Working out as a new mom

[Anonymous]

I have an 8 month old and I’m wondering a few things:

1. When do you workout? I can’t seem to find a schedule I can commit to. I’m exhausted in the mornings and in the evenings. During her naps all I want to do is relax. I’m just wondering when other moms of little ones do it, especially if you aren’t a morning person.

2. Does your husband/partner support you going to the gym? I’ve been working out at home, but I mentioned I wanted to start going to the gym. My husband didn’t sound thrilled about it. I think it’s because when I worked out at home I take the baby into our gym area and set her up a place to play. I know he’s tired from work, but I feel like I need this for my physical and mental health. There’s so much stuff at the gym that I can’t do at home.

[Anonymous]

I just gave up and don’t do it but I also work 60+ hours per week. Interested to see the replies here!

In baby’s first year, my husband replaced working out with long (1.5-2hr) very hilly walks with baby in stroller but obviously that’s not like going to the gym.

[Anonymous]

Honesty, I tried to work out after having kids, but then realized realistically it wasn’t going to happen until they were at least 1+. Take walks with the stroller and then worry about it when your kid is a little older.
If you still want to try to squeeze in some workouts- look at you tube for some quick 10 minute workouts.

[Anonymous]

PP here- just re-read that you need it for your mental health, then yes. Tell your husband you need at least some time on the weekend to go the gym. And also let him have some time solo as well. My husband and I use to take turns with who had to get up in the mornings on the weekend, you could go to the gym during this time instead. Also- once a week can you let the baby stay at daycare an extra hour and stop at the gym after work and get a quick workout?

[Anonymous]

With an 8-month old I rarely worked out. Usually between 11 and 15 months my kids settled into more predicatable (one nap early bedtime) schedules and I was able to actually start doing things rather than doom scroll on the couch while they were sleeping. Not having to pump helped too. Then I usually worked out during my lunch break at work or after they were in bed in the evening. For that first year, I mostly did a lot of walking. A brisk 1-2 hour stroller walk (my oldest would only nap in the stroller for while so we’d do that a lot) helped me a lot. I know a lot of runners who invested in jogging strollers and seem to like them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With an 8-month old I rarely worked out. Usually between 11 and 15 months my kids settled into more predicatable (one nap early bedtime) schedules and I was able to actually start doing things rather than doom scroll on the couch while they were sleeping. Not having to pump helped too. Then I usually worked out during my lunch break at work or after they were in bed in the evening. For that first year, I mostly did a lot of walking. A brisk 1-2 hour stroller walk (my oldest would only nap in the stroller for while so we’d do that a lot) helped me a lot. I know a lot of runners who invested in jogging strollers and seem to like them.

Me again: YES your husband should let you go to gym at least a couple times a week btw. Not just for your mental health but also because it’s important for him to spend solo time with his child.

[Anonymous]

I too am not a morning person and working out during the day is too disruptive in light of work. I exercise either during the hour right before our nanny leaves for the day, or in the evenings after kids are down. The latter can be hard to motivate yourself to do, but I exercise in the evenings at home and turn the TV on — it makes it pretty tolerable. Your husband absolutely needs to either be willing to be responsible for the baby so you can have this time for yourself or support hiring a sitter if his job doesn’t allow him to do it himself. He needs to be a partner in this.

[Anonymous]

PP here — I should have added that my husband is responsible for childcare when I go to an exercise class once per weekend.

[Anonymous]

When I was on mat leave I started going to the gym to walk on the treadmill and do some yoga classes at 3 months postpartum. My husband encouraged and supported it. When I went back to work I started working out during my lunch hour and on weekends I went to the gym on Sunday while baby napped and husband was home.

Your husband needs to support your physical and mental needs. I would just start going instead of framing it like asking for permission.

We also split days on the weekends sometimes so husband can work for 4 hours straight and I can chill or bake or do whatever and the other person has kid duty. Makes a huge difference to feel like you briefly get a weekend too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8 month old and I’m wondering a few things:

1. When do you workout? I can’t seem to find a schedule I can commit to. I’m exhausted in the mornings and in the evenings. During her naps all I want to do is relax. I’m just wondering when other moms of little ones do it, especially if you aren’t a morning person.

2. Does your husband/partner support you going to the gym? I’ve been working out at home, but I mentioned I wanted to start going to the gym. My husband didn’t sound thrilled about it. I think it’s because when I worked out at home I take the baby into our gym area and set her up a place to play. I know he’s tired from work, but I feel like I need this for my physical and mental health. There’s so much stuff at the gym that I can’t do at home.

Are you at home? You relax during her naps? I guess I have other kids and I work, but dang. I do laundry/clean/try to do a 15 minute work out. There’s not a ton of relaxing at this age. Or when you have older kids. Or work. That’s just real talk. Maybe have more coffee? Go on walks in the morning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8 month old and I’m wondering a few things:

1. When do you workout? I can’t seem to find a schedule I can commit to. I’m exhausted in the mornings and in the evenings. During her naps all I want to do is relax. I’m just wondering when other moms of little ones do it, especially if you aren’t a morning person.

2. Does your husband/partner support you going to the gym? I’ve been working out at home, but I mentioned I wanted to start going to the gym. My husband didn’t sound thrilled about it. I think it’s because when I worked out at home I take the baby into our gym area and set her up a place to play. I know he’s tired from work, but I feel like I need this for my physical and mental health. There’s so much stuff at the gym that I can’t do at home.

Are you at home? You relax during her naps? I guess I have other kids and I work, but dang. I do laundry/clean/try to do a 15 minute work out. There’s not a ton of relaxing at this age. Or when you have older kids. Or work. That’s just real talk. Maybe have more coffee? Go on walks in the morning?

Yes, I’m a SAHM and I tend to do all the chores as I go (I’m really efficient) anything that can’t be done as I go gets done in the evenings. I have Lupus, so that makes working out even more difficult as I live with chronic pain and fatigue. Just trying to figure out something that works for me that I can stick to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8 month old and I’m wondering a few things:

1. When do you workout? I can’t seem to find a schedule I can commit to. I’m exhausted in the mornings and in the evenings. During her naps all I want to do is relax. I’m just wondering when other moms of little ones do it, especially if you aren’t a morning person.

2. Does your husband/partner support you going to the gym? I’ve been working out at home, but I mentioned I wanted to start going to the gym. My husband didn’t sound thrilled about it. I think it’s because when I worked out at home I take the baby into our gym area and set her up a place to play. I know he’s tired from work, but I feel like I need this for my physical and mental health. There’s so much stuff at the gym that I can’t do at home.

Are you at home? You relax during her naps? I guess I have other kids and I work, but dang. I do laundry/clean/try to do a 15 minute work out. There’s not a ton of relaxing at this age. Or when you have older kids. Or work. That’s just real talk. Maybe have more coffee? Go on walks in the morning?

Yes, I’m a SAHM and I tend to do all the chores as I go (I’m really efficient) anything that can’t be done as I go gets done in the evenings. I have Lupus, so that makes working out even more difficult as I live with chronic pain and fatigue. Just trying to figure out something that works for me that I can stick to.

Then you need to work out every day for your health. It’s a priority. I’d be ready to go right when he gets home, and he can spend an hour or so with the baby and then when you get home you can all eat dinner. Make it a firm routine.

[Anonymous]

When my kid was that age, I adopted a daily 15 minute workout. Even when I was tired, I could force myself to do it. I'd build it into nap time or do it first thing in the morning before DH leaves for work, or first then in the evening when he gets home.

There are lots of YouTube videos and online HiiT workouts to try out. I tried a few different things and found some routines I liked and would write them down and cycle through them, but if you like following a video, there are plenty of those too.

One thing I found helped a lot was getting pull up bar. I did assisted pull ups (with a circle band) for a while as I was still recovering from pregnancy/birth, but it's such a great full body workout. I'd do 10-12 minutes of combined cardio and strength, and always finish with pull-ups. Over time I got better at them, lost the assistance, and it was a great way to really push my body after a short work out.

I also did a lot of silly exercise challenges. Follow a bunch of workout Instagram accounts, a lot of them will post these. Plank challenges, doing squats to the same words in repetitive songs, etc. They are silly but helped to motivate me specifically because they were kind of silly. I'd start my work out with one of those as a warm up often. Also challenges that last over a week or longer can be motivating because it would give me a reason to start my workout, like "ok I committed to doing burpees every day and adding a set each day, gotta get those in" or whatever.

In short: make it fun, go for high intensity in shorter periods of time, look for full body exercises that are really rewarding and pack a punch.

[Anonymous]

When I had kids that age and I was a SAHM, I went to a gym with childcare and worked out during the day.

[Anonymous]

I like the Sweat app. You get a big selection of workouts that require minimal or no equipment. I also have a peloton for cardio. I find it tough to make it to the gym and working out at home is a better way to ensure I’ll get it done. I find that if I do it at the beginning of the nap (instead of relaxing first) I’m much more likely to enjoy it instead of worrying that my kid will wake up.