SUMMER FITNESS for Parents of LITTLES!

I’ve been thinking lately about my years of trying to keep fit in the summer with two younger children.  I see others that are currently in this age group of having kids like anywhere in the toddler to even up to 10/11 year old range that you have to work schedules around in summer (really at any time) to get in your fitness! 

I am putting together 5 tips below from my experiences, my very sweaty experiences, that overall I’m really glad that I did, and I KNOW without a doubt, that I was more fit from instilling these practices into our weekly schedule!

1.      1.  This is FIRST, because it sets the stage for anything you want to do:  GET THE KIDS “INVESTED” in your goals.  This means, let them know how important it is that you make a plan to get in some time for fitness for yourself, and that you are counting on them to help you.  They love to hear that they are the helpers!  (at this stage)!  Tell them about your goals- are you doing a race at the end of the summer- get them excited about it, talk about it!  Tell them they are on YOUR TEAM in getting to this goal!  It is overall healthy anyway for them to hear about why you want to be fit- obviously for health reasons, but--- does it make you feel better, does it make you calmer through the rest of the day, do you just LOVE running or swimming or biking, etc.

 

2.       2. LEARNING TO RIDE BIKE AGE—Ok, this was an interesting and HARD time, but I can tell you that YES I got so much great interval training in- having them go out a mile and back a mile- they would be learning to ride bikes and I would be jogging with them.  Sometimes at the early stages, I would bring them/ drive them and bikes to a flatter road for easier cycling/ learning to be on the bike.  Once they got the hang of it, yes, the HILLS were a menace that they’d get stuck and I’d be sprinting from one bike to the next to do a big great heave ho for maybe 10-15 steps to get their momentum back up to get over the hill- then back to the other kid for the same hill work.  Even if maybe these 2 mile runs had to be scheduled at the end of my extra miles or it was on a day that this was all there was- taking the time to go out and back was without a doubt instrumental in my fitness, getting in a great sweat and heck, the kids need to learn to bike anyway!

 

 3.       POOL BREAKS:  Thank GOODNESS the pool has 15 min breaks every hour- I USED THESE!  First of all, of course they have to be of a certain age, I’m not saying leave a baby on the side of the pool.  BUT…. I would always communicate to my kids maybe age 5 and up?  I cannot remember- but they KNEW- when it was BREAK TIME- they go to our chair, there was a snack and they could either be at the chair, or they could come to my lane and put their legs in (without distracting another swimmer in my lane).  Of course depending on age, I’d stop every time back at the wall to get a quick visual, make sure all was going ok.  Also, I made sure it was all communicated in advance, because you could very well spend 5 minutes of your 15 minutes kind of dilly-dallying around getting them set up.  So, they knew the plan, and I had really as close to 15 min as I could to swim.  No- it wasn’t maybe a FULL workout that I would have chosen, but yes, it totally worked to get a touch in the water and some me time, and yes some extra fitness.

4.        Get to the TRACK—it is like an “outside pack and play”!  So, it’s hot, blazing hot, I know.  Everyone gets ice water, and then… they get to bring their soccer balls, a coloring book or book for after they didn’t want to be active any longer… and when that fails—they are your “timer” for intervals around the track!  Tell them at the beginning what your plan is- will you be there 30 minutes or 50 minutes?  Give them a sports watch so they can see the time.  Tell them what your workout is—“I’m doing 3 800’s—that means 3x, I will go 2x around the track--- do you want to walk a lap recovery after each one with me to help me?)  THERE ARE ALWAYS POPSICLES after TRACK WORKOUTS GUYS!!!  USE THAT AS A TREAT!

 

 5.       Pack/plan in advance:  this kind of goes with the above workout, but also the pool time, or ANY ANY ANY OF THEM.  Your time is LIMITED.  If you don’t pack the day before, it takes time out of your workout for sure.  Have a huge bag with a few towels (some for after the workout to wipe down before sitting on car seats all sweaty), water bottles ready, sunscreen, the toys/distractions/whatever, because if you don’t have this ready, again.. it is time out of what you need😊