I have been doing all that I can to get rid of the dad bod and get in shape so that I can enjoy the time I am spending with my kids. With the sun being out later these days, it’s making it harder to take time away from my kids to get to the gym. But is that your excuse? Let me share with you the five exercises to do with kids. You can do them at home and don’t need weights because your kids are your weights.
Squats – When doing squats I have been increasing my weight when I go to the gym, but doing air squats (meaning squats with no weight at all) is just as good of a workout. Now, put your kid on your shoulders and then do squats. I love doing these because my son gets excited and likes to squirm around a bit which makes it a little more difficult for me and works my core a little more. Not only that, but strengthening your legs is going to increase your weight loss because you are working your largest muscle group, causing the need to more calories to burn. Have I got your attention yet? Yeah, these are some of my least favorite exercises, but I know my kids love it and I know it will benefit my health.
Push-ups – Have you ever tried to do push-ups with your kid around? No matter what you do they try to jump on your back and you feel like it’s impossible to get these done. Well, when life gives you lemons…just keep swimming. I love doing push-ups with my kids on my back because it pushes me to work a little harder and they have a blast the entire time. You don’t have to bust out 20 of them, but you can push for ten and move up from there.
Planking – Since we are down there for push-ups and your kids are on your back, why not do some planking? I hate planking more than anything, but if I am wanting to get rid of this gigantic stomach I have to look down at every day I need to work on my core. Putting a kid or two on my back while planking helps me not only work my core, but also is strengthening my back. When having little kids, you are going to want to have a strong back for all the times you bend over to pick them up and put them down. I am so grateful that I have strengthened my back because I used to have a lot of pain that made parenting hard because it was difficult to pick them up.
Cleans – I am not talking about cleaning up after your kids, all though this is quite the workout in itself. The clean is a movement we frequently use in everyday life where we pull an object off the floor and onto our shoulders. Adding the clean to your exercise program will develop strength, flexibility, power, speed, accuracy, agility, coordination and balance. I had recently done these movements at the gym with a medicine ball and I thought, why not try doing this with my kids? I have been doing it and we have gotten a lot of excitement from this movement from both kids.
Sit-ups – Having a strong core when you are running around with little kids everyday is vital. I have been doing sit-ups for years, always hated them, but when I started incorporating my kids it made them a little more bearable. Yes, they are going to be slightly harder because now you are going to be sitting up with some weight added, but if your kid is anything like mine they love when you treat them like they are Super Man flying around. This sit-up incorporates that making it a little more difficult for you, but do you want those six pack abs or not?
Now you have no excuses because you don’t need a gym membership to do these, you’re not taking time away from your kids and you are spending time with your kids. Try these exercises out today and let me know what you think.
