I am all for being a healthy role model for my kids and finding ways to stay active as a family. I’ve written about how my Dad’s example is the biggest reason I became interested in fitness.
But I am also a realist. A realist who knows that a focused training session with a 5 and a 3-year-old in tow is about as likely as getting one of our cats to volunteer for bath duty. Meow.
When I hang out with the kids, I do unplanned, unfocused, feel-good workouts. A push up there, chin up here, throwing the kids in the air and some single legs squats in between pushing someone in the swing.
These workouts are better than nothing and a killer addition to other physical activities. But if this is all I do, well, the results match the focus.
When I want and need to get a really good workout in, I’ll time it so that the kids are not around. And if that’s not possible, I will put on Gabbie’s Dollhouse on Netflix.
It’s not ideal, but the upside of getting in a workout is higher than the downside of a bit of screen time.
-J