How Do Super Busy Mums Squeeze In Time For Family Workouts?

As mothers, one of our top priorities is always the family’s health and well-being. Now, with the pandemic and the recent hike in new Covid-19 cases in the country, we’re probably a bit more shaken and want to step up on protecting our loved ones. This is certainly not without challenge, as we need to get the whole family on board to stay safe and healthy together. Good health is not just eating healthily, but also keeping a regular exercise regime, and maintaining a sense of well-being. Getting The Whole Family Involved Since travels and vacations are not advisable at the moment, we can propose family bonding time over workouts or other safe outdoor activities. Turn your chosen activities into something that fits your family's culture and values. For example, turn the workouts into games. If they like to be pitted against each other, then break them up into teams and make it a family competition. Maybe throw in a special prize to be won, too. Getting Kids to Participate Other than a healthy diet, being physically active also helps to build children’s immune systems. Involve them instead of having them sit on the sidelines to watch. After all, they're a big part of the reason we're doing this family fitness routine together. Just be sure to pick age-appropriate activities and exercises, and something within their capacity. If trying out something new, start slow and easy. Fun And Easy Workouts For The Family Image credit: Monkey Business Images Here are some ideas on what you can all do as a family: Family yoga Don’t be surprised that our children can do better than us in yoga, since they may be more flexible than us, and may even have better endurance! Just be careful that they don’t over-do and over-stretch themselves. Dancing Many kids love to dance. And it’s fun when we dance like no one's watching, isn’t it? Let your hair down and just have fun dancing whilst it packs a good dose of movements as a full workout. Kids pick up dance moves very quickly and may even choreograph their own moves. So go on, make up your own family dance to your favourite tunes. Who knows, your moves might just be the next TikTok sensation! Climbing stairs Not keen to go outdoors to do climbing? Well, just climb the flights of stairs at home, be it in your double-storey home or the condo stairs. Be sure to wear your knee-guards and proper shoes if you're planning on a vigorous stair-climbing exercise or competition with your fun-loving lot. Walking or jogging Image credit: Pexels If you have a community or neighbourhood park nearby, you can all go for a brisk walk or jog at the park. Work in teams, look out for each other and sweat it out. Do proper warm ups prior to the walk or jog, and cool down properly, too after the session. Endurance challenge During MCO, I joined my friends for a plank challenge for a month. During this period, I was surprised that my sons joined me as well when they saw me doing the planks. Then, my friend’s entire family also joined in! What started out as a support for us ended up being something that the family members also enjoyed doing together. You can also swap this for a sit-up or push-up challenge if planking is too hard or go for jumping jacks or squats for younger kids. Each person can be doing a different exercise as an individual endurance. Badminton Engage the family in a game of badminton, once or twice a week. It’s easy enough to be picked up even by younger children, and it can be a lot of fun, friendly and healthy competition as well as teamwork in this game. Ping pong My sons use the wall to practise their ping pong games, and when they want to spar with each other, we make do with our dining table. It’s a great coordination game, and one that isn’t too strenuous but still gives you a good workout. Healthy Eating Habits Image credit: Unsplash Now that we’ve gotten the exercise part in place, we also need to ensure our family is eating well and healthily. These days, with so many food delivery options available, it’s so convenient to have a meal appear at our doorstep within minutes without us lifting a finger. But nothing beats eating home-cooked meals. There's nothing better than meals that are cooked with love, yes? Even when we cook a simple meal at home, we're bound to make it a nutritious one. With the threat of the on-going pandemic now, we don’t want to unnecessarily expose ourselves. So, eating healthy home-cooked food is the best way to have peace of mind, knowing that all preparations at home are safe. Offer our family the best by putting complete meals that include a good variety of vegetables and fruits on the table. Opt for healthier ingredients and cooking methods. Avoid cooking with too much oil, sugar, and salt. Boosting Our Immune System If pressed for time, opt for quick and easy but immune-boosting recipes, instead of those that take hours to prepare (and ultimately, stress us out). I usually look up my favourite app (Tasty) to look for recipes because they tend to be easy and quick ones. Plus, I get to search for recipes by ingredients or food types, and there are lots of choices. One of the ingredients that came to my attention is soy milk which is readily stocked up in our home. My boys don’t fancy eating bean curd nor tempeh which I love, but they don’t mind drinking soy milk. It’s one of the things I regularly offer to them as there are various soy benefits to be reaped. Adding soy milk to our diet can give our immune system a serious upgrade. Proteins found in soy milk are heart-healthy. And for people who don’t exercise regularly, they tend to be more at risk (twice as likely) to develop heart diseases. So, as we embark on this family workout routine, it's even more helpful because soy promotes muscle recovery as well. It makes a great addition and when served chilled, it’s a refreshing treat and thirst-quencher after a fun family workout session. We usually load up on V-Soy for our soy milk needs, as it’s made from non-GMO soybeans. I’m not good at making my own soy milk, and my kids have already acquired a taste and liking for this store-bought soy milk, so I guess that makes it a smart soy solution for us. You can check out V-Soy Facebook and Instagram pages to learn more about the product and the varieties they come in. Image credit: V-Soy While you're checking out V-Soy's social media, do tune in to the V-Soy Fit Tribe Series. You'll find more interesting workout videos as well as healthy recipes to make a variety of treats and meals for your family. The series is available on V-Soy World's Facebook, IGTV and YouTube channel. Stay In, Stay Well, And Stay Safe Let’s do all that's within our control and power to keep everyone safe during this time. We’re busy but we need to do something in order to build and maintain our body’s foundation to be healthy. A family that exercises together and eats healthily together, stays safe together. We'll see much better days ahead of us, and to lead a quality life that means we have to be in a healthy and fit state of mind, body, and spirit. So let’s keep up with an active and healthy lifestyle right now, as it helps us stay in an upbeat and forward-looking mental and emotional state. And when all else gets to you in this journey which can be tiring, reach out to others for a little helping hand and support. Especially other mummies like us, for we're all in this together. Don’t walk this journey alone, stay connected with us as we bring you more useful tips and support. Stay well, mummies!

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