How do working parents fit regular exercise into family life?

[Aabbaas]

I work full time and have a primary school aged DC. Need and want to exercise more and have a more established routine.
This is what I currently manage:
1 body pump class per week (typically on a Friday evening)
1 dance class per week (another week day evening)
10K-15K steps a day on average

I want to do another exercise class per week, ideally also weights but strugglw to find the time so it will either have to be another evening (which means being out 3 evenings a week) or on a Sunday morning. Either way, this means taking time away from my family. Anyone else on the same boat? What do you all do to keep fit?
Early mornings are a no for me unfortunately and when I WFH I don’t have long enough lunch breaks to allow me to go to the gym, exercise, and come back.

Can you cut out the commute to the gym on your WFH days and either go for a run or do a home workout in your lunch hour?

We have the kids' activities on weekdays evenings which makes the weekends more flexible, so I do one weekday evening, one weekday lunchtime (appreciate this doesn't work for you) and one weekend afternoon. We also have a stationary bike at home which is useful for when DH is out in the evening.

The biggest game changer has been the DC getting older (upper primary) and therefore each of us feeling less guilty about leaving the other parent to it

Tomorrow morning I will be getting up at 5am to go for a run.

Husband plays rugby on Saturday morning. I chase after the kids. That's it. Fulltime jobs. Family life.

I think you do a lot already. Life is too busy and exhausting with kids to prioritise more fitness .

If you WFH sometimes could you find something to do at home rather than the gym? There’s so much on YouTube.

Just finished 30 mins while DP took toddler for a walk, he had his 30 mins before that. We will do the same tomorrow and hopefully have more energy for a longer one. You fit it in where you can, I used to do 5 classes a week and run, and I fucking miss it!!

I think you are doing really well already! I try & do 8k steps everyday, I drive & my job is sedentary.
On my day off (p/t) I do yoga or weights & on the weekend I try and do whichever I didn’t manage or my day off. DH does football one evening & tries to fit in one swim session but again often struggles. He tends to do 10k steps a day due to the commute.

But our dc have a lot of activities & one of us might be out socialising or both of us so we really don’t have much more capacity.

I think you are doing really well already! I try & do 8k steps everyday, I drive & my job is sedentary.
On my day off (p/t) I do yoga or weights & on the weekend I try and do whichever I didn’t manage or my day off. DH does football one evening & tries to fit in one swim session but again often struggles. He tends to do 10k steps a day due to the commute.

But our dc have a lot of activities & one of us might be out socialising or both of us so we really don’t have much more capacity.

Pre dc, I did a dance class (ballet, jazz, street, etc) pretty much everyday & often did 3 back to back on a weekend & then went clubbing, things have changed!

I’d get a set of weights and do a 20/ 30 mins class when you get the chance on your wfh days. Or even find a bodyweight class. I do Peloton strength classes, but there must be loads available on YouTube.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 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

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

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.

Can you do some weights at home with YouTube

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

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??

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