Not Just a Man's World

In previous weeks, I have covered various specific nutrition, workout and clothing techniques to ensure that you are in the best state possible to do a good quality workout when you get home, I am all too aware that there are times when things just don’t seem to work out the way you want.

Here are a few final suggestions on general survival, since I am well aware that women in particular often have a reputation for being far too diligent, even when they are doing something that they don’t really enjoy (or they have something, like a workout, that they would much rather be doing).

13.     If you’re really busy, watch the clock or use your calendar
If I can see I have a particularly busy day ahead of me, I find that my electronic calendar at work is my lifeline.  At the start of the day (or at the end of the day before) I make 3 or 4 private ‘meetings’ with myself, each about 5 minutes long.  These are meal and snack breaks.  They can even remind me to drink from my water bottles on a really bad day.  I know that, even with the food on my desk, time will slip away and the first I’ll know of a need to eat is when I’ve ignored the hunger pangs for so long that my body has given up and I’m not hungry any more.  And that is too late to be eating on a training day.

14.     Have a contingency plan
If all else fails, have a back-up plan.  There will always be the worst days when it all goes wrong and you are still stuck in the office until late at night.  My contingency plan is to do two of my four workouts on weekend days and have my shorter workouts planned for mid-week days.  I also have these shorter mid-week sessions planned for Tuesday and Wednesday so if something happens on Tuesday or Wednesday there are still days I can move the workouts on to without running into the weekend.

15.     Don’t punish yourself about it
If the very worst happens and you end up missing out a workout in a week, don’t beat yourself up about it.  The worst happens to all of us when it comes to fitting in workouts.  But don’t use work as an excuse either.  Consider whether there was something you could have done differently to avoid it happening, and if so, do it!  And if you’ve missed a lot of workouts, perhaps it’s time to spice up your workouts again to give yourself a reason to leave work.

I’m sure you’ve developed your own methods to cope with work.  What do you suggest?

Related posts:

1. 15 Ways to Survive a Desk Job – Part 3 (clothing)
2. 15 Ways to Survive a Desk Job – Part 2 (workouts)
3. 15 Ways to Survive a Desk Job – Part 1 (food and drink)
4. Lessons learned: office survival