I’ve been part of the fitness community for over two decades now, but things have changed a lot for me since I started working out regularly. The main thing being that I’m now a father of four young children (all under the age of four!) so I’m busier than I’ve ever been in my life.
When I was a kid my dad had a gym in our garage that he used with regularity, so fitness was something I saw from my dad’s example as a normal part of life. I grew up idolizing him and always wanted to have my own home gym, but I’ve lived in Los Angeles for the last decade where space and time constraints have always made it difficult for me to have a consistent home routine.
In March of 2020 gyms in LA closed [due to the Covid-19 pandemic] so I decided it was time to take a chance and start the home gym I always wanted. I started simple, with a bench and a set of dumbbells. My workout time has always been a priority to me and honestly, I was worried that being at home more would mean that my busy schedule and family life would squeeze out my workout time. Especially since I have the four young children at home.
To my surprise, not only was I able to consistently workout at home, I also enjoyed my workouts at home more than I did when I was going to the gym. I even started incorporating my kids into my programs and they started enjoying the family workouts too. Now they are the ones keeping me consistent because they regularly ask me when we can do a family workout.
FAMILY FITNESS TIP: Many adults haven’t considered that their children can be incredible accountability partners in fitness, nutrition, Bible reading, prayer and more. And – it’s a two-way street where the parents can begin to teach and grow a child’s understanding of and value in accountability. Use your social media to document and celebrate the ways you are fit WITH your children and include the hashtag #ObeyYourThirstForGod
My workout time now is just as much of a priority as it has ever been; maybe even more so because now it’s not just my time it’s also family time. You might be a busy dad (or mom) too, so let me encourage you, there are ways to make sure your health and fitness are a priority. Here are five ways I’ve personally found to incorporate my kids into my workout programing.
1. MAKE FITNESS A COMPETITION
Most parents know that one of the easiest ways to get kids to do something is to make it into a competition; the same is true for fitness. I’m competitive by nature and my kids definitely picked that up from me. Our house sits on a hill and my workouts routinely take me to the hill for some form of exercise. Now my kids join me and a week doesn’t go by that my three-year-old doesn’t challenge me to race up or down our hill. In fact, she usually wins! We all end up getting a workout and somehow I don’t even mind losing.
Here’s a recent time she challenged me to a lunge race:
2. JUST KEEP LIFTING
I’m usually a very organized and regimented type of person when it comes to my workouts. I want to have a certain number of sets and reps in mind so I know when I’ve finished.
But that doesn’t always work when you have a three-year-old, two-year-old twins, and their one-year-old little sister running around. Sometimes things get crazy. My plan on days like that goes out the window and instead I just lift. I don’t count sets, I don’t count reps, and I don’t rest. I just pick some equipment and make sure I’m moving something for 20-30 minutes. It keeps my heart rate up and keeps the kids entertained, which I count as a win-win.
Here’s a little glimpse into what that recently looked like for us:
3. USE YOUR KIDS AS WEIGHTS
One of my favorite ways to make sure I get my workout done when I’m busy with the family is to incorporate them into the workout. That means I use my kids as weights.
It works well because my son loves being used as a medicine ball and my daughter loves anything that seems like a “horsey ride.” To them it’s like being at a theme park and to me its like being a gym with a very active dumbbell selection. In the end everybody is happy.
Here is one of my favorite ways to use kids as resistance:
4. TAKE YOUR WORKOUT ON THE ROAD
One of the great things about being fit WITH your kids is that it is a good way for the kids to burn off some energy. And if your kids are like mine, they have plenty of energy to burn!
We live near the beach so sometimes my wife and I will take the kids to the sand and let them run around while we use a suspension trainer or resistance bands to grab a workout. A park is also a good choice. We’ve found that anywhere that has space for the kids to run or a different environment for them to explore while we grab a few reps can work as a gym.
Here’s an example of what the mobile gym has looked like for us:
5. MAKE FITNESS FUN
This one is a no brainer, but it’s important to state anyway. If your children have fun with fitness they are more likely to embrace it. The same goes for you. The more you enjoy your workouts the more likely you are to sustain a workout program long term, so make fitness fun.
A workout doesn’t have to be the traditional day to day grind of lifting weights over and over. Use your imagination and remember that even if you can’t enjoy your workouts, at least your kids can!
Here’s a fun way to turn a toy car race into a workout:
I hope this encourages all of you busy dads and moms out there. If I can do it, you can too. I thought that having four children who are all less than four years old would keep me from being able to exercise, but instead they are the reason I do. Try a few of these ideas for yourself and I bet you’ll find that not only your fitness but also your relationship with your kids will be better for it.
For more family workout ideas (or to share some of your ideas with me) you can follow John’s Instagram.
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