If you’re a mom, you get it. You just don’t have enough time in a day to do the things you’d love to do most days. Especially if you happen to be a stay-at-home mom. Between fixing breakfast, cleaning up all day, spending quality time and play time with the kids, laundry, dishes, lunch, dinner, bath time, WHEW!
Even harder if you have multiple kids or work from home and keep your kids. Where is the me time?
Most moms have trouble finding time for themselves. I mean come on, even time in the bathroom is not private for most of us. If it’s not the kids knocking on the door or calling your name, it’s hearing screaming and crying or fighting.
Finding time for yourself seems more and more impossible. But when you really think about it, I think we can all fit 20-30 minutes in our day at some point in the day even if it means waking up 30 minutes earlier in the morning.
As a mom myself with a tight schedule, I am going to share with you some of the exercises I do daily that take me 20-30 minutes to get through and involve no equipment. I hope you’ll add some of these to your day.
Squats
As someone who has been an athlete all my life, I truly believe next to core strength, leg strength is of utmost importance and actually aids in core strength. Having strength in your legs helps to prevent so many injuries and aids in a lot of movements.
Squats target your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves. Squats can improve your posture, balance, and mobility which we know is super important when dealing with kids all day. They also keep your bones and joints strong.
To do a squat:
Stand tall with your feet just a little wider than level with your hips. As a woman, you’ll want to turn your toes outwards slightly. Bend your elbows and hold your hands in front of your chest and look straight forward keeping your head up throughout the exercise.
I like to do 20 squats a day. If you’re just beginning, feel free to do less until you work your way up. If you’d like to try a more advanced squat, I recommend squat jumps.
Bridges
Once I’m done with my squats I like to go into bridges, or glute bridges/hip raises.
Bridges target your glutes, hamstrings, and core. This is also a great exercise for your back. If you have back pain, incorporating this exercise into your daily routine has shown to reduce or relieve back pain. This is a great strength exercise.
To do a bridge:
Lie down on the floor flat on your back. If you have a yoga mat, I would recommend using it. Rest your arms beside you with palms facing down. You’ll want to bend your knees and have your feet flat on the floor keeping them under your knees.
Once you’re in this position, you’re ready to start.
Keeping your core tight, raise your hips straight up. Squeeze your butt while you’re up and keep your core tight throughout the entire exercise. If you want, you can try holding the position while you’re up for 30 or so seconds.
I love this move. This is an easy exercise to incorporate into your daily life. If you forget to exercise during the day or don’t have enough time one day, you can even do this while in bed. Between me and you, I actually do most of my lay down positioned workouts in bed.
I like to do 20 bridges daily. Of course, start with less if you’re working your way up.
Kickbacks
I love kickbacks. This is a super simple one. I do these against the wall and if not, I’ll do them standing against my bed with my hands down on the mattress before I get into bed. The wall and bed are just used to keep your balance and form.
Kickbacks target your glutes and hamstrings as well as core.
To do kickbacks:
Stand straight in front of a wall or your bed placing your hands against the wall or on top of your bed to keep balance and form. You’ll want to make sure you’re standing tall throughout the entirety of this exercise to prevent injury. You may also lean forward if you’re comfortable and have enough balance.
Once you’re in position, raise one leg back as high as you can while maintaining your posture. Repeat this move 15-20 times for each leg.
If you’re looking to challenge yourself, try holding the position when your leg is up or you can incorporate resistance bands into this exercise. You could also add ankle weights.
Knee Crunches
Knee crunches are another simple exercise you can do while in bed. I say simple because it’s easy to do in bed, but trust me you will feel the burn.
This is an exercise that targets your core and abdominal muscles. Did you know that your abdominal muscles heal faster than your other muscle groups meaning you can do ab exercises multiple times throughout the day if you have the time?
To do knee crunches:
Lay flat on your back on the floor or bed, place your hands behind your head and lift your knees up and keep them bent to a 90-degree angle.
Once in position, you may start crunching. You will twist while crunching up so that your elbow touches your opposing knee. For example, right elbow will touch left knee and left elbow will touch right knee.
Alternate sides throughout the exercise. I like to do 20 reps for each side. These are a little more difficult than the other exercises to do a lot of reps so definitely if you’re starting out, start with 5-10 reps for each side and work up to 20.
Russian Twists
This is the real ab transformer. Knee crunches burn and are effective but when in combination with Russian twists consistently, you’ll see great results.
Russian Twists target your core, obliques, hips, and legs.
As someone who has gone through the process of growing a human within their own body, what more would you like to target? This exercise hits all marks for us!
To do a Russian twist:
You’re going to feel like you’re rowing a boat while you’re doing this one. You can do this one on the floor or the bed. Although, it is a little harder to do on the bed in terms of balance depending on what type of mattress you have.
You’ll want to start by sitting straight up on the floor or bed with your legs straight and flat in front of you. Then, you’ll lean back slightly and bring your legs up while slightly bent with your feet a few inches off the floor. You’ll basically be in a V-shape.
Once in this position, you can begin. You will balance in this position throughout the entire exercise. Start the movement by twisting your torso side-to-side. Don’t rush through it. Try to do this at a pace and keep breathing.
Keep your core tight and strong throughout the exercise. It is going to burn and you’ll want to stop but push yourself. You got this! It’s nothing compared to birth.
I like to go to each side 10 times so I’ll count to 20 as I go back and forth from side-to-side.
Jumping Jacks
Yes ma’am. The overrated jumping jack.
Jumping jacks are a go-to for a reason mama. This is a great cardio exercise to keep your heartrate up which is important to get up each day for the health of your heart. (In a healthy way, not by letting your kids get it up for you lol)
This exercise will utilize your own body weight to challenge your muscles. Jumping jacks target you whole body. Yes, your whole body. Which is why they are a staple.
To do a jumping jack:
I know we all probably know how to do a jumping jack, but just to make sure you’re doing them properly…
You’ll start by standing tall, looking forward with your hands down by your side. Start by jumping into a position where your feet are extended out slightly more than shoulder-width apart and with your hands now clapped over head with arms straight up. Once there, you’ll just jump back into starting position and do this in one continuous movement.
Standing Leg Raises
This is another standing exercise. Although they’re called leg raises, these are more for abs.
Standing leg raises target your abdominal muscles, hip flexors, obliques, and quadriceps. These are easy to get lazy with but don’t let yourself. At first, they won’t seem like they’re doing anything but as you go through the reps, you’ll begin feeling the effects.
To do a standing leg raise:
You’ll start in a standing tall position with your hands on your hips. Once here, you’ll begin by lifting one leg straight up in front of you trying to get it up until it’s parallel with the ground and bring it back down keeping your posture the entire time. You can bend your knee when lifting or keep your let straight out. Think of these as sort of the reverse of the standing kickbacks.
I like to do 20 for each leg and find that if you stay on one leg for all reps and then switch to the other, you will feel it more. So do 10-20 reps with right leg then 10-20 reps with left leg. Make sure to keep your core engaged.
Fire Hydrants
Last but not least, fire hydrants. Basically, picture a dog doing his business on a fire hydrant. That’s what you’ll be doing. Well, not literally, just the motion lol.
Fire hydrants target your glutes, hips, core and back muscles. These are also great to help relieve back pain.
To do a fire hydrant:
Start by getting on your hands and knees keeping your shoulders above your hands and your hips above your knees. Keep your head down and don’t arch your back in any way just keep it straight.
Once in position, you’ll begin the exercise by lifting one leg away from your core while keeping the knee bent to the point where you feel your butt tighten. Then, you’ll lower your leg back down into the position you started.
I like to do 10 of these on each side. Do more if you’d like. I also do these on my bed sometimes.
I truly hope some of these exercises or all of these exercises find their way into your daily life and you find yourself feeling more energized and, in less pain, as well as feeling more strength within yourself.
Exercise is physical, but trust me when I say incorporating an exercise routine into your life will be greatly beneficial on your mental health. You may find yourself feeling less depressed, more energized, able to think more clearly, and be less moody.
I find that exercising outdoors in the sunlight can increase these benefits. If possible, add a daily walk with your kids into your routine. This is helpful for both you and the kids.
Along with improving your mental health, regular exercising can improve the strength of your bones and muscles, reduce pain, help manage weight and reduce risk of many diseases.
We all know as moms we can use any extra energy we can get and exercising regularly will improve our ability to do our everyday activities as well as give us the strength to continue playing with our kids as we get older and be involved with their activities.