Working out as a surgery resident

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Karthik Konuru

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Hey guys I really want to be a surgeon one day and one of my favorite hobbies is working out and lifting weights. Is it possible to make it to the gym 4+ times a week consistently? Or is it just way too busy? Thanks!
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I had (and still have) the same concerns as you, but found some reassuring articles and threads. Here's one I found most recently that seemed to offer good advice:


Surgery residents make it work. One of my residents on trauma would get up at 3/3:30 am to get a workout in before the day started, knowing she wasn't going to exercise at the end of the day. Another resident told me that getting his exercise in was non-negotiable so he did everything possible to make time for it.

It all comes down to priorities and making time for those priorities. For the most part, everyone who has been serious about exercising during residency has found a way to make it work. They've had to get creative and cut down on other hobbies, but they have succeeded in keeping up at least a moderate exercise regimen.
 
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Karthik Konuru said:
Hey guys I really want to be a surgeon one day and one of my favorite hobbies is working out and lifting weights. Is it possible to make it to the gym 4+ times a week consistently? Or is it just way too busy? Thanks!
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I exercise 4-5 days a week. One of our other residents goes to the gym almost every day. Can be done. Just requires prioritization.
 
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Karthik Konuru said:
Hey guys I really want to be a surgeon one day and one of my favorite hobbies is working out and lifting weights. Is it possible to make it to the gym 4+ times a week consistently? Or is it just way too busy? Thanks!
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A slightly less smartass answer to your question is that you can very easily incorporate cardio (which you should be doing anyway, even if all you're into is powerlifting) into your schedule as a surgery (or any specialty) resident by cycling or running to work 2-4x/week.
 
OrthoTraumaMD said:
And yet I’m pretty sure I could crush your soft little anesthesia skull with my legs. While drinking an IPA.


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k5BzLHu.jpg
 
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Apollyon said:
You must be young!! Still, I like ya!
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Lol I’ve tried quite a bit of alcohol in my life...my tastes have certainly changed with time, so who knows? Maybe. But I’ve never gotten into the sour beer thing...I really just like how IPAs taste, and all my colleagues also drink them.


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I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to see if it would be possible to maintain at a semi-competitive level like still training hard for olympic weightlifting 4-5 times a week and at least 1-1.5 hrs every time with a good mix of high volume and intensity?
 
War of Arts said:
I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to see if it would be possible to maintain at a semi-competitive level like still training hard for olympic weightlifting 4-5 times a week and at least 1-1.5 hrs every time with a good mix of high volume and intensity?
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A few questions:
- Do you have a significant other?
- Do you have kids?
- How important is sleep to you?
 
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War of Arts said:
I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to see if it would be possible to maintain at a semi-competitive level like still training hard for olympic weightlifting 4-5 times a week and at least 1-1.5 hrs every time with a good mix of high volume and intensity?
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It's gonna be difficult to extremely difficult to do that consistently over an entire surgical residency. It'll especially be tough early on when you have the bulk of the call.

There will be windows where you have lighter rotations with more clinic time and less difficult cases/call where it will be easier to accomplish. Later on when you're the senior and you only get called when there's a problem/case, your time may free up as well.

Not saying it's impossible, but as smq123 alluded to above there will be plenty of times where if you want to get 1.5hr in the gym then you're probably giving up your other free time activities (dating/family/other hobbies/sleep). Not to mention studying/prep time.

If you're the type of person who exercises that much regularly, maybe keeping a consistent exercise routine actually energizes you. For me, doing a 1.5hr workout (lol whenever that happens) saps my energy and def makes the rest of the day harder. Only got so much energy (and time). An hour of netflix at the end of the day is way more doable than fitting in an hour of exercise before or after work.
 
War of Arts said:
I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to see if it would be possible to maintain at a semi-competitive level like still training hard for olympic weightlifting 4-5 times a week and at least 1-1.5 hrs every time with a good mix of high volume and intensity?
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It is totally feasible to exercise and be healthy. I do NOT think it is feasible to be training at an Olympic-level. Ultimately, your time is your own and you just have to decide what will be a priority for you.
 
GoSpursGo said:
It is totally feasible to exercise and be healthy. I do NOT think it is feasible to be training at an Olympic-level. Ultimately, your time is your own and you just have to decide what will be a priority for you.
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Thanks. Not an Olympic-level but Olympic weightlifting. I resumed my training at the end of the first year and hit the gym roughly 4-5 times a week, 1.5-2.5 hrs each time. I am in third-year rotation now and our hours are not bad (probably due to being preceptor-based). I will most likely compete at some local events next year, and potentially one of the national games (my training max meets the qualifying total). I have an interest in surgery but also PMR. I am just trying to see which specialty may be a good fit so that I don't need to give up my training.
guytakingboards said:
It's gonna be difficult to extremely difficult to do that consistently over an entire surgical residency. It'll especially be tough early on when you have the bulk of the call.

There will be windows where you have lighter rotations with more clinic time and less difficult cases/call where it will be easier to accomplish. Later on when you're the senior and you only get called when there's a problem/case, your time may free up as well.

Not saying it's impossible, but as smq123 alluded to above there will be plenty of times where if you want to get 1.5hr in the gym then you're probably giving up your other free time activities (dating/family/other hobbies/sleep). Not to mention studying/prep time.

If you're the type of person who exercises that much regularly, maybe keeping a consistent exercise routine actually energizes you. For me, doing a 1.5hr workout (lol whenever that happens) saps my energy and def makes the rest of the day harder. Only got so much energy (and time). An hour of netflix at the end of the day is way more doable than fitting in an hour of exercise before or after work.
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Thanks. Yeah, I am mainly wondering how much energy may be left after work to still train heavyweight.
smq123 said:
A few questions:
- Do you have a significant other?
- Do you have kids?
- How important is sleep to you?
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No kid, no partner. Sleep is very important especially the day before heavy training or high volume
 
You are able to work out 4x a week in any residency, in any specialty.

Some will be harder than others, but even my neurosurgery gym rat friends get it in. There are no excuses. Some people would rather do other things than work out with their limited time.
 
I do it in IM but that's easy lol. 4 times a week 1 .5-2 hours at a time
 
It all comes down to planning and commitment. If you want to do it, you will do it. I know surgical residents who ran sub-3 hour marathons during training.
 
Love close to the hospital and have a home gym/apartment gym. Everyone’s priorities are different. I’m only getting 20-30 minutes a day on harder rotations in IM, but that’s because I want to spend time with my wife and make sure I get 8 hours of sleep.
 
OK, I found the answer. I am on my OB/GYN rotation now, and there is no time to work out.
 
War of Arts said:
OK, I found the answer. I am on my OB/GYN rotation now, and there is no time to work out.
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false bro

ACS, obgyn, nsgy, uro... They all have people working out. Lots are my friends.

If you have no time to work out, then it is because you value other things more. No shame in that.
 
mistafab said:
false bro

ACS, obgyn, nsgy, uro... They all have people working out. Lots are my friends.

If you have no time to work out, then it is because you value other things more. No shame in that.
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It’s not necessarily that he doesn’t have time to work out.

He specifically asked if he could maintain a very time intensive, Olympic level training program. It might be possible to work in a 40 minute workout 4 days a week, but not the 90 minute x 6 days workout program that he’s accustomed to.
 
smq123 said:
It’s not necessarily that he doesn’t have time to work out.

He specifically asked if he could maintain a very time intensive, Olympic level training program. It might be possible to work in a 40 minute workout 4 days a week, but not the 90 minute x 6 days workout program that he’s accustomed to.
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Disagree with that too. There are many high level athletes in med school who continue that training. We had a runner (olympic level) and you better believe they got it in every day.

All about priorities. 1.5 hours a day is not impossible in any specialty, and definitely not impossible in med school.
 
mistafab said:
Disagree with that too. There are many high level athletes in med school who continue that training. We had a runner (olympic level) and you better believe they got it in every day.

All about priorities. 1.5 hours a day is not impossible in any specialty, and definitely not impossible in med school.
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I agree, but you have to be very efficient with taking care of your home, probably buy your food premade, and not have a SO/pets (or at least not ones that you care about).
 
mistafab said:
Disagree with that too. There are many high level athletes in med school who continue that training. We had a runner (olympic level) and you better believe they got it in every day.

All about priorities. 1.5 hours a day is not impossible in any specialty, and definitely not impossible in med school.
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I am currently on my OB/Gyn rotation and the hours are brutal. Somehow I also need to work with two attendings' schedules. Of course, I can get time into the gym for a bit of lifting, but my legs are sore and weak. There is no way for me to maintain my training volume like during my first two years at all. My last rotation in geriatric was not bad though, but it was not surgery
 
You totally have time to work out as a surgical resident. Fellowship years get a little tricky depending on the program.
 
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