Tuesday 13 January 2015

10 HIGH INTENSITY ACTIVITIES FOR BUSY MUMS

Active mums do not even notice they are exercising. Because they do not - they just go with their kids and burn the calories unnoticed.
Here are a list of activities which are good for your health and even your kids will love them.



Be active!


You can hear this advice from everywhere, but as a busy mum it is not easy to sneak workouts into your day. If you think it is impossible, think again.
We are prone to think that if we do not have at least 30-40 minutes to work out then it is not worth the effort. It is not true. Every minute counts and all your activities during the day add up. Probably you will not get ripped abs this way but certainly get a fitter and healthier body. And this counts if you want to lose weight or just keep up with your children.

These exercises fit into a mum's busy and sometimes hectic life and as so they can be part of a daily routine.


#1 Warm up

Start your day a little warm up. When you wake up in the morning give yourself a 5-10 minutes to do some light exercises. You can do a couple of yoga or pilates exercises, what help you to wake up your body. I suggest you to work out two short exercise series and do them alternating each morning. Do not overcomplicate them, just 3-5 simple and effective movements will do. Like couple of toe-touching, torso twists, squats, shoulder circles and sit-ups. It is guaranteed that your day will start much more energetic.

#2 Take the stairs

Oh, it is easy while you are home. There are always things forgotten upstairs... Do not send the kids to grab them, go yourself. Do you think it is nothing? Stair climbing burns more calories than jogging, 0.17 calories for every each steps. You can use your own stair case as a free exercise equipment, this is one of the most effective short burst work out, what not just help you to burn calories but reduces the risk of hear disease, diabetes and stroke, keep your thighs toned and keep you fit. It is also good for balance and coordination. So it is worth to take the stairs and avoid elevators.

#3 Join the fun

It is not true, that calorie burning must be pain. Not just watch your children playing but join the fun. It is also good to them to have mummy involved in their physical activities. Be their little horse and carry them around in the living room, organise spider walking race and have a laugh together.
By the way laughing can burn extra calories too and really strengthen your tummy muscles.

#4 Pushchair-race

I found that exercising with babies is easier then with small children as they need lots of fresh air and they are happy to carried in a pushchair whatever the weather is outside. So just put your little one into their pushchair, put your trainers on and go. It is good if you have a one hour walk, but even better if you speed up or use this time for a high intensity workout. Alternate the high speed and slow intervals in your walking, for example speed up to 80% of your maximum intensity for 2 minutes then slow down to 40% for 1 minutes and repeat 10 times.
It is fun to make pushchair race with other mums in the area and you can shoot three birds with one stone: taking out your baby, exercising and socialize at the same time.

#5 Baby lifting

All baby loves being in mum's arms, but when they reach 6 month old, they love excitement and laugh. They also reach the weight what can challenge your body. Use them as weight to do some weight lifting - obviously very carefully. This is not just a enjoyable workout but also a quality time with your little one.

#6 Dancing

While they your children babies or toddlers they will just entertained by this, later they can join in and believe me they going to have a great time. Do not worry they will not score your dancing skills, but you can burn 150-300 calories per hour depending on how fast is your dancing. Plus it is a great way to give all the stress away.

#7 Walk, walk

Walking the easiest and more feasible way to workout with small kids. Specially if they are still in pushchair - see pushchair race above. Later just adjust your pace to their's, but do not give up walking. It is a big mistake that parents are not willing to slow down to their children's walking pace. I admit this can frustrating some times, but this is an investment. Using the car all the time - just because the kids walk slowly, - takes away the confidence of physical activities from them and from their parents as well. And one more reason to walk: when you drive you have to concentrate on the traffic. When you walk you have time to have a conservation and concentrate on your children or discover the world around you with them.

#8 Go outdoor

Spending time in the park, beach or woodland is the best way to get active. Do not just watch your children running around, join them. Run with them, race with them, fly a kite, play ball games - it is all fun, and they can give to you and to your kids so much memorable moments.
The other way to go outdoor regularly if you take on the dog walker job in the family. It is guaranteed that you will go for walk whatever is the weather. And see the positive side, at least you can have a break, you can set up the pace - and the dog will love you best.

#9 Gardening

It does not matter what season is, there is always something to do in the garden. There is no better exercise than digging, raking or sweeping. While you are gardening you will not notice how many times you do a squat, a standing up or a torso twist but you can burn easily 300 calories per hour in your garden.

#10 Try short high intensity work outs

Only 10-15 minutes a day can help you to burn extra calories and it is easy to fit them into your busy life. High-intensity workouts are quick but intense bursts of exercises, they move you through and raise your heart rate. Their secret is in the after burn: after every exercise our body keeps burning more calorie for a while. This after burn period is just as long after a short but intense workout like after a 60-90 minutes workout. So even 15 minutes can make a difference.


Healthier you

If you are curios that how many calories are burnt by different activities, use this Calorie Burn Calculator:

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

And do not forget, every minutes spent with physical activity counts and brings you closer to a healthier you.
Plus do not forget that you are a role model and that your life style affects your children's present and future behaviour, so if you want healthy, active and happy life for your children, be an active and healthy mum.

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