How to Sneak in a Lunchtime Workout

Getting in a workout during your lunch break is one of the best uses of your lunch break and it will give you a much needed break from work. Working out during lunch will refresh you and give you the mental clarity to power through the rest of your day.

However, it can be a bit difficult to eat lunch, get ready to exercise, workout, change clothes again and get back to work in the span of one hour. If you plan ahead and use your time wisely, you can accomplish all this with time to spare! Here are some of my best time saving tips to help you get a lunchtime workout!

Plan and Prepare Your Lunch​

If you have to leave work to get lunch or stand in line in the cafeteria, you are not going to have time to workout. This is my you should prepare and bring a healthy lunch to work. Plan to bring a healthy lunch that you can snack on throughout your day. You also might want to wait till after your workout to eat.

When I worked in a office, I would bring healthy snacks and graze every couple of hours. This way I could dedicate my whole lunch hour to my workout. After my workout I would get back to my desk and work while eating my salad. So the time spent eating lunch didn't take up any of my lunch hour. ​

Plan Your Outfit

One of the biggest pains in the butt is undressing from fancy, wrinkle prone work clothes into gym clothes and then back again. Try to see if there are some pieces of gym clothing that you can wear under your work clothes. For example, I would always try to wear my spots bar under my work clothes so I would save time changing to workout clothes. ​

You can even wear a fitted gym tank under that nice sweater, get creative! Just remember to have clean clothes packed so that you can change into them after your workout. ​

Hair and Makeup

Hair and makeup can take up the most time when you are trying to fix it so you can go back to work. On days that you want to workout, style your hair up in a ponytail or braid. This will make you easily transition between exercise and work. I also recommend going light on the make up. I always stuck with foundation and mascara (waterproof). It was simple yet effective! ​

Shower?

Depending on how intense and how sweaty you get you may or may not want to take a shower. If you just do a light workout, a shower might not be needed. You can just clean up with a towel and baby wipes and then touch up your makeup.

If a shower is necessary, do not wash your hair. Use a shower cap to keep the moister away from your hair so it doesn't get frizzy. You can even use a little dry shampoo if you feel like you need it. ​

Pre-Plan Your Workout

Know what exercise you want o do that day. If you are going on a run or walk outside, plan the route ahead of time so that you know how long you're run should last. ​If your workplace has a gym or you plan on going to your gym try to do a interval workout to burn the maximum amount of calories.

Regardless, you don't want to waste time wandering the gym thinking about what your workout should be. You can also consider shortening up your warm up if you are short on time and don't worry about stretching.

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