Balancing Fitness and Motherhood: 5 Ingenious Ways for Working Mums

Life as a busy working mum can be overwhelming, leaving very little time for yourself. Finding moments to enjoy a warm cup of tea can be a challenge, let alone fitting in a workout routine. But fear not! There are creative and effective ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine that you might not have considered, whether that is with the whole family or being disciplined about when you exercise solo.

Engaging your kids in your exercise routine can be both fun and productive. But I firmly believe that the conditions and the choice of activity has to be right. Opt for fast paced walks over yoga, I personally like to save yoga for a time I can fully immerse myself. Speaking from experience, I've tried the yoga together approach seen by Instamummies, in my household it is illusive - even with my husband - less namaste and more kapow!

Here are five strategies that could work wonders for you:

1. Run to Bond: Opt for activities like running alongside your children as they ride their bike, or incorporating fast-paced walks into your family outings. Have dogs? Why not run with them instead of walk, up the pace! My husband and I recently started the couch to 5k together. There are loads of free apps and involving your partner keeps you accountable; we are on week 9 now, we made it to the last week and almost at 5k! At the weekends we involve our kids by having them bike alongside while we run. While it might not always be smooth sailing, we end up pushing the bike, tripping over the dogs, there are days when it is chaos, in the long run the effort pays off for everyone involved.

2. Park Play and Quick Circuits: Utilise your local park as a fitness hub. Push your kids on the zip line and play football, while also sneaking in short exercise circuits. I often set up my TRX trainer on the football net and when everyone is busy get a few moves in, which is great for overall strength. Just 30 minutes of focused activity can boost your energy levels and help you burn calories. Not to mention feel that you are still involving the kids.

3. Smart Use of Downtime: Capitalise on your kids' downtime by doing short and impactful workouts. Whether it's a 30-minute circuit indoors, a yoga video session, or even cleaning your space, these activities can keep your energy levels up without sacrificing family and work time.

4. Club Time for "Me Time": When your kids are at their clubs, seize the opportunity to squeeze in a quick workout session. My kids do Saturday morning classes and horse ride in the afternoon, sometimes I squeeze a run in locally between drop up and pick up. This way, you can maximize your time and accomplish both your exercise goals and play Mum's taxi on a Saturday.

5. Game Time. Have a games console? Get yourself an active game such as Just Dance. My kids love it and love the fact you are joining in. Don't have one, did you know you can just watch videos of Just Dance, me neither....I saw my kids doing it - they found loads of star wars themed Just Dance video's and started copying the moves. It didn't even matter to them that they didn't have a controller in their hands....they just danced away and pretended they were competing and I joined in, total fun! Activity, giggles and family time, all great for the endorphins!

The fact is there are times in your day that are black holes and could be better spent getting active, have a think about your family life and if any of these would work. There may well be other parts of your day that work for you.

To get active takes small commitments, but finding time in these "nooks" to work out plays right into building sustainable habits. To parrot James Clear (Atomic Habits), habit stack....."when my kids watch TV I am going to do a 20 minute leg circuit".

Once you start to associate activities it will become easier and habits start to form.

The challenge awaits: Pick one of these strategies and share your journey in the comments. Remember, the key is daily activity to promote lifelong health and fitness. Whether you shed pounds or not, the real victory is in feeling great and nurturing your well-being.

Investing time now ensures a healthier and happier future for yourself and your family. Embrace the journey and celebrate every achievement, no matter how small.

The only bad work out was the one that didn't happen right?