Busy moms?

Ugh, I want to know too. I have a 2 year old a 4 year old and care for my ailing father when I'm not working 8-5pm. I fit in a Zumba night once a week and try to squeeze in the 30 Day Shred any open 20 minutes I have - if I don't have to share my mat with the kids and my dog. I feel like I'm doing okay with this routine so far because I wasn't working out at all before so 120-150 minutes a week is awesome for me, but I want and need to do more.

It is tough, isn't it? I have two young boys (4 and nearly 2) and work-out after they are in bed. It was difficult to find the motivation the first couple weeks, but now I look forward to the me time. I get them to bed and go to the gym normally about 8:30 or 9:00. By the time I am finished the day's stresses don't seem so bad, and I go to bed feeling better. Good luck finding a routine that works for you.

It certainly helps that both my kids are a little older. During their busy season (football was nuts) I would pick up the one kid, take him home to get showered and start homework (dinner was either in the crockpot or started then) then I would lace up and drive over to the other kid's field and run. Literally, run for up to 45 minutes, whatever was left of practice, then meet him at the field and go home. Sometimes, if I didn't have time to make supper we'd swing by Subway on the way home and eat it all sweaty at the table together and then clean up! I have one day a week when I'm off work and they are both in school so I workout a good 90 minutes on those days and always workout Sunday afternoons while they either finish homework or play video games if homework is done. It's tough, but they both understand that I'm doing this for all of us. They love that Mom has energy enough to do stuff now, and they both think it's funny that I'm training for a 10k when a year ago I couldn't run for 30 seconds!!!! They're proud of me and can't wait for me to be the skinny mom cheering this fall!!! And I will be!!!!!

Good luck, make a routine and try to stick to it. We had a bad snowstorm or two this year when I didn't even dare leave the house to hit the gym, so I just hopped on our elliptical or popped in a DVD and worked out in my room. The kids were impressed I didn't skip the workout!

I get up at 5AM to do the Insanity program, and then I use my company's gym to get an extra workout during my lunch hour. It's tough, but for the mornings I just tell myself that getting up and doing that workout is my job, and this is how I'm going to live my life now. It definitely helps.

One suggestion for those who have trouble getting up for early workouts... Set your feet down so the bottoms of your feet are touching something. It sends a message to your brain that will make it difficult for you to get back to sleep. I don't know how it works, it just does, and has gotten me up on many sleepy mornings. Good luck to everyone, just remember that you need to make yourself a priority because to take care of others to the best of your ability, you need to take care of yourself! You're worth it!

I homeschool my 10, 5 & 3 yr old. I feel ya! and there its no way my 5yr old can walk and jog and keep up with me so in the am when its nice I take them on a walk at their pace then in the afternoon I set the timer to go off every minute and brisk walk for a min, then jog for a minute etc until I hit 30 mins minimum. Lots of times I go longer. I plug my ipod in my ears and *gasp* put on a video for the little ones. I do this all inside. My houseisn't huge. I run from the living room down the hall, in my room, turn..and go back. I break a bigger sweat with that than I do the walking videos. When its nice I'll open the back door in the living room and add the back yard to the path. My hubby says imma wear a hole in the carpet, but its working, is something I can do that's free when the kids are there and I like it. I also throw on some fast music and all of us dance and act like were in music videos. The kids love it, I sweat, and its fun! if its still light when the hubby gets home I take the dog out and do one min intervals with him.