Time to exercise,etc in DO school???

[Tyler Derden]

It seems the search function is not working ...

I was just wondering if during DO school most of you found a little bit of free time for whatever you need to cleanse your mind... I am a competitive cyclist and usually train about 10-15 hours per week. I am curious if I happened to go to DO school if I could continue to do this as my only outlet. Of course I mean have time to do this without sacrificing things like sleep. Everyone talks about how demanding it is, but I can't function with less than 6 hours of sleep and rigorous exercise at least three times per week so I am hoping to see if this is even an option before looking into being a DO a little further. FWIW I am an engineer with BS and MS so I understand demanding course schedules, but I have no reference for medical school except “it is tough and takes a lot of time”.
Thanks for any input you can give on this subject!

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[!dr_nick!]

yes, but im not allowed to talk about it.

 

[Tyler Derden]

yes, but im not allowed to talk about it.

Come on somebody has to have $.02 to throw in on this??? Can you make a couple of hours time to workout twice a week and on weekends without any trouble?

 

[crys20]

i mean i'm not in med but if it's important to you you'll make time for it right. 1st yr would definately be doable (my bf is a med student so i've been thru this)...2nd yr you may par it down but maybe not. people go out a lot, generalyl, in med...say you dont go out as much, then you'd have plenty of time.

 

[Fenrezz]

It seems the search function is not working ...

I was just wondering if during DO school most of you found a little bit of free time for whatever you need to cleanse your mind... I am a competitive cyclist and usually train about 10-15 hours per week. I am curious if I happened to go to DO school if I could continue to do this as my only outlet. Of course I mean have time to do this without sacrificing things like sleep. Everyone talks about how demanding it is, but I can't function with less than 6 hours of sleep and rigorous exercise at least three times per week so I am hoping to see if this is even an option before looking into being a DO a little further. FWIW I am an engineer with BS and MS so I understand demanding course schedules, but I have no reference for medical school except “it is tough and takes a lot of time”.
Thanks for any input you can give on this subject!

Of course you can do that. Med school doesn't suck away every minute of your day. You can take a few hours off a day to exercise and such. There will be times where you will have lots of free time, and times where you will have none.

The only time you'll have a problem with being able to keep up a workout schedule is probably the week before and during finals week. Most likely you'll have to sacrifice the things you like to do then, unless your only concern is to pass your classes.

 

[wook]

yes

 

[OnMyWayThere]

Touro-NV just built a full on gym at their campus with basketball / volleyball court... Western U gives $100 towards membership at the gym of your choice... so yes, there is time to work out.

 

[Doc 2b]

I have a friend that just graduated and he ran four marathons during his first tow years. Like he said, you can't finish top of the class and do that, but his goal wasn't to get into a competitive residency. Someone told me one time and I think it fits here, "you have time to do anything you want to in medical school, except waste time."

 

[jawicobike]

It seems the search function is not working ...

I was just wondering if during DO school most of you found a little bit of free time for whatever you need to cleanse your mind... I am a competitive cyclist and usually train about 10-15 hours per week. I am curious if I happened to go to DO school if I could continue to do this as my only outlet. Of course I mean have time to do this without sacrificing things like sleep. Everyone talks about how demanding it is, but I can't function with less than 6 hours of sleep and rigorous exercise at least three times per week so I am hoping to see if this is even an option before looking into being a DO a little further. FWIW I am an engineer with BS and MS so I understand demanding course schedules, but I have no reference for medical school except “it is tough and takes a lot of time”.
Thanks for any input you can give on this subject!

A student here just finished his second year. Much like yourself he is an avid biker. He has a wife and a child and he trains about the same as you 10-15 hours per week. He's ridden in a lot of races the past couple of years and to my knowledge he is doing great in classes. This is obviously anecdotal, but obviously I would say the answer to your question is yes you can take time to yourself and exercise or whatever.

 

[Tyler Derden]

A student here just finished his second year. Much like yourself he is an avid biker. He has a wife and a child and he trains about the same as you 10-15 hours per week. He's ridden in a lot of races the past couple of years and to my knowledge he is doing great in classes. This is obviously anecdotal, but obviously I would say the answer to your question is yes you can take time to yourself and exercise or whatever.

Thanks for the real world feedback. Truth is I probably am 2 times as productive by taking those 15 hours a week so no matter what the academic demand it is a good time investment.

Just so you know, I don't ride a Harley and have a bunch of tattoos, I am an avid cyclist...

 

[Fin-Nor]

didnt have any trouble with 1st year and i work out and play video games.

 

[Tyler Derden]

didnt have any trouble with 1st year and i work out and play video games.

OK great, really I wanted to know if I had to give up video games, but made up the lame excuse about training. Now that I know I can do both, I will look more fully into DO as a career change

 

[Kubed]

OK great, really I wanted to know if I had to give up video games, but made up the lame excuse about training. Now that I know I can do both, I will look more fully into DO as a career change

Just remember, you're not just playing video games, you're training for a future in laparoscopic sx.
--matt

 

[OSUdoc08]

It seems the search function is not working ...

I was just wondering if during DO school most of you found a little bit of free time for whatever you need to cleanse your mind... I am a competitive cyclist and usually train about 10-15 hours per week. I am curious if I happened to go to DO school if I could continue to do this as my only outlet. Of course I mean have time to do this without sacrificing things like sleep. Everyone talks about how demanding it is, but I can't function with less than 6 hours of sleep and rigorous exercise at least three times per week so I am hoping to see if this is even an option before looking into being a DO a little further. FWIW I am an engineer with BS and MS so I understand demanding course schedules, but I have no reference for medical school except “it is tough and takes a lot of time”.
Thanks for any input you can give on this subject!

Plenty of time

especially if you don't go to class

 

[HoodyHoo]

does anyone here workout in the morning before class? and if so, do you find that is helps your energy level throughout the day, or do you get tired during your classes?

I've thought about starting to work out in the morning but it sounds so frickin' horrible.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

if you are able to workout in the morning and have a tough schedule that is usually the best way to go. That is when you have the most control of your day as long as you wake up in time and get to the gym on schedule. Hopefully this gets you in bed at a respectable time as well so that you can have a nice workout. Try not to over do it when you are first starting off and don't eat a huge meal after your workout so you want to go back to sleep.

I feel more energetic during the day when I have been working out consistently regardless of what time I workout.

does anyone here workout in the morning before class? and if so, do you find that is helps your energy level throughout the day, or do you get tired during your classes?

I've thought about starting to work out in the morning but it sounds so frickin' horrible.

 

[Kubed]

AM workouts ... Bleh!. I've allways been a fan or working out late at night. Helps me drop off to sleep faster.

 

[zreagle]

Come on somebody has to have $.02 to throw in on this??? Can you make a couple of hours time to workout twice a week and on weekends without any trouble?

Prior to starting med school I was an ironman triathlete with plans to keep racing through school. The difficulty with med school is not only feeling time crunched (which you do feel almost constantly) but is the guilt thing. Whenever you are doing anything besides studying - you feel like you should be studying. Assuming you are doing alright in your classes (most people do - something like less than 1% of student fail out of med school) you just have to overcome the guilt.

As for me I ran a marathon last year (did not get to train as much as I wanted to but ended up 7th in my age group, so it was alright) and am going to do an ultramarathon during my second year. So it can be done, but training will suffer during exams at least it did for me.

Good luck - DO school was a career change for me too. feel free to PM me.
-Z

 

[double elle]

Bottom line -
If it's an important part of your life, you CAN'T AFFORD to stop doing it. If time was limited, I would skip 1 class a day and go exercise. I'd change in the restroom, have my CD player and literally take off from the classroom doors and go run. I'd come back sweaty and ugly - but I didn't care. It was important.

Medical school is an endurance challenge...stamina is important and exercise helps with that. Now that I know I will be going into surgery, I feel this is more important than ever.

Most times, fitting it in will be no problem....but when time is tight, exams are around the corner...I think that's the most important time to make sure you fit it in. Losing a hour per day isn't going to make/break your grades.

 

[Dr Alo]

As you can probably tell from my blog, I never attended class and spent my days studying, afternoons playing intramurals and evenings just chilling. No I am not the super smart type that does not need to study. i studied like a maniac and read material multiple times just so i can retain it. But I spent at least 3 hours a day playing sports in my first year. Second year i played even more sports. And now while on rotations, I play pick-up basketball every night in our school gym.

Don't change for med school.

 

[mcandy]

It seems the search function is not working ...

I was just wondering if during DO school most of you found a little bit of free time for whatever you need to cleanse your mind... I am a competitive cyclist and usually train about 10-15 hours per week. I am curious if I happened to go to DO school if I could continue to do this as my only outlet. Of course I mean have time to do this without sacrificing things like sleep. Everyone talks about how demanding it is, but I can't function with less than 6 hours of sleep and rigorous exercise at least three times per week so I am hoping to see if this is even an option before looking into being a DO a little further. FWIW I am an engineer with BS and MS so I understand demanding course schedules, but I have no reference for medical school except “it is tough and takes a lot of time”.
Thanks for any input you can give on this subject!

You will find time to ride. It will be hard at first because you will feel overwhelmed and inadequate. Get a few exam cycles out of the way, learn how to manage your time, and trim the fat off other unimportant activites and you can ride alot. I rode some first semester MS1, but definitely found more time later when I was comfortable with the way things worked...actaully once i realized that exercise helped me be sane and do better on tests...and once I realized that you are never "done" studying (there is always more) so make time for yourself. I would guess i rode between 10-15hrs/week unless it was a big week of exams...be prepared to sacrifise your fitness at times.

I have an identical educational background to you, you will find the information not difficult, but the time commitment is much MUCH more demanding than grad school/engineering stuff. Best of luck.

 

[apass]

I think this can be done and if you do it right your grades will NOT suffer. I am a marathoner and triathlete not an ironman like zreagle which is amazing . I will say that I had to choose one sport like just running and lifting my swimming and bike training suffered but my grades were good. I ran a marathon my first year but decided to take a break my second year from marathoning.

Sure you may miss some of the drinking and parties but you will get your rides in especially if you are an earlier riser.

I have a similar background to you BS and MS in engineering - I think you will do GREAT

It seems the search function is not working ...

I was just wondering if during DO school most of you found a little bit of free time for whatever you need to cleanse your mind... I am a competitive cyclist and usually train about 10-15 hours per week. I am curious if I happened to go to DO school if I could continue to do this as my only outlet. Of course I mean have time to do this without sacrificing things like sleep. Everyone talks about how demanding it is, but I can't function with less than 6 hours of sleep and rigorous exercise at least three times per week so I am hoping to see if this is even an option before looking into being a DO a little further. FWIW I am an engineer with BS and MS so I understand demanding course schedules, but I have no reference for medical school except “it is tough and takes a lot of time”.
Thanks for any input you can give on this subject!

 

[Revolution #9]

yes, but im not allowed to talk about it.

Come on somebody has to have $.02 to throw in on this??? Can you make a couple of hours time to workout twice a week and on weekends without any trouble?

I guess someone missed the obvious reference to Fight Club. Come on, don't take that name if you dont know the movie

 

[!dr_nick!]

I guess someone missed the obvious reference to Fight Club. Come on, don't take that name if you dont know the movie

Im glad SOMEONE finally picked up on it.

 

[Tyler Derden]

I guess someone missed the obvious reference to Fight Club. Come on, don't take that name if you dont know the movie

You just violated the first three rules ... I was looking for an answer to my question rather than a one liner about my Username... and BTW thanks to all that did. Good to know you can still have a life outside of class.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

does anyone here workout in the morning before class? and if so, do you find that is helps your energy level throughout the day, or do you get tired during your classes?

I've thought about starting to work out in the morning but it sounds so frickin' horrible.

Morning workouts aren't bad. I currently work 10 hrs days and go to the gym before and after work.


Yes, I go to the gym at 0430.


I plan to keep this up once I start school in the fall as I was able to do it through grad school.