Quick Workouts For Parents
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Sometimes you need a quick and effective workout.
Most people are pretty busy. Parents have even more reason to be busy than those without kids simply because you have an additional human being (or multiple) to take care of beyond yourself. Making time for working out is important, but there are simply days and times where even your best intentions will not allow for enough time to spend an hour working out. You need something short and quick.
Some of our favorite short workouts are those that are HIIT in nature. Going extremely hard for a short amount of time and taking short breaks in between. We have covered a few different HIIT workouts here in the past, and we’d recommend that you use these workouts when you can. However, if you find yourself needing something beyond HIIT workouts, then there are several options available for you.
The first place to look is YouTube. As much as we generally dislike YouTube for kids on this site, it’s actually a pretty amazing resource for free content both in fitness as well as in many other areas as well. You’ll find all kinds of videos that will provide you with workouts that are anywhere from five minutes to multiple hours in length. Finding a workout that is just 10 minutes long is very simple.
As we’ve discussed in the past, the downside to YouTube is finding the best quality videos can sometimes be hard. You don’t necessarily have to have the best quality to find a good workout on YouTube, but for some people that is important. If you find yourself struggling with motivation because you’re watching a video that isn’t very high quality, then looking somewhere else may be a better option.
There are some really good paid options out there that have excellent workout videos that you can do. Both the Peleton app and Nike Training app are great options if you’re looking for some of the best quality workouts. It’s not surprising that you can find a large range of videos on the Nike app, but you might be surprised to find a large range of workouts on the Peleton app as they’re a biking company.
Ultimately, if you want to workout when you don’t have a lot of time to do so, then you’re probably going to make it happen. If you don’t really want to workout, then you’re going to use the short amount of time that you do have as an excuse to skip getting a quick workout in. While you’re not going to lose a bunch of weight with a short workout, it’s all about keeping your consistency going.
If you’ve found that you’re gaining weight, then you really need to look at your diet first. Working out is a great way to help keep your body healthy, whereas dieting correctly is the best way to lose or maintain weight. You’re working out to have a stronger and healthier body so that you can spend more time running with your kids, and keeping up with them as you grow older - you won’t slow down quite as fast.
Find some short workouts that you can do when the unexpected happens. Consistency in working out is the first step to making your workouts effective.