How do you make time for the gym?

marriedtomylobster

I want to go to the gym so badly I can feel it in my bones. I know I can work out at home, but there are so many distractions, I can get so much more accomplished at the actual gym.

Our gym has childcare but not til 6 months which we won't hit til November. I am having a huge problem with going back to work and the small amount of time I get to spend with Little Lobster as it is. If I take another hour away to go to the gym it will break my heart. Such a catch-22.

This is what our daily schedule looks like:

6 am- wake up. Lobster feeds and dresses LL while I get ready.
7 - drop LL off at daycare
4 pm- pick up LL
4:30 - arrive home and play
5 - LL eats dinner and takes a nap til 6ish-- we eat dinner during this nap
6-8- playtime (bath time around 7:30 if it's bath night)
8 - bedtime routine
8:30-9 - we go to bed

I can't figure out a way to work going to the gym into this without spending more time away from LL. I teach so there's no way I could go during lunch. I have to get the amount of sleep I'm getting now, of course going to the gym might make me feel less tired... I just can't imagine putting him to bed and heading to the gym at 9 at night.

bedebum13

I actually just rejoined the gym downtown so that I could go at lunch.  I just couldn't manage spending more time away from LO after being at work all day to go in the evenings.  Maybe that would be a possibility for you?

marriedtomylobster

bedebum13:

Maybe that would be a possibility for you?

I wish. I teach so there's no chance in that. Maybe it's time to rethink my profession.

megann831

I quit the gym and bought a treadmill.  When I go back next week I plan to get up at 4:30, work out for 45 min- an hour, then get ready for work

swayze16

I'm a teacher too and we go back next week. My plan is to get up early three days a week and go before DD gets up. That is my plan...we will see if I can even make it happen. Would that be possible?

jilicious

I get off at 4pm so I hit the gym on the way home and get 30 minutes in. It sucks to be away from DD but it works out that she's usually napping during the 4pm hour so it works.

VampyAuthor

Have you tried finding a gym that has a "mommy and me" section?

I know the one base (I would assume some civilian places offer this, maybe under a different name) they have a section where every piece of equipment has "parking" for strollers and car seats right next to it. Also right in front if a locked gated play area for the bigger kiddos within eye and ear shots of all the equipment.

mrsfirefly

I haven't managed to make time for the gym, and I'm just too tired anyways!  I've been try to just walk everywhere with LO.  Could you go for a walk every night or get a jogging stroller?  Could you walk to do errands on the weekend?  Could you go to the gym at 5 a few nights a week and have DH do bottles those nights so you don't have to get up for feedings?  Do you get a free period at school when you could go?  One year, I had a free period right before lunch and I was able to fit in a body pump class.

mrsfirefly

I meant at 5 a few mornings per week.

marriedtomylobster

Lobster and I switch off bedtime every night so I suppose I could go on the nights that he does bedtime.

Along the same lines, what do you do about alone time with your SO? I feel like we've gotten so into "baby mode" lately. His parents take LL for a weekend a month so they can spend time with him and we can be alone, but what about during the week?

mrs.mastro

If the gym is open at 5 a.m., you should try out going early for a week.  You probably will find that you have more energy all day long.  We have a treadmill at home, and I always try to get my workout in early in the morning before DS wakes up.  It makes my day so much better.  I could never work out after DS goes to bed either - I'm exhausted by then.

bobbyme

(I know I'm late to respond, but the board is slow so I am scrolling through the posts I missed yesterday).

Something that works wonderfully for DS and I are walks in the evening. I put him in his wrap after he is fed, had bath time, and in his jammies, and we go for a nice long walk. If it doesn't soothe him to sleep, it makes him tired, and putting him down when we get back is a piece of cake. If that is something that could work for you, I highly recommend it!