Christmas may be done and dusted, but the school holidays are still here and having the kids at home can play havoc with your normal fitness training routine. Here are some of our top tips to help keep up your fitness over the school holidays.
Flexibility is key
The key to maintaining your fitness over the school holidays is flexibility – and not of the stretchy kind. It’s pretty likely that your normal workout routine just isn’t going to work during the holidays, so let it go and find other alternative ways of getting your heart rate up during the day.
The family that plays together stays together
Get the whole family doing active things together so that you can spend some quality fun time with each other. Round everyone up to walk the dog together; even if you have no dog, go for a walk around the block or park and create mini exercise stations along the way (kids will find it more interesting if you do circuit style ‘stations’ along your route, such as push ups, lunges, frog jumps etc.). Pack lunches for everyone and go on a bush walk together. Have a water fight with some water guns and stockpiles of water balloons. Have a tournament on a motion sensing console game like Wii Fit, or dust off the swingball set and recreate the Australian Open in your back yard.
Look for loopholes in your day
Getting up before the kids are awake so that you can get your workout done without interruptions can be a great way to maintain a lounge-based fitness plan over the holidays. Put on an exercise DVD, do some bodyweight exercises, or just take the time to stretch. If getting up earlier won’t work, try to make time for ‘bite-sized’ exercise sessions – 10 mins at the beginning, middle and end of your day to squeeze in some training when you can.
Recruit someone for workout swapping
There’s bound to be another mum you know who would love to make it to the gym for an hour. Why not babysit her kids so she can go work out, then swap over so she can do the same for you? You both get workouts and ‘me’ time, and the kids get a social playdate.
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