10 Tips For Staying Active When You Have Kids. Plan Now For The New Year!!
Your alarm goes off… beep, beep, beep…. you hit the SNOOZE button again, not once, but twice or three (or maybe four!!) times. Why are you so tired? Because the two little monkeys lying sideways across your bed, giving you one measly inch of mattress, have kept you awake for half the night! You finally force yourself to stagger out of bed, make yourself a super strong coffee and start rushing around to get school lunches, breakfasts and clothes ready for school. With 10 minutes before you need to head out the door, you quickly shower and scoff down enough food to keep you going for an hour or two.
Later on that day, after your work is done, you remember that you had planned to spend 30 minutes exercising today – no excuses!! You check the time, whoops… it’s 2.45pm, almost time to get back into the car and pick up the kids from school (with the toddler in tow)… what are you going to do, just skip it again?
Sound familiar? Yup, it happens to me too – it doesn’t make any difference that I am a Trainer. If you don’t plan your workouts in advance, then they won’t happen, end of story. It’s like good nutrition, if you don’t plan your meals ahead of time, you will just end of grabbing something easy. Nine times out of ten, it won’t be something very nutritious.
So how do you resolve this? Here are some ideas to help give you a head start to the New Year.
- Purchase a Food & Exercise Diary and plan your workouts for the week, every Sunday night (no excuses, you can even do it while you’re watching Season 5 of Orange is the New Black!!);
- Exercise early in the morning or after the kids go to bed (if you are a night owl!) Night times for me wouldn’t work, but some people can manage it. Early mornings could be an option – if you’ve managed to get enough sleep. The bonus of an early morning workout, is that it gives you an energy boost, and an easier start to the day. There’s also no chance of talking yourself out of it by the end of the day. If you’re a working Mum, use your lunch break (if you’re lucky enough to get one) to go for a walk/run with a work colleague. If you’re a new Mum, try a short workout while the baby sleeps.
- Occupy the kids – there are a few short term options that may work, such as switching on a 20-30 minute TV show that they love. My kids were both glued to the TV if I was to put on Hi-5 when they were toddlers. Another idea to keep them entertained is to give them a craft project or some kind of sensory play. Pinterest is your friend!
- Follow a You Tube workout or sign up to an Online Fitness Program – Fitness Blender has some great workouts that you can follow on You Tube. Alternatively, enlist in an Online Fitness Program that offers short home workouts and motivation and inspiration to keep at it.
- Organise a partner or relative to be with the kids once or twice a week, so you can join a regular group fitness class and make new friends while you’re at it! Working out with other like-minded people definitely helps to keep you motivated.
- Take the kids with you to a child-friendly fitness class – some larger gyms offer a child-minding service for a small fee, but there are also some super cool Personal Trainers (yup, like me!!) that will enable you to take your kids with you to the class. There are even some classes that you could participate in with your child i.e. Mums and Bubs classes.
- Speed Interval Walking – put the baby and toddler in the pram and head out. Find a reason to move so that you can’t make excuses. Leave extra early to walk, instead of driving to an appointment. Offer to help someone deliver flyers or even the local paper.
- Purchase an Activity Tracker and aim for 10,000 steps per day. Invite your friends to a challenge and get moving!! You can even connect to your Personal Trainer, if you have one, and get them to monitor your movements.
- Find out your Why? What really motivates you to work out? Is it that you want to lose a few centimetres off your waist line? If so, then keep asking yourself why, until you get to the real reason behind it. For instance, I want to lose weight – why? I want to lose weight so that I can look good in skinny leg jeans – why? I want to lose weight so that I can look good in my skinny leg jeans when I go to my school reunion in March. Remind yourself of the real reason why each time you are debating whether to exercise or not. Write it down and place it on your fridge or somewhere where you will see it on a daily basis.
- Organise a family outing such as a bike ride of a hike where you can all exercise together and enjoy some fresh air.
So there you have it, ten manageable ways you can get keep super fit and toned this summer without losing your head!! Share your strategy below, how do you find time to fit exercise into your busy day?
Your alarm goes off… beep, beep, beep…. you hit the SNOOZE button again, not once, but twice or three (or maybe four!!) times. Why are you so tired? Because the two little monkeys lying sideways across your bed, giving you one measly inch of mattress, have kept you awake for half the night! You finally force yourself to stagger out of bed, make yourself a super strong coffee and start rushing around to get school lunches, breakfasts and clothes ready for school. With 10 minutes before you need to head out the door, you quickly shower and scoff down enough food to keep you going for an hour or two.
Later on that day, after your work is done, you remember that you had planned to spend 30 minutes exercising today – no excuses!! You check the time, whoops… it’s 2.45pm, almost time to get back into the car and pick up the kids from school (with the toddler in tow)… what are you going to do, just skip it again?
Sound familiar? Yup, it happens to me too – it doesn’t make any difference that I am a Trainer. If you don’t plan your workouts in advance, then they won’t happen, end of story. It’s like good nutrition, if you don’t plan your meals ahead of time, you will just end of grabbing something easy. Nine times out of ten, it won’t be something very nutritious.
So how do you resolve this? Here are some ideas to help give you a head start to the New Year.
- Purchase a Food & Exercise Diary and plan your workouts for the week, every Sunday night (no excuses, you can even do it while you’re watching Season 5 of Orange is the New Black!!);
- Exercise early in the morning or after the kids go to bed (if you are a night owl!) Night times for me wouldn’t work, but some people can manage it. Early mornings could be an option – if you’ve managed to get enough sleep. The bonus of an early morning workout, is that it gives you an energy boost, and an easier start to the day. There’s also no chance of talking yourself out of it by the end of the day. If you’re a working Mum, use your lunch break (if you’re lucky enough to get one) to go for a walk/run with a work colleague. If you’re a new Mum, try a short workout while the baby sleeps.
- Occupy the kids – there are a few short term options that may work, such as switching on a 20-30 minute TV show that they love. My kids were both glued to the TV if I was to put on Hi-5 when they were toddlers. Another idea to keep them entertained is to give them a craft project or some kind of sensory play. Pinterest is your friend!
- Follow a You Tube workout or sign up to an Online Fitness Program – Fitness Blender has some great workouts that you can follow on You Tube. Alternatively, enlist in an Online Fitness Program that offers short home workouts and motivation and inspiration to keep at it.
- Organise a partner or relative to be with the kids once or twice a week, so you can join a regular group fitness class and make new friends while you’re at it! Working out with other like-minded people definitely helps to keep you motivated.
- Take the kids with you to a child-friendly fitness class – some larger gyms offer a child-minding service for a small fee, but there are also some super cool Personal Trainers (yup, like me!!) that will enable you to take your kids with you to the class. There are even some classes that you could participate in with your child i.e. Mums and Bubs classes.
- Speed Interval Walking – put the baby and toddler in the pram and head out. Find a reason to move so that you can’t make excuses. Leave extra early to walk, instead of driving to an appointment. Offer to help someone deliver flyers or even the local paper.
- Purchase an Activity Tracker and aim for 10,000 steps per day. Invite your friends to a challenge and get moving!! You can even connect to your Personal Trainer, if you have one, and get them to monitor your movements.
- Find out your Why? What really motivates you to work out? Is it that you want to lose a few centimetres off your waist line? If so, then keep asking yourself why, until you get to the real reason behind it. For instance, I want to lose weight – why? I want to lose weight so that I can look good in skinny leg jeans – why? I want to lose weight so that I can look good in my skinny leg jeans when I go to my school reunion in March. Remind yourself of the real reason why each time you are debating whether to exercise or not. Write it down and place it on your fridge or somewhere where you will see it on a daily basis.
- Organise a family outing such as a bike ride of a hike where you can all exercise together and enjoy some fresh air.
So there you have it, ten manageable ways you can get keep super fit and toned this summer without losing your head!! Share your strategy below, how do you find time to fit exercise into your busy day?