Balancing Babies and Burpees: How I Make Time for Fitness as a New Parent

Having a child is one of the most rewarding and transitional times life has to offer. When we had our son Miles, I think I experienced every single human emotion I have, with the intensity turned up to maximum, all within the first week! He’s now two years old, and every day is a new adventure. The world is vibrant and fresh and new for him, and in turn it lends us this beautiful lens to see through and appreciate life through all over again.

Giving Yourself Grace

I think the most powerful emotion I’ve had since he’s arrived is the desire to be at my best ALL THE TIMES for him. As I’m sure all parents can relate to, there are moments where I feel like I fall short, and those moments can feel incredibly personal. Just like I’m always telling my clients, I try to remind myself that we are sailing a ship and there are corrections along our course, we don’t sail in a straight line to our destination.

Each day I feel like there are ebbs and flows to learn from, high energy moments, and low energy moments, where it’s almost like an endurance athlete making the choices about when to push and when to conserve energy.

Embracing the Outdoors

It has been so much fun to watch Miles grow every single day, and sometimes he is moving so fast I feel like I’m not going to keep up, but looking after him has been teaching me how much we all have a need for play and structure. His imagination is so vivid, he is a little ball of energy, and as he has become more active this year, learning to walk and talk and run and climb on everything he can; we've notice the more time we can get him outdoors, the happier he is, so we've been redesigning our backyard and spending more time in nature with this in mind. It’s obvious that all of us seem to be happier when we are outside more, and it's always a great opportunity to keep your body moving while having fun, even when you can't fit in a full work out. (Just remember to keep up that good squat form when lifting up your kiddos!)

Prioritizing Rest and Sleep

Having a child around and taking care of them daily is in itself an exercise, but what it sure has illuminated for me as a trainer is just how much more important it has become for me to be getting my rest. I often notice that the same set of challenges tend to emerge based on our level of motivation, and for those who just can't show up and get themselves motivated, the challenge is usually a lack of a plan or a lack of trust in one. But it’s the other side of the spectrum that has become more obvious to me after having a child, the folks who are consistently motivated and have no problem getting their exercise in, but typically have a separate challenge; they don’t prioritize rest, “I’ll rest when I’m dead; rest is for the weak, etc.” Since having my son, I have noticed that I haven’t been getting as much sleep (shocking!), and my natural reaction to that has been to “get after it,” and not miss as many of my own personal sessions if possible. While that attitude is great in many circumstances, it’s actually not a good attitude when we are chronically sore, tired, moody, mentally foggy, etc. This is our body begging us to rest, and sometimes it can take us weeks, months, or even years before we recognize the signal.

Since resting has become more of a priority, I have seen some noticeable changes in mobility, soreness, and general awareness of my body. If you feel tired, achy, or like you just can’t get enough rest, that’s usually the sign to sleep more and make a plan! You can take up to two, sometimes even three weeks off of your routine to recover if you have been chronically sore or achy and no amount of stretching helps. This will give your body time to recover, and often times allow you to bounce back even stronger than you were before you took your break!

*There have been multiple studies confirming that muscular atrophy doesn’t tend to occur in such short time frames, and for trained individuals, actually taking off time in regular intervals allows for recovery from overreaching or overtraining. These studies have also found no loss of strength with up to two weeks of rest, and improved neuromuscular function due to recovery. [(McMaster et al. (2013) ., Ogasawara et al. (2011) ., Mujika & Padilla (2000.) ., Hakkinen et al. (2000)].

That’s it for this blog. Thank you for reading, and remember that rest is just as important as exercise!