My 5 to 9 Routine: Balancing the Gym, a Dog, and a Full Time Job

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I see a lot of posts about women’s 5-9 routine before they start their job. I actually read a woman’s 5-7AM routine, which was wild to see how much she fit into her morning before work. None the less, I was inspired to share my own. I sometimes forget how much I have taken on and that I am trying to balance. This was the whole reason I wanted to start this blog was to show that it is possible to balance everything as a working girlie.

So here’s my morning routine Monday – Friday

5AM: Wake Up

There was a time in my life when I woke up at 4:30AM because a business coach told me to. This was kind of insane as it was the pandemic and my job didn’t really demand that I start work too early. 

However by waking up this early, I realized my phone alarm wasn’t cutting it. So I bought a gentle, sunrise alarm clock and it really changed mornings for me. 

The science behind the sunrise alarm clock is that our body evolved to work with the sun. So as the sun rose, even behind closed eyes, our body was preparing to wake up and start the day. 

Where I live, we lose a lot of sunlight in the winter and don’t fully see the sun until 8:30 AM in the deep, dark depths of winter. So if I want to get myself up, without disrupting my bodies natural rhythms and causing myself undue stress, the sunrise alarm clock really helps. 

I set it to a 20min timer, which means it turns on at a very low brightness 20 minutes before I want to wake up. Then it gradually gets brighter until my set wake up time. Back then, this helped me get up at 4:30 AM, but now it wakes me up at 5AM. 

The nice thing about where I live now is that it isn’t a mad dash to get up at 5AM and then get out the door in 20 minutes to catch a bus. No, now I wake up at 5AM because it gives me that same amount of time to slowly wake up. I can sit in bed for a few extra minutes, let my eyes adjust to the light, and then pick a live set for my workout.

5:20AM: Take Dog Outside for a Pee + Pre-Workout #1

Once I am in my gym clothes, have tied up my hair and have given the dog a good belly rub, I take him outside. It is important to note that this step is only included when I am taking care of this dog. But I thought it was important to include here as I know many professional girlies like me also have a furry friend that needs attention in the morning as well.

This trip outside is just a quick empty out and I don’t count this as his first walk of the day. He is an older dog so he is great left on his own and doesn’t need to be going outside every hour like puppies do. Maybe when I get my first puppy I’ll update this article to include how I balance that with my workout routine.

Once we get back inside, I give him a good head scratch, tell him he’s a good boy and start to put together my pre-workout.

In my supplements article I mentioned that I take 2 pre-workout supplements. The first one is a crucial part of the routine of waking up early. It tastes good, and it gradually starts to give me a boost of energy that I need before the sun rises. Especially in the winter months when I need the extra energy and motivation to trudge through the snow and cold weather.

Once that one is done, I add the second scoop of pre-workout to my shaker bottle, add some fresh cold water to it, and then put that away in my bag. The second pre-workout serves as a true performance enhancing supplement for my workout so I drink it throughout my workouts.

5:45AM: Walk to the gym

This isn’t always a pleasant walk, but with good music on and the energy from my pre-workout starting to kick-in, it usually takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the gym. In the summer, as with all things in the summer, I love this walk. The sun has just come up, the streets are quiet and I can really get in the zone in this time.

It puts me in a great head space for my workout and although sometimes those 10-15 minutes can be gruleing and I am cursing the wind, rain or snow, it is an important step in getting myself in the right head space for my workout.

6:00 – 7:15AM: Workout

I typically train for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. It is enough time to get all of the core movements done, have enough time for proper resting periods, and even fit in cardio and stretching at the end. 

Check out my current workout routine here.

I really like to take my time at the gym, but also be efficient with my workouts. My goals are based around getting stronger at specific lifts, improving mobility in my hips and shoulders, supporting a strong and healthy posture, and ultimately creating some nice muscle definition. 

I only do exactly what I need to do, and will even adjust workouts to accommodate if I have had a bad sleep or I know I am not in the best headspace to get a workout done with proper technique.

Stretching at the end of the workout is also crucial. I typically go through a set of stretches that stretch the whole body. If I have worked lower body I always give extra time and attention to my glutes, hamstrings, quads and hip flexors. My hip-flexors always get lots of attention no matter what I did that day. As someone who spends most of her day sitting at work, it is so important to stretch out the hip-flexors. So if you are a working girlie like me who is sitting for most of the day, this is something I recommend adding to your workout if you aren’t already stretching your hip flexors.

7:15: Walk home

Again, not always a fun time, but it is a good time to transition my brain from the workout to thinking about my day and what I hope to accomplish. I try to be as intentional as possible with my time, and these walks home from the gym are the perfect time to set aside to focus on the upcoming tasks, work through any anxieties I have about those tasks, and set the tone for the rest of the day.

7:30 – 8:00AM (with a dog): Walk the dog

This is where I see the most variation in my day. From this point onward in the article, everything is shifted by 30 minutes to accommodate a good morning walk for the dog. So, for example, with the dog, I am walking him from 7:30 – 8(ish), and then I shower, get dressed and make breakfast from 8(ish) – 8:30 before starting my work day.

Despite being a little tired from my workout and already walking to and from the gym, I find the morning walk with the dog is a great extension of the focus work I do when I walk home from the gym. 

Depending on how I am feeling, I may continue listening to the live-set I was listening to, switch to a news podcast like Morning Brew Daily, or go no sound when I am feeling anxious and just need to hear the sounds of the world around me.

7:30 – 8:00AM (No dog): Shower, get dressed, and start breakfast

I take a pretty quick shower, especially when it isn’t a hair wash day, but regardless of what type of shower day it is, I always turn on the kettle and put on a pot of boiled eggs before getting into the shower. 

My showers rarely take more than 10 minutes, and even when they do, when I get out of the shower the kettle is just finishing boiling water for tea, and the pot of boiling eggs is likely getting to the perfect point where I need to turn it down. 

It is another one of those efficiencies that I had to work into my day. On days when I forget to do this or just decide not to, I tend to get out of the shower and feel way too hungry. That type of post-workout hunger after a fasted workout can lead me to eat all kinds of random, quick, junk that ultimately isn’t supporting my fitness goals.

So it is best to have the eggs ready so that by the time I get out of the shower, I am turning them down, setting a timer for 8 minutes, and then getting dressed. In that time I’ll also quickly put together a quick shaker bottle of protein powder that I’ll sip on as I am getting dressed, drying my hair and doing my skin care.

Once that’s all done, the eggs are ready to be eaten and I have a warm cup of tea steeped and ready to be enjoyed. 

8:00 – 8:30AM (without dog)/8:30 – 8:45AM (with the dog): Meditate, journal and open work laptop

Once I’ve finished breakfast I try to set aside some time every morning to gently ease into work. I do this by meditating, journaling and slowly getting my work laptop up and running, logging into work accounts and opening websites that I’ll use when I start my day.

I’ve been using the Calm app since the pandemic. I had tried a few other options like listening to meditation podcasts on Spotify, Headspace and trying to meditate by just sitting in silence and breathing, but none of them really stuck. 

During the pandemic I found myself feeling really overwhelmed and needed something that I was committed to and had the right resources for me. So I paid for the full subscription, making a financial commitment to the app, which in turn made me more committed to using the app on a regular basis.

3 years later and I find myself using it almost every morning before work and sometimes throughout the day if I need a check-in. The meditations are only 10 minutes and they aren’t overly complicated. I love that they have a theme and there’s no pressure to meditate “perfectly” (something I struggle with). I also like to listen to their sleep stories and will follow The Daily Move when I feel like my body needs a reset.

Journaling is something I am really trying to incorporate more often into my morning routine. Again, I have to be mindful that there isn’t a perfect way to journal, and it is more about clearing my head before work. It could be a few lines or a few pages, but I find when I stick to this for several days in a row, I don’t daydream or get lost in my thoughts as much at work.

8:30AM (without dog)/8:45AM (with dog): Start Work

Once I have finished journaling, it is time to start my day! I work a remote job so there is some flexibility in terms of start time, but I always try to get going by 9 at the very latest. 

Having a morning routine, especially as someone who has so many things on the go from 9AM onwards, is crucial. It’s about dedicating time to me and saying to myself that my health – both physical and mental – are important. 

It may seem silly that by just working out and meditating I see a major difference from the days where I sleep in and don’t do those things, but the difference is massive. Waking up at 5AM may not always feel easy, and sleeping in always feels like a good idea, but I am so much more focused, clear-headed, and energized when I make the time for me in the morning.