Adopting A More Active Lifestyle: Top Tips For Mums

 If you offered most mums the chance to grant three wishes after rubbing a magic lamp, many would wish for more hours in the day. Running a household, looking after kids, working and trying to find the time to exercise and practice self-care can be challenging, not least during a lockdown. If you’re keen to be more active in the months ahead, here are some top tips to take on board. 

Embrace family-friendly activities

If you’re juggling work with raising kids, time is a luxury. It may not be possible to find an hour or even 20 minutes every day to exercise alone. If you find yourself in this situation, try and introduce family-friendly activities. Get involved with fun home workouts you can follow online, go for long walks together, take your bikes out or exercise in the garden. There are also games and video games that promote physical activity, so you don’t need to worry about being unable to get your bodies moving if the weather is miserable.

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/bicycles-bike-family-outing-6895/

Set a step goal

Mums are often more active than they think, usually because they’re whizzing around the house like a whirlwind tidying, cleaning, cooking, washing and ticking off a host of other jobs and chores. Wearing an activity tracker is a great way to maintain high levels of activity and to increase motivation. Set yourself a daily step goal and get the whole family involved. Wear your watch for a couple of days to see how many steps you usually complete in an average day and then establish a target, which is ambitious but realistic. If you usually do 5,000 steps, for example, try and increase it to 6,000 and then gradually elevate the number as you get fitter. If you have a goal in mind, and everyone is on board, it will be more fun to exercise and go on walks together. 

Seek professional help

If time is of the essence, it’s natural to want to get the most out of every minute. You can use your time wisely by trying intensive activities, which burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time, and pushing yourself with the help of a personal trainer. Many trainers offer virtual one-to-one and group coaching, and you can also follow guided workouts online, which are cheaper and more flexible. Working with a trainer can help you achieve goals faster and you can also benefit from their expertise when it comes to planning healthy meals, fueling your body, recovery and reducing the risk of injury, taking supplements like steel protein and designing sessions that are geared towards your individual goals. Some people might want to lose weight, some may want to tone up or gain muscle mass and others may be looking to reduce stress or improve endurance. 

Picture by https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-doing-exercise-2011377/

Eliminate bad habits

Many of us are less active than we could be because we have bad habits and we get comfortable with a routine that allows us to be sedentary. If you tend to jump in the car to go down the road to the shop or you drive to see friends who live around the corner, or you always take the escalator or the lift, making simple changes can make a huge difference. Leave the car behind and walk or cycle short distances and take the stairs if you’re on your own and you don’t have a pram or a toddler to worry about. If you work at a desk, take regular breaks to move around and stretch your back, arms and legs every couple of hours. 

Explore the great outdoors

It may be cold and grey outside, but the great outdoors can be a highly effective tonic for mental and physical health. With entertainment options limited at the moment, outdoor exercise is a brilliant way to spend quality time with your children, try new activities and break up the monotony of lockdown days, which seem to blur into one. Encourage your kids to explore and make outdoor pursuits fun. Follow nature trails, look for bugs, flowers and birds, plan a treasure hunt, organise a bike ride or wrap up warm and take a picnic to the beach or the park if the rain stays away for the weekend. 

Picture from https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-walking-1766696/

Most mums have days when they feel like they’re swimming against the tide. Life can get hectic, and even with the best intentions, it can be tough to find time to exercise. If you would love to embrace a more active lifestyle in 2021, there are ways to make hitting targets easier. Hopefully, this guide will get you off to a flying start.