5 Easy Workout Tricks for Busy Parents
If you’re a busy Mom or Dad and you want to lose weight, get fit, and get healthy, simply fit Get-Fit Guy’s 5 easy tricks into your daily schedule for 4 weeks, and see what happens!
Ben Greenfield
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5 Easy Workout Tricks for Busy Parents
Despite technological advances that are meant to make our lives more efficient, we seem to have less and less free time in our daily lives. And perhaps nowhere is this more true than for the busy working parent. With all our daily responsibilities, it can be nearly impossible to consistently make time for the gym. As a father of two extremely busy twin boys, I’m in the same boat!
But don’t worry.>
I’ve devised 5 workouts you can fit into your existing day that can be surprisingly effective. If you’re a busy Mom or Dad and you’re desperate to lose weight, get fit, and get healthy, then simply fit these 5 easy tricks into your daily schedule for 4 weeks, and see what happens!
Busy Parent Workout #1: The Wake and Tuck
After your alarm clock goes off, tuck your knees to your chest and wrap your arms around your knees. Now, just rock slightly from side to side. This will wake up your spine and stretch your legs a bit. After doing this stretch for about 30 seconds, straighten your legs and move them from side to side (keeping your back on the mattress). This will loosen your back and also engage your core. Depending on how you feel, you can finish this quick routine with 10 to 15 crunches in bed.
Busy Parent Workout #2: The Doorknob Squat
This might seem silly, but it works well. For your morning routine (the time you spend in the house before you leave for work or before the kids get up), every time you touch a doorknob do 10 squats. Personally, I touch about 6-8 doorknobs on average during my morning routine. So before I even eat breakfas, I’ve already done about 60 squats, which are a fantastic body weight exercise and a great calorie burner, since they use your larger leg muscles.
Busy Parent Workout #3: The Ab Flex
During your drive to work or while you’re shuttling the kids from point A to point B, do at least 5 sets of 15 ab flexes, in which you squeeze your abdominal muscles as though you’re trying to touch your ribs to your stomach, hold for a couple of seconds, then release. Of course, it goes without saying if this exercise takes away from your attention on the road, then you should stop doing it– but on most commutes, stop signs and stop lights abound!
Busy Parent Workout #4: The Three-Card Monte
Once you get to work, get the kids off to school, or set the little ones down in the crib or the toddlers to color at the kitchen table, you may still be busy, but no one is too busy to take a 30-second break here and there. One trick that you can use for this is a deck of cards. Each card should represent an exercise that requires only your bodyweight.
For example, cards 1-9 can be push-ups or body weight squats. For these cards, you perform the number of repetitions of the chosen exercise that is shown on the card (e.g. if you deal yourself a 7, you do 7 push-ups). Face cards can be tougher exercises. For example, Jacks can be jumping jacks, Queens can be quick feet, and Kings can be vertical jumps in place (Kangaroo hops). Jokers can be the toughest exercise of all: burpees!
Simply keep a deck of cards on your desk, and at the end of each hour, deal yourself three cards. Three cards are just enough to get your blood flowing, keep your metabolic rate high, and your energy level up. An average workday lasts 8 hours (not including an hour for lunch). If you can focus on playing Three-Card Monte once an hour you will have completed 24 exercises just during your workday. Do you realize that most people who go to the gym for an hour every day don’t even do 24 exercises? But you can complete 24 exercises during a busy day of work by simply taking a 1-2 minute break every hour! I’m also a big fan of fitness cards for this game, which are cards that actually give you specific exercise pictures and instructions on each card.
Busy Parent Workout #4: The 10-Minute Lunchtime Burn
One barrier to exercising during a busy workday or as a busy parent is squeezing in a 45-60 minute workout with a warm-up, cool-down and shower. But quick 10-minute workouts are simple, effective, and can be injected throughout the day – such as in the morning when you wake up (preferably before the kids are out of bed), after lunch (or when kids go down for a nap), and after dinner (or after the kids go to bed).
Want to get your 10-minute workout creative wheels churning? Simply check out my episode on the most effective 10-minute workouts you can do practically anywhere.
Busy Parent Workout #5: Mystery Keyword
This last one is actually a fun exercise to do with your family. Assign a “keyword of the day” and don’t tell anyone. Let’s assume the keyword is “dog.” Now, whenever anyone in your household says the word dog, you have to drop and do 10 push-ups. The next time that word is used, do 9 push-ups, then 8 and so on. The first time you do this your children will laugh, wondering what keyword made you drop. And if your kids actually find out what that keyword is, they will use it to their full advantage.
So now you are at the end of your day, you have worked your entire body, you haven’t stepped foot into a gym, you never needed to carry any equipment with you (aside from a deck of cards), and you didn’t need to schedule any significant time for a workout – yet you burned a ton of calories and toned every muscle in your body. Great work!
If you have more questions about squeezing in workouts and getting a better body as a busy parent, then leave them over at Facebook.com/GetFitGuy. If you enjoyed this episode, you should also check out my Top 12 Unconventional Ways to Burn More Fat.
Multitasking mom, playing cards, busy parents, and thumbs up images courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.