How many hours a month do you spend standing on the soccer field sidelines, watching your kids back hand spring at gymnastics, or even just standing in your own cul-de-sac while your kids bike around? As moms, our calendars revolve around our kids and we can’t exactly tell them no because it conflicts with an aerobics class we desperately want to take.
The past few weeks as I’ve been standing or sitting during my son’s swim lesson or soccer practice, I’ve thought, “do I really need to just stand/sit here?” I have been following suit of the other parents because I didn’t want to be that mom. Was there something I perhaps missed on Day One that said parents MUST stand or sit in one spot for the entire lesson? The point of my attending all lessons is two-fold. First, my son is only 4 1/2 so I think it would be frowned upon if I dropped and dashed. Second, I want to watch him and ensure he knows I am watching his progress and paying attention. Maybe this will change as he gets older. For now, I am soaking up the fact that he wants me watching him.
Last week, I decided to go against the grain and tried out a few things. The result? I watched my son to ensure he listened, followed instructions and that he knew I was there. I also got a little body burn in. I call this a win-win solution. Here are the moves I have found I can basically incorporate anywhere without looking too out of place:
- Calf Raises. I promise, very few people will look at you weird at all. You simply stand and raise your heels up. I do 20 with my heels together, 20 with my feet facing forward and 20 with my toes pigeon-toed in towards each other. Then I repeat. It burns so good.
- Hold a Lunge. This move will get you a medium number of looks so you’ll have to be ok with that. Hold for up to one minute on each leg. Repeat. The goal is to get the front leg parallel to the ground so really get low to make it burn!
- Squats. Yes, the same medium number of looks as the lunge. But you won’t care once your booty and backs of your legs starts burning in an awesome way.
- Walk! This one will get you very few odd looks. Walk around the field or even the pool area. If your kids are biking around the street, run with them (unless this embarrasses them to an intolerable degree). I always wear a pedometer as it helps motivate me to get a certain number of steps in each day.
- Stretch! We don’t do this enough so take the opportunity to do some light stretching while you are sitting/standing around. Neck rolls, grab your ankle for some quad stretching, reach for your toes. You’ll feel so much better when you get back into your car for the umpteenth time that day.
- Leave! Ok so I am not quite to this stage yet. But I imagine that as my kids get older, I’ll be able to get a quick run (or walk) in without also having my eyes glued to them the entire time. Maybe you drop off and then hit the gym and someone else picks them up?
Get creative to stay fit! What ideas do you have to share?
