Considering that a 30 minute workout often incorporates, getting dressed (5 min), driving to the gym (20 min), working out (30 min), driving home (20 min), taking a shower (15 min), being so exhausted that the rest of the night is down the drain....
> being so exhausted that the rest of the night is down the drain.
You're only exhausted after a 30 min workout when you have 0 physical training.
After a few weeks it'll have the opposite effects.
As developers our body is rotting away day by day, if I didn't push myself to exercise the most physical thing I'd do most of the days is pull a door to open it.
Even a set of dumbbells, a pull-up bar and a stretch mat will be miles ahead of doing nothing.
It's very insidious because you can be passive all your youth with almost no side effects, but all those years of passivity will come back at us when we hit 50, 60, 70.
I run to and from the gym (~15 min), mostly do compound exercises like ohp / squat / deadlift / bench press for 1-2 hours 3 times a week. I'm usually home before 9PM and cook / continue with my day. Unless you have to chop wood when you get back home you'll be fine.
Even after bouldering for hours to the point of not being able to hold a glass of water in my hand I've never been "so exhausted that the rest of the night is down the drain.", and I'm far from being a genetic freak or a good athlete.
I used to be your average 70kg skinny fat teen, that was 4 years ago when I decided to do something to not end up like all the chubby 30+ years old guys I was seeing daily and who were unable to go up 4 flights of stairs without panting, at some point you have to take decisions for yourself. It's not some bs like "you can be the next Einstein/Musk/Bezos if you try hard enough", there is no luck involved, no barrier to entry. The hard truth is that there is no magic bullet, no quick ways to do it, you just have to get up and move, be it cycling, lifting weight, running, swimming.
It's pure lack of motivation/confidence, once you get started everything falls in place and gets easier. 3 or 4 hours of quality workout a week, even at home, will change your body in a few month and you'll never look back. And if you can't find 3 or 4 hours a week to take care of your most precious physical possession (your body) I guess you have bigger issues to take care of.
If you are in reasonable shape recovering after a 30 minute workout will not take much more than the time it take for a quick shower. After that time you will have much more energy compared to what you did have before starting to get in shape
I'm currently doing a Texas-method-based lifting program: three-days, medium-light-heavy. The "medium day" is mostly volume with (e.g.) 5x5 squats at 90% for example; I'm zonked after. My light/recovery day I'm only doing 70-75%. The heavy/intensity day it's 1x5 100% (or trying to reach five reps).
Of course if you're going an HIIT program, then yes, you should probably fairly drained afterwards.
So what? The idea that you need to go balls to the wall to benefit from exercise is probably why so many people fail at it. You get plenty of benefits by simply getting up and going for a bloody walk for 30 minutes.
If you're time starved and trying to work out like this, you're doing it wrong. There are much more time efficient ways to get some exercise.
Rather than driving 20 minutes each way to the gym, just put on some shoes and run/walk from your front door. You've saved 40 minutes and a bunch of money. Plus, if your goal is to lose weight, you've a far more effective workout.
Walk/run/bike to work. I've completed 2 Ironman triathlons and 75% of my training was done on my commute (my shortest route to work is 8 miles but I can take different routes and make it as long as I want) with hardly any impact (other than exhaustion) on my personal or professional life.
I don't know if it's true, but I often think the only real solution for weight loss is eating less, and that exercise is more of a way to improve general fitness rather than losing weight.
A caloric deficit is the only way to lose weight. You can burn off the calories that you eat, if you have the time and the energy; but the most efficient way is not to eat those calories in the first place and then exercise to improve your strength, cardio-vascualar stamina and flexibility.
You're also not mentioning the other half of the equation: calorie input. If someone eats the same amount of food, and walks more, then they're burning more than before when they were just sitting on the couch. Of course what often happens that the body starts wanting more energy for the new activity level, so many people end up eating more--no net change.
It should also be noted that there's more to exercise than just weight loss.
I won't comment on the logistical difficulties of making a separate trip to the gym, except to say that there are always a million excuses not to work toward your goals, but if you really want 'em then you'll find another way.
> being so exhausted that the rest of the night is down the drain
This is your body's resistance to a change in routine; you may also observe it when, e.g., quitting coffee or skipping breakfast. Keep it up for a few weeks and you'll be over the hump. A couple more months, and a 30-minute workout won't even faze you.
buy an exercise mat (£5), search "low impact HIIT workout" on YouTube, follow the video just before your normal daily shower time (presumably you shower at least 3 times a week?)... it's just a matter of priorities, really.
"exhausted that the rest of the night is down the drain."
If you're going to the gym after work (and after getting home) that might be the problem. Everyone I know who works out either can take an extra long lunch break and do it then or get up an extra hour/hour and a half and do it in the morning. It's usually a lot emptier in the morning as well.
Also, there are a lot of activities you can do that don't even involve getting to a gym. You could do a 15 minute jog out and a 15 minute jog back. You can also do most bodyweight exercises at home.
The 30 minute workout is a myth...