Mid-Day Workouts: Yea or Nay?
Update: We still stand by this advice on mid-day workouts — but you may also want to check out some of our other office-to-gym issues, including our post on lunch workouts during the workday and the best streaming workouts to do at home.
Today, let's talk about a subject that we're sure is near and dear to everyone's hearts, particularly given the new guidelines that women should get at least 60 minutes of exercise a day: is it acceptable to sneak in a mid-day workout? How can it be accomplished with style and grace?
The main problem that we've always had with a mid-day workout is the fact that the hour dwindles pretty quickly if you head to the gym and plan on showering afterward. Let's say that you have an hour to workout:
- Subtract 5 minutes for the trek from your office to the gym (assuming it's somewhere very close, like around the corner)
- Subtract 5 minutes to get into your workout clothes, get “checked in,” get your towel, and secure your locker.
- Let's subtract another 20 minutes for a shower after your workout — by which we mean disrobing, bathing, and getting re-dressed in your work attire.*
- Subtract another 5 minutes to return to the office … with dripping wet hair and no makeup.
Which means that if you have an hour to work out, you're left with … 25 minutes for a workout. And you're still stuck with wet hair and no make up. For that reason, we've always tried to save the kickboxing/interval/running workouts for before or after work, and stuck to milder forms of midday exercise. For example:
A 30-60 minute walk around the neighborhood. Bonus points to anyone who doesn't do it in white aerobic shoes.
A Pilates or yoga video at your desk (assuming enough privacy in your office). We're not proud of it, but we'll ‘fess up to watching a Pilates DVD from our office computer. You can (for the most part) stay in your work clothes or (see above re: privacy) change into yoga pants in your office. Still: lock the door, tell your secretary something to keep her and others out, and keep the DVD's volume low.
A trek to the gym for weightlifting. You still have to deal with changing/traveling, but for the most part you can skip the shower afterward. (You can, of course, bring a variety of weights in to your office — a set of 5-8-12 pounds should serve you well for most instructional videos.
(Readers have always loved The New Rules of Lifting for Women; you can find a lot of great instruction online for free from YouTubers like Fitness Blender. If you're a DVD person, I always loved Jari Love; if you're ok to pay for a streaming service, Les Mills on Demand's Body Pump is great.) (affiliate links)
{related: the best free YouTube workouts}
* Obviously, you can skip washing your hair, and use a showercap instead — but by our estimation you only save about a minute or two. And while we're fans of dry shampoo sometimes, we generally find that they work best when our hair is dry — and not wet with sweat. But maybe we're wrong?
Looking for great workout shorts? See reader favorites and more in our recent roundup of the best shorts for summer…
Readers, how do you fit in a mid-day workout? Any products or tips to make it more efficient?
I’ve found a great solution (since I just can not block out a solid hour+ to work out in the middle of the day, and I would need to shower): I replaced my office chair with an exercise ball! By paying attention to posture (so as not to fall over), and working my abs staying upright, and giving my elgs a chance to move and flex, I’ve found that I’m not nearly as sedentary as if I were seated in an office chair all day. I also make 5-minute walking trips around my office floor once per hour, adding up to 40 mintues of walking in an eight-hour workday. Finally, I keep 5-lb hand weights beneath my desk, and do a few bicep curls from time to time. Works great!