(Editor’s note: please welcome Zemfira with 4 great fitness suggestions. Thanks, Zemfira!)
There are a number of ways you can incorporate exercise into your daily schedule, but if you are a stay-at-home mom, your time and resources are probably fairly limited. Here are some ideas for working exercise into your daily routine:
1. Take your children for regular walks. Especially if you have young children, they are easy to put into a stroller and take on a long walk around the neighborhood. I have found that even when I don’t find any other time to exercise, it is fairly easy to keep walking every day once you get into the routine.
2. Walking is great for your heart, but maintaining muscle tone is also very important. Exercise videos are an easy way to work on your muscle tone. I have a hard time doing these every day, but even if you do them a couple of times a week (in addition to walking) it will really help your muscle tone. This type of exercise reduces back aches, muscle tension, and gives you more energy.
Exercise videos are also great for kids. They will surely want to get in on the action and participate (there are even videos just for kids). They find it quite entertaining. There are hundreds of exercise videos on the market. I am currently a fan of Jillian Michaels’ work out videos.
3. An easy way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine is through household chores. Gardening and house cleaning provide great opportunities to work off those extra calories.
4. You can also join an exercise class. I have found our local health club to be too expensive for our family, especially when you add on childcare fees. Most communities offer inexpensive exercise classes, although often they do not offer childcare. Some, however, are scheduled very early in the morning so you might be able to squeeze one in before your husband leaves for work.
If you’re not sure you are healthy enough for a regular exercise routine, make sure to check with your doctor first. I still make periodic appointments with my chiropractor to make sure I am not exercising while my back’s out of alignment.
I hope these ideas have got you thinking about how you can incorporate exercise into your daily schedule. You can’t afford not to.
Check out StomachFat.com for more exercises you can do at home.
Image courtesy of pigstubs via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.
Earnest Parenting: tips for moms who want to stay fit.
At the risk of adding products to your blog, I highly recommend using Wii fit. It gets the whole family involved, and it is a lot of fun.
There really is no excuse to get some exercise in your day.
Becky, no problem on recommending the Wii Fit. We have one! I gotta start using it again…
Hi, Amy! Nice to meet you at #BloggyCon!
Love those walks. i have one daughter that lives close to me and we have a lake about half way one direction from her house and half way the other direction from my house. When we aren’t getting rained on we meet at the lake and walk around it. it is 1 mile and a quarter, so we get a good walk and the wee one rides in the stroller, like you say. Some good conversation and good exercise at the same time. Yes, Amy we all need to stay in shape.
Blessing to you,
Debbie
p.s. Yes here in Colorado we have been getting rain every day for about 2 weeks now. It just keeps coming. Cools things down good, so i can complain.
I was training a client today and she mentioned that bringing her child into her exercises (she is a stay home mother) made them that much easier to stick to. She found them to be far more engaging as well as her child being entertained in a positive way.
That’s a great idea! My younger boys like to play along with me when I exercise, although I’ve noticed the older ones can be a bit…condescending. 🙂 They’ll grow out of it in ten years or so.