With a 9 month old, and working from home my ability to work out has kinda gone to shit lately. Normally I like to get it all in and once (like everyone) but with his schedule, my schedule and the wife’s schedule that just ain’t happening. I’ve been considering breaking it up throughout the day in shorter segments, while the kid is napping. I’ve also thought about just working out late at night when everyone is gone to bed but I’m pretty beat by then. Anybody got any other suggestions?
Great question, man!
Welcome to dad life
Although, you're 9 months in, so pretty much a veteran at this point!
First, to answer your question: I've adjusted my schedule several times over the last 10 years or so based on whatever is on my plate. From a nerd standpoint (research studies), the piece that matters is getting it in, period. It'd be nickle and diming things to worry about cardio in the morning vs lifting in the evening (or vice-versa)
unless the spacing causes one to suffer. (I.e. you're so toast from cardio that you can't complete a lift...).
Second is the second half of your question, which is more strategy based. There's two options that come to mind:
(1) Look at your schedule. It'll adjust some here and there, but stays regular for the most part. Where is the
most likely you can tuck a workout in, in there? And, aim for practical....even if it's not optimal. Maybe you'd LOVE to workout for 60-minutes, but can't. Can you do 30 minutes? Because 30-minutes of a workout you CAN fit in your schedule beats a 60-minute workout you can never fit in right now.
(2) Can you increase the intensity for shorter duration AND/OR do a combined program like
@atomicathlete or
@mtntough? I've run a load of the AA programs and they're a great combination of hypertrophy/strenghth, aerobic capacity (cardio), and functional/recovery/maintenance (make sure you don't get hurt). This may be a better option as you yield as much reward in a shorter workout (in most cases...) as you would from doing a longer one at a slower pace.
There are times I've been able to dedicate more time to fitness and times when I cant. When I can, I do. When I can't, I call it a "season" where it's less and am just overjoyed that I get to allocate even a portion of my day to it.
Hopefully that helps!