I don’t have time to workout.
One of THE most common phrases I hear from mums who are struggling to fit some movement in. I get it. I promise I do and there are times when I still feel like this and I let that mindset get the better of me. But what happens next? I start to feel crappy and antsy and stressed and my mental health is absolutely affected if I’m not doing regular exercise.
Do you know that to get the benefits from exercise, you do NOT need to do it for an hour, 45min or even 30min a day? 10-15minutes is an amazing place to start when you’re doing not much right now.. Here are some of my top tips for starting to fit that movement in when you feel like you don’t have time, but you WANT to move your body more.
What are you focusing on when you think about your reasons? Why do you want to exercise? Is it to change the way you look, or change the way you feel? I can almost guarantee that when you shift your focus to how you want to feel, you’ll be so much more likely to stick with that habit, because the effects are pretty much instant - endorphins that make you feel great kick in within minutes of starting your workout! Then when you’re thinking about whether to exercise, or not ask yourself “how will I feel if I do, vs how will I feel if I don’t?” I use this trick ALL the time and just asking myself that question is almost always enough to get me either getting out of bed, or if it’s later in the day, getting into my active wear.
You have to make yourself a priority honestly, this is probably the hardest one to come to terms with. But hear me out. As a mum, everything will never be done. There will always be mess to tidy, stories to read, food to prepare, cleaning, relationships, friends and you know right? I know you know - that’s why you’re here.
The only way you’re going to start fitting in that exercise when you’re already busy, is to make YOU a priority. For me, this means doing a workout with the kids around, or on me. It means getting out of bed early and getting it done in the lounge. It means planning a catch up with a friend where we go for a walk instead of for coffee. It often means shifting toys and washing out of the way so I have some space.
I don’t wait for everything to line up and everything else to be done before I workout. I put my workout FIRST because I know that if I don’t do that, it won’t get done. The bonus is that I feel so good after working out and I have so much more energy and a clearer head, that I am even more productive when I set about doing those other things. I’m even more present with my kids and want to spend quality time with them when I’ve done something to take care of me, first.
Where are you starting from? If you’re currently doing not much, planning to move daily might be a super high expectation. So think about what feels like a small step forwards for you, challenging but doable. It might be just 2-3 days to start with, which is amazing if you’re doing not much right now. If you’re already fitting in a few times a week and want to do more - go for it! Plan to add 1-2 days to your current routine.
Use a movement tracker here’s one you can download and print right now and pop in a visible place in your home. My kids love to help me tick off my movement, I get stickers and smiley faces from them. What an added bonus - they get to see me taking care of myself and they understand that exercise is normal, healthy and makes us feel good. A visible tracker is really helpful to see how much you realistically are doing and you might see a pattern forming about where you drop off, or find it hard.
Have a trigger to prompt you to exercise. If you want to work out in the morning, create a trigger around that, rather than a time. A trigger would be “when I wake up, I will exercise first”. OR it could be “once the kids are dressed and fed, then I will work out”. In the evening, it might be “as soon as the kids are asleep, I’ll do my exercise” For mums with napping babes, I love the trigger of either their sleep, or awake time. So as soon as they go down, or as soon as they wake up and are fed. Babies tend to really enjoy watching mum working out, if she is engaging and including them (I get some babies just hate being put down, I had one of these and understand it won’t work for everyone.
Plan to move for as long as you’ve got, rather than a specified time. It’s SO common to skip the workout because you think you don’t have time. But one of my most favorite mantras ever is that “something is always better than nothing”. I love this for creating a habit rather than trying to stick to a time because it means if you’ve only got 10 minutes, you can still get that movement in and boom you’ve stuck to your habit, you can tick it off and keep moving forward. 5 or 10 minutes is absolutely beneficial to your health and fitness and a heck of a lot better than 0 minutes, right?!
Don’t focus on the missed days, focus on today, right now! We have a really useful saying in the Rise Up Membership that truly helps our members to become consistent with building habits and that is to focus on the next step. What’s done is done and there is absolutely no point dwelling, or beating yourself up about it. So you missed a day of exercise, or 3, or a week or a month? The only thing that will make a difference is what you do next. So… focus on that. When and what is your next workout going to be?
So, Mama - what’s your plan now? I’d love to hear if that was helpful and when you’re next going to move your body - Let me know!