MOMS! When do you find time to exercise?

JENIFER_AZ
JENIFER_AZ Posts: 235 Member
edited September 30 in Fitness and Exercise
My son has a Wii and an XBox, so when he's on the XBox, I'm on his Wii doing my Zumba workout and I LOVE IT!!! I try to exercise in the morning when everyone is up and running and happy. If I wait for the afternoon, my little baby girl gets cranky and tired and so do I. So, just curious, when do you find time to exercise and what do you do to get your fit on?

P.S. Please feel free to ADD ME too! :smile:
«1

Replies

  • erzille
    erzille Posts: 524 Member
    I workout after the kiddos go to bed! So usually during the school year about 8:30pm.
  • tiffwhit16
    tiffwhit16 Posts: 76
    When my kids were real young I would work out in the mornings. Now that they are old enough to keep up we try to include them in exercise too. I want them to form good habits when they're young!
  • mommyoftwins05
    mommyoftwins05 Posts: 645 Member
    Right now morning is best.. before the day gets too hectic..it will be very easy once school starts back up... I like the wii fit :)
  • ncgatorfan
    ncgatorfan Posts: 517
    When my kids were real young I would work out in the mornings. Now that they are old enough to keep up we try to include them in exercise too. I want them to form good habits when they're young!

    Me too! I leave at 9:00 and workout for an hour and a half. Easier to go to sleep!
  • Terri_39
    Terri_39 Posts: 122
    I TRY to get up around 5 or 5:30 to go for a 2 mile walk, then after work I use the work gym and get on the elliptical for 35 minutes. Sometimes I'll do the Wii with my girls so we are all staying busy.
  • JENIFER_AZ
    JENIFER_AZ Posts: 235 Member
    When my kids were real young I would work out in the mornings. Now that they are old enough to keep up we try to include them in exercise too. I want them to form good habits when they're young!

    My son and daughter jumps in and starts to exercise. My daughter is 2. I love watching them workout with me but after 15 minutes I tell them I need mommy time. :)
  • AmyByExample
    AmyByExample Posts: 422 Member
    The only consistent time I've ever found is to get up early (before they are). That can be tricky because then the furry children hear me & want to go outside, get fed & try to sit on my head while I'm doing crunches...

    Otherwise, sneaking some in on lunch break at work... or later evening (but evening I often talk myself out of...)
  • icerose137
    icerose137 Posts: 318 Member
    Mornings after breakfast is cleaned up and settled. Not sure how I'll work it all out once I'm back in school this fall, but I'll figure something.
  • llkeefe
    llkeefe Posts: 18 Member
    I workout in the mornings. We have a Y membership and babysitting is provided. I leave my kids there while I work out. Sometimes, I take my older two with me and they run on the track or play basketball. And since it is summertime, we swim alot.
  • tarabear88
    tarabear88 Posts: 37
    this may sound bad.. but my day is planned around my zumba schedule. mondays-530-630 tuesday and thursday 630-730 wed 915am sat 830am.. fridays 730-830pm(sometimes) rest on sunday
  • edmmom
    edmmom Posts: 2 Member
    After the little ones (1 & 4) are in bed, sometimes my 9 & 11 year old daughters work out with me:)
  • nosey_rosey
    nosey_rosey Posts: 380 Member
    Mornings, naptime, or after bedtime for me... Sometimes I will do zumba with the kids but for the hardcore workouts I prefer them to be asleep =)
  • OnMyWay2STay
    OnMyWay2STay Posts: 144 Member
    The YMCA here has babysitting from 8 to 10:30 a.m. right now, so I take advantage of the fitness classes offered during that time. When that doesn't work out, I usually just do an extra stroller ride for him. I've been thinking about doing Yoga during his nap, but so far I think I still need the class.
  • mommyfirst77
    mommyfirst77 Posts: 119
    That is the one problem I can not seem to solve. I am a single mom of 4 ( been divorced about 6 years) . Even though my kids are not real young I stay so dang busy, I all but collapse when they are all finally in bed. I also work in the school system, so by the end of the day I am spent! : ) Just trying to do extra little things and really watch my calorie intake! Good luck~
  • melon_e
    melon_e Posts: 58 Member
    I either try to get up before the kids do, or jump on the elliptical while watching TV at night. Now that it's summer time, my husband and I can jog while the boys ride their bikes along with us. I just hope and pray that i'll be able to keep up my exercise routines when school starts back (my husband and I are both teachers).
  • CakeFit21
    CakeFit21 Posts: 2,521 Member
    First workout is my run before anyone is awake. Second is in the afternoon. Sometimes my three year old is in his room for "quiet time" or sometimes he's with me trying to do P90X or Insanity. So cute....
  • BronzeLady
    BronzeLady Posts: 13
    I try to take my son on walks every day, for the most part.

    But for the more strenuous stuff, I wait until he goes to bed and then have at it.

    P.S. Terri_39, is that Eric Northman in your ticker?!? LOVE him!
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    Well, we juggle. Mostly my husband works from home, so I am fortunate to be able to pull off all of my activities. We don't have family here to babysit, and I don't let my 13-yr-old son babysit the others.

    I have 4 kids: 13, 9, 7 and 3. During the school year, my morning workouts are right after I drop them at school.

    The 3 -yr-old has year-round preschool 3 days/week, so for the summer, on the mornings that she is at preschool I will either SUP (paddleboarding in the ocean or lagoon) or ride after I drop her off. The 3 boys can stay home if my husband is there or sometimes they SUP with me.

    On Tues/Thurs I teach spin, so I can take kids with me to the gym--the younger ones to childwatch, and the 13-yr-old works out.

    On Tues nights I have dance class and rehearsal; on most occasions my husband is home with the kids, although every once in a while I have to drag all the kids to with me and have them sit "quietly" ahem. ya.

    If I ride Saturday morning, the kids may be home with dad, at a friend's house, or 2 of them have a 2-hour martial arts class.

    When I perform (either a Fri or Sat night), the kids are with my husband--sometimes they come out to watch.
  • sonnyless
    sonnyless Posts: 142 Member
    I do most of my exercising at the gym. My two oldest go to school. And my 2 year old daughter comes with me and stays in the gym daycare while I work out. Now all the kids are on summer vacation and they all come with me. It's a family affair!!
  • PrfctGdess
    PrfctGdess Posts: 257
    My boys are 4, 2, and 11 months, and bottom line - it's not easy, but you CAN do it. :) I'm a SAHM, so it's just me chasing the 3 of them all day, and I'm NOT a morning person, so getting up early isn't usually feasible for me. I try to get my workout in (generally the elliptical or 30DS) when my youngest naps in the a.m. around 9 or 9:30. My older 2 play downstairs with me while I workout (you should see them do jumping jacks - adorable!). If that doesn't work, my younger two nap in the afternoon around 1:30, so I try then. If I wait until they go to bed at night, I'm too tired. I've also been known to take them swimming or for a walk (pushing my double stroller :P ) to get a workout in. Just gotta do what you can! :)
  • DonaA123
    DonaA123 Posts: 337 Member
    i do my exercise in the morning while my 21month old is still asleep.. then i do more when she takes her nap around 1 :)
  • KourtneyP83
    KourtneyP83 Posts: 319
    I'm struggling with this right now. I am not a morning person, so even with best intentions, I can't get up 2 hours earlier to exercise. When I am not working, I like to exercise when my youngest is napping. By the time I get them in bed (like just now at 10:30) I'm way too tired to exercise. His sleep schedule has been terrible lately, either he won't go to bed or he goes to bed and wakes up in the middle of the night or like 4am and stays up until hours later. This week has been a struggle. I may have to bite the bullet and join a gym so I can drop my kids to a nursery because I absolutely can not work out when my youngest is awake as he hangs all over me and cries.
  • tiffwhit16
    tiffwhit16 Posts: 76
    When my kids were real young I would work out in the mornings. Now that they are old enough to keep up we try to include them in exercise too. I want them to form good habits when they're young!

    My son and daughter jumps in and starts to exercise. My daughter is 2. I love watching them workout with me but after 15 minutes I tell them I need mommy time. :)

    I never really thought about including the kids in working out until this summer when my husband started taking bike rides with our son. Now, we go almost everyday. The kids love it (and it gets them off the video games). We're up to about 7 miles a day. I know it's not much to those who ride all the time, but we're just beginners!!
  • loved11
    loved11 Posts: 92 Member
    You are not alone. Working out during summer is real hard. To be honest I do what ever works. I do have a specific window that I workout. The kids have a feel for when that time is. For me that works its kind of training them. They ask" mom are you goin to workout"I stick with mid mornings right after snack. I also have stuff the litttle ones play with in the general area. They like the thigh toner band,the push up bars etc.... the key is only stuff they get to play with only when I workout, it could be anything. Sometimes they are too loud to have with me that's when new library books and even sometimes tv. They like umizumi. So I workout during that time frame. Be creative don't give up,the longer you stick to it the easier it gets.
  • janel814
    janel814 Posts: 88
    I am a morning exercise mama, while everyone is still in bed. Up around 4am workout complete by 5:30-5:45, I get ready, then I wake up the little one to get him ready. Most mornings we are out the door by 7am. I then get my second wkout in as soon as we get home from work/school. I did find that mornings are not for everyone nor all exercises. I can only do cardio in the mornings which rev my energy levels all day and strength at night which calms the body after a good burn. Hope you can find a happy median :-)
  • stc74
    stc74 Posts: 297 Member
    Mornings after breakfast is cleaned up and settled. Not sure how I'll work it all out once I'm back in school this fall, but I'll figure something.

    Right now I do then after they are fed in the morning, but when school starts I've got to figure out something else. When the weather is good we can walk in the park. When the timing is right we can go to the Y for classes use the pool, depending on what's going on. I've got a treadmill at home, just thinking it will be tricky figuring out when to use it. Can't do early morning since it will wake people up & hubby is on call/swing shift. :(
  • mbennion
    mbennion Posts: 7 Member
    I exercise either when my son is sleeping or I've also found some Zumba and Spin classes to take in the evening when my husband gets home.
  • zundelag
    zundelag Posts: 175 Member
    I like to do Yoga in the morning just before my kids get up. Also later int he morning I go to the gym a couple of times a week for classes. When my kids were MUCH younger, I would go to the gym or just run in the evening after DH came home. O.k, some nights he would "throw" me out of the house so I could get a workout in. He needed me to be sane as much as I did.
  • SafireBleu
    SafireBleu Posts: 881 Member
    I'm going to try to do it when my LO is taking his afternoon nap. I can let my DD watch her special show (it's her time to watch TV alone and she gets to pick since every other time they watch TV it is something educational) and hopefully hop on the treadmill. When she starts school in the fall I plan to take a walk after I drop her off with DS in his stroller or in a backpack.
  • sunyg
    sunyg Posts: 229
    I've found that any time I actually plan a time to work out it lasts for about a week. Tried getting up in the am before Hubby left for work. Lasted about 2 weeks and my 7 month old decided he wanted to get up all hours of the night again.
    Then I decided I would work out after my Hubby got home. Work picked up so now he gets home around 10 or 11.
    If I try to do it at nap time nap time changes lol. I have shared custody of my 2 girls so when I have them I can usually bribe them with something to watch my 3 yr old while the baby is napping. But that is only every other week.
    So I've just started doing it when the opportunity shows up. Worse thing that happens is I have to work out at 10 or 11.
This discussion has been closed.