Recently, my daughter, Savannah turned one year old. It has been an amazing year for my family; and I have been incredibly grateful for her ever since she was born last December.
How Do I Find Time for Myself Now?
I have noticed how much energy it takes to take care of your kids and now have much more respect for parents. It is hard work. There is no way around it. For the first ten months after Savannah was born, I struggled to get back into my routine of working out and staying in shape. I could no longer just do it when I wanted to or find some odd time every day to go workout because I had other, new responsibilities. I struggled and worked out at least 50% less than I normally did for quite some time.
I noticed how I had to be much more responsible since having a kid, but because I wasn’t taking care of myself, I had less energy. It was not a good mix! I was getting frustrated that I did not have a solution for myself. I started thinking and I realized that I could wake up early enough and quietly enough to not wake up Savannah since she sleeps in our room. I started waking up about an hour and a half earlier than normal about six weeks ago. I had what felt like so much time to myself. It was quiet and peaceful. I got really excited about this because I felt like I had added four hours.
I also realized that my gym membership did me no good as a parent because by the time I drove to the gym which is about 15 minutes away, worked out and drove back, two hours had already passed and I had only accomplished one task on my to-do- list that day. I decided to put my knowledge to good use and began doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts in the morning for eight minutes. I then had time to sit down and work for a little or read and drink my coffee. The best part is, only an hour and a half had passed.
After trying this out, I was hooked. I had more free time than I ever thought imaginable by simply waking up a little bit earlier to do my eight minute HIIT workout. I had more energy than I had previously so that I could accomplish more of what was important to me and be able to spend more time with my family since I had more energy and had taken care of other responsibilities.
If you are struggling with getting your workouts in and increasing your energy for the day, I would encourage you to wake up ten minutes before you normally do and do one or two exercises for even one minute. You will feel better and have more energy to give to those you love most.
If you would like access to a free HIIT routine for yourself, email me at andrewleearnold@gmail.com. I would love to help you create the energy and time you want so you can spend more time with the ones you love most.
Contributed By: Andrew Arnold, Fitness with Andrew
