I started exercising when I was working full time and going to school part time. It was a lot of work and it was very stressful because neither work or school knew (or cared) about the different demands they would place on my time, so I spent most of my time putting out a fire in one part of my life knowing that another was building somewhere else.
I contrasted two semesters, one where I would tell myself "I don't have time to go to the gym, I need to stay at home and do this problem set" and another where I would tell myself basically the opposite, "I don't have time to NOT go to the gym." What I noticed was that the semesters where I made more of an effort (3-4 times a week) to go to the gym, my grades were better.
Over the years I've found that exercise sharpens the time you have left over. So sure, you spend an extra hour a day exercising but the other 23 hours are just better - you're more alert, you think better, you have more energy, you sleep better, you're less irritable.
You do you, but what I found works for me is working out in the morning. On good days, I get to the pool at 0630 and swim for 40 minutes, then go to work. As a bonus life hack, I've discovered that this combines your post-workout stupor with your early-morning-coffee stupor so you get all the stupor out of the way in the morning while you're checking e-mail and no one else is doing anything anyway.
Do this 3-4 times a week for a few months and see how you feel at the end of it.
I contrasted two semesters, one where I would tell myself "I don't have time to go to the gym, I need to stay at home and do this problem set" and another where I would tell myself basically the opposite, "I don't have time to NOT go to the gym." What I noticed was that the semesters where I made more of an effort (3-4 times a week) to go to the gym, my grades were better.
Over the years I've found that exercise sharpens the time you have left over. So sure, you spend an extra hour a day exercising but the other 23 hours are just better - you're more alert, you think better, you have more energy, you sleep better, you're less irritable.
You do you, but what I found works for me is working out in the morning. On good days, I get to the pool at 0630 and swim for 40 minutes, then go to work. As a bonus life hack, I've discovered that this combines your post-workout stupor with your early-morning-coffee stupor so you get all the stupor out of the way in the morning while you're checking e-mail and no one else is doing anything anyway.
Do this 3-4 times a week for a few months and see how you feel at the end of it.