You’ve been at home for the last year. You have settled into a “work from home” routine. You even found a little normalcy with your nightly walks around the neighborhood with the family.
But you still feel not yourself. We get it. As a site dedicated to finding families childcare, the number one thing we have heard over the past year has been how hard it has been to find “me” time. For many, that “me” time is exercise-related, one of the first things people have given up in order to make time for everything else going on.
It can be hard to exercise for a solid thirty minutes to an hour when there are little kids running around the house. In order to help you find that time, we asked some experts in the exercise space on what they recommend.
Force yourself to be an early morning person
This might be the most obvious tip, but it’s also the one people all say they hate at first but eventually grow to love. If you’re used to waking up around the same time as your kids, try getting up an hour or so earlier and train your body to be a morning person. Trust us when we say it’s not easy the first couple days or weeks, but once it becomes habit, you’ll be waking up before your alarm.
This time in the morning, whether it be one hour before or more, is now fully your time. Seeing as many experts recommend working out earlier in the day, this time while the house is still quiet can be entirely yours. We highly recommend not checking your phone or work email until after your workout as well.
Have dedicated workout space off limits to the kids
While most children have no concept of boundaries until they’re a little older, if you work with them on establishing parts of the house that are yours, like a workout room, it should be easier after the first couple attempts to make it clear that when you’re working out, that space is yours.
“We can’t tell you how important it is to establish a dedicated workout area in your house,” said Erin Tomkins, one of the editors over at HomeCyclists.com, a home exercise bike review site. “If you don’t create boundaries, it can be a free-for-all.”
Work out with your kids to involve them
Most of the time when a kid wants your attention, they simply want to be a part of whatever you are doing. When possible, like with body weight exercises, or yoga and whatnot, get those young ones involved early to not only get them excited about personal fitness, but also to establish a fun activity for you both to participate in.
There are plenty of good exercises for kids that both parents and children can participate in together.
While none of the above are as straightforward as simply having an empty house while the kids are at school or in daycare, hopefully you find some of them helpful enough to get the creative juices flowing when it comes to staying fit during these harder times.
