Training with Kids

Morning All

So that you know straight away, I have two sons, aged 12 and 10. Anyone with kids and a busy job will be aware of the challenge immediately for staying fit on weekends. I've given you my developing theory on sound-bite training (see last 2 posts) which is vital and wish I'd thought of it before!

But I also think that staying a member of a gym which is reasonably family orientated (not many are!) was also vital. When they were younger we booked them into the creche at Virgin Active. Just at the point when we were about to leave the gym (based on frustration over how quickly the creche couldn't cope with bored kids of a certain age) VA suddenly introduced a policy of allowing children over 8 to train with their parents (obviously not on weights).

Combined with the swimming pool, that gives a lot more options.

I now aim to take the boys swimming once a week. The harder job is retraining their mindsets to stop regarding a pool as play-time - necessary when they were younger to get them into a positive stance on swiming, and thinking of it as serious training. That is starting to happen particularly as they are both realising they are actually quite good. I no longer give them too big a head start when we race!

When I take them to the gym I am getting them into the habit of measuring performance in order to set targets. It's starting to happen slowly. While they're doing that I take the opportunity to have a serious HIIT session. Today I have just finished HIIT in the gym followed by 25 lengths of the pool. Those were the toughest lengths I think I've ever done!

So it can be done. You can't lose sight of the fact that you need to be a fun parent on weekends some of the time but I'm constantly trying to do that by ensuring they're active. Getting them away from their Xboxes is vital and I refuse to spend parent time joining in these computer games like some of my extended family do.

Instead I look at walks (nature reserves), cycling, cricket in the summer as well as the above. When they've done that they realise that this can be fun! My eldest even bought a pair of binoculars to get into walking more.

Take every opportunity to introduce your kids (and yourself!) to fresh air and activity. Remeber that is the best source of Vitamin D, vital for well-being, by a long way. Within that schedule  consider how much you can push yourself too. Throw in some sound-bite training (on a cardio day how about sneaking in some burpees, box jumps and jump roping (skipping) or some shadow boxing?

Happy training!