Spouses Working Out

[alotofyarn]

Has anybody been successful in getting their medical SO to workout with them? In addition to working out and dieting so that I can lose weight, I really just want to be healthy - especially for my family. I want to be around for them. I'd really like my husband to get healthy and be around too. I know he works hard during the day and just wants to relax, but most evenings he sits and drinks a beer and watches TV while I work out in the other room, usually after eating junk at the hospital all day. I can usually get him to join me once a week if I promise favors in return, and the workouts really kick his butt. These are 30 minute or less workouts, and they can be intense, but I don't feel like it's that bad. Sure, I get sore, but the workouts are pretty good at changing it up each day so you're not using the same sore muscles each day, for the most part. I don't want to force him, I just really want him to want to get in shape with me. And yes, I've told him all of these things.

[Phoebe]

My husband works out when he can but we have totally different tastes in exercise. I am a cardio girl and he does weight training only. If I could get him on the diet train I would happier.


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[TulipsAndSunscreen]

DH takes the stairs every single trip in the hospital and runs 3-4 days/week after the kids are in bed since fellowship started. In residency, he worked out 1-2x/week and at least one of those was a weekend morning with me.

He runs because it's the best cardio in the least amount of time.


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[SoonerTexan]

Heh. DH didn't work out intern year because the schedule was insane, so maybe it will be better when he's an attending? Once the schedule lightened up my husband went the opposite direction--I wouldn't mind him working out less. On the bright side, he is very healthy and it definitely improves his mood.

[alotofyarn]

DH takes the stairs every single trip in the hospital and runs 3-4 days/week after the kids are in bed since fellowship started. In residency, he worked out 1-2x/week and at least one of those was a weekend morning with me.

He runs because it's the best cardio in the least amount of time.


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I think they take the stairs some, but I don't know how much. Cysto and the ED are on the first floor, and the OR is on the second floor, so really it's only when they go see patients.

[alotofyarn]

Heh. DH didn't work out intern year because the schedule was insane, so maybe it will be better when he's an attending? Once the schedule lightened up my husband went the opposite direction--I wouldn't mind him working out less. On the bright side, he is very healthy and it definitely improves his mood.

He definitely has some crazy weeks, but this week is not one of them. He's not on call, and he's been home for dinner the last 2 nights. I've been feeling a lot better since I've been working out, and I think he would too if he would actually commit to doing it with me. I guess I should be happy that he's at least doing it once a week, and we'll work up from there slowly?

[SoonerTexan]

He's probably just got to find something he loves or come to the realization (probably with your help) that his current lifestyle isn't going to do him any favors in a few years. Maybe pull out some old pictures? Review family history? Appeal to his sense of competitiveness and say, "well X does this?"

Does he like any particular sports? Maybe a goal race and the couch-to-5k app? Beachbody videos? Something with a set schedule and goal always helped me.

You and have both been there--it's really hard to "get back into it" again. So much harder than it is to just keep going :/

[Howfunitis]

He's currently on his attending's diet. Bagel with cream cheese in the morning and a shake at dinner. He's lost a ton of weight but doesn't exercise because no time but he has mentioned about buying some weights so he'd like to


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[medpedspouse]

DH and I use to workout together with a trainer. We even have a funny picture where we were lying on a mat, head to head/arms linked, and do our crunches. The trainer grabbed my ponytail hair and made it look like DH had dog ears. We also eat pretty similar. Both lost weight when we did the Naturally Slim program (check it out - it is not a diet - more behavior modification). The one thing we do not share are endurance type activities. He likes those and I don't. If I need to travel 50-60miles, I get in my car...a bicycle is crazy talk DH does come to yoga with me every now and then. Which he thanked me for when we tried paddle boarding.

Thinking back, we have not necessarily shared a particular activity but have always shared the love of being active and being outside. The dietary part has always been similar too. We eat anything we want but have never been big portion eaters, snackers, soda drinkers and love fruits, vegetables.

What are your similarities? Maybe some of those can turn into activities? Ex. Hanging out with the kids at the park can turn into cardio time??

[MAPPLEBUM]

He works out as much as he can but just doesn't have much time. I'd say about 3x a week, maybe 4 if he's lucky. I agree it might help for your husband to find an activity he enjoys. When DH and I first met we went to the gym together every night and he was the one who did yoga. Now he's "not a gym person" and scoffs at yoga. CrossFit is funny because he knows the workouts are harder than anything he's ever done, but has still nix'ed it, saying it's my thing, not his. All he wants to do is climb. Though, this summer we've started riding bikes together again. He hadn't been interested in that for years. We try to go on Sundays.


As far as climbing goes, I tried to like it for years. Finally just admitted that it's a terrifying experience and I'd never get used to it. Recently he's been trying to get me to join the climbing gym, because there's a weight / cardio area and would be cheaper than my Snap membership. But really he's just trying to get me to belay him. The problem is he's using the argument I've tried so many years -- that it's an activity we can do together. So guess who caved and said she'd give climbing another try.

[alotofyarn]

DH and I use to workout together with a trainer. We even have a funny picture where we were lying on a mat, head to head/arms linked, and do our crunches. The trainer grabbed my ponytail hair and made it look like DH had dog ears. We also eat pretty similar. Both lost weight when we did the Naturally Slim program (check it out - it is not a diet - more behavior modification). The one thing we do not share are endurance type activities. He likes those and I don't. If I need to travel 50-60miles, I get in my car...a bicycle is crazy talk DH does come to yoga with me every now and then. Which he thanked me for when we tried paddle boarding.

Thinking back, we have not necessarily shared a particular activity but have always shared the love of being active and being outside. The dietary part has always been similar too. We eat anything we want but have never been big portion eaters, snackers, soda drinkers and love fruits, vegetables.

What are your similarities? Maybe some of those can turn into activities? Ex. Hanging out with the kids at the park can turn into cardio time??

Our similarities are that we like to eat and drink, ha! Probably not super helpful. We are generally just not very active people, so this is a big change for us. The junk food that he eats is mostly at work - the food that I cook is fairly healthy, although he will occasionally grab a snack after dinner too that is not super healthy, which annoys me.

We enjoy taking the kids for walks when we're both actually home and it's not super hot outside, but that's tough right now. He's never really worked out other than playing soccer as a kid. He will occasionally decide to run, but that lasts for like a week. He's worked out with machines before, either a treadmill, elliptical, or weight thing, but we don't have any of those at the house right now, or a membership to anywhere.

[alotofyarn]

He works out as much as he can but just doesn't have much time. I'd say about 3x a week, maybe 4 if he's lucky. I agree it might help for your husband to find an activity he enjoys. When DH and I first met we went to the gym together every night and he was the one who did yoga. Now he's "not a gym person" and scoffs at yoga. CrossFit is funny because he knows the workouts are harder than anything he's ever done, but has still nix'ed it, saying it's my thing, not his. All he wants to do is climb. Though, this summer we've started riding bikes together again. He hadn't been interested in that for years. We try to go on Sundays.


As far as climbing goes, I tried to like it for years. Finally just admitted that it's a terrifying experience and I'd never get used to it. Recently he's been trying to get me to join the climbing gym, because there's a weight / cardio area and would be cheaper than my Snap membership. But really he's just trying to get me to belay him. The problem is he's using the argument I've tried so many years -- that it's an activity we can do together. So guess who caved and said she'd give climbing another try.

Oh - we used to do climbing too, and we both really enjoyed that, but there's not a good gym close to us, so we haven't done it since we left Nashville. He'd probably say he likes hiking too, but again, not much of that to do here.

I think our bikes were among the things that were stolen when we moved here, so we don't have bikes either.

[alotofyarn]

He's probably just got to find something he loves or come to the realization (probably with your help) that his current lifestyle isn't going to do him any favors in a few years. Maybe pull out some old pictures? Review family history? Appeal to his sense of competitiveness and say, "well X does this?"

Does he like any particular sports? Maybe a goal race and the couch-to-5k app? Beachbody videos? Something with a set schedule and goal always helped me.

You and have both been there--it's really hard to "get back into it" again. So much harder than it is to just keep going :/

I should look at the pictures. He knows his health isn't great, but he'd rather just take medicine and act like he's not capable of controlling his cholesterol with diet and exercise. The diet has mostly gotten bad in the last year or two. I'm fairly certain his dad is a diabetic, so he's got that going against him too.

I've got a schedule of FitnessBlender videos that I've been doing, and it's working really well for me. 30 minutes or less, 4-6 days a week depending on how I'm feeling. He does it once a week and then says he's too sore to do it again until next week. Honestly, I think it hurt his pride a little bit too when he wasn't as good at is as he thought he'd be.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Would he join a running or biking group? Or is there a friend or co resident that would train with him?


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[alotofyarn]

Probably not. The other residents are all single and live on the other side of town. He hasn't really made other friends here.

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