Keeping in shape when you’re busy

Why am I bothering you with some personal fitness story you ask….. Well, if you’re like me, an office professional and over 50, then staying in shape, or lack thereof sneaks up on you gradually as your life fills up and your metabolism slows down.

There are many books written about keeping in shape and how important it is. And there’s a myriad of content available online telling you what works and what doesn’t, there are hacks, training and dietary advice, there are paid courses and we’re fed images of miracle transitions and super fit people over 50.

Personally, as I mentioned, being out of shape kind of snuck up on me. A long time ago I used to be fit and I had a lot of time to dedicate to exercise. In the past I rowed, I ran regularly and I even managed to do two marathons at a certain point. As life got busier, less time was dedicated to exercise and staying in shape suffered.

The “out of shape” sneaking up:

In my 30’s being out of shape was annoying, but nothing that you couldn’t solve with a week or two of knuckling down and going for runs and replicating some of the exercises from the outdoor trainings that made getting fit for the rowing season so grueling in the past. Job done and I could go back to ignoring staying in shape for a while.

In my 40’s a “pillow” appeared in front of my abs, and no matter what exercise I applied it was there to stay it seemed. To be honest with you I also didn’t have much time to really tackle it and when I did it would come back with a vengeance when I even so much as looked at a Barbeque or a restaurant. So, this was my steady state with some ups and downs in between.

After 50, the pillow had become part of the furniture and staying in shape took a further blow as even less exercise was done. To add insult to injury (pun intended). When I seriously started to do exercise, unexpected things would start to go wrong.

I’ll give you an example: once I spent weeks getting to a stage where I could do a small run without being out of breath or have my muscles filled with lactic acid; I got a little over confident and changed the route to include a slight hill to make it a little more challenging; as I ascended the said hill, my calf muscles felt tight; and sure enough as I neared the top I felt a sharp pain in my calf, I swear I could hear something snap. A whiplash in my calf made it very uncomfortable to walk back and I was out of action for weeks before I dared to put pressure again. I lost all the work I did and was incredibly surprised that this injury had happened, especially as I had been injury free my whole life and I didn’t understand why my body behaved this way.

I’m getting to the crux of what I want to share with you, so please stay with me.

Trying to get in shape again

Recently I’ve started to “get back in shape again”. I took it easy and I was slowly building up a routine three times a week that involves a weights routine and running. It was going well and no injuries, touch wood. However, the slow build up also meant that the progress was slow. I was definitely getting better at running although the calves would cramp up and it took really long before I could complete the round without being totally out of breath.

By chance I came across a video short on YouTube (www.fitfatherproject.com), that talked about a 7-minute exercise routine for busy dads. It tickled my interest as it did indeed seem like something that was doable and most importantly it advertised to take only 7 minutes of your day (10 minutes if you include stretching). I’ll share YouTube link below.

I decided to give it a go and see what would happen. The exercise schedule is simple and it looks like this

?

• Pushups: 4x 10s as many as you can do, take a 10s rest in between.
• 30s rest
• Burpees: 4x 10s as many as you can do, take a 10s rest in between.
• 30s rest
• Air Squats: 4x 10s as many as you can do, take a 10s rest in between.
• 30s rest
• Mountain climbers: 4x 10s as many as you can do, take a 10s rest in between.

·??????Stretching

The original extensive explanation can be found in the Video here: https://youtu.be/zg0Zc3pXbTM

I’ve done this for two weeks now and I’m not going to lie, this is hard work! The biggest obstacle to overcome as you roll out of bed though, is in your mind: It’s simply starting the exercises before you convince yourself that you can “skip a day of exercise” or whatever other excuse your devious mind can come up with.

So, what is the verdict so far?

• Cramps / tightness in calves have gone!
• As advertised, I have more energy, feel stronger
• I still do my 3 x a week original routine, but now I supplement with this 7-minute workout.
• Yesterday for the first time I ran my route and really felt “on top of it”
• It really is short and sweet it doesn’t take much time.
• No equipment needed
• Very little space needed
• You can do it anywhere
• It starts at whatever level you’re at and you get more reps in the longer you do it.

In short, I really like it and I will keep doing it every morning as well as my other routine. I haven’t lost my “pillow” yet but I feel great. So, if you are in a similar predicament as me, you may consider giving this short work out a go. Who knows, it may help you break out of your rut and get inspiration and energy to get back to being more in shape.