Fitting your Fitness in
Being a parent is HARD (thanks for the newsflash right?)
One of the easier parts of being a parent though is the ability to become self-less. It comes very naturally to parents to put the needs of our children above our own. I believe that we were created that way. When our children are born we instantly feel an unconditional love for them. That’s one of the beautiful things about being a parent and essential to being a good parent. While our children should be a top priority in our life they shouldn’t be THE top priority, those spots should be reserved for God and your spouse (but that’s for another blog). What can also be troublesome is that we become so engrossed in raising our children that we forget about our goals and our health. How does a parent work a full-time job, take one child to gymnastics class, another to baseball practice, cook supper, get 8 hours of sleep and somehow find the time to exercise and take care of their health? It seems like an impossible task and oftentimes as parents we let our health/fitness fall to the wayside. Now I’m not going to lie and say that it will be easy, but it can be done. Here are my best tips for fitting your fitness in:
Do it early - I told you it wouldn’t be easy and getting up at 5am never is. But I promise you it’s worth it! If you can find a way to fit a workout in before you would normally start your day I can assure you that it will make your whole day better. Your mood will be better, your brain will function better and your energy will be better. If this is something that interests you we currently have a Mens and a Ladies group that train from 6-7am.
Make a garage gym - It doesn’t have to be a garage but find a way to have access to exercise equipment in your home. Time is at a premium and you can’t afford to waste any commuting to a gym.
Find a gym with childcare - many gyms offer childcare as an addition to your membership and this can be a huge help as you work towards your fitness goals. Triangle Fitness in Kernersville has a great childcare program for members to use. During our time living in Kernersville our kids loved when we went to the gym because they had such a fun time in the kids center. I hope to offer this service to our members through Build Performance one day, because I know how much it meant to us.
Utilize body weight workouts - something is better than nothing. If you’re creative and have just a little bit of space you can have a very productive workout using just body weight movements. The benefit of these is that you can do them almost anywhere and anytime. Not sure what to do? Click here to access my bodyweight routine through the TrainHeroic app.
While these are the best strategies I’ve found I still struggle at times. Have you found anything that works for your family? I’d love to hear it.