When you are at home with small children all day, you may feel like you get plenty of exercise keeping up with their numerous requests for just about everything that you could think of and making sure that they get the active play time that they need. While caring for toddlers does require a lot of physical and emotional energy, you may eventually realize (like I have) that you really do need some other form of exercise to keep you fit. This is especially true if you live somewhere where the cold and snow of winter prevent you from enjoying things like walking and hiking, which may be your go-to exercises during the warmer months.
Some parents may be fortunate enough to have regular opportunities to work out while someone else cares for the kids, whether at a gym or at home. Others, like me, sit there wondering whether they can mix toddlers with working out in the same way that they mix toddlers with household chores, so that the workout, like the chores, is largely taken care of before the kids are in bed for the night. A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a great online resource that has enabled me to do just that.
Before I tell you what that resource is, I must confess that I have been interested in trying Crossfit for quite some time. Of course, there are no Crossfit gyms near me, nor do I have time to go to a gym, nor do I have the equipment that I would need at my house. I had been wondering whether I could somehow adapt the Crossfit WOD’s (Workout Of the Day) so that I needed no equipment and I could do them in my living room.
The other day, I found a web site called Bodeefit which has enabled me to stop wondering and start working out. Bodeefit is a web site that provides free, daily workouts that are based on Crossfit movements and require no equipment. Yesterday was the first day that I did a Bodeefit workout, and I can certainly feel it today. I did today’s workout too, and I love the fact that I can simply check my email for the workout and then Burpee, Inchworm, and Shuffle (among other things) around my living room as Dylan tries to imitate my movements and Blake crawls around chasing a ball.
Please note that the wonderful people who created Bodeefit have not compensated me in any way for mentioning them here. I am just beyond excited that I have found a way to do Crossfit – style workouts at home while caring for my boys. Hopefully other parents will find this information useful as they go through the process of figuring out how to fit fitness into their daily routine.
Photo by earl53 on morguefile.com.