Training with a busy Schedule
We’re getting to that time of 2024 where the festive season and holidays are being wrapped up and most of us are returning to work or… maybe some of us never stopped working.
Regardless of your situation life can get super busy, we are all “grinding”, be it work or schools or both it can be hard to find balance and this often holds us back from achieving our health and fitness goals.
I understand! "I’ve been there. I have Balanced multiple jobs and study while staying fit and healthy too.
Here are my top tips for training with a busy schedule:
Planning out your week
The best thing you can do is schedule your week. Planning what days you’re working/ studying and most importantly, scheduling in your gym sessions throughout the week. This will set your sessions in stone and you can plan everything else around them for example your social events and catch ups, because getting your gym sessions in for the week is essential!
Get your workout in early!
The earlier you get your workout in, the better. This way, you’ve set yourself up for a good day, you’re not having to dwell on your workout all day and you can enjoy those post-workout endorphins all day!
When we work out in the morning, we’ve already done something for ourselves and we tend to feel more in control of the rest of the day. It doesn't have to be a killer session if you’ve got a busy work day, maybe a bit of cardio, some yoga or stretching or even a walk to get those steps in and the body moving.
Efficient Workouts
Working out should be YOU time, meaning NO social media (even in rest periods - fml I know), you’re there for you girl. Also, start timing your rest periods. I have a rest timer in my App or you can use your watch/ phone - doing this has made my workouts much more time effective, as well as challenging (rest periods are set specifically for a reason depending on your goal).
Meal Prep, meal prep, meal prep
As much as it can be a hassle, meal prep will save you. You can kill it at the gym all you like, but what you do with the other 23 hours of the day is really what will make the difference. Pick a couple of easy to bulk-make meals and get it done. Pop in your headphones, blast some tunes, listen to a podcast or watch your fav TV series and smash it out. Having easy to grab meals which are healthy, nutritious and you know exactly what’s in it,will stop you from going off your calories for the day.
Or you can just prepare your staples so they’re easy to grab and chuck together like cooking up your protein, steaming rice, cutting up carrot sticks and roasting potatoes. Some of my favourite easy to meal prep meals are on the JustFitJamie Subscription APP.
Sleep and de-stress
Sleep is essential in our recovery in the gym as well as helping us on our fat loss journey. The aim is to get anywhere between 7-9 hours of quality sleep. To make sure we’re achieving good sleep, we need to be de-stressing before bedtime and creating a healthy night-time routine. For example reading before bed, avoiding using our phone, wearing blue light glasses and making sure we’re not drinking coffee 7 hours before bedtime.
Be kind to yourself
Working long hours while also working towards your health and fitness goals at the same time is never easy. Be kind to yourself and don’t work yourself to the bone.
Give yourself rest days when you need them and fuel your body with good food. I can’t stress enough the importance of taking a lunchtime walk to destress, defuzz your brain as well as getting your steps in and a bit of vitamin-D.
If you just run yourself to the ground working super hard and trying to hit every gym session, you won’t be able to recover and you’ll end up feeling more stressed, which won’t help you, whatsoever.
