Creative exercise tips for busy moms on the go! at Her Active Life

Click here for the Lead Stories

Creative exercise tips for busy moms on the go!

Posted July 24, 2007 at 05:15 PM by Julie R. Keen

Section: Her Fitness, Training Programs, Her Health, Her Motivation, Special Features

mom-and-baby I wake to the sounds of crying. I try to focus my eyes and roll over to look at the clock. 4:10 am. Great. My two-year-old daughter, Hayley, is crying because she can’t find her “lovey.” And thus starts another day in the life of a busy mom.

I am currently a stay-at-home mom. I’ve had arguments with my friends who chose to work outside the home about who has more “free time” and no matter how I detail my days, they don’t understand that I am just as busy as they are. Maybe more so since I am continually interrupted by small people telling me that they have to use the potty, or screaming because someone took the My Little Pony with the blue hair. I literally have no time to myself during the day, often from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. I can’t remember the last time I used the bathroom by myself. But this isn’t a diatribe about the woes of being a stay-at-home mom. This is an article about how to fit exercise into your life, no matter how busy you are, whether you have children or you are just “Mom” to furry babies.

Let’s face it, in this day and age when we are all “connected” all the time via telephone, email, fax, and texting, we don’t have a lot of personal alone time. Fitting in a workout can be quite a challenge. Fortunately, current research says that you will get the most bang for your buck with shorter more intense workouts. You can combine your resistance training exercises in circuit fashion and drop the rest time down to get a positive cardio effect. These types of workouts can be remarkably easy to fit into the schedule of the busy every-mom.

Although I agree that downtime is important, you might also be able to find ways to “trim the fat” from your downtime. Figure out ways to carve out more time in your day. How much TV do you watch each night? How much time do you spend checking your email or surfing the web? How many times do you hit snooze in the morning?

You can get a great full-body workout that will leave you gasping for breath and feeling all rubbery in 20 minutes. Surely you can miss one Seinfeld rerun to squeeze in a workout!

If you really don’t have any fat in your day to trim, then try incorporating workouts into your daily routine. Incorporate intervals into your day in the form of running up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. If you have more than one flight to go, run to one landing, then walk to the next, and repeat until you get to your destination. Current research states that interval training burns more calories during exercise, and elevates EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) for up to 36 hours after training. So you are elevating your metabolism and increasing your calorie burn with daily tasks.

If you are a stay-at-home mom, get the kids involved. Play a game of tag, or monkey in the middle, or kick ball. Kids have boundless energy. Get playing with them and you might find that their energy will rub off on you! Plus it’s a great way to teach them to be active.

If your kids are too little for that kind of play, get the kid(s) in the stroller and create your own “Stollercize” class. Pushing the heavy stroller loaded with kid, snack, and water will add resistance. Do lunges (forward and sideways), squats, interval sprints, whatever you want, just be creative!

Take the kids to the playground. They can play on the equipment while you get a great full-body workout: pull-ups, squats, push-ups, walking lunges, monkey bars, et cetera. The possibilities are limitless.

One of my favorite ways to incorporate exercise into my day is to create 3 mini-circuits and break them apart and do them throughout the day. So the first mini-circuit might look like this: (after a good dynamic warm-up)

A1: Bodyweight Squats x 15
A2: Push Ups (full or on knees) x 10
A3: Lunge Jumps x 10
Perform each exercise consecutively with no rest, and then rest 30 seconds after completing the lunge jumps. Repeat the circuit up to 3 times (depending upon time and conditioning level).

The second circuit could be:

B1: Chin-Ups (assisted if needed) x 8
B2: Step Ups (all reps on one leg, then the other) x 12 each leg

And the third:

C1: Bent-over Row x 12
C2: Supine Hip Extension Leg Curl (on ball) x 12
C3: Plank x 45 seconds

Each circuit will take you approximately 10 minutes, and each is manageable to fit into any busy mom’s day.

Make exercise a priority, a gift to yourself. You will have increased energy and patience to deal with all of the little things that make being a mom so stressful. Your body and your family will thank you.

Photo: ©istockphoto.com