Hello mamacita! If you landed into this post is because you want to get fit at home, but the busy mom life you have often makes you feel so overwhelmed and in just a blink the day goes by with no time for yourself. Well, first of all let me tell you that you are doing an amazing job and that you are the best mom for your little ones! You are not the only mom that puts everyone else first, but her, so don’t be hard on yourself thinking that you may have been doing everything wrong this whole time because you have not. We, moms often put ourselves at the bottom of the list because taking care of everyone else brings us joy despite the stress that involves doing so. But now, I invite you to make a stop and think this analogy for a moment: the smartest devices in the market have a battery life and need to be fully charged in order to work at their full capacity. Yes, these are just objects, but YOU, you are a human being, capable of bringing other people’s lives into this world, a person that can multitask like no other, so why wouldn’t you need to recharge? Taking the time to recharge is actually another way of taking care of your loved ones! Having that “me-time” is not optional, it is necessary!
When we start including ourselves on the list of people to take care of, we are ensuring that our little ones have a healthy mama, both, physically and mentally.
One of the most common questions I get is how I find the time to workout. I used to think that with the fast-pace life that I have and the multiple things I do every day between my full-time job, the cooking, the cleaning, taking care of my two wild toddlers, virtual learning and my blog, it was almost like planning a mission impossible. During the pandemic, staying at home was getting overwhelming for all of us, I’m sure you know the drill. I felt the need of getting a breather, an outlet to release all the anxiety, frustration and stress from dealing with all of what was going on. That’s when I realized that there is no such thing of “finding the time” because time was not something that I lost somewhere – it was about MAKING the time, MAKING IT HAPPEN!
If you really want to take that step forward and get rid of the extra pounds you gained after having your babies, you need to MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Since I did not have any plans of going anywhere outside of my house due to the pandemic, it was the perfect time to start a new, healthier lifestyle. Staying at home is actually an advantage as it works on our favor in terms of time saving! If you think about it, the commute to a gym can take 30 minutes to an hour (depending on where you live) of our precious limited time! So, I decided to designate a space to make my own gym at home and bought some amazing equipment to get started. I quickly began to making exercise part of my daily schedule.
Now, you’re probably thinking “it’s easy to say it, but hard to do it”, and heck yea! It was not easy, but it was a learning and adaptation process for everyone in our family, so I will detail below five tips that helped me get into a fitness journey, making it part of my lifestyle even having a very busy schedule.
1. Block a time on your calendar and Be consistent
Whenever you decide to start, consistency is the key. Remember when you trained your kids for bedtime, or maybe when you did potty training? Same concept applies here! Set your calendar and make it a “routine” to educate your kids (and husband/partner) that it is time for mama. I promise it works wonders! I would suggest to try working out at the same time every day when you first start your journey and once everyone is used to it, then you switch to whatever time works best every day.
There are still some days when I struggle and can’t simply make it to my workout for different reasons. But that’s okay as long as I don’t stop working out entirely for a week. Working out one day a week on a challenging week (time wise) is better than not working out at all. But again, don’t make it be the rule, but the exception. We typically know ahead of time the weeks when we will be busier; in my case, it’s the last and first weeks of the month, but I always make a goal of working out at least 3 days a week, when I would normally work out 5 days.
2. Make the moment only YOURS
Whether it’s 10, 15, 20 ,30 minutes, or one hour, whatever the time may be, make it entirely yours! No interruptions unless there is an extenuating circumstance, for example if the house is really burning (not the husband/partner calling for help with a diaper change or getting a snack for the kids). Your partner’s support is key, so talking about your plans and gaining their commitment to help is very important.
If you want to find time to workout with a baby, take your baby out for a walk on the stroller, it works wonders because they will fall sleep with the motion in a matter of minutes! Just take your dumbbells with you and do an outdoor workout if the weather permits; otherwise, don’t walk too far from home so you can quickly turnaround and go back home to get your workout done!
3. Designate a Workout space
Designating a space to workout at home is very important. I strongly suggest to designate a separate room where you can have some privacy, but I understand the limitations of everyone’s home, so just find a space suitable to your home space where you can have all the equipment that you will use for your workouts ready to grab and start!
4. Have a Plan
Time is precious girlfriend, especially for busy moms like us! Knowing the workout exercises/routine you will be doing each day is a must! Don’t improvise or start scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest searching for exercises. Wherever you decide to get your workouts from, have them already downloaded into your phone so you can just pull that list and go.
5. Make the first week an introduction to workouts
Know that there may be some (or all) exercises that can be new to you, so during the first week make sure that you take the time to view the proper form for each exercise and practice. This will make the following weeks easier, as you will be already familiar with the exercises and will not have to spend time watching videos or reading tutorials on how to perform each exercise, which can take up a long time that you could have spent actually doing the exercises instead of watching/reading.
These five things were key to jump into my fitness journey despite the time limit challenges I face every day and I am happy to share them with you. Now, one final note: Please make sure you are ready to enjoy your workouts from the very first to the last second of it! If you don’t feel motivated to do it, no matter what, you will not make it part of your lifestyle. Make sure that you turn the music on and have fun!
