How do working parents fit regular exercise into family life?

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOffI can’t do mornings because I leave for work at 6:30 & can’t face getting up earlier than I do.

When I get to work I do try & do a few laps & at lunchtime so I get some steps in.

It’s hard when your kids are still small. DH and I both play a team sport . He would train Tue/Thu and me Wed eves. We both have matches Saturdays so would tag team with the kids or ask family for help if our matches clashed. As they’ve got older (my youngest is year 6 now) we’ve slowly been able to add in more exercise e.g. we’ve joined a hybrid fitness club as a family - I dropped work to 4 days a couple of years ago so do classes Friday morning and Monday/Tuesday eves, dh similar and the kids do sessions as well. I’m not one for exercising at home, I just can’t motivate myself.
Basically I’m saying it gets easier as they get older and you can start to leave the kids for short periods. It also helps that we’re all into sport etc.

I wish I knew!

Can you say more about why you don't like early mornings? There might be a way around?

I have 3 children and get up at 530 and go to the gym, 3-4 times a week, and run on other days. DH does drop off on mg gym days, I do pick up.

Assuming that isn't an option:

One mum at our school takes her child to breakfast club and then goes for a longish run home as she WFH. I think she does circuits in the park on the way as I've seen her doing chin ups.

My own mum had 4 kids and had a good quality exercise bike in the kitchen. She used to do a workout pre breakfast or sometimes, in the evening before she made dinner. Because of where it was, she could keep an eye on us.

Another mum I know goes climbing and takes her kid on an evening.

Another one has her child doing Scouts and goes for a cycle during it.

There are lots of options that don't involve early morning gym!

I run when kids are in bed, if there’s a spare 45 mins somewhere, for an hour or so at the weekends - that doesn’t really cut into family time, we both value a bit of time to ourselves at weekends and running is mine. I can’t really fit in classes except run club, set times are too inflexible. Sometimes I run while DD1 is at an extracurricular for an hour. I’ll just run from the venue and return there for pick-up. I go for a run on my break from work as I WFH, so I can fit in a 5k plus shower and a spot of lunch on my lunch break.

I can’t do early mornings. My body isn’t operational and neither is my soul. I’d rather go out at 8pm in the pissing rain and dark.

I get up at 6 to go to the gym. Then I wake everyone else up for the day when I get back. We both work full time 9-6 so few other options.

Early mornings, wfh lunch break (we have a home gym though) and after work sessions. It’s so much easier when they can be left though. Could you get a walking pad for the days you WFH? A couple of dumbbells and a YouTube video a couple of times a week?

I find it a struggle & I finish work at 2:30, pick up thr dc, get one or two to an activity, cook from scratch, eat dinner together, homework/reading etc. DHs does drop offs except for my day off but he doesn’t finish work until 5:30 which is fine on his wfh days but office days means a commute. I would really struggle without my day off!

He does drop off. Or I do it when I work from home
If I finish at 4:30 I can do pick up
But we have to be flexible so some days he does both and this isn't purely down to my priorities but also work, I travel occasionally and have evening meetings. He will also be travelling for a almost a week soon so it's very varied and not 100% fair either. And to be honest, if we are both in the office, he would prefer to do pick up and I head home to get dinner started.

As for his exercise, it's a good question. He works from home a lot more than me so is flexible in his day and obviously has access to the walking pad, peloton and weights.
One of us tried to go swimming when the kids have their class and the other is managing the changing etc. He doesn't like the gym so it's not competing priorities. Though I'll admit it's been propelled by me and my needs. Six years into the parenting game and it was time to put myself first a bit.

I did get a walking pad which helps the steps & allows me to catch up on MNs when I have some free time.

I did get a walking pad which helps the steps & allows me to catch up on MNs when I have some free time.

Can’t you just do some weights at home? That’s what I do, kids join in sometimes

It’s not easy when they’re young and you’re already doing really well!

i used to drop a dc off at their activity, run 5k and then pick them up.

joined mums rugby which trained at the same time as DS rugby.

home lunch break workouts to save on the gym commute.

We did the same - DH and I like running so at the weekends we did a family park run

Following with interest. I run 6 days a week (wfh a lot), but would love to incorporate strength training at home. What are the good YouTube videos for this??

@BluNavydoes your DH do pick ups & drop offs? How does your DH fit his exercise in?

Can you do some weights at home with YouTube

We are in a similar situation and have made changes this last 18 months that have worked well for me.

Agreed prioritising my health and was needed/ important - agreed with my DH and that he needs to support me.
Get up at 5am, be at gym for 6 in the office by 8:30 and leave at 4:30

Train at home in the evening after the kids go to bed. We have a peloton which has paid for itself and is used daily. I use the app a the gym. I actually started with this one and it took time and can be hard with when to eat but I just sucked it up and got used to it and saw my output improve massively.

Purchased a walking pad for WFH days. We have a raising desk so I can do certain tasks whilst getting a few km walking done at a slow pace

Gotten a PT which has been expensive but I'm into my second block of ten sessions and am starting to see a physical difference.

Did a 100 day challenge starting at the start of the year to do something fitness related every day for 100 days. This included specific activities on rest days linked to relaxation. Seemed like a huge endeavour when I started but I think it's linked to the whole making habits over three months and it worked. I do exercise every day now. It's normal for my husband to ask me when I want to do my exercise and what does he need to do to make that happen.

I'm also very flexible on weekends. We were very busy last weekend so I got up at 6 and worked out. Whereas today I did my exercise in the afternoon whilst the kids were in the park.

So it can be done but I wouldn't have believed you 17 months ago.

Our gym has crèche and kids club otherwise it would be so much harder

I join in with DC classes, and guided them towards activities I actually wanted to do.

when they used to do swimming lessons I swam myself at the same time

I find doing exercise videos at home inspires a great deal of jollity also

My workplace has a gym on site so I do 3 classes pw there and a home workout on wfh days. DH has a gym a few yards from his office and fits classes or gym during the working day. DCs have clubs every night so going out to the gym in the evening isn't an option (unless we went to the local 24 hr one) but we can do workouts at home (we don't use machines, just mats and bodyweight equipment). Weekends are out as we like to hang out together and do long days out.

I was at sports this morning with dc & dh for about 3 hours & I did do some walking in that time. However I also spent lots of time with catching up with other parents, having tea etc for me it’s important to foster those social relationships

If the reason mornings are out is that you are single so need to be at home to raise the child, could you do weekend mornings, before they need to be up.
Alternatively, go for a run during their activities. Drop them at their class, run, be back in time for them to finish. It means you get an alternative route to running from home.
I tried this. It was an industrial area with guard dogs. Was quite scary, I got a PB! It's hard if you don't have another adult about. I do, and it's still a juggling act. At my old building I drove past a pool on my way to work, so had a swim on the way. Had to use breakfast club though.

Well, if you don't want to or can't do early mornings, then surely you're only option is either being out for another evening or taking an hour or so on a weekend to do a class? The latter surely isn't going to eat into 'family time' significantly?

is your lunch break long enough to do a workout at home? The Peloton app (you don't need the bike and it's around £12.99) has some really good strength workouts that are all less than 45 minutes. You just need a few dumbbells, which are relatively cheap to buy. I don't get particularly sweaty doing weights, so could squeeze it into a lunch hour if I then ate at my desk.

And echoing that it gets much easier as they get older. Mine are 11 & 13 now and never want to do anything as a family and are mostly self-sufficient and doing their own thing on weekends.

That being said, the only way exercise has every worked for me around FT work is getting up early.

Who is a good weights youtuber? I don’t really like CG