If you have kids, especially young kids, you know, there's
a mountain of responsibilities.
How can you possibly focus on time to exercise?
Here at nerd fitness.
We help busy people get in shape and build healthy habits in real
life situations like being a parent.
Hi there, I'm Matt, head coach here at nerd fitness when I'm not busy helping
clients level up, I'm also a dad of five.
So I personally know a thing or two about how challenging it can be to get
in shape, while managing a small brood.
So before your kids interrupt, we'll quickly go over some advice.
That'll help you get active, feel good and set an awesome
example for your little minions.
The sorts of things that allowed one of our clients, Sarah, to get back in shape,
even with a busy job and a new baby.
First and foremost, do the best you can.
You already know that any plan you make will likely need adjustments.
That's ok.
Remember to do whatever you can, wherever you are.
And if your workout gets cut short, because your kid starts drawing on the
wall or starts crying, or anybody's having a fight, that's totally okay.
For your workouts, maybe not your wall or peace in the house.
Tip number one, use every minute.
First focus on short workouts.
These might be ten minutes or less.
It might not feel like a lot, especially if you're used to an
hour long workout, but over the weeks, these things do accumulate.
Speaking of which, try accumulation workouts.
These are even shorter than a short workout.
Knock out a few reps of countertop pushups or some body weight squats.
Every time you do a food break or come back from the bathroom, you can track
how many total reps you do throughout the day and look to improve each week.
Another option is to break up your regular workouts.
Breaking up is hard to do, but for workouts it's easy.
Do as much as you can of any workout, then just pick back up later
in the day.
You can go through something like the nerd fitness, beginner bodyweight workout,
and sign up for our newsletter to get your free beginner bodyweight workout
PDF to help you track your progress.
Another way to break things up is to play.
"I go, you go".
You can snag a workout set, then play a game with your kids, and
then back to another workout set and keep repeating as needed.
Or you can let your kids play on the equipment.
This is a personal favorite of mine, especially if I'm doing things
like rings because my kids love to hang and swing on the rings and
they can't wait till I'm done doing chin-ups, so it could be their turn.
Breaking it up like this can make your kids feel engaged and give you a
little bit more opportunity to train.
If you're looking for longer workouts, try early in the morning or late at night.
Some of you may still want uninterrupted workout time and
that's totally understandable.
Sarah, who we mentioned earlier follows this strategy and said," I wake up at
5:45 AM to get in a workout and some kind of movement before my daughter
wakes up, this is one of the hardest things for me to make time for it.
So I do it before anything else.
This is a strategy I use as well, making sure to get in a workout
after my youngest one wakes up, but before the rest of the crew does.
The house is still kind of quiet, distractions are minimal, and
it's an opportunity to really focus on what I'm trying to do.
After the kids go to bed or during a nap could also give
you longer uninterrupted time.
Tip number 2: talk with your partner about your workouts.
Sometimes an honest discussion with your partner can help you both.
Each of you can take scheduled time during the week to work out
or do other personal things while the other does full-time kid duty.
You or your partner may feel guilty at first, but trust me,
both of you will benefit from the exercise and uninterrupted time.
Tip number 3: involve your kids in your workout anyway you can.
They might not be interested in a formal workout, but they still will
really appreciate being involved, spending time with you in any way.
For little ones or really little ones, you may be able to hold them as lightweight
during exercises like squats or lunges.
For slightly bigger kids, you can ask them to help out with the workout.
They can count reps or tell you when to start or stop.
They'll also be more interested in just playing as opposed to structured workouts.
So go out there and get silly with them.
Go crawl, jump, balance, and even dance
. Tip number 4: play some games.
Building right off that last point-
playing some games with your kids is always a great way
to get in your exercise.
It sets a great example too, that physical activity is important and fun at any age.
You could play something like ninja red, light green light, because we all know
that games involving ninjas are better.
Here the player, who is "it" walks around aimlessly while everyone
else kind of sneaks and crawls and jumps behind them, trying to
get closer and closer to tag them.
When the it player turns around, everyone has to freeze.
Any ninja who doesn't has to take three big steps back.
We've got a ton of other games and ideas in our article, "how
to exercise with your kids".
Check it out.
Thanks for watching.
And if you've made it this far in the video without getting interrupted, you
should probably go check on your kids.
They might be getting into something.