Are you able to hit the gym?

Just started 2nd analyst year. Can only hit the gym on weekends, impossible during the week notwithstanding WFH, workload is just too high and cannot afford to spend 1h off if I want to sleep more than 4-5 hours on average.

Are you guys able to hit the gym?

38 Comments
 

I'll tell you what it's been getting harder and harder... Literally up at 6am to hardly get 30 min cardio in. Shower, breakfast, etc. by 7:30ish log in do some light reading or prep for the day starting 8ish. Meetings end by 7ish where I take an hour for dinner. Back on for some work 8 - 10 or 11. Wind down and asleep by 12.

I just feel like 8-9am and 7-8pm slots just aren't sacred anymore (especially the morning). No commute so we can all be on... Missing the days where I could get a full 60 min workout + sauna session in.

 
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Some advice from someone who has been in finance for a while, it isn’t always possible to find time (based on your company culture, manager, etc) but you will be materially more productive, a better employee, and overall happier if you make the time. And 9/10 times you can actually make the time but are holding yourself back based on assumptions of when you need to be available, how quickly you need to respond to emails, etc. I have found that taking a break and recovering (mentally, through exercise) have helped with longevity and productivity. 

 

You don’t need to spend an hour at the gym!! I stopped going to the gym for almost 2 months because it was easy for me to find excuses for why I didn’t have 60-90 minutes to spare. My workouts are now never longer than 30 minutes and it lets me go 7 days a week if I want to. Find/make a workout plan that gets has you going hard for 25 mins a day and you will not regret it. The idea that you can’t make gains or be in good shape unless you spend an hour+ at the gym is a myth. Consistency > everything else.

 

This. Used to workout out for 1.5hr+ and realized I could reduce my 4 assistance exercise sets from 4 to 2 and actually push myself to failure. I get in, do a 5/3/1x5 or something for deads, squats, bench and then 8 sets of assistance, stretch and I'm out. 30 minutes for chest, shoulders, triceps. 45 for legs, back (which I could realistically decrease to 30 minutes, but I'm a lazy fat ass who wants 3 minute rest periods for squats and deads). 

On days leading up to exams (I'm a junior) where I may not get ~8 hours of sleep, I'll still go and just not push to absolute failure. For full-time bankers you'll probably be doing more of that than me.

Last thing would just be being consistent. I go at 7am before anyone has time to bother me every morning. When I went 5x a week, I noticed going back to the gym from the days off was torture. So I recommend pushing to go everyday (even if there are days where you just do cardio or something)

 

Its tough man but why not cut your workouts to 30 mins, just do them more often, and do them in your apt? Got 15 mins between a call and nothing to do? Bang out 50 pushups. Later in the day same thing? Bang out 50 situps. I dont see why its 1hr traveling to the gym doing the whole song and dance or nothing at all. Obviously not ideal but better than nothing boys

 

I was same boat as a lot of comments above. I’d do the lallygagging stretch, workout routine that took 1.5 hr. Since wfh, I changed to my workout to 1,000 push-ups and 500 pull ups per week. However I decide to divvy it up depends on schedule and it’s incredibly flexible to whatever work schedule you have. I also throw abs in 3 times a week which literally is 15 minutes per workout. I’m way more consistent so the results have been noiiiiice

 

I agree that even small bursts of exercise wherever possible are useful. For me, I needed to start integrating movement into my life and recognize that nobody has eyes on me 100% of the time. I start and end my day with pushups and a one-minute plank. For during the day, I got one of those fold-up stationary bikes from Amazon (Peloton was too bulky for my apartment) and bought a small standup desk thing so I could take phone calls or do light work catch-up's / reading while cycling. More of my peers started doing this, so it normalized getting movement in while on a call (I'd never do this on a call where I'm presenting or with senior colleagues). I also started Gym Jones' plan (I found the PDF online), a lot of which I can do with bodyweight (DB's for the deadlifts...I'm not a serious deader like I used to be).

Nutrition is also a big piece of this. I've always loved cooking, so Sunday became my sacred hour for meal prepping and FTing friends to catch up during this time. Buddies are also welcome to pay me a visit to cook / eat a Sunday meal together. I've ended up getting around an hour of cardio a day and lost 15 pounds from the start of quarantine. I'm admittedly wasting money on my gym membership because I barely go anymore, but I tell myself that weekends offer more autonomy for the typical gym routine. Perhaps that could work for you - finding ways to integrate daily movement into your day and saving some of your weekend time for the gym.

 

Uh doesn't everyone else do what we do once a year? Where you nominate the biggest junior to fight the staffer? That's why I work out anyway, for when I'm (hopefully) called as tribute.

 

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