I'm so excited to have my good friend, Bonnie guest posting today. She is a busy mom and also a certified personal trainer and has some great tips to share with you today.
Having 4 kids makes me a busy mom!
Then add being a wife, a homemaker, a blogger, and business owner and that makes me a super busy mom!
I need to be honest here with a confession, even though I am a Certified Personal Trainer, working out does NOT always come easy to me.
Sometimes I hate it.
Sometimes I wish we didn’t need it.
I don’t want you to think that working out is easy for me. (I am talking to myself here too!)
Taking the time you need for yourself is extremely hard especially with young kids and babies.
Before I had kids, I would tell my clients to make sure they worked out everyday and to stop making excuses….then I had kids….lots of them….Really quickly!
I did not loose all my baby fat as fast as I wanted.
My body did not want to bounce right back to where it was.
I had to workout HARD. I had to watch what I ate.
I had more to do, less energy, less motivation, less time but I knew that I needed to do something!
So here they are…
9 WORKOUT TIPS FOR SUPER BUSY MOMS THAT ACTUALLY WORK
1. Put Yourself on the Calendar
The first and most important thing you can do is make time for yourself! I didn’t say this was the easiest part. Actually, it can be the hardest thing to do and this is why most people don’t even start. We make time for our kids’ swimming lessons, golf practices, art classes, etc. but where do we fit in our workouts? You need to make time for yourself. With 4 kids under the age 8, I struggle with this sometimes.
2. PLAY with Your Kids
In this stage in my life, I have found that playing and doing activities with my kids can sometimes count as my workout! I have been doing this a lot over the summer! We are an outside family so we have been running, biking, and walking almost daily. When I run, I usually have my 2 older kids biking in front of me while I push the younger 2 in my double jogging stroller. This works for us.
Having 4 kids makes me a busy mom!
Then add being a wife, a homemaker, a blogger, and business owner and that makes me a super busy mom!
I need to be honest here with a confession, even though I am a Certified Personal Trainer, working out does NOT always come easy to me.
Sometimes I hate it.
Sometimes I wish we didn’t need it.
I don’t want you to think that working out is easy for me. (I am talking to myself here too!)
Taking the time you need for yourself is extremely hard especially with young kids and babies.
Before I had kids, I would tell my clients to make sure they worked out everyday and to stop making excuses….then I had kids….lots of them….Really quickly!
I did not loose all my baby fat as fast as I wanted.
My body did not want to bounce right back to where it was.
I had to workout HARD. I had to watch what I ate.
I had more to do, less energy, less motivation, less time but I knew that I needed to do something!
So here they are…
9 WORKOUT TIPS FOR SUPER BUSY MOMS THAT ACTUALLY WORK
1. Put Yourself on the Calendar
The first and most important thing you can do is make time for yourself! I didn’t say this was the easiest part. Actually, it can be the hardest thing to do and this is why most people don’t even start. We make time for our kids’ swimming lessons, golf practices, art classes, etc. but where do we fit in our workouts? You need to make time for yourself. With 4 kids under the age 8, I struggle with this sometimes.
2. PLAY with Your Kids
In this stage in my life, I have found that playing and doing activities with my kids can sometimes count as my workout! I have been doing this a lot over the summer! We are an outside family so we have been running, biking, and walking almost daily. When I run, I usually have my 2 older kids biking in front of me while I push the younger 2 in my double jogging stroller. This works for us.
This was right after I had Andrew. Yes, we make a parade, lol!
We also stay active on the weekends as a family with family walks, bike rides, hikes and more!
3. At-Home Workouts
Workout videos! These can be great, fast, and cheap. I know a lot of mom’s that love at-home videos. You can pop a tape in while your kids are napping, after they go to bed or even before they wake up…. OR, they can workout right next to you! You can get new videos from netflix.com or the library to change up your routine. When Grace was a baby, I was really into the Urban Rebounder, you know, the mini-trampoline. It was new, fun, and it worked. I am loved the AbSlide for my abs! I have been using the same AbSlide since high-school!
4. Fitness PlayDates
Do you have other mom friends that like working out? You can plan fitness playdates with them and their kiddos! When I was pregnant with Andrew I had another pregnant friend so we had fitness playdates to connect, stay active, and have fun. Everyday, after we dropped the kids off at school, we met at a local trail with our younger ones for a power walk. (Toward the end of our pregnancy, in the heat of the summer, I was just glad we were still walking even though someone could crawl faster than us, lol!) After our walks, we would take the boys to a park so they could run around and playand so we could stretch and rest.
5. Find a Gym with Childcare
If you are the kind of mama that needs to get out of the house and away from the kids, then you need to get yourself to a gym with daycare ASAP! (That was me once too!) If you need accountability, then you need to sign up for a class or meet a friend at the gym. At different stages of my life, I needed different things. I few years ago, before I had my 4th baby, I loved the gym! I went daily to take classes, do cardio, lift weights, and even sit in the sauna to read. I really enjoyed going so I went! Once, I got pregnant, the gym made my sick so I stopped and did something else that worked for me!
6. Find What Motivates You
You can probably tell by now that I like to change things up. I do what motivates me at the time! That is my personality to change things up…a lot! I hate getting bored so I switch activities plus I do what works for my family and me at the time. Only YOU know what motivates you. You see, I like to have fun so if working out isn’t fun to me, I will probably not stick with it. Variety is important to me. You might like doing the same workout everyday and crossing off your exercise list as you go. You might enjoy the challenge of racing and compete in competitions. I don’t know what will get you moving but figure it out and go do it.
7. Use Your Baby
If you have a baby, use him (or her) while getting your exercise!! There are a ton of things you can do with your baby that your baby will love and you will still get a great workout. Some things that I have done are: squats while holding my baby, doing push-up over my baby and kiss them every-time you go down, shoulder raises while holding my baby, and walking up and down the stairs while holding him. You can get baby-and-me workout videos or take a class with your baby too!
8. Set Goals
Like everything in life, you need to set goals! So what are your goals? You want to lose weight? Nice answer but you need to get detailed. Like, do you have a certain pair of jeans or size that you have been dying to wear again? Set your goal of fitting into them by a certain date and try them on each week. Once they fit, reward yourself. Maybe get yourself those new headphones or running shoes that you had your eye on. No food rewards allowed.
9. Buy new clothes
To me the best part of working out (besides the health benefits) are buying new clothes! There is something awesome about buying a cute new top that fits and you look good in! Every time you move down a size, go buy yourself something cute and stylish, I guarantee you will not want to go back to your old frumpy, fat clothes. You don’t need to spend a lot. A little goes a long way. This will also keep you active and motivated to keep up your hard work!
If you like this post, please share it with your friends! Us Moms need to stick together and help keep each other motivated.
What is your favorite workout tip for busy moms? Comment below.
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Great tips! I do most of those myself and like you I am a very busy mother of five, two with special needs and I am also running a business from my home. Finding time for fitness doesn't always come easy for busy moms like us.
ReplyDeleteWow. Is it really necessary for the picture to read "for moms that actually work"? What an obnoxious, rude thing to have on your blog. P.S.- It's grammatically incorrect too. I refuse to pin this and share it because it is so hateful and continues the eternal fight of "working" moms vs "stay at home" moms.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that the wording offended you, but you've completely misunderstood. It's the tips that actually work. See how '9 Workout Tips' and 'that actually work' are in the same font, that's how it's suppose to be read. Both Bonnie and I are stay at home moms and we have nothing against working moms. Being a mom is a big responsibility whether you work outside the home or not.
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