Time to exercise during the 3rd year??? (please say yes!)

[coop528]

Days/week, etc... is much appreciated.

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[Seaglass]

Yes. How much is very rotation dependant, but if it is important you will find time for it. The worst rotations will be surgery, Ob/Gyn, the best will be Psych. There may be days on Surg when you can't exercis at all but you should be able to fit in a couple times a week.

C

 

[southerndoc]

Do you count walking down the halls exercise?

Just kidding.

You will still have time to exercise, although it might be limited. Combine it with studying (ride the exercise bike while reviewing treatment algorithms, reading an UpToDate article, etc.), or join your hospital's gym and exercise during your downtime.

 

[coop528]

Thanks guys.

I HAVE to get control over my weight issue...the 30 lbs. I have gained the first 2 years!

Maybe since the third year will be more like a job (i.e. structured), I will do a better job of making it a part of my daily plan.

Thanks again.

 

[Vincristine]

Do you count walking down the halls exercise?

Just kidding.

You will still have time to exercise, although it might be limited. Combine it with studying (ride the exercise bike while reviewing treatment algorithms, reading an UpToDate article, etc.), or join your hospital's gym and exercise during your downtime.

Southerndoc, if your hospital has a gym, I sure as heck hope you use it at least in honor of those who didn't even know there were hospitals with gyms!

 

[fuzzyerin]

I hate to break it to you, but if you gained 30 lbs in the first two years, you're not going to have an easy time losing it third year - unless you count the fact that you may not eat as well in the hospital...

Here's an excerpt of what I wrote for our school paper a few months ago when I was on Ob - and many of my classmates commented on how it was SO TRUE! And you'll also see that I am an athlete...or at least, was, before third year....

"Now don?t get me wrong. Third year is wonderful. You?re actually in the hospitals, supplying patients with the knowledge you?ve gleamed from your first two years of medical school. Treating patients is a wonderful thing. But there are some things I?ve learned this year that were definitely a rude awakening.

Third year makes you fat. No longer can you cut class in the middle of the day to head to the gym for hours on end. Or use that ?Self Study? time to improve your 5K time. And the hospital doesn?t start at 9 am. Nor does it have snow days. Let me give you an example ? for the last three and a half months, I?ve been in Surgery and Ob/Gyn. This involves being at the hospital most days around 5 am and leaving by 6 pm (if you?re lucky). And don?t forget, you?re supposed to read for at least two hours a night about your patients or what surgeries your in the next day, etc. You shove food in your face for dinner, because you?re famished. This results in eating crap in the hospital cafeteria, like fried chicken or french fries or some variation on the theme. After dinner it?s around 7 pm. So you attempt to do your requisite reading, at which point you fall asleep in your book around 7:05 pm. You might wake up groggy at 8 pm and decide to crawl in bed and call it a night or maybe you manage to read 5-10 pages, which is a huge accomplishment. You?re drinking 3-4 cups of coffee or caffeinated soda a day, just so you can stay awake through rounds and lectures and three-plus hour cases. The gym? I have no idea what that looks like anymore. Hard to believe that in September, when this was all starting, I completed a Half Ironman Triathlon. Now I?m not even sure I could run 2 miles without collapsing."

 

[Kalel]

A great way to get exercise is to always take the stairs in the hospital. I never take the elevator unless I am going >3 floors up.

 

[Harrie]

Thanks guys.

I HAVE to get control over my weight issue...the 30 lbs. I have gained the first 2 years!

Maybe since the third year will be more like a job (i.e. structured), I will do a better job of making it a part of my daily plan.

Thanks again.

I wouldn't say that third year is more structured. It is more like a job, but not a regular job. You come in REALLY early and you will leave when your work is done. There is not structured start or stop time. There will be many times that you get to the hospital before sunrise and leave after sunset. I don't think I saw the real sun for my whole surgery rotation! On the other hand, there are some rotations where your work will be done in the afternoon and you will get to go home around 4. You will have time to work out on most rotations, but on some rotations you might not have enough free time. But I guess its all about priorities, I just tend to choose sleep over running most of the time!

 

[southerndoc]

Southerndoc, if your hospital has a gym, I sure as heck hope you use it at least in honor of those who didn't even know there were hospitals with gyms!

The hospital where I did my third and fourth year of medical school has a very, very nice gym that is used frequently by the public. In fact, they so encourage the public to work out that they have an ongoing campaign rewarding people who accumulate points by doing various health events (working out, yoga lessons, diet counseling, stopping smoking, etc.). Each month they award $100 to the person who accumulated the most points that month.

I'm not sure if the hospital where I'm doing my residency has a gym or not. I'm hoping they do. I'm still joining a Gold's, World Gym, or Bally's nearby... haven't scoped them out yet.

 

[Yosh]

I have found the gym not only convenient, but a God send after a crazy day on rotations. I go 4-5x a week, and find it a tremendous stress relief, and a good way to just let go of the hospital for a few hours.
Surgery, OB/Gyn, and cardiology were particularly demanding, and my gym time during those rotations were diminished, but still managed to squeeze a few visits a week in, without a problem.

You can make it fit in...just requires you to motivate after a long day of work...but you can do it!

 

[nofear]

If you want to loose the 30lb why dont you invest some money and get a nice trademill for your house. At nights when you get home and you need to do your reading you can read while you are on the treadmill for about an hour. Diet is obviously more important and what I would do is just grab a few zip lock bags and put a few scoops of protein shakes in there and you got a few good meals right there, plus i am sure your hospital has some kinda food that is healthy. Its easy loosing that weight, but if you are thinking about going to the gym and you have not or been lagging for the past two year then you might be ok in the begining and then you will find an excuse not to go. good luck

 

[Machiavelli]

A great way to get exercise is to always take the stairs in the hospital. I never take the elevator unless I am going >3 floors up.

Great advice, except I'd omit the >3 floors requirement. I lost about 15 lbs on my surgery rotation, mainly from running from the 6th floor ICU to the basement for a case to the 3rd floor surgical ward and back again for 13 hours a day.

Food choices are what they are: choices. You will be tired and grumpy and need to study when you come home and won't feel like cooking, but there are MANY things that you can still cook that are healthier than the nearest Big Mac. (Not to go on a rant, just don't give up on eating healthy because you're suddenly a 3rd year).

As for actually going to the gym, it will be very rotation-dependent. Surgery, OB, and possibly medicine will make it very difficult if you have to travel to go to the gym because of long hours. Psych, Neuro, peds, FP will all have plenty of time to work out in the evenings if that's a priority to you.

 

[Lara]

Um, let's say you've never really exercised regularly. I'm fairly thin, but I'm far from being "in shape". Now that I'm moving to a larger place I'm considering investing in a threadmill, but I'm worried I'll be too wiped out and tired of standing on my feet to think of using it at the end of the day. But if I'm tired by 3PM on a day starting at eight I don't know how I'll make it through rotations without improving my stamina through exercise.

 

[jakstat33]

i'd recomend buying a gym membership over a treadmill or any other piece of home workout equipment-- part of the struggle of maintaining (or obtaining) that awesome physique that you worked so hard to get will be motivation. what better way to gain and stay motivated than seeing others around you giving it their all in the gym.. that's what America is all about! haha

 

[Back34]

This might help you guys out a bit. I was trying to come up with ideas that would expedite my training sessions and somebody suggested using Therabands

http://www.bindependent.com/hompg/bi/bindep/store/aisles/exercise/bands/therabands.htm

Understand that I was a pretty hardcore lifter in my day (college football player) and the just the thought of using these "sissy," pastel - colored, rubber bands to train with, back then, would have had me in stitches. Well, med school came around and I found myself spending zero (literally) time in the gym.

I ordered the Therabands and they were WAY tougher than I expected (especially the gold "super max" type). I might go so far as to say that in a way, they're tougher than weights because you're forced to use your stabilizer muscles to a greater extent (moreso than with free weights). The only limit to the number of exercises you can do is your imagination (my personal favorites are resistive pushups and overhead presses). Used correctly, these things get you really strong, e.g., I was stuck at 275 on the bench with my erratic / non - existent lifting schedule; I started using the bands consistently, did some bench presses to see if I had gotten any stronger, and threw up 315 without much of a problem. The best part about it, I use them no more than 10 minutes a day.

As far as maintaining cardiovascular fitness, I do intervals (high - intensity work (sprints, etc) with periods of lower intensity (jog, etc) work interspersed, a.k.a. "fartlek training." Again, the beauty of this type of exercise is the little amount of time needed to get a great workout in (15 - 20 minutes).

Hope this helps.

 

[JohnnyJ]

Its definitely more difficult but you dont have to resign yourself to the fat farm during rotations. I think its far more important that you keep your diet clean so low fat protein and low GI carbs. I ate craploads of tuna in those vacuum sealed packages, meal replacement bars, and protein shakes that you can mix with a little water. More fake food than Im accustomed to but better than scarfing down fast food or the fried cafeteria fare. Basically get stuff you can inhale in less than 3 minutes thats good for you.

As far as excercise, its all about efficiency and planning. I would stick to 20-30 min HIT cardio sessions and lifting to preserve muscle mass (more reps, less heavy weight per set) at <1hr per session. If youre starting rotations with high body fat and little muscle mass, then i wouldnt embark on a strenuous lifting regimen.

I came out of rotations with some loss of muscle mass and BF % creep but I think it had more to do with my irregular sleep schedule and all that cortisol shooting through me from all the stress. I did manage to honor everything and I think the excercise and diet had a large part to do with it (its easier to scut with a smile on your face when youre fit )

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

the diet and training JohnnyJ is doing is a great way to go. 20-30 min of training in the gym goes a long way if you keep the intensity up. Using the steps at work as machiaveli mentioned is also a great idea as well since over a period of 8 weeks you will burn a lot of calories. little changes like using the steps at work can make can make a huge impact if you are conistent.

If you have the motivation and live with people who will not interrupt you then there is a lot you can do at home as well:jump rope, yoga( even for the guys), workout tapes, use a dumbell set, swiss ball, exercise bands as well as doing PT stuff without weights like pushups, abs, various lunges & squats, pullups, dips. Putting all of that together allows you to hit all of the muscle groups and gives some variation at home if you can stay motivated.

You don't have to do a HIT routine. The most important thing is to KEEP moving and to be consistent.

 

[psi1467]

i try to get in 1-2 hr/day 5 days a week. on easy rotations you can get some extra weekend cardio too. unfortunately you can only get tanked a couple of times a week on most rotations

 

[ultane123]

during rotations, how much sleep do you get? i find that if i'm on 6.5 hrs sleep without working out, i'm tired as hell the next day. but if i lifted and then slept 6.5 hours, i'm more alert and attentive the next day. i wonder why that is???

i try to get in 1-2 hr/day 5 days a week. on easy rotations you can get some extra weekend cardio too. unfortunately you can only get tanked a couple of times a week on most rotations

 

[doc05]

sleep? you'll probably sleep 4-8 hours/day depending on your rotation. as for exercise, you can, so long as you can manage your time wisely. I suppose you could say that 3rd is the first time many of us are actually subjected to "grown-up" schedules. figure it out now, or you'll never find the time to exercise as a resident or attending.

 

[LotaPower]

Do you count walking down the halls exercise?

Just kidding.

You will still have time to exercise, although it might be limited. Combine it with studying (ride the exercise bike while reviewing treatment algorithms, reading an UpToDate article, etc.), or join your hospital's gym and exercise during your downtime.

wow, hospitals with gyms? that would be a sweet idea. it would have to be pretty big though...anyone know any residency programs that have gyms in their hospital?? I think i'm gonna list that as one of my criteria for applying to a program, cuz no matter what you say, driving to the gym is almost impossible when you're tired and just wanna drive home...having a gym on your way out from work would make things a lot easier

 

[carrigallen]

during rotations, how much sleep do you get? i find that if i'm on 6.5 hrs sleep without working out, i'm tired as hell the next day. but if i lifted and then slept 6.5 hours, i'm more alert and attentive the next day. i wonder why that is???

My uneducated guess is that you get a greater % of delta-wave sleep when your muscles are tired. It may also be more related to the relief of stress from working out.

Does anyone have any special advice for nutrition during 3rd year? I eat a lot, so I guess I will need to be carrying around nutrition bars, bananas, canned food, frozen dinners, etc?

 

[tigershark]

I'm in the gym at least once per day (twice daily when in a cutting phase).

3rd year hasn't slowed me down much. I continue to hit personal records in the bench, squat and deadlift etc.

One thing that is more difficult 3rd year is eating correctly, which is 90% of your physique. I have to spend much more time preparing meals in advance to take with me. I've found eating to be the biggest obstacle to reaching my physique goals udring 3rd year, working out is not really an issue. If you eat crap you will look like crap, no matter how much you are working out.

 

[fourthyearmed]

Third year was when I really gained the weight! Watch out!

 

[vegas]

No time to exercise during surg. rotation well, may be not so true! When you are expecting one of those long surgical cases, I mean the cases where if you've "seen one you've seen em' all" sort of cases, and there's no room for you to scrub in and can't see a thing, instead of sitting in the corner shivering, sneak out for 25min when the lights go off, and run to the hospital gym. Treadmill 10min, stair master 5min, free weights 5min, hoops 2min, deoderize 1min and your back in the OR!

Oh, if anybody asks, you were in the restroom

 

[Hercules]

I'm in the gym at least once per day (twice daily when in a cutting phase).

3rd year hasn't slowed me down much. I continue to hit personal records in the bench, squat and deadlift etc.

One thing that is more difficult 3rd year is eating correctly, which is 90% of your physique. I have to spend much more time preparing meals in advance to take with me. I've found eating to be the biggest obstacle to reaching my physique goals udring 3rd year, working out is not really an issue. If you eat crap you will look like crap, no matter how much you are working out.

I'm jealous of your third year! During one of my nastier rotations we had a 36 hour shift every 4 days. That pretty much knocked out any hopes of being at the gym every day for me. 4th year has been great, though.

 

[bigfrank]

There is definitely time to exercise during the third year. Unfortunately (in terms of weight), there is also time to eat fast food, watch TV, party, and go to movies...............