Getting Fit At Home: Beginner Tips for Moms

Getting Fit At Home: Beginner Tips for Moms
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Staying Fit At Home

Getting fit as a stay at home mom isn’t always easy. There’s a lot to do on the home front with kids running around. Between laundry, diapers, and household duties, many stay at home moms’ fitness programs amount to not much more than a thought in the back of mom’s mind. I can say this because I’ve been there. There was a time that I let so many days go by, thinking about exercise, but never doing it. The good news is that you can develop a few simple habits that will get you on track to feeling healthier and happier as a stay at home mom. This program requires only small blocks of time, and no special equipment, so there’s really no excuse for not getting fit!

Developing Habits

The biggest challenge for all women’s fitness is time. There are always things competing for our time, so first we need to develop a few good habits. This program is like any other fitness program in that you have to develop new habits or you’ll never stick to it. The cool thing is this program only requires three 10 minute blocks of time and 5 even smaller one minute blocks of time. It will take a little while to make this a habit, but once you do it will be easy to stick to this stay at home mom’s fitness program.

10 Minute Fitness Bursts

It has been well established that three 10 minute cardiovascular bursts of exercise are as effective as 30 minutes of continuous exercise, so why not take advantage of this news. Women’s fitness has never been easier.

Everyone has a different schedule, so this will be an individual thing. Find three 10 minute blocks of time for cardiovascular activities. You might choose 10 minutes first thing in the morning, 10 minutes after lunch, and 10 minutes after dinner. It doesn’t matter when you choose, but make a choice. During each of these 10 minute blocks of time you will do some form of cardio. Simply walking around the neighborhood works great, but think of some indoor ideas too for rainy days when you can’t get out with the kids. Indoor running in place, 10 minutes of your favorite aerobics tape—then pause the tape for the next 10 minute burst, or even stair climbing works great. If the weather’s good, 10 minutes of jump rope or jumping on the kids’ trampoline is fun and the kids can “play” too.

Five 1 Minute Toners and Stretchers

You will also incorporate 5 toning exercises and stretches into your day. This is super easy. You’ll alternate upper body and lower body every day. For example, Monday’s toners will focus on the upper body: arms, chest, back, and abdominals. Then on Tuesday, you will focus on the lower body: thighs, calves, and butt. The toning exercises you choose will adhere to the area of focus. You could do one toner while watching tv, another while brushing your teeth, and yet another before your shower. It really doesn’t matter, just do at least 5 a day. Choose from toners like squats, lunges, pilates exercises, push-ups, calf raises, or crunches. You can find plenty of toning exercises online. I would suggest putting together a little portfolio of your favorite exercises from magazines or websites to use during the day.

Getting fit doesn’t have to take a lot of time, money, or equipment, so why not make use of these at home fitness ideas, and get started building a healthier you!

Resources

1. Prevention: www.prevention.com

2. Spark People: www.sparkpeople.com

3. Web MD: www.webmd.com/fitness