Let's not "survive the summer"
I’m typing this in late June as a relatively new mom of 3. Specifically, two elementary schoolers and a one-year old. I feel like I still haven’t recovered from the end of the school year. “Maycember” comes in hot and as a relatively new mom to the school calendar it completely kicked my butt (granted I did it with an infant) this time. My little first grader and pre-kindergartener had completely divorced schedules packed with concerts, end-of-school parties, field trips, award ceremonies, and for some reason we thought it would be fun to add in competing soccer schedules into all of this. However, I think, because we were still sending them to school each day, getting in my personal workouts was still possible.
In June I think we lit this all on fire. My older kids are in Summer camps, but the schedule is completely different and we’ve folded in travel and having company. I can honestly say I missed about 2 weeks of my own workouts. Which sucked. I workout mostly for health maintenance and as a mental escape. Running and lifting have been a reminder of the me underneath the mom, and when I don’t get to do it, I don’t feel like myself.
With July approaching, I am apprehensive yet optimistic that I’ll be able to recalculate our lives a little bit and fit in my necessary workouts!
So, maybe that’s a bit of an overshare, but if you’ve got older kiddos who are off for the Summer while you, ahem, aren’t, you might feel the same. Many of my other clients are in the same boat. We desperately need the time but just don’t have it.
If you know my training style, you know that I am all about shorter and more intense workouts. I think before I had kids I spent at least 2 hours in the gym every time I went. Meaning a 30-45 minute cardio session, lifting, abs, stretching, and a sauna/ shower. How indulgent! Now I absolutely don’t have that. Even with the 2 hours of childcare I get with my current gym membership I spend about half of it at my computer working on projects and client plans. When I workout at home I get interrupted every 15 seconds if I do it after 6:30 am. So I need to be extremely strategic about how I spend my time. (Ps anyone else feel like a timer starts ticking the second they lay their baby down for a nap?)
In normal times, most of my clients have less than 45 minutes per session. So we alternate between cardio/ strength/ barre/ pilates/ and I keep it within their time frames. In the summer, it’s more like 20-30 minutes if we are lucky! So far, carving out a very, very flexible schedule and readjusting for travel, minimal childcare, and changing our overall mindset has really helped the workouts actually happen. I noticed a pattern in the way that I’ve been programming for the school age/ Summer mom-mode, and figured it’s worth sharing.
If you are also a mom in summer mode - try this
Skip the warm up
This is what I would recommend for my pm workout mommas. If you have been chasing kids all day, you probably don’t need to spend 10 minutes doing the dynamic stuff. (If you don’t have heart, blood pressure issues, or if you’re already in decent shape.) Start straight into the jog, a brisk walk, or do the first set with light weights and gradually increase. If you are exercising in the am or if you’ve been sitting for a while, please continue to warm up. Body weight squats, walkouts, deadbug, light speed skaters, etc, are all great ways to get right into a workout without a ton of time.
Do the most important work first
Same with everything, right? Prioritize the muscle groups you need the most. If you’re working on glutes, do the deadlifts first. One trainer tip to keep in mind with all exercise programming is to begin with the larger muscle groups/ movement patterns and end with smaller/ more specific. This will prevent injuries, help you burn more calories, and build strength. So work your back before you work your biceps, do your pushups before you hit the tricep rope, etc. Of course, with everything, there are exceptions and reasons why you would make different choices, but for the most part, this is what I would recommend for maximizing training volume during a shorter duration workout.
Lift before you cardio
I said what I said. When you are a mom, particularly of small children, you are doing cardio all damn day. You can absolutely set in cardio intervals inside your workouts, but the priority for most of us should be weights. Your kids will only get heavier, and we absolutely need it as we age and recover from pregnancy and childbirth. Strength training will not only have metabolic effects (calorie burn/ weight loss/ muscle burning) but can prevent osteoporosis and musculoskeletal loss as you age. There are many health benefits of cardio, but if you’re short on time and want to maximize your results, lift heavy things!
You don’t need the reminder that summers are short and magical for your children. But if you’re like me, you might need the reminder that your summer should also be fun and that you and your goals matter.
Here is your permission to hire a babysitter, turn on the TV, drop your kids off at childcare, and let them be feral for 10 minutes while you get a couple of sets in. Chances are you’ve been bombarded with memes and reels about how fleeting the moments with your littles are. Although true, childhood summers are magical, you deserve to take time away for yourself. You don’t need to spend every waking moment with your kids to be a good mom. You deserve a clean house, clear mind, and achievable goals of your own. “Survive the summer” is a mindset that I think we can break free from.
A couple of years ago I created a 15 minute workout for a client who was to be traveling without access to equipment, and I expanded on it to make the workout extra accessible for prenatal and postpartum.
To grab your copy click here:
If you have any tips for getting workouts in between summer camp drop offs and while traveling, please share below! You can message me privately here on my contact me page or pm me @ https://www.instagram.com/themomtrainer
Sending out the hunger games salute in solidarity! We’ve got this!!!
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