These five tips for working out with a toddler will help you organize and prioritize your fitness even with a little one (or two) in tow.

In a perfect world we would wake up at a reasonable hour with our child(ren), enjoy a cup of coffee and a healthy breakfast and then leisurely make our way towards our morning workout, where we would spend one complete, uninterrupted hour sculpting our bodies.  Well, in reality, we wake up when we hear that first cry, scramble to get breakfast on the table and slurp down some joe and then try our best to cram in a workout during naptime/while our child is playing and avoid tearing/popping/breaking anything on a toy or said child climbing all over us.  Well, we all know there is no perfect but that doesn’t mean our workouts need to suffer.  These five tips will help you manage your toddler and your fitness!

1. Get your toddler involved.  The easiest way to avoid clashing during your workout time is to make it a time to be together.  Cooper seriously loves doing anything that I’m doing and wants to be as close to me as possible when I’m doing something that doesn’t involve him (note–when something does involve him and I’m trying desperately to hold on to him, he will practically jump out of my arms and laugh maniacally as he crawls away and I run after him).  One of my favorite ways to workout with the little guy is through a stroller workout or getting him involved in my pilates exercises.  As they get older, it might be fun to try and get them to dance around with you while you do Zumba or run around outside with you.
2. Make your area a play/workout area.  I have an office which doubles as my workout area so when I want to get a workout in, I close all the doors around the house except for my office and Cooper’s room (they are right next to each other).  He can then feel free to roam in between them picking up toys, checking out what I’m doing and just generally having a great time.
3. Cut your workout into chunks.  Ten minutes here, 20 minutes there.  Sure, it may not be ideal but cutting up your workout time into smaller bits makes it waaaay more manageable.
4. Take advantage of naptime.  I know, naptime is precious and you want to get 100 things done.  I make sure to plan out naptime by getting change and setting everything up while the little guy is awake so once he goes down, I’m in my workout already.  That way I usually end up with a little bit of time to do something else, like, for example, take a shower by myself or answer a few emails in coherent English.
5. Get a sitter.  When all else fails, call in reinforcements.  This may sound silly but having just an hour to yourself to focus on something you want to do can really help.  And while I love being able to go out at night on the weekend with the Hubs, don’t you think it’s kind of a waste of money to pay someone to just sit in your house and watch tv?  Make them work for their dollar!  Get them in the middle of the week while your little one is full of energy!  And then do a nice relaxing yoga and meditation class preferably followed by a facial or something after!

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Readers, how do you fit in workouts with kids?  How do you find “me” time?