require any heating:
38 No-Heat Lunches to Bring to Work
Maybe you follow a specific diet, if so, just Google (or use Pinterest) to search your ideal diet followed by the term “meal prep” or “lunches”.
Examples:
- Vegetarian meal prep
- Paleo meal prep
- Low calorie lunches
- Gluten free no-heat lunches
- Salad meal prep
There you will find endless suggestions to help you succeed and love the food you’re eating. Healthy does not need to be boring.
Don’t forget your pre-workout snack. To maximize results eat it 30 minutes to an hour before your workout. Some quick go-to (and super easy) snacks might be a piece of fruit, a hand full of nuts, or a granola bar or protein bar.
- Gym Bag
This bag should be packed and ready as you leave for work in the morning. You’ll need your exercise essentials and toiletries to freshen up before returning to work.
Your bag might include:
- Workout clothes
- Socks
- Sneakers
- Towel
- Water bottle
- Hair tie
- Deodorant
- Hairbrush or comb
- Makeup
- Dry shampoo
- Or any other toiletries that are part of your routine.
*Extra Tip: For long hair, instead of wearing a ponytail or bun during a workout, go for a braid. It will keep the hair out of your face and is easier to touch up and return to work.
Save time by wearing yoga pants that double as dress pants! Perfect for traveling and avoiding wrinkles too.
- Time Management
You have one hour, that’s 60 minutes to be broken down to getting a significant workout in. Where will you exercise? Do you have a gym on-site, will you drive to a gym or fitness studio nearby, or maybe head outside for a run?
Determine how long it will take you to:
- Change into your workout attire.
- Get to and from your workout location.
- Change back into your work attire and freshen up.
Add all the above and subtract the number of minutes from 60. Then you have an idea of how long you can exercise. For instance; it could take 5 minutes to change, round trip to and from the gym is 15 minutes, 10 minutes to change again and freshen up. That leaves 30 minutes to workout.
*Extra Tip: Take an early lunch to work out so when you return you’re eating at your desk at the time you normally eat lunch. If you wait, you’ll be too hungry and won’t have the energy to exercise.
- Block Out Your Calendar
This could also fit under time management, but block out the hour you choose to work out on your calendar, plus the 15-30 minutes it will take you to eat (your prepped and ready-to-go) lunch. This way your meetings can be scheduled around it. We find it most productive if you reserve a certain task to do while eating, like responding to emails, checking up on industry news, or something that doesn’t require face-to-face or phone calls during this time.
Your co-workers will grow to know this as your schedule and respect it, they might even get on board and give the mid-day workout a try too. Make sure you help and encourage them. A healthy workplace can greatly contribute to an individual’s overall health and wellness.
This won’t be perfect every single day, you will have to be flexible to work with your clients and customer schedules, or other circumstances. The most important thing is that you create a mindset that your health is important now, and deserves time dedicated to it daily. Even if that means squeezing it in when and where you can.
That’s why SearchWide Global created the Take Carra Foundation, to help our clients, candidates and industry of professionals “Take Carra” themselves. Find out more about it here.
*Extra Tip: If you are super pressed for time, keep an app handy like 12 Min Athlete or 8Fit that you can do quick, anytime, anywhere workouts. Or go for a walk with whatever time you do have, even if it’s just 5 minutes.
That brings us to maximizing your mornings and evenings as mentioned above. Studies show that having a less hectic morning routine can lead to a more productive day, and your overall happiness.
Some quick tips:
Start your morning off mindful.
Mental health is important too. Does it make you happy to enjoy a cup of coffee without distractions? To meditate right when you wake? Try incorporating a ritual that brings you joy and reduces your stress.
Here are some ideas from Inc.com.
End your day to feel complete.
Do you feel like your day was a success or lacking something? Spend time with loved ones, relax, cook. Whatever brings you a sense of fulfillment, find time after work for it.
***Each night prep your lunch and pack your gym bag to set the tone for the following day.
If you found these tips on mastering the mid-day workout helpful, share with your peers. They will be thankful you did.
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