Earlier this month, I finally resolved to lose the last 10 pounds I gained while pregnant with my daughter. For me, this means following my go-to dieting book (the Extreme Fat Smash Diet), which calls for eating healthy plus a ton of exercise.
Finding time to work out when you’re the one watching the toddler or baby, however, can be challenging. I like to bring my daughter to my local mommy-and-me Baby Boot Camp class as well as do Jillian Michaels workout videos (like this one via YouTube) at home.
However, sometimes those options just don’t work out, whether because my daughter is napping when we should be at boot camp or because my tot just won’t let me pay attention to Ms. Michaels.
So, I’ve hit on an alternative workout method that is today’s hint: Workout to toddler television shows like Yo Gabba Gabba! and Barney while your little one is watching and also moving to the beat.
For instance, the Yo Gabba Gabba! season one episode “Dance” is basically an aerobics class full of dance moves to follow, including squats and jumping in place (just watch the show’s two-minute “Jumping Jellyfish” segment and you’ll see what I mean). Meanwhile, it’s easy to run in place, or around the living room, during a 30-minute Barney episode. This method makes my daughter happy – she gets to watch television, be with me and even do a little exercising herself– and it lets me check “working out” off my to-do list.
I’m not the only parent who has realized how great mixing kids’ shows and exercise is. Blogger The Becoming Mom, for instance, writes in a post entitled “Working out with Yo Gabba Gabba!” that she uses 30-minute Yo Gabba Gabba! episodes as an opportunity “to get in 30 minutes to an hour of cardio while encouraging my little one to move to the beat.” She and I are on the same wavelength since that’s exactly what I do.
Elsewhere, other parents have tweeted lines like “working out to Barney songs to keep the babz happy,” and Vanessa, commenting in a great 2011 Parent Hacks post on “how to exercise with a preschooler in tow” writes “Best thing I ever did was create the home rule that kids could only watch TV while mom was exercising. . . .Two episodes of Blue’s Clues on netflix is exactly 50 minutes.”
Sometimes I’ll mix mom workout videos and toddler shows. For instance, I’ll do a quick 20-minute Jillian Michaels workout video (like this one on YouTube), encouraging my daughter to do the kickboxing moves with me, and then I’ll turn on one of my tot’s shows and continue my workout with some living room jogging.
To be sure, exercising to toddler shows is probably easier if you have exercise equipment in your home near a television. But if you don’t, following the moves in a toddler television show as well as good old running in place, jump squats and jumping jacks work just fine too (“use your own bodyweight,” as Ms. Michaels says).
And, of course, running in place to Barney or following the moves of DJ Lance Rock can get boring, but I figure doing some kind of exercise is better than none.
But what if you don’t have such shows readily available through cable or a service like Apple TV? You can find many of the shows on YouTube and Amazon Instant Video, or you could opt for DVD versions.
And if your baby isn’t walking and moving to the beat yet (meaning if he or she isn’t ready for shows like Barney and Yo Gabba Gabba!), another at-home option is workout videos that you can do with your baby. Examples include the Happy Baby Workout Fitness DVD, Shiva Rea mom and baby yoga and for lighter stretching, the now-viral daddy-and-me “Lilly Ann workout.”
While many experts recommend that little ones under the age of 2 don’t watch television, they also recommend that toddlers get exercise too, and one doctor worth listening to just came out saying interactive screen time (at least on iPads) may be okay (I’m assuming that moving to the beat along with your tot counts as interactive).
So I like this advice I came across over at What to Expect: Use TV to your advantage by choosing “DVDs that encourage your toddler to get up and dance or move along with the characters.” I’d just add that with today’s hint, you can use the TV to your advantage too.
Finally, by working out in front of your little one, you’re showing him or her that exercise is important. I just hope that my daughter doesn’t start copying my living room sprint running anytime soon.
What are your hints for fitting in exercise when you have a little one (or little ones) at home?
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Awesome idea! I could totally squeeze in more exercise with this idea! ha!