Building the Busy Mom Workout

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

13 Sep 2007 02:54 AM

There are just never enough hours in the day. If you're a mom (or a dad for that matter), then you're probably constantly torn between all the stuff you need to do and all the things you have to do. When you have kids, finding time to exercise is probably one of the biggest challenges you have.

Family Oriented Fitness

With one child, it can be a challenge to meet your fitness goals and with each successive child it can become that much more difficult. The family that lives next door to me, for example, is comprised of mom, dad and three kids ages 9, 8 and 6. Dad works third shift and Mom runs a business out of the home. They're always busy.

Every evening, when it's nice, mom, dad and the kids all hop on their bikes and go for an hour long evening ride. They do this regularly. It's a way for the five of them to spend time together and to exercise as well. Three houses down, there's a couple with five boys. The boys are all under the age of 10. The three oldest are in school and the two youngest aren't ready for pre-school yet.

Dad comes home each evening to take the three oldest boys to a karate class and he takes the class with them. While he's doing that, Mom has the youngest pair in the stroller and she's out power walking her two miles. They describe it as a fantastic way to spend time with their kids individually and collectively, while also getting their fitness time in.

Building Your Own Program

We've long established that you don't need a gym to do a workout in and we know how important our families are to us. If you only get to see your kids for an hour or two in the evenings between extracurricular, school and work, then you don't necessarily want one of those hours to be spent with you in the gym unless the kids are there too.

Check out your local YMCAs, many of them offer family oriented fitness programs from swimming to karate to dance classes. In fact, one of our local dance schools just started a mommy/daughter dance class that we're seriously thinking about taking next year. It's a great way to get you up and moving, while at the same time facilitating quality time together.

What could be more fit than that?

Check back later today and we're going to personally build a program for the busy mom or dad to use.

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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