School Holidays - Can you still fit a workout in?

We have about a week or so before most kids break up from school….so I am frantically trying to get myself organised…..

Are you the same? Do you have a six week juggling act on your hands while you work, look after the kids and try to fit in some ‘me time’ too?

With the extra strain on your time one of the first things to get thrown out of the schedule can be exercise.

If you are likely to put it off because you have less time or you have the kids underfoot then read on as all you need is a little organisation and a bit of creativity and you can really focus on exercising, keeping fit and looking great all summer.

Embrace the WHY

If you are the kind of person who finds all the extra juggling in the school holidays a lot of extra stress remind yourself that if you are fitter and you have exercise as a release for that stress you can ultimately deal with the summer holidays much more easily.

Tapping into and acknowledging WHY you want to be fit is very empowering.

It could be stress relief, it could also be to look good in your summer clothes, whatever your reason acknowledge it and focus on it.

Adjust Your Goal

If you usually spend an hour in the gym three times a week and you are worried about how you might fit exercise in when you have holidays coming up and when you are having to juggle work a little more to fit in childcare, it maybe time for a little membership break.

Adjust your goal from spending an hour in the gym to doing a high intensity workout in your living room three or four time a week.

There are two reasons why this will work; the first is that mixing up your usual training routine will always have a good impact on your results, you will see a big difference within a couple of week of changing your exercise programme.

The second is that a short high intensity workout of 30 minutes (or even less) can be radically more effective than spending that 30 minutes on a treadmill.

If you are working full pelt for each interval then resting before the next you will find that your body is capable of so much more and will continue to burn more calories for up to several hours after.

So be realistic, when can you work out? What can you do at home instead of the gym? How can you be more effective with your workout efforts in a shorter space of time?

Make the goal realistic and set yourself a declaration of your workout intentions every week – this is something we do in our little Facebook group and is a massive motivation enhancer! You can join us if you want someone to check in with each week.

Set a Time

One thing that can help the most is to set a time for your workouts.

I am a great believer in working out as soon as I rise in the morning. It sets you up for the day ahead.

If you are more of a night owl and you find your energy is better in the evening commit to exercising with a friend or going to a class that will get you out and doing it – no excuses!

Agree with your partner and your kids that this is your ‘exercise time’, I always assumed I couldn’t do it with the kids around until I actually tried.

My favourite workouts when the kids are at home generally involve burpees and counting!

Burpees because my daughter loves doing them with me and counting because she will count each and every one I do which can be quite useful if I have 100 to knock out!

By the way 100 burpees will take you less than 15 minutes and is a great way to get in a sweaty effective workout if you are short of time! You can also challenge yourself to see how many you can do in 10 minutes. Its a great measure of fitness too.

As my kids get older they are less interested in me working out in the corner of the room and tend to be better at entertaining themselves as long as it’s only for a short amount of time and there is plenty for them to do.

One other thing you need to do if you are going to fit that short workout in is let go of the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. Accept that you have less time and that you will commit to short workouts, commit to making them effective and if you oversleep one morning or a bump or squabble gets in the way of your planned time don’t beet yourself up, just reschedule and move on.

Get the kids involved

Grab a football and head for the park and run around with the kids.

If your kids are up for it running with them can be a lot of fun too. If you are new to running starting with your child can be great for both of you, start with short intervals and run at your child’s pace. If you are a regular runner pop them on their bike and challenge them to keep up with you.

Children can start running from around 4 years of age if you start them off very slowly at a pace which they set.

You may not be able to run at your usual pace but it is still a run all the same.

Finally if all the above fails, fall back on bribery, my kids will do anything for ice cream or stars on their reward chart, how about yours?

If you are local to the Woodley area join me on Thursday mornings throughout the summer holidays, 9.30am at Malone Park for Fit In The Park, a Cardio, Strength and Core workout while the kids play. Hit reply for more information or to book - £5/class.

If you are not local to Reading or you want something online then have a go at my Fit In 7 days programme, it comes with daily emails that will reset your mind-set and a 10, 20 and 30 minute workout you can do in your own home.

I’m off to see how many burpees I can do in 10 minutes before I pick the kids up from school….speak soon.

Kirsty

p.s. if you have any more tips to add please share them and let me know if this blog has inspired you!