It ain’t like the old days. As a Dad of young kids, you likely have little no time to yourself on a daily basis. What little time you do have needs to be strategically thought about, in advance, to make the most of it. Without a game plan, your early morning wake up or hour during nap time will be squandered, never to be seen again.
Get Your Body Moving
A few days a week, my wife and I try to make the most of whatever time we can find to get in some exercise. This helps us stay fit, stay sane and keep up with our little monsters. One type of exercise I’ve found to be great at making the most of my free time is “high intensity interval training”, or HIIT workouts.
You can google to learn more about what these are and the benefits but to sum it up – you’ll get your body moving, get your heart rate up and sweat out the day’s stress in no time. If you’re interested, I highly recommend checking out The Body Coach TV on YouTube. This series of videos got me hooked on the workouts since they’re quick (15-30 minutes), don’t require any equipment and Joe Wicks seems like he’d be a fun dude to hang out with.
I’ve been attempting to get through a bunch of these lately and they definitely get the beads going. Here’s one to get you started:
Here are some other pages on YouTube I use all the time and highly recommend if you’re into the idea of HIIT workouts:
Teach Your Kids How to HIIT
Not hit. HIIT. Come on now…
Introducing our kids to these types of workouts has been a lot of fun and obviously very healthy for them. Naturally, kids want to do whatever they see Mom and Dad doing. You might as well give them a healthy, positive example to follow and get yourself in shape while doing it, right? Simply doing exercise regularly around the house will teach them that this is an important part of life.
There are a bunch of HIIT/exercise videos out there that are geared towards kids to get them interested. I recommend the line of various super hero workouts from #getkidsmoving to start introducing your kids to exercise. The videos are mostly a few minutes long so it’s a great way to grab their attention and get them moving before they’re on to the next thing.
Here’s one my son has been loving:
Over time, I’d like to try and put together some workouts of my own based on some of my favorite exercises, combinations and intervals that I’ve found to be most effective. If I ever get around to it, I’ll share some ideas on this page.
So, give these HIIT workouts a shot the next time the kids give you a little break. It’ll change up your vibe and hopefully set your day on a positive, healthy track.
