Exercising When You Have Family Obligations

If you find yourself skipping exercise in order to accommodate your family members' schedules, it might be time for a review of how your family schedules are managed. Use the tips below for including your exercise routine as an essential part of your family's schedule.

Consider whether it's your family's priority system or your own that has led you to neglect exercise. Write down how you spend your day and determine times of day when family demands are less. Even if you have a large family with diverse needs, it's likely that there's downtime. Focus on these periods of downtime as possibilities for including exercise.

If you're too tired to exercise at the end of the day, then you should incorporate exercise into the start of your day.

If getting up earlier seems impossible to you because you're already tired, consider ending your day earlier and going to bed. Once you start going to bed earlier you'll find yourself getting up earlier.

If you tend to have more energy at the end of the day, consider joining a gym that has late hours in order to accommodate your energy level.

By joining a gym that has later hours you can also enlist your spouse's assistance by going out to exercise after your children are asleep while leaving your spouse as the adult in charge in case something comes up.

You should plan on exercising every day so that you're not tempted to ditch exercise in order to do something else that's come up in your schedule.

Even if you plan to exercise every day it's likely you'll miss a day or two a week which will allow you to maintain recommended exercise amounts while providing you with some flexibility.

Consider exercising without your family in order to make sure you're maintaining exercise efficiency. While walking the dog or taking your children with you on a bicycle ride is a great family activity, your responsibility for others can effectively reduce your ability to exercise efficiently.

Consider your commitment to exercise as part of your role of setting a good example for your children in order to motivate yourself to exercise. Compare explaining to your children that you have to go to exercise the same way you tell them you have to finish a chore or a phone call before you can give them your undivided attention.

Use gym babysitting services as a last resort rather than as a first-line option so that it's easier for you to get out of the house to exercise.

Getting your child ready to go to the gym with you amounts to additional time you spend in preparing to exercise and can lead to exercise interruption if your child is crying. Instead, consider exercising when your spouse is home or hiring a babysitter for the hour or so you're at the gym.

By making your exercise routine a family priority, you'll find that you'll better be able to incorporate a workout routine that you stick to in your daily life. Use the suggestions above for balancing your commitment to exercise with your family obligations.