Up until a few weeks ago my time was mine to do whatever I wanted with pretty much 24 hours per day. If I wanted to work out for two hours seven days a week and work on my business 15 hours per day every day that was my decision. That changed a few weeks ago with the birth of our son. Given his young age he is a lot of the work still falls on my wife Emily, however I have decided it is time to make the use of my workout time more efficient. Working out will always be a priority, but I also want to make sure that as Charlie gets older I have as much time to spend with him as possible. Here are 5 tips to make sure you are using your workout time as efficiently as possible.
1. Focus on compound exercises. Movements such as squats, lunges, rows, and push-ups, to name a few, will help you fire more muscles all at once so you don’t need to spend as much time isolating every individual muscle.
2. Keep it simple. With an increase in the demands on your time now is not the right time to create your own new fancy exercises. Stick with movements that are proven to work. Ditch the fancy single leg Bosu ball exercises that look like they belong in the circus, and stick with what you already know for now.
3. Schedule time to work out. For obvious reasons this is never going to be an exact science with a tiny baby, however you should have a general sense as to when you are going to work out. Communicate this to your partner, and make sure once the clock starts you give it your all since you never know when that little baby is going to need you again.
4. Some days just getting something in is good enough. You are probably operating on minimal sleep, and your diet might be off, xo don’t expect to break any records during this exciting, but challenging time. Always remember that even a little something is better than nothing.
5. Remember how lucky you are and try to enjoy the time you have with your little one. Don’t aim for perfection in your workouts and don’t beat yourself up if this don’t go exactly as planned.
The bottom line is that having a newborn baby is tough, and it is easy to make excuses as to why this is the time to take a break away from working out. Even if you don’t get as much in or at the intensity you are used to don’t use your baby as a reason to stop working out altogether. You will feel a lot better if you stay active.
