Finding Time to Exercise During Residency – And YOU CAN!

It’s harder than it sounds. Here’s what actually works.

Let me be honest with you about the math.

On a typical inpatient medicine ward month, my day looked something like this: twelve hours in the hospital, two hours commuting, another two or three hours for eating, showering, and anything resembling a personal life — and then seven hours of sleep before the alarm went off and I did it all again.

Finding an hour for the gym in that schedule felt impossible. And some days it was. But movement during residency is not optional — it is one of the tools that keeps you functional, mentally sharp, and sustainable over the long haul of training. Burnout is real, and physical health is one of the strongest buffers against it.

Here is what I learned — and what actually worked.

Redefine What “Exercise” Means During Residency

The first shift that helped me was letting go of the idea that exercise had to mean a one-hour gym session. It doesn’t. During the hardest stretches of residency, movement in any form counts — and accumulates.

Walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Every time. At a busy teaching hospital, this adds up to several flights per shift. On a long day, you can easily hit 8,000 to 10,000 steps without setting foot in a gym.

Aim for 10,000 steps a day — not as a rigid rule, but as a mindset. Most hospital work, done actively, gets you closer to that goal than you’d expect. Track it if the data motivates you; ignore the number if it doesn’t.

Micro-Workouts Are Real

Ten minutes matters. Five minutes matters. Research consistently shows that short bouts of movement throughout the day have meaningful cardiovascular and mental health benefits. You don’t need an hour — you need intention.

A few things that actually fit into a resident’s schedule:

The post-charting set. When you finish your last note of the night, before you log off, do ten squats and ten push-ups. That’s it. Two minutes. It sounds almost too small to matter — but it builds a habit, it signals to your body that you haven’t completely abandoned it, and it genuinely lifts your mood before the commute home.

YouTube and app workouts, 10–20 minutes. Save two or three short workout videos to your phone — something you can do in your living room without equipment. On evenings when you get home before 8:00 PM and have a little left in the tank, 15 minutes of movement before showering is entirely doable. Apps like Nike Training Club, Peloton (no bike required), and FitBod have short, no-equipment options that work well for this.

Walking during calls. When you’re on the phone with a consultant or waiting for a callback, walk the hallway. Pace during sign-out review. Move whenever movement is possible. These small choices accumulate.

Protect Your Post-Call Days

Post-call days are precious — and they tend to disappear into sleep and recovery, which is completely appropriate. Sleep first. Always sleep first.

But if you feel well enough after a post-call sleep, a walk outside — even 20 minutes — does something that sleep alone cannot. Natural light, fresh air, and movement reset your nervous system in ways that have a measurable effect on mood and energy. Even a slow walk counts.

Schedule It Like a Shift

The residents who exercise most consistently during training are the ones who treat it like an appointment. Not a vague intention — an actual scheduled block.

Look at your weekly schedule and identify two or three windows where exercise is genuinely possible. Protect them. Tell yourself: Tuesday at 7:00 PM is a workout, not an option. This doesn’t mean you’ll always make it — there will be post-call collapses, late discharges, and nights when dinner wins over the gym. That’s fine. But having a default schedule means your baseline is movement, not inertia.

Eat Like You Actually Care About Your Body

Exercise and nutrition are inseparable. A body running on vending machine food and no water will underperform no matter how much you move.

A few things that helped me:

Bring your own food when possible. Hospital cafeteria food is fine in a pinch, but it’s rarely the quality or quantity your body needs on a demanding shift. A meal prepped at home — even something simple — is almost always better. Batch cook on your days off. Invest in a good insulated bag.

Keep snacks in your white coat. Nuts, a protein bar, fruit. On busy days, meals don’t happen on schedule. Having something in your pocket means you’re not making clinical decisions while hypoglycemic.

Hydrate. This sounds basic because it is — and residents are chronically dehydrated. Keep a water bottle at your workstation. Drink before you feel thirsty.

The Bigger Picture

Here is the truth I had to learn the hard way: taking care of your body during residency is not selfish. It is what makes you a better physician. Sleep deprivation, physical deconditioning, poor nutrition, and chronic stress accumulate — and they eventually show up in your clinical performance, your patience with patients, and your capacity to sustain this career long-term.

You are training to be a physician who will care for other people’s bodies for decades. Yours deserves at least some of that same attention.

Movement is medicine. Even during residency. Especially during residency.

— Dr. Joyce Cheng, MD, MPH, MHA, FACP, Internal Medicine Hospitalist | Clinical Assistant Professor