How To Balance Being A Mom With Exercise

Whether you are a person who has recently started thinking about getting back into shape, or you are a health junkie who has given birth to a child and wants to bounce back; there are amazing at-home training programs ready to help you out.

Being a mom is a task on its own, and finding time to get enough sleep is one challenge, let alone finding the time to do exercise. There is a solution, and getting into shape isn’t a problem any longer, you just have to know the steps of doing it!

Multitasking home errands, children and fitness can all be done if you schedule your time properly. If that is still proving to be difficult, you can always include the kids in the home fitness program you are doing, and make healthy meal choices that will benefit both you and your little ones.

Guiding you through these steps will undoubtedly lead you to success and you can start shedding weight and building the muscle you always knew you had!

Organizing Your Time and The Power of Multitasking

I don’t know about you, but I am a great fan of lists! The reason I started creating them was because I began forgetting about what groceries to pick up once I stepped into the supermarket, and my children started having more and more activities of their own.

In order to keep my sanity, I bought a little whiteboard and drew up the days of the week, to include every little task that was to be done that day. This actually made me realize that I had half an hour to spare between turning on the laundry and picking the kids up at practice every other day! This was my time, and I could do whatever I wanted with this time so I chose fitness.

There are amazing home workout programs out there that can get you the results you want in just 30 minutes every day. The aptly named Focus T25 and Insanity MAX:30 offer workouts lasting only 25 and 30 minutes, respectively.

If you’re just starting out, the 21 Day Fix also offers 30-minute workouts which are a little less intense.

If you’re really pushed for time and don’t actually think you have time for it every day, there’s nothing stopping you from just doing it every other day. You’ll still see results!

The whole idea is to take a look at your schedule and write up your name where you find a gap, in order to consciously make the effort of including exercise in your life. Once you see it, and it is a part of your to-do list, it will be achieved easier, and will have you feeling more complete. You are finally actually giving time to yourself, which means more than words can express. All of the chores around the house and the errands can be balanced if you do it properly and schedule your time in a smart way. You can even multi-task and do your workout program while the dinner is cooking on the stove, or the dryer is doing its final spin.

The important part is to include yourself in your own life, and stop only focusing on everything else but!

Be A Great Role Model By Focusing On Yourself

Once you realize that you are actually part of your own life, and you also have needs and goals, it will be much more pleasurable to get everyone else involved in the healthy lifestyle. It is important to remember that you are not just a maid, a driver, a waiter and a friend to your children, you are also YOU, and can help set a great example if you start caring about yourself.

Exercising together with the kids can be great because they will get the daily physical activity that is recommended for their age. Also, it can inspire them, make them feel proud, and will give a good past-time to bond with mom. Who wouldn’t want someone to motivate them to turn on the exercise video on a daily basis?

We all know that sticking to a routine is hard, but when your child is there who nudges you to continue, it is much easier to accomplish. Not to mention, the tons of fun you can have laughing and enjoying the time together with slight mishaps or kicked furniture in the house.

Once you set out a goal, you won’t only be sticking to it for yourself, but also because someone is counting on you to do it. Thus, becoming a great model for your child to copy will benefit in the short, as well as the long-run!

Your Child’s Age And Including It In A Training Program

So some people might start finding excuses and saying they aren’t able to do a home exercise program because their child is too small. However this should never be an excuse; there are countless programs that can be suitable for babies who are only a few months old.

The way to involve a child in a training program and keep them entertained varies depending on the type of exercise and the age of the child. Some programs are designed to do the warm up and cool down stretch with the child, while the main segment is to be done alone. This is only possible if you can give a child something to do in the meantime, let say they could actually do the counts for you. If that is not a choice since they are not old enough to count yet, then giving them a rattle or turning on a cartoon may help keep them busy for a larger chunk of time.

Other programs actually have the babies involved in the particular exercise. Holding them in specific positions as weight to enhance muscle tone, is a great way of combing them into the program. More intense workouts can be done with toddlers as well as older children. The important thing is to let them know that they should only do as much as they want to and stay clear of your moving arms and legs.

Examples of such programs that are designed to include children are:

• Mom and Baby Fitness
  Shorter, slower-paced workouts primarily consisting of yoga and stretching exercises. Suitable for children under 1 year old.
• Happy Baby Workout: New Mom And Baby Fitness
  Slightly more challenging workouts with some strength exercises that both mother and baby can do. The workouts last approximately 40 minutes each. Suitable for very young children with some mobility.
• Shaun T’s Fit Kids Club
  Dance-based workouts aimed solely at children. For older children with lots of energy!

Of course children will not perform as well as an adult, and they shouldn’t have to. They are actually there to give you some support and will be able to urge you on with their presence and involvement in your workout.

Combining Healthy Choices Into A Busy Lifestyle

Once you have set out and made the choice to exercise, the next thing to pay attention to is balancing diet and rest. By exercising you will have tons of positive energy and stamina that will keep you going throughout the day. However, it is important to remember that the quality of your meals will actually reflect in the results you get. The benefits of changing simple things like white bread to whole wheat, and switching from sugar to honey is unspeakable. By watching the types of foods you eat, as a mother, you are bound to make proper meal choices for your children too.

There are countless easy guides to get the proper calories into your meal and how to switch up fast food for a home-made dish that is quick, tasty and easy to prepare.

Aside from the three main meals, you will also be able to pack your child’s lunchbox with foods and snacks that they will enjoy, while making sure they are healthy. At first having celery sticks or raisins and nuts as a snack may sound very odd, but once you establish a good habit, your children will become accustomed to eating well.

The good thing is that eating habits will carry on into adulthood, and if you keep at it, it is pretty much a certainty that you will raise a healthy and conscious adult who knows how to eat right. As a result you will not only feel better about yourself on the outside, but also can be proud of your accomplishments on the inside. This is not only for yourself, but also for the benefit of the whole family.

Proper Rest Ensures Proper Growth

Real sportsmen know that rest is needed in order to rebuild and rejuvenate any muscle that has strained over an exhausting exercise.

When you lift heavy weights, you get muscle burn from creating damage, and the process of healing takes place while you rest. This doesn’t mean that everyone has to lift weights, it is just to show that rest has an essential part in exercising and in growth.

If you ensure that you sleep properly and take a break during the day from constant work and exercise, you are actually doing more good than if you went on and on and strained yourself to over achieve. In the end it would lead you to burn out, and thus you would find yourself discouraged from continuing your daily home-exercise routine. Therefore, it is best to keep everything balanced, and by being rested, you will also be able to focus more on your children. Who wouldn’t want to be able to assist their children with their homework in a proper and alert manner, rather than being over tired and agitated at every question they ask?

All in all, building muscles as well as your relationship with your kids can be done; it is just the manner of wanting it and getting to it!