Five Ways to Make Sure Mommy Gets Her Workout In

I have a husband, am a mommy to two wonderful children (almost two and six years old) seven days a week, work three ten-hour days each week, commute, and own and maintain our home. I have excuses, too! Here are the top five ways I make sure that I have my "me time" and fit my workouts in.

1. Change into your workout clothes after work or when you get up in the morning. Don't put on those comfy "after work" sweats. If you don't do your workout, and have to change, you'll feel guilty.

2. Get off the couch BEFORE you workout! Similar to #1, if I sit on the couch and veg in front of the tv after dinner, I tend not to want to get off the couch. I find that if I play with the kids, do family activities, clean up around the house or pay bills, that I have much more energy to do my evening workouts. AND, WE LOVE TV!! The best investment we've made is our DVR. I can set it to record all of my favorite programs and can watch them at my convenience. After dinner, I can play with the family, put the kids to bed, workout, shower and then catch up on my favorite programs while hubby works out. It works out great for watching all of my programming that he doesn't enjoy!

3. Multi-task. Set up a play area in your "home gym" for the kids. Or, take your children with you in the jogging stroller. Drop your child off at sports or class and run around the neighborhood until it's time to pick them up. You'll experience new neighborhood and landscapes in your area and may just discover a new, favorite route!

4. Make an appointment on your daily planner/calendar. Write your workouts down, how long/how far and when you'll do it. Set your alarm to get up early, if you have a busy evening planned.

5. Communicate with your spouse. If your spouse also works out regularly, set some sort of set "schedule". We all thrive off of routine. We put the kids to bed at 8:00 and 8:30. One of us typically works out at 8:00 PM and the other at 9:00 PM. Initially, evening workouts didn't seem appealing, but now it has become very routine and I begin to wonder what everyone else does while their kids are in bed?! If late evening workouts aren't for you, try alternating morning workouts with your spouse, while the other one gets everyone ready for school/daycare.