How I (try to) Fit in Fitness
I always use “I have no time” as my excuse to not work out. Generally, it’s a good excuse because, honestly, I rarely have any time. Throughout any given day, I’m either chasing a baby and hoping he won’t eat the broom or playing with a toddler and hoping he won’t use his newly found skills of climbing to wreak utter chaos through my house. When I’m not chasing kids, I’m hunkered down at the computer to grade, plan, organize, or just plain work.
Once the kids go to bed, I’m working a little more (this time, finally in uninterrupted silence) until I take a little time before bed to sit down and actually hang out with my husband. We finally get to watch a show or two, and then we’re off to try to catch a few Zs before I have to wake up and nurse the baby in the middle of the night.
So, where am I going to fit in fitness? When do I get a chance to workout?
It’s hard. In the summer, it’s a little easier because Aaron is home (teacher schedule can be nice). It’s during the school year that I have to find creative means to get my rear in gear:
- Situps with the baby on my stomach. He thinks it’s hilarious. Even the Animal finds it funny to have me sit up and make goofy faces at him.
- Pushups with the toddler on my back. Talk about added weight! He’s almost 30 pounds right now. This definitely helps me work on my guns!
- Counting burpees as a counting game. The Animal loves all things numbers. So, when I do some burpees, I get him to count for me. Sometimes, I do a few extra because he forgets what number he was on. This is both great and frustrating!
- Walks to the post office. When the weather is nice enough (or like today when it was in the 50s), I put the boys in the stroller, and we walk to the post office. My town is really small, so we have nice sidewalks and not-so-busy streets where I can get a nice stroll in.
- Just go! Sometimes, I have to just hand the kids over to Aaron and get out of the house. If I don’t leave, I’ll never leave. And as much as I hate running, I am blessed to be able to do a mile in a little over 10 minutes. For me, that’s a great workout, and I’m not gone too long!
- Accountability partner(s). I have an amazing group of friends through Mamavation. Seeing them talk about what they’ve done for their workout makes me itch to do something — anything — to say I’ve moved for the day.
Am I perfect every day? Oh no. I find so many reasons to not work out. But, these tips get me doing more than I used to, and that’s saying a lot!
What do you do to fit in your workout?
I love the sit-ups and pushups using your kids as weights! Great way to use resistance training 🙂 I put a HIIT exercise DVD on the other day, and both my daughters were jumping with me. I never realized that HIIT seems to be more fun for kids. All that jumping is right up their alley.
I’ve never heard of HIIT! I’ll have to look it up!
Great tips! I need to make it a point to walk to drop off the girls at school, it’s only like two blocks away! I usually try to get some workouts done in the AM or before 3pm, if not, it’s a night time workout for me.
It’s easy to find excuses, isn’t it!?
Some great tips, I don’t have kids and I only work part time, and sometimes I find I ‘have no time’ but then I think about all you wonderful mums with kids and how much you have to do, then I realize I have plenty of time to workout!
Haha Sarah. You stay busy, too, though!
You forgot to add joining in on our hazings. I love the tips you gave involving your kids. I once did crunches while my 2 year old was nursing. He didn’t like that so much.
Ah yes – the hazings. 🙂 I would imagine crunches while nursing would be very strange!