Fitting in fitness: Effort, creativity can make workouts possible for busy workers

January 3, 2010

Fitting in fitness: Effort, creativity can make workouts possible for busy workers

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By Cody Ellerd Bay
Special to NWjobs

CODY ELLERD BAY

Rebecca Pellman works out with her personal trainer, Mike Hardin, using cat toys and books as props in her Seattle home.

While the end of 2009 found 10 percent of the U.S. population unemployed and with a bit more time on their hands, other workers who were asked to pick up the slack ended up more strapped for time than ever before.

Longer work hours -- not to mention the usual roadblocks to regular exercise, including parenthood, offbeat hours and multiple jobs -- can make a personal-fitness routine one of the first things sacrificed when life gets too busy. But does that mean that making the classic New Year’s resolution to get in shape is destined for failure by February?

“In today’s economy, it’s just a scramble,” says one employee, a marketing manager who says she has been working 10-hour days since a round of layoffs in June.

The employee, who works for a local company focused on sustainability, asked that she not be named for fear of tarnishing the company’s image. She says her employer “used to be more generous about the work-life balance, especially being a company that promotes healthy living. But I’ve put on 10 pounds in the last year.”

Mike Hardin, a personal trainer who makes house calls, hears this a lot in his business. “A good amount of the people I’m working with now are all stretched for time,” he says. “But for one reason or another, they’ve decided they need to make exercise a priority.”

Talk to your boss

Changing your workplace culture to a more fitness-friendly one may be easier than you think. Try these strategies when raising the topic with the boss:

Remind him or her that numerous studies, including a report in 2008 by the University of Bristol published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, have shown healthy employees have increased productivity, concentration, energy and creativity.

Propose a weekly lunch-hour workout with a fitness instructor, where employees pitch in a few bucks and the employer makes up the difference. It will be cheaper than the insurance costs down the road.

Invite the boss to participate. Working out together is a great equalizer and builds camaraderie.

One of Hardin’s clients is Rebecca Pellman. With a full-time job in corporate communications for T-Mobile, plus several freelance PR projects on the side, Pellman finds free time hard to come by. She doesn’t own a car and doesn’t feel safe walking in her neighborhood alone at night, so she hires Hardin to come to her Central District bungalow. For $90 an hour, he temporarily transforms her 450-square-foot space into a mini-gym three times a week, using everything from stacks of books to cat toys as workout props.

“The thing that’s really made my fitness regimen successful is that I’m accountable,” Pellman says. “I pay in advance, and it’s not just my time anymore; it’s his time, too.”

For those who can’t hire an in-home trainer for lack of either time or money, Kelly Singer, co-founder of the mobile personal-training and yoga company Sassy Fit, suggests doing calisthenics at work to help tone and burn calories without getting sweaty. “If you’re sitting down in a chair, you can just flex a particular muscle group, like your butt or abs,” she says. “Start with one minute and work your way up to five minutes, and you’ll feel it the next day.”

Other subtle activities can help, too, Singer says. Drink more water, which gets you out of your chair and walking to the cooler and the bathroom more often. Do calf lifts under the table during meetings, or schedule five minutes an hour on your calendar for jumping jacks in your office. “It’ll really get your blood flowing, and you’ll feel more energetic throughout the day,” Singer says.

Many trainers also make office calls. Hardin says that recruiting exercise-starved co-workers to pitch in for a lunch-hour workout makes the cost more affordable and helps co-workers motivate each other. “It gets people talking and exchanging ideas,” he says. “That creativity comes from being accountable.”

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7 Comments

Rob P. on January 3, 2010 11:50 AM | Reply

I've worked out with Mike Hardin and he's an excellent trainer. Well worth the cost.

Victoria on January 3, 2010 2:30 PM | Reply

Mike is an incredibly talented and skilled trainer! He is dutifully guiding my rehabilitation back from a shoulder injury. He goes way above and beyond just basic fitness training. Regularly calling my physical therapist to strategize on the best movements for my level of progress. When I first started working with Mike I could barely lift my arm now I am moving like a ninja!
Thanks Mike!

Chad Thompson on January 3, 2010 2:34 PM | Reply

Both my wife and I have used Mike to get us in shape and help keep us there. He is an extraordinary trainer that has helped me meet more fitness goals outside the gym than I ever could working out inside the gym. My advice is to save the money you would have burned on a gym membership and put it where it will really deliver results.

jamie on January 4, 2010 7:48 AM | Reply

Mike is a great trainer who motivates and challenges you -- and you'll have a fun time as well!

Victoria on January 5, 2010 12:30 PM | Reply

I have worked with Mike and I didn't like his training exercises and found him to be flighty. I never got anything out of my sessions except him laughing. I am now seeing a trainer at Rain and am running my first marathon this year!

Rebecca Pellman on January 5, 2010 1:34 PM | Reply

In addition to his skills as a personal trainer, Mike's sense of humor is one of the things that I really like about working out with him. He's focused throughout our sessions and pushes me hard to achieve my personal fitness goals, but he also brings some humor into it when appropriate. It's great to have a trainer who can give you a good, hard workout, deliver results, and also make it fun. Anytime I can laugh while doing squats I consider it a bonus!!!!

Janet Saunderson on January 7, 2010 7:31 AM | Reply

Mike Hardin is a wonderful trainer. I have trained with him on a weekly basis for over 4 years. His expert training and coaching skills have taken me from no athletic background to doing triathlons. The training sessions are hard work, but always fun. He is the best at helping you achieve fitness goals you never thought you had in you.

Fitting in fitness: Effort, creativity can make workouts possible for busy workers

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