Finding the balance

[Spartacus Maximus]

A question for anyone training regularly while holding a full time job (that is not teaching martial arts) and having a family.

How much time are you able to spend training in a week, not counting time at the dojo or school?

Personally, it is a great week when 4 hours total is possible. Average is slightly less and not including 2 hours at the dojo on weekends. Maybe more can be done, but it is doubtful with 10h of work and family/children/household to mind.

[Alan Armstrong]

None of these question are related to my current life style; semi retired.

I can happily spend up to 2 to 6 hours a day training; anything over 36 hours a week is over training, anything under 10 hours a week is undertraining.

The older a person is more time should be devoted to being physically active spread out over time and less intense the opposite for the younger crowd, being more intense with activities with less time needed to practice them IMHO

[singularity6]

I have a full time job and I'm married, but no kids, yet. Class is only 2 nights (4 hours) per week for us, as it's a small school in a small town.

The apartment I live in has limited space - I cannot really do any of my forms in full. That being said, I do try to get a workout in at least 3 days aside from class nights. My workout includes many non-martial arts related exorcises like hikes in the woods, push ups, sit ups, pull ups, PT exercises (rotator cuff exorcises, leg lifts for my hips,) stretches. The martial arts activities I'm able to do in my limited space are my punches and blocks (with weights) and kicking in place. If I don't do a hike, my total workout with stretching is about an hour'ish. The hikes are typically about 4 miles, and they take me just over an hour of additional time.

[JazzKicker]

For many years I always had training on Tues & Thurs., from when I first started. I might have a black belt class or seminar on a Saturday. My other athletic pursuit was bicycling, I didn't do other kinds of training unless I was getting ready for a test.

My club eventually folded up and I've had a hard time finding a new home and getting back on a schedule ever since. Honestly it was a relief, I was getting bored and in a rut.

Now I do a combination of things- health club for weights, stationary bike or treadmill if the weather's not good, road bike or jogging, calisthenics and stretching, and backyard forms, weapons, etc. It's still probably about 4-6 hours a week, but it's efficient and I don't get bored.

I was unemployed for a few months recently, and I started to increase the time I spent exercising- but a couple of health issues cropped up for a week or 2 each, and it sidelined me for a while. That, and other priorities made me realize that there's only a certain amount of time I'll put into training, job or not.

[Bulltahr]

Married with 1 child, (She trains with me). I have a job with very defined seasons, so 5-6 months of the year I train very little, but when I am home every night for the rest of the year two 2 hour sessions are the minimum. double that when preparing for a grading. We also do yoga 1 night a week to complement the karate as I need to improve flexibility. Sometimes in the weekends we will practise on the lawn, katas or Kihons, but mostly pad work.

[Alan Armstrong]

Not easy to always keep the balance, while life happens around you, so switching to the flow can help keep the momentum going for a while, giving time to re-balance and making improvements, for when the time is right again.

Sometimes regaining the balance takes longer than we want; sometimes we don't have a choice in the matter; sometimes it is better to do what is right, things change; you can depend on it, balance like everything else takes practice to get good at it; better to look after it than to keep trying to regain it.

[Spartacus Maximus]

This question in one that comes to mind when thinking about the life of skilled martial artists. Especially those who have managed to continue training for decades while living a successful professional and family life.

[DWx]

I have to admit I suck at finding a balance. I swing between all in at work, 12-hour days with nights away from home, to spending every night plus all weekend at the gym / dojang to sometimes not training at all for a few weeks.

Unfortunately it means my social life suffers and anyone who isn't part of my work life or MA life gets left out. It's not healthy but I figure while I'm young...

[LLLEARNER]

A question for anyone training regularly while holding a full time job (that is not teaching martial arts) and having a family.

How much time are you able to spend training in a week, not counting time at the dojo or school?

Personally, it is a great week when 4 hours total is possible. Average is slightly less and not including 2 hours at the dojo on weekends. Maybe more can be done, but it is doubtful with 10h of work and family/children/household to mind.

Yes. 40+ hours at work. Full-time student (Double major in Finance and Managerial Accounting). Full-time father (1 daughter). Other half also works 40+ hours (nurse) and school for Nurse Practitioner. Oh, and a home remodel done by me.

[bushido_man96]

I work varying shifts which rotate every couple of months. This makes it very hard to retain any kind of consistency with a schedule. Right now, I make one night a week at class. My free time is pretty well spent with running kids here and there, helping with homework, and the just a bit of time to relax before going to work. My lifting schedule is on total hiatus right now, which really sucks.

I'm hoping I can add a few hours of DT club to the mix here next week, giving me maybe around 4 total hours of training time in a week.