Almighty Dad | A stay at home dad blog

What do you do when you want to work out, but you lack time because the kids are nipping at your heels?  Your options boil down to you either not working out or accommodating your exercise around your kids’ schedule(s).  I know people who wake up early or stay awake late so they can work out while their kids are asleep.  I suppose that works if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t mind trading sleep time for workout time.  But, sleep is far more important than exercise, and I’m not one of those people.  So, what do you do?  Improvise – I’m good at improvising.  I’ve been doing it for 7 years and I’ve managed to stay in shape the whole time.  Of course, I’m lucky because my job (Martial Arts instructor) was to be in shape.  A better example would be Mely (wife), who worked an 8-5 job and managed to stay in shape despite it.  How?  It was a combination of compromise, determination and ingenuity.  

Get your Spouse off his (or her) Big Lazy Butt:  

In other words, tag team your workouts.  Set aside an hour to do something athletic and have your spouse take over parenting duties for a while.  If your spouse doesn’t want to or makes up an excuse, kick him in the head and tell him to get with the damn program.  Then, when he’s done writhing around on the floor with an acute case of being kicked in the head, you can hand over the kids and go workout.  Afterwards you can take the kids and tell him to go workout.  He probably needs it since he couldn’t stop you kicking him in the head.  Compromise is necessary.  

Make Playtime your Exercise:  

When my boys were little enough to ride in a stroller I used to do a lot of running.  Mely would go to work and I’d get the boys ready for the park.  However, instead of driving to the park, I’d run.  We found most of the parks within a 10 mile radius of our house. I did marathon training with the boys, so  I’m confused as to why people moan about how their kids don’t sit still for 3 miles.  The anticipation of playing in the park was enough to get my boys to the park, and the exhaustion from playing put them to sleep on the way back.  When they got too old for the stroller we’d walk or ride our bikes together, and since they were old enough to not need constant monitoring, I’d do some plyometrics or sprints on the grass at the park while they played.  

Childcare at Gyms:  

I hate to admit it because I generaly dislike gyms, but they do usually have childcare, and that’s gotta be worth something.  In fact, I know several people who have gym memberships for that very reason.  You get trained childcare workers to safely take care of your kid while you go workout in peace.  When the kids get older they can even go to the gymnasium and play basketball while you workout.  Yes, it’s true; gyms are indeed good for something even if they are sweaty, smelly Guido magnets.  You heard it here first.  

Bataan Style Family Fun:  

My dad, when we got old enough, used to enlist us into his fitness schemes.  It would always be in fits and spurts; but, if it didn’t get him in shape, it certainly gave me an appreciation for outdoor activities.  He would sporadically decide he needed to get fit, find a family activity that would burn calories and then make everybody do it.  I learned to wind surf, white water raft and ski.  We went camping, biking through Zion National Park and other less interesting places, and hiking.  I even learned the theory behind chopping wood (he chopped it and I stacked it) and building additions to the house (I also learned a bunch of new swear words in the process), etc… .  Anyway, there was one time that he took us out to nature, woke us up at some ungodly hour and forced us to walk 5 miles to see a beaver dam.  That pretty much sums it up.  To his credit he never got fat.  

This article was written somewhat tongue in cheek for a reason. If you really want to do something, you don’t really need my advice on how to do it because you’ll find a way all by yourself.  If you’re looking for an excuse to not workout then there are plenty to choose from, all with a tinge of legitimacy.  Tiredness is legitimate, and so is time and opportunity.  There’s a reason why people get married and have kids and they start looking a little sloppy; kids create stress and stress leads to couch potatoes.  But, if you really want to change all that then you can, you just have to really want it and do small things to make it happen.  It might be a normal inclination to drive to the park, but have you considered packing a picnic and walking instead?  Have you seen the monkey bars and done 10 quick pull-ups?  There are opportunities; you just have to look for them.

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