It’s 4:30am. The alarm goes off. It’s time to get up, or in about 10 minutes as lately I’ve succumbed to pressing the snooze button. The alarm wakes me up feeling okay about my sleep, but not amazing and completed refreshed. I’m feeling good, that’s for sure. Perhaps the 100% feeling is elusive.
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The first thing I do is jump into a cold shower. That really wakes you up now it’s cooler in the mornings and gets the adrenaline pumping. Afterwards, I head downstairs and start with an eight minute foam roller routine. I like it because it’s a good chance to get my legs warmed up. Then, I move into a slow and gentle stretch routine for another eight minutes. I use this time to listen to a podcast. By the time this is all done it’s usually just after 5:00am. I pack up my gym bag and drive to the gym, getting there around 5:15/5:20am.
I spend about an hour at the gym. I lift four days a week. Monday is upper body with a focus on shoulders, back, triceps. Tuesday is legs. Wednesday is chest and biceps. Friday is full body. It takes me about an hour to get through my routine. I don’t yet have the knowledge nor the desire to program my own routines, so I use a fitness app. On Thursdays I load up my backpack with 15kg and do an hour and a half ruck around the neighbourhood.
It can be easy to get bogged down as the choices here are almost endless. My biggest tip is to pick an app that works for you. This may be based on how long the workouts go for, the goals you want, and the cost. For me, I chose Centr because it popped up on a website massively discounted. Chris Hemsworth is ripped, I want to build muscle, so why not? I followed the routine, saw some good progress, and so this is the app that I use. My wife uses Sweat and sees good results from that app.
There is no ‘one app to rule them all.’ Pick one and commit to the exercises. Dedicate yourself to following the routine for a couple of months and see what the results are. This is only part of the solution though, as you need to eat well for muscle gain and weight loss. If you are seeing the results you want, then continue on.
Once we are home I have a protein shake – milk, whey, creative, then also have breakfast – which for me is three eggs on the side and peanut butter on toast. It’s a good way for me to get a solid amount of protein and good calories early on in the day as my focus is on building muscle. I like sitting out on the patio in the mornings as I have my breakfast. It’s a good way to relax and take in the surroundings. I like looking at into our lawn and garden, and hearing the birds chatter. I’ll use part of this time to read. After I have eaten, I’ll enjoy a long blank coffee outside too. It’s a great way to keep myself grounded and slow myself down. Coffee, so good!
On days where I’m working in the office, I’ll pack my lunch, shower, and head to the bus stop. I’ll use the trip in to do one of three things:
- continue reading
- watch some of a podcast
- jot down thoughts into my notes app.
On my work from home days, I’ll use the saved travel time to write. My system is just that I write, rather than having a goal of producing x amount of words such as 300. That way, I can use the time to explore thoughts, delete paragraphs and edit longer articles, or even just dot point out loose structures and thoughts for different articles. Other times I’ll be writing the entire time and can do 800 words.
WFH is also great for chores. After my shake I’ll put the laundry on and hang it up before work. During lunch I will also vacuum and mop.
I get to work around 8:15am. I leave between 4:00pm to 4:30pm depending on volume of work and urgency of new items that come in.
When I get home, I like to unwind from the day with movement. I’ll go on a walk around the block with my wife and talk about our days. I’ll go climbing with friends. I’ll walk around a table playing board games. It’s a good way to catch up with friends and family. I really enjoy routines here as it’s a great way to ensure that you are constantly connected with people. We see family on Monday night. Friendships are Tuesday and Fridays, and so forth.
We cook dinner early as we like to eat around 6:00pm. At the moment we use a lot of frozen vegetables as the cost of living as really increased these past few months. It’s so much cheaper to buy a bag of frozen vegetables over fresh veggies. The preparation is minimal though, which we’ve been enjoying. Empty a bag of frozen vegetables onto a baking tray, put protein on another, put it into the oven for 30minutes. Boom! Delicious meal incoming.
When we start winding down for the night, usually around 7:30pm, I’ll handwrite in my journal doing what I call a nightly reflection. I revisit the day and outline accomplishments, and then I focus on areas that I should improve in or focus on. It’s always neat to read back and remind myself of, and relieve some fond memories of some of the cool things we have done.
Then we are off to bed where we’ll read, which helps me to get ready for bed and clears the mind. Plus, it’s already great to teleport your imagination into a fantasy land full of magic and elves. That’s how I structure my weekdays.