Fit parents with kids - when do you find time to work out?

[Anonymous]

Take the stairs at work and where ever you go. Lift dumbbells of you are watching TV

It's not formal. Just fit it in.

[Anonymous]

You will find out the only way to make it happen is to do it very early in the morning. Says the mom up at 4:34 am because she will head to the gym at 5:15.

[Anonymous]

I cut my workouts from 6 days a week to 4 days a week but more intense HIIT workouts and running. Tue/Thu up at 5 AM to work out for an hour. Showered by 6:30. If I'm hungry I eat half a Luna bar pre-workout. Go to bed at 9, lights out at 9:30. Saturday I go to an outdoor class, Sunday I work out after family breakfast (plus digestion time).

I work from home and if the prior night is bad, I will fit in a couple 10 minute HIIT workouts during work breaks. The Peloton app is great for that kind of thing.

[Anonymous]

When mine were little, DW would work out around 5 AM. I would go to the gym at 8PM.

It sucked, but it was worth it

[Anonymous]

+1 on early mornings. Similar schedule to OP, kids are awake between 6:45 and 7am. Kids are in bed by 7:30/8:00, I'm in bed by 9:15, the alarm goes off at 4:30, I'm at the gym at 5:00, and then home by 6:15 after an hour-long workout.

The first few weeks of creating the habit is rough, but now what I love most about it is that nothing else will EVER "come up" at 5am. When I tried to do evening workouts after kids' bedtimes, there would either be some work emails to catch up on, or a tempting TV show, a phone call from my parents, or just sheer fatigue. I'm way more consistent now that I'm an early riser.

[Anonymous]

5am for many years.

[Anonymous]

For some people, it’s the very early wake up. For me, what works is flexibility, I have a whole toolbox of workouts I can do, so I fit something into my schedule. I can run, bike, stream workouts, have dumbbells, sliders, resistance bands. I shoot for 3-4 cardio/running workouts a week and 2-3 strength-focused ones.

I can do them first thing in the morning, on my lunch break, or early evening. Whatever fits into my schedule for the day.

This has worked for me with two working spouses, and 2 young kids.

[Anonymous]

I workout first thing in the morning. It's a huge help that I don't need to leave my house AND my DH gets the kids breakfast in the morning. We have a peloton, weights and a treadmill in our basement. I'm up at 5:30, downstairs by 5:40 and finishing my workout around 6:30 as the kids are waking up. I shower and get ready for the day as DH gets them breakfast.

If I don't work out first thing in the morning during the week, it doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take the stairs at work and where ever you go. Lift dumbbells of you are watching TV

It's not formal. Just fit it in.

There is a lot to this. I think when they are really young you just have to accept that a regular, consistent workout schedule in a gym or even at home might be really hard to come by. Little kids are so unpredictable, plus their schedules change constantly those first few years. You get accustomed to working out at 7pm when they go to bed, and then they go through a long period of just refusing to go to bed! You can't count on them to accommodate you at all.

A big thing for me was just choosing not drive whenever possible. That means I spent the first 4 years of my kids life pushing a stroller all over creation -- daycare, work, the grocery store, the library. And the bigger she got, the heavier the stroller! There were lots and lots of days where I didn't have time for a "workout" but I pushed a stroller with a 30 lb child and another 30 lbs of groceries and other gear a total of 5 miles between drop off, pickup, and errands. I'll take it. I used the carrier a ton, too -- weight resistance. Same with the hiking backpack. When you take your kid to the playground, get in there and do active playing. Is it my favorite thing in the world? No, I'd rather sit on a bench and stare at my phone, I'm tired. But just like all those pre-kid workouts that you didn't exactly look forward to but knew were worth it in the long run, I just make myself do it. And bonus, if you fit your workouts into your time with your child, you get extra time with your child. Which means that when they do FINALLY go to bed, you can finally relax knowing you took care of your body and your relationship with your kid. Exhausting, but worth it.

[Anonymous]

Wake up at 4ish, at the gym by 4:50/5am.

On weekends, each parent gets one weekend morning to work out while other parent has solo time with kids. Works out well.

[Anonymous]

I wake up at 6am every morning during the weekdays and workout (running usually or peloton if its gross out and sometimes lifting). I am done by 7am and then home, shower quickly, start making lunches. It helps that my 3 kids don't wake up until after 7am.

[Anonymous]

The toddler years are tough. I agree with the others that early AM is the time that you are least likely to be interrupted.

But I also get that you're probably a little sleep-deprived.

I agree that you should aim for three to four days of working out. Do two on the weekends so you and your partner can switch off. Then you only have to worry about fitting two workouts into your week. Let's look at your schedule:

Toddler is up by 630am, we are starting work at 8am.
Done with work at 5, dinner at 615, bedtime routine, kid down by 730pm.

Your options are a.) early morning; b.) lunchtime; c.) right after work. Push back dinner 15 minutes and bedtime 15 minutes if you need to buy more time.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t basically.

[Anonymous]

We both work out during the workday. In the before times I would run to work and shower there. Now I just fit it in where I can in the morning because I'm working from home.

[Anonymous]

I have a 3-year-old who's up by 6:30am every day, so my exercise time is usually between 9-10pm at night. Luckily exercise before bed doesn't keep me awake like it does for some people.