The other day my husband and I pulled into the post office so I could send something off. He took the carseat out of the car and walked the baby around outside. She tends to scream when she's sitting in the carseat, but will calm down to a sleep when she's strolled inside of it in the fresh air. That's my girl, she likes the wind to hit her face. She closes her eyes and takes it all in, and it puts her in such a peace that she sleeps. Wow, I can get spiritual with that, but I'll focus. So, when I leave the building to find the husband, I catch him in the parking lot doing tricep extensions with the baby in her carseat.
We are only getting older, working out is essential. The body starts to hurt and limbs and joints get to feeling dull when they aren't being worked. It is just hard to find the time. We don't live in an age where just going about our daily living is a workout -- whether its cleaning, commuting, or working for our food, etc. These days, everything is push-button and a seated function. We must work out in order keep fit and healthy. How do you find the time when you have a full-functioning family, including an infant?
I'll be honest, it is a good week if I can get 3 - 30 minute increments dedicated solely to working out (like in a video) per week. Things like jogging strollers and Mom-and-Baby workouts are really nice ways to keep baby and workout in one, but what if you just don't have the time to fit in a run? These days, in order to stay fit and healthy, I have to also find ways to work out while going about my daily living.
1. Commuting by foot. Our library is a mile away, and the shopping plaza is a bit further. To get to both means going uphill. This a bit of a family fun exercise, because Bam will use his razor, Amira will use her skateboard, and Elisha takes in that fresh wind she loves so much in her stroller. I get the shoulder, hamstring, and glut workout of pushing a stroller uphill, and a lat and quad workout on the way back home downhill. If I do light groceries and stack them in the stroller basket and bags tied onto the handlebar, it's like weights!
2. Carseat curls. So before my husband used the baby in carseat for his triceps extensions, he did a few sets of bicep curls. Hey, it was a long post office line. Seriously, how many times do you find yourself standing in a line? Pick up the carseat and knock out some curls.
3. Carrier core strengthening while cleaning. The baby wants to be strapped to me (or her Daddy) anyway, and the housework needs to be done. I find that I get a good core (mainly back and sides) workout when I have her in the carrier and have to do slight bends, like when straightening things up. Deeper bends that require squating for baby's safety while in carrier, like switching laundry and picking up stuff from the floor, give a good frontal core workout and of course you work the muscles you normally would in a squat.
4. Plank reading. I homeschool my children, which means much of the morning is taken up by me reading something: the Bible, the reading or history lesson, etc. Why not throw the book on the floor and make a goal of one page per plank. Do you know how many muscles are used in a plank?!
5. Pilates while being a pillow. ... or a mattress. I have found that I can get through the older kids' school lesson when I instruct it while I allow my daughter to sleep on me or in my arms, otherwise she is too demanding. So I have a choice to sit on my butt for a few hours while she sleeps and I instruct, or lay that baby on my tummy for some of it and do some supine workouts with my legs (also using legs as weights for the core), bridge-work, etc.
6. Rock and twist. Babies like to be rocked. Well, if you hyper-swing your rock, while you hold the baby close, to twist your torso on the ab axis, you get a good lung and oblique workout.
7. Include dance in your music class. Dance is very natural for kids, and it puts a baby to bed (strapped onto you). I guess it reminds them of being in the womb a bit -- so close to hear your heartbeat and feel the legs' sways. For years, while in worship, I'd remember how the Bible mentioned David dancing with all of his might before the Lord, and wondered why I didn't see it incorporated into many worship services. Our family does Israeli and Messianic dance -- a great exercise. Dances like waltzes also make a good calf workout.
8. Teach a sport. I have a rule for my kids that their elective has to be either some involvement in music, art, or sport. Sports are a great way to workout with your kids, and it seems less of a workout when it is a game.
9. Peek-a-boo sit-ups. A fussy baby takes up lots of time. Plans for a workout go right out the window when you have a baby that just won't let you let her go. Playing with baby all of a sudden takes precedence. Set the baby by your feet and do a sit-up, while playing peek-a-boo. You can also lay the baby on your legs, while your legs are extended out and you do a pilates roll-up/down, playing peek-a-boo.
10. Grocery shopping lunges. I kid you not, I have done this multiple times. Normally I know exactly what I am buying and where it is in the store, but for the Mom who likes to go down every aisle, this one might be for you as you probably walk through the aisle just as slow as if you were walking lunges down the aisle. When I do them, I alternate aisles, or if I am looking down a new aisle, I'll do them. I'll lunge-walk the whole aisle, hand to shopping cart, or at least until I find what I am looking for within that aisle.
So you see your workout buddy can also be your baby -- the best kind to have, and mutually beneficial. Baby gets to have you and you get to workout.
No comments:
Post a Comment