Let Go and Lose the Baby WeightNew moms have two things in common: weight to lose and not a lot of time to work on losing it. When a new mommy needs some one-on-one coaching to help her get her butt in gear after baby, our Fit Family personal trainers use their expertise to show them the most effective, tried and true fitness techniques for women. We work on a number of things – posture, core training, cardiovascular endurance and fat loss, to name a few – and we also show our clients how to work out with their babies in carriers or in their mommies’ arms, something we deal with during our Belly Bootcamp classes. There are always intermittent breaks for nursing, cuddling, jiggles, bounces and burps.
Sound frustrating? It can be. But what’s more frustrating is not making the time at all. Sure, an uninterrupted workout would be wonderful! Blissful, even! (If a workout can be blissful.) But an interrupted workout is better than no workout at all.
Let go of your idea of a “workout.” I guarantee you will actually get more exercise if you do.
- Think you can’t stop moving the entire time? Not true. Break your cardio into 5- or 10-minute chunks with nursing, cuddling and chatting breaks as needed. Do half your cardio in the morning and half in the afternoon. Do what you can! The heart has no stopwatch.
- Think there’s no point in exercising if you can’t do cardio? Not so. Strength training burns lots of calories and revs your metabolism for up to 72 hours after, working for you long after you stop exercising. Strength training can be done at home with very little or no equipment.
- Think you can’t get in a good workout without your equipment, gym, trainer or class?Doing the same workout over and over can cause you to stop getting results; when you can’t do your usual thing, take advantage of the opportunity to shock your body by doing something new.
- Think you won’t get any results if you don’t do a whole 30 (or 40, or 60) minutes? Study after study have shown that even 10-minute workouts produce results - plus, if you are exercising for just 10-20 minutes you can probably exercise every day without having to schedule rest days as you would with longer workouts (not to mention you don’t have to schedule childcare or naps around a 10-minute workout; even the fussiest baby will lay happily for 10 minutes and watch you do jumping jacks and squats).
Stop thinking of exercise as a black-and-white part of your life. Not every workout has to be long, organized or planned. Turn your walk into a workout. Pop in a DVD you haven’t tried in a while and exercise your heart out until the baby (or kids) start fussing. Plop baby in his carrier or corral the kids into doing squats and lunges with you. Invite a friend to try a new class. Or just run up and down your stairs for a few minutes, a few times a day. No exercise is wasted. Each little bit adds up to get you one workout, one day or one pound closer to your fitness goals.
-- Dara Duff-Bergeron
Belly Bootcamp
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