Work life balance... going to the gym

Nurses Stress 101

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Specializes in Childbirth Educator, Birth Doula.

For those of you who work out or have a gym membership... when do you fit it in? I found that I could easily fit in 4-5 workouts/week when I was working in the clinic 8-6, but now that I'm back on the floor 6-6:30, I'm wondering how to work it out.

A few extra factors that make it difficult are that 1) I have three kids under 7 at home during the summer, 2) I'll be working varied/rotating shifts, and 3)I live 20 miles away from the gym AND work (they're right next to each other) so I'd like to work out before/after work if possible.

What does your workout routine look like around shift work?

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Hi!

I'm a new LNA and I've recently had to figure out how to fit working out in with my new job (just switched careers with a normal 9-5 schedule). I don't have any kids (just furry ones!) so I can't begin to understand how stressful and difficult it can be to fit gym time in around that. At first I tried to go to the gym 4-5 days a week, but I quickly discovered that this was too much and I burned out my first month on the job. I work at a Geropsych Unit so the job is very physical and the only break I get is my scheduled 30 minutes. I train for Strongman and do CrossFit type workouts so my job coupled with my gym workouts leave me pretty exhausted.

I'm still tweaking my work/gym schedule but I think I've got it mostly figured out. Now I rarely train on days I work and I always make sure I go to the gym on my off days. For example, if I'm working 3 days in a row I'll only go to the gym on one of those days and then work out on my 2 days off. This leaves me going to the gym 3-4 days a week depending on what days I'm scheduled. Luckily I always work 7am-3pm so I'm not dealing with a varied shift work schedule. However, my husband is an air traffic controller and has the worst schedule for the body and recovery. If he works a day shift with a midnight shift in the same day he will not train the next day.

Unfortunately you will have to play around with what days work the best for working out. Keep a log for a month a jot down how you felt after certain shifts and whether it was worth it going to the gym. I also like to see everything on paper so I put my gym days down on the calendar to figure out what will work best with my schedule. I don't have a set gym schedule every week, it's dictated by what my work schedule is.

Personally, I feel that depending on the type of workout you do combined with nursing, you may risk over-training if you want to go 5 days a week. Another option if you want to train 5 days a week is to incorporate a rest or de-load week every 4 or 5 weeks where you do lighter workouts or go fewer times. Of course everything depends on your body, listen to it! I've sandbagged workouts and put them off until tomorrow because I just wasn't feeling it. On the other hand, sometimes going to the gym after work makes me feel invigorated and I'm not as tired.

Hope that helps!

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Specializes in Cardiology, ICU.

I got a stationary bike for my home! It's a bit of an expense but both my husband and I really enjoy it. We have a bike that we can stream live spin classes to and it's very nice. If you enjoy at home workouts things like Beachbody On demand that you can stream to your TV are also nice. This cut down for me the time it took to drive to the gym and it's a lot easier to motivate myself to workout if I just have to walk downstairs vs. driving 10 min away!

I wake up at 3pm to workout/shower and make it into work by 545. It's tiring, and sometimes I'll skip a day or two but that's what works for me. I don't have any kids though :)

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