exercise and kids

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emmynchris
emmynchris Posts: 11
in Fitness and Exercise
i have 3 children 6 4 and 11 months i try to exercise daily but most days i just dont get around to it i have tried the gym it worked for a few months than got to expensive for babysitter and than the membership i was just wonder what some of yall do for exercise i also work part time and a ful time student
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  • bmskid
    bmskid Posts: 153 Member
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    Do anything! Get some DVDs (target has some for as low as $6), walk, jog inside your house, jump, jumping jacks, jump rope, body weight exercises, dance....do ANYTHING! You CAN fit in exercise. Maybe not 60 minutes at once, but you can do 15 minutes here and there. As long as your heart rate elevates, you're exercising. It doesn't have to be perfect, or a particular system, or a particular plan. Anything is better than nothing!

    DVDs I "go-to": Jillian Michaels shed and shred, Tae Bo Bootcamp, hip hop abs (much easier than the others)
  • dmurphy1975
    dmurphy1975 Posts: 45 Member
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    Take the family out to a local park. Hiking, walking, or just playing with the kids on the playground is great exercise and quality family time.
  • TiredMom12
    TiredMom12 Posts: 78 Member
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    I was having the same problem trying to juggle my 3 kids, working and exercising. I finally just joined the gym in the building where I work and go during lunch and take them with me on the days I'm home. On the weekends, I leave the kids with my husband and go for an hour. I don't go as regularly as I should, but getting in 3x a week and running 3 miles now. I don't have the discipline to workout at home. I have so many chores and things to do and the kids running around makes it very hard.
  • emmynchris
    emmynchris Posts: 11
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    i agree at home is very hard and my boyfriend works two full time jobs so he literally in never home except for when he is sleeping so i guess i will have to figure out something we cant really go to parks and things right now to cold for the little one
  • maddymama
    maddymama Posts: 1,183 Member
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    I used to wake up a half an hour earlier and do 30 Day Shred or similar DVD before the kidlets woke up.
    A year later, when my oldest started kindy, I threw the youngest in a jogging stroller and started running a few days a week. I got our single jogger free from a neighbor, and later added a good double jogger we got cheap from Craigslist.
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
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    a few things - DVDs are good - I started with some of the Biggest Loser ones...some take just 1/2 hour...hard to carve out some time - but you just have to do it.

    Also if you happen to have a smartphone or a tablet - check out Nike Fitness Trainer app - lots of good workouts with minimal eqipment needed.
  • jamfan
    jamfan Posts: 124 Member
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    My gym has child care. I dont know what I would do without it. The kids love it & it makes it way easier. The hardest part is getting them dressed & in the car.
  • peilover010202
    peilover010202 Posts: 32 Member
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    I have 4 kids. My youngest is 3 mos old. You *can* fit it in if you want to. My hubby works about 70hrs a week, and I work full-time. I workout 4-5x/wk. Because my hubby works so much, I usually can't get to the gym. So, I workout to DVD's at home. I have several Jillian Micheal's (30 day shred, no more trouble zones). I also have a few biggest loser ones.

    I do to the gym 1x/wk for a spin class too, just to hold myself accountable.

    I really try to fit my workouts in 30 min increments. Sometimes that means my kids watch a TV show while I'm doing it in another room. 2 of my kids actually like to watch and even do some of it too (which is really fantastic!!)

    It sounds like your best option is to commit to working out at home to DVD's for the time being. It is hard to stay motivated, and they can get boring. But, if you want it bad enough, you can definitely do it! =)
  • BellaFe
    BellaFe Posts: 323
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    I have 6 kids 2 of which are 11 month old twins. I make the time. I lift weights and have a spin bike and I do it all at home while they nap.
    My husband also works.

    If you really want it you will make it happen.
  • mjswalters
    mjswalters Posts: 38 Member
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    I picked the only gym in town with a kids' room for this very reason. If I had to wait to go until my schedule sync'd with my husband's, I'd never get there. The DVDs and such are good suggestions, but I know, FOR ME, they wouldn't work. Part of the reason I went to the gym early in this journey is because I was paying for it!
  • norcal_yogi
    norcal_yogi Posts: 675 Member
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    I used to wake up a half an hour earlier and do 30 Day Shred or similar DVD before the kidlets woke up.
    A year later, when my oldest started kindy, I threw the youngest in a jogging stroller and started running a few days a week. I got our single jogger free from a neighbor, and later added a good double jogger we got cheap from Craigslist.

    this is the kind of thing i did for YEARS (i have 4 kids).

    oh and yes, just plan it on your own outside of your partner.... just too hard the other way.
  • supplemama
    supplemama Posts: 1,956 Member
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    When I had my 3rd baby back in the 90s I lost a bunch of weight after he was born mainly from being so busy running after the kids and walking a lot. My kids were 8, 3, and an infant then. My main exercise was packing up the baby and my toddler in a double stroller and just hiking it; we'd go for long walks. Walk my oldest to school, walk to pick her up, walk around the neighborhood while she was at school, walk to the grocery store and back, walk to the library, etc...

    I totally understand where you are at because at the time my husband worked 2 jobs and we were both college students, and I worked part-time. It was HARD. Can you get a workout DVD? Get up 30 minutes earlier than the kids and just do it. I know you are probably pressed for sleep as it is but maybe that is something you can do at least 3 days a week.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    When I was a university student, I would take advantage of the on-campus gym. It was already paid for by my student fees, so I might as well. If you're already up there, I assume you have child care arranged. Do you have time between classes, or before or after?

    I also have done a lot of at-home workouts with videos. I get bored with them easily, but I found that I can check them out from the local library for a week at a time for FREE. My older kids sometimes tried to do the videos with me, and I often still put my youngest (15 months, not walking) in his exer-saucer to watch me. I've liked Tae Bo, Jillian Michaels, etc, but there is a huge variety out there. Also check Netflix and even on line (hoping someone else has some links, I've never bothered to look into those) for other sources of free workout videos.
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    Seriously, you can make solutions or you can make excuses.

    You can get free exercise vids from everywhere from netflix to youtube.

    You can make 10 min dance segments with the kids. Just put on music on like pandora or just any radio station and dance, with the kids, in the living room.

    You can put on a 1/2 hour TV show for the kids and do a bodyweight circuit (search nerdfitness beginner bodyweight circuit for one).

    You can exercise before they get up or after they go to bed or while they are napping.

    Pick one and make it work. Or find another option that you can make work. Use your baby to do arm curls. I bet s/he'd get a kick out of it. I agree with the first poster: ANYTHING is better than nothing.

    ETA: It's worth noting that DIET should be your main focus. It has the biggest impact on both weight loss and energy. You do not need to exercise much, just enough to give you enough calories to eat and be satisfied. It's ok to lose slowly while you have so much going on in your lives. But don't let the fact that it is hard impede your willingness to succeed.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    I would get on my treadmill after they were in bed. If you don't have it, get some DVDs and do them once the kids are in bed.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    If you have a game system you could try games like Zumba fitness or Just Dance and do them with the kids. Even the 11 mo might enjoy these dance type exercises. Or just turn on some music and dance with the kids. Most kids love music and I've never known one that didn't like to dance (or laugh at Mom dancing).
  • vicrandom
    vicrandom Posts: 80 Member
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    1) Dance Time with the kids.
    2) videos at home.
    3) google Robb Wolf (the Paleo guy). You can ignore the Paleo part and check out his exerise advice: wall pushups and chair squats use "equipment" you definitely have in your home; adding a couple of dumbells means you can do some of the other exercises as well.
    4) if you can afford it, register the kids in some kind of kid activity at the gym or rec center, and work out while they're in class.
    5) instead of bending down, squat. Your butt will stick out (if you're doing it right) and you might feel funny, but daily activities (picking kids up off the floor, picking laundry up off the floor, pulling stuff out of the bottom of the fridge, grabbing stuff off the top shelf) can be translated to an ergonomically sound "fitness" motion. Even if this isn't cardio, it's building extra activity into your day and building your core, which will burn extra calories for you.
    6) figuring out what you're rating as "very important" right now that is, when you take a sober look at it, less important than your health (or whatever your goal is with getting active). It sounds like you have a busy life, but guaranteed, there's fifteen to thirty minutes of something stuffed in there that is NOT as important as YOU are.
  • vicrandom
    vicrandom Posts: 80 Member
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    Wait, totally throw Robb Wolf googling away and replace it with that Nerdfitness thing. A quick glance suggests it involves way less moralizing. ;)
  • tooliebell
    tooliebell Posts: 177 Member
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    I do all my workouts at home. I have an elliptical, some barbells, and a nice variety of dvds, including tae bo, walk away the pounds, and biggest loser. You may want to pick up a Walk away the pounds dvd. I have one with 5 miles on it that is broken into 5 one mile segments. Each mile is about 12 minutes. If you could fit one in three times a day or twice a day that would be a huge benefit to you. The biggest loser dvds are in segments as well, normally 10-15 minutes. You can do as many as you want or if you just have time for one segement do it.

    I have three kids, a full time job, and a husband. Not to mention my kids are involved in many extracurricular activities that we coach, so can't just drop them off. You just gotta make it work. Right now, I am getting up before the kids to get in some time, and then doing it again when I get home. Tomorrow, I won't have anytime when I get home from work, so I'll have to make it up in the morning. Once you get committed you will find it easier to make the time, I promise. In the beginning, I told myself I was going to exercise everyday! YES, everyday! It was summer, so walking was my exercise and I the days were longer so I had lots of time to fit it in. But once I got through that month of exercising EVERYDAY, it was honestly just a habit that I haven't quit so far. 6 months in and yes there have been days I have missed a workout, but I feel it and I know it and I don't like the way I feel when I miss it. Start off with some small goals, like this week I am going to do this. Once you hurdle that goal, make another one.

    You can do it, don't let life obstacles get in your way. Small increments totalled up are way better than nothing at all.
  • dporter1183
    dporter1183 Posts: 154 Member
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    My 4 and 7 year olds work out with me. They love it. I think it teaches them about being active and healthy, plus they get so wrapped up in that they motivate me to keep up with my work out routine.

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