Exercise and motherhood - the reality

Inspired by comments such as "everyone has time to exercise."

I used to exercise regularly. Pre kids. When I had my son, yoga, running and swimming stopped - because of the loose ligaments due to breastfeeding, post c-section recovery and back pain from carrying a Velcro baby around all the time. Then I started physio with my son crawling all over me. As he got bigger (big enough for a bike) I rode with him. I started yoga again on weekend mornings after he'd nursed.

He got too big for mother and baby yoga, he hated buggy fit, he hated some great classes I found with babysitters, so my choices were very limited.

Now I have two kids. I feel ready to exercise again. I'm home alone for 10-11 hours with them (with literally often no breaks), but she's not big enough for a bike, I try to do yoga or my 7-min work out app, but try doing a plank with a toddler on your back and a baby crawling under you - I'm not complaining, I'm serious. Try it! My exercise comes as squats and lunges to pick stuff off the floor with a sleeping baby in a sling; or carrying both when the big one is too tired to keep walking; or pushing a buggy with a big kid and his bike on it, while carrying the little kid. Everything a mama does, in my world, feels like exercise, but I still miss what I used to do.

So, to cut a long story short, I decided to go to the park for a quick session of short sprints, lunges, squats and step ups. (Imagined reality - half an hour, tops).

I had to take my daughter (breastfeeding), which meant I had to take my husband (to hold daughter while I sprinted as she won't be left in a buggy (teething, poorly and dislike of constraints)), so we decided to tag with the baby, take turns at sprinting. This meant we also had to take the toddler - couldn't leave him home alone. He didn't like being left behind when one of us sprinted, so we got to do a little sprint, then running while holding a toddler who insisted on wearing wellies that were too big, so repeated squats to pick them up as they fell off along the way. Then he remembered the playground and ran away. One adult had to follow, which meant the other couldn't sprint, so we had a family trip to the playground. Three hours later we finally went home, one pushing a buggy with a sleeping baby, the other carrying the now very tired toddler on his shoulders. (Actual reality - three and a half hours).

This is why mamas often say they don't have time to exercise. :-)