Working out when you have a 9 to 5 job is challenging. Even with the best intentions and will-power, you will likely struggle to copy your favourite fitness influencer. If you want to get healthy and achieve your fitness goals you need to workout smarter.
Exercising is extremely good for you! It lowers your risk of many common diseases. It gives you more strength and energy when going about your day to day life. And it can also improve your mood and reduce stress. The NHS recommends that to stay healthy we should all do at least 150 minutes of exercise a week including cardio and resistance training.
This is all great and I love exercise. But I also work a demanding 9 to 5 job and balancing the two can be very challenging. It is very common for your health to take a hit when starting a 9 to 5 job. However not enough people seem to be talking about this. It is easy to say we should all be exercising more, but no-one is acknowledging the very real blockers many of us face.
In this post I explore why working out with a 9 to 5 job is challenging. I also share my top tips for making your fitness influencer inspired routine more realistic and still achieve your goals.
The dream we are sold by fitness influencers
I’ve been into health and fitness since my final year at university when I first found fitness influencers online. I began watching endless youtube videos about working out and meal plans. I also began fixating on how I could look like a “gym girl”. (What I called generic female fitness influencers who had a perfect body and modelled for fitness companies like gymshark.)
Some of the big influencers I followed at the time included Grace Beverly, Carly Rowena, Kayla Itsines, Zanna Van Dijk, Bella Rahbek and Jade Joselyn. My boyfriend and I watched a lot of the big male influences as well including Matt does fitness, Mike Thurston and Kinobody.
These influencers sold me a dream that by buying their fitness plan and following simple workouts I could look like them. Surprise surprise, this was not the case.
There are a lot of reasons why health and fitness plans may not work to achieve the body you want (genetics, income level, other responsibilities etc.). One reason in particular that always stood out to me was time.
Reality Check: Most influencers don’t work a 9 to 5 job
Most influencers, once they have become successful enough, quit their day job. They find that they can make more money on social media, in a more enjoyable way than in their 9 to 5 job. This makes sense and I don’t doubt I would do the same if I were them.
However this means when a fitness influencer is large enough to gain mainstream success, their lives no longer directly relate to the lives of many of their followers.
Fitness becomes their job so naturally it is their top priority. This means they are able to workout in a way that you simply can’t. This could be because of your working hours, long commute, overnight travel requirements or other life responsibilities. They can work out at whatever time is best for them. They can spend more time cooking nutritious meals. They don’t have to spend 8+ hours a day sitting down in an office.
Yes, some influencers did work a 9 to 5 job before they became successful and there is some good advice out there if you look for it. But a lot of the influencers I followed either got big while at university (and therefore never did a 9 to 5) or got big while working as personal trainers, so fitness was already a big part of their job.
The majority of the content I was viewing showed a very different lifestyle to mine. I didn’t initially think this was a problem. I figured with careful planning I could apply their advice around my job. However I kept running into blockers that were never mentioned in any of the videos. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do what they did and mostly I ended up tired and disappointed.
The conclusion I came to, after many years of trying to emulate these individuals, was to stop comparing myself to fitness influencers. Instead, by trial and error, I have come up with my own system to stay fit and healthy and that works with my 9 to 5 job, not against it.
I now workout smarter.
You only have so much time in a week
There are 168 hours in a week which sounds like plenty of time to get in a few workouts. But once you factor in time for sleeping, working, commuting and eating, the amount of free time you have available massively reduces. Add in household chores, relaxation time and other commitments and you find yourself having to make big choices around how to spend your remaining time.
The truth is that you can’t do everything. I’m yet to meet someone with a challenging job who can workout consistently, get enough sleep and have a vibrant social life. Generally you are going to have to sacrifice one or even two of these to fit it all in.
Some try to do everything and sacrifice sleep (the work hard play hard mantra). Some people don’t workout at all and eat takeaways every day to save time. Some people cut down their social events. If you see someone seems to have it all – do not believe it. Something in their life will be on the backburner or outsourced to free up time.
In addition, when you work a job with set hours, you have an added layer of restriction. If you want to exercise on a weekday, you are going to have to go either before or after work. This requires careful planning and high levels of motivation. It is easy for your early alarm to go off and for you to not fancy getting up that day. Similarly, it is easy to finish work and just want to collapse on the sofa instead of going to that workout class.
We are all very busy people and making time for fitness, above making time for other important things in our lives is tough.
You can’t make more time but you can make your time work better for you
Firstly I would be cautious following advice for how to be more productive. While it’s good to be more efficient, I’ve found a lot of this advice encourages us to do more and feel guilty for having relaxation time. Remember there is nothing healthy about burn-out!
Having said that, if you want to get into a good fitness routine with your 9 to 5 job, here are my top tips to fit it in and workout smarter:
Plan your workout routines into your schedule.
I do this every weekend for the following week. I find it mentally helpful to know when I’m working out, what days and what workout plan I’ll be following. It reduces the need to make decisions in the moment when I may be tired.
It does take away your ability to be spontaneous but if a new social event does come up, you can try swapping a workout day and rest day to account for it.
Factor in hangovers
If you drink alcohol, you’ll be familiar with hangovers. Most fitness plans recommend not drinking alcohol at all because hangovers have such a bad impact on your progress. However I have personally found it bad advice to stop drinking completely. This is because if I’m not drinking, I don’t go out as much with friends which makes me a sad and lonely human.
Instead I recommend being sensible with alcohol (don’t drink too much!) and factor hangovers into your schedule. For example, if you are going out on friday night, it is probably not sensible to schedule a workout for saturday morning. In this situation I would instead try to workout on the Friday before I went out.
Consider Multitasking
Combining activities is a good time saver. A good way of doing this with your fitness routine is to combine your workout with your commute (running to work for example) or combining your socialising with your workout.
If you have a friend who is into fitness, you can meet up with them to workout together. Exercise classes, group runs and hikes are all good ways to exercise and be social. I like doing parkrun with friends as we can run at our own pace and then chat before and afterwards as a group.
Working a 9 to 5 job is stressful and tiring
When you work fixed hours, you are restricted as to when you can go to the gym. This makes it more difficult to find the time to workout (as discussed above), but it also affects how good your workouts are when you do schedule them in.
Throughout the day, your energy levels rise and fall in line with your circadian rhythms. We are all different but generally have the most energy between 10 am and 5pm. Unfortunately this also coincides with the most common time to be at work. Therefore whether you choose to workout before or after work, it is likely that this time is suboptimal for your energy levels.
For a long time, I did my exercise in the evening, after finishing work. The main issue with this was dealing with the post work slump. After a hard day at work, the last thing I wanted to do after getting home was put on my gym clothes and leave the house again. And even when I got to the gym, it was always very difficult to fully push myself.
When you are following a structured training plan, every session needs to be fully energised in order to progress. Given my tendency to workout while exhausted from work, it is not surprising I struggled to improve each week.
In addition to being tiring, working a 9 to 5 job can also be stressful. Chronic stress is known to be bad for your health and can also affect your workout performance. When I’m stressed, I struggle to focus on my workout. I may rush workouts, skip workouts or generally just take my eye off the ball when it comes to health and fitness. After all, if everything is kicking off at work, the last thing on my mind is making sure I complete all 5 sets of squats at the gym.
Some people prefer to workout early in the morning to avoid these problems. However you may find instead that you are more stiff in the morning, more rushed for time and that you are overall getting less sleep.
Make small changes to help maintain a work-life balance
There is no easy solution for how to deal with the tiredness and stress of work. As humans we are still trying to find the best way to maintain a good work-life balance. So until a 4 day working week is introduced, my recommendation is to focus on small improvements that you can make in your normal routine to improve your overall health.
These improvements will compound to reduce your overall stress and increase your energy levels. (If you want to know more about how small improvements can impact your life, I would recommend the book Atomic habits by James Clear)
Some small changes that have helped me workout smarter include:
Getting enough sleep
- Going to bed at a set time every night to ensure you get enough sleep
- Reducing caffeine after midday
Improving nutrition
- Focus on eating home cooked meals as much as possible
- Plan a pre-workout meal to increase energy (Fruit works well!)
Reduce stress
- Make life easier for yourself by packing your gym bag the night before
- Always take a lunch break at work and get outside for some air.
Everything is you do, including exercising, is at peak time
The rush hour exists because so many people work a standard 9 to 5 job. Everyone is trying to do the same things as you at the same time. You commute in peak traffic. You have to queue for ages to get your lunch. It’s always busy when you’re out on friday and saturday night.
In addition, if you go to the gym before or after work, chances are it’s peak hours there. I’ve found most people go between 6-8am and 6-8pm, exactly the times I would also like to go!
If you are following a particular fitness plan, this can be a complete nightmare. All the key compound moves generally require special equipment and in some gyms getting a squat rack, deadlift bar or bench can be impossible. It is incredibly demotivating to get to the gym excited to do your workout and realise none of the equipment you want is available.
I’ve been following fitness influencers for years, and never once I have seen any of them discuss this very annoying issue. In fact in their vlogs, you only ever seem to see them in near empty, very relaxed gyms.
Yes you can swap movements around and try different exercises. But making progress is difficult when every week you do your moves in a different order or have to keep switching machines. Fitness influencers have the luxury of going to the gym outside peak times. Unfortunately for the rest of it, we have to get smarter.
Design your workouts around your gym to make life easier
Each gym has its own unique personality that you will quickly get to know. Identify the key peak times in your gym and any times that work for you that are a bit quieter. For example, a monday straight after work is busy at my gym, but a friday after work is much more relaxed. Keep this in mind and workout smarter. If there is a particular machine that is difficult to get, plan to do that workout in a quieter period.
Design each workout so that it makes your session easier. The design of your workout will depend on the layout and set up of your gym. But as an example, at my gym I like to do deadlift on the same day as hip thrusts as I can use the same bar and area in the gym for both movements. In addition try to only include 1 or 2 exercises which involve machines that are difficult to get. Embrace using the free weights section as these are generally always available.
If you are following a specific workout plan, then you will probably have to adapt it to make things easier in your gym. The best workout is the one that you can stick to. Don’t worry about deviating from your fitness influencer’s ultimate programme.
Finally if you still can’t get the machine you want, you will need to get comfortable with either waiting for them to finish, asking to swap in or doing a back up movement instead. I don’t enjoy doing any of these things (I’m usually too shy to ask people to hurry up) but sometimes needs must!
The rise of flexible working and how it can work for you
Since COVID-19 hit the world, there has been a big rise in the number of employers offering flexible working including the opportunity to work from home. If you are able to do this in your job, then it’s a great opportunity to save time and workout smarter.
If you can work from home, look to make the most of these days and the flexibility it gives you. As you are not in the office, it is much easier to workout at quieter times that better suit your energy levels.
You have the option of working out at lunch time. In winter this is particularly helpful for runners who want to avoid running in the dark. In addition, without a commute, you can work out earlier in the evening or later in the morning to avoid peak times.
If you are struggling to get in workouts because of time, tiredness or busyness, consider the flexible working your job offers and make the most of it.
Final thoughts
Do not feel like failure because you can’t keep up with your favourite fitness influencer. Working a full time job is tough. Naturally you have priorities other than fitness to consider when planning your week.
Consistency is the most important thing when it comes to a health and fitness routine so create something you can stick to. Workout smarter not (necessarily) harder!
Are you just starting a new job after graduating university? Click here for 5 steps to survive your first week of your new graduate job and how to survive your London commute.
