Using Your Children to Workout

     Working out from your home can be quite a challenge if you have young children at home. When you find yourself in this position do not give up hope but instead use your children as part of your workout.

This may sound odd but when you think about the different ways that you can use your children in your work out, you will realize how natural this is. The more that you can utilize your children the less time you will have to spend away from them in the day.

First, take them outside and play with them. If they are able to walk or run you can play games with them that require you to run and carry them or even run after them and chase them through your backyard or the park.

You will be able to get your cardio workout in after playing a few games of tag or even after letting your children climb all over you and trying to escape. You can even make up games that require running to play with your children.

As your children are out running and playing with you, you will be helping them establish healthy habits as well. They will remember the time that they spent with you and associate those feelings with being outside and physically active.

After you have run outside and played with your kids. You can carry them around with you and use them as your weights, this may sound odd but you can gain a lot of muscle mass from picking up your children.

This opens up another great opportunity to create a game that allows you to pick up your children in different ways. You can lift them above your head or hold onto them and swing them back and forth between your legs.

Each of these different lifts will be fun for your children and will also provide different workouts. Strengthening your muscles is easy when you have weights that are laughing and happy to be lifted.

If you need to workout your legs, you can pick your child up and do squats. Some children also like to be lifted up on your feet when you are laying flat on your back so that they feel like they are flying above you.

Make sure when you are lifting your children that you are doing so properly so you do not hurt your back or strain your neck. The more that you practice lifting your children the better off you will be when you are able to hit the gym again.

After you have your cardio workout in and you have your muscle strength workout in you will want to make sure you take some time for yourself. Your children will be tired from playing with you and should be ready for a nap.

Even if your children are not ready for a nap, you should make sure that you are taking the time to stretch. When you stretch your muscles you want to make sure you are doing a thorough job every day.

Stretching will allow you to continue working your muscles without running into problems of injury. Although you may get injured if you are not doing your exercises properly, stretching will dramatically decrease your chances.

If your children are not the kind of children that take naps, you can always take the time to teach them how to stretch. When you teach your children how to stretch you will be getting in a good stretch yourself.

Finally, at the end of the night after your children are tucked in bed you may need some time to meditate. If you do this through silence, music or even prayer you will be able to concentrate on what is most important in your life and relax.

This alone time will mimic the alone time that you used to be able to have when you went to the gym. Hopefully, through this procedure you will be able to feel that you have gotten a workout in that will suffice.

Not only will you be getting in a good workout for yourself, but you will also be teaching your children very healthy habits. The more that they learn from you concerning their physical activity the better off they will be in the future.

You may not be able to get the best workout from this method but at least you will be able to get in some physical activity.

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