The other day, I did press-ups with six-month-old Angelina lying just underneath me, delighted that every time I lowered myself she got a few tickles.
It was not exactly the workout I had imagined.
Exercising with a baby does not always look like a proper workout
Some days exercise looks the way you hoped: a little quiet, time to yourself, perhaps even the luxury of finishing without interruption. And then there are the days when you are simply trying to move between a nap, a snack, a baby asking for your attention and somebody suddenly needing a cuddle.
For a long time, I treated those little sessions as failed workouts: not long enough, not intense enough, too interrupted to really count.
But why?
Ten minutes of movement with children around me is still movement. A few exercises on the floor with a baby beside me are still time spent looking after my body. Turning a workout into a game because a little one has decided to join does not make it less valid.
It is simply different.
I think we sometimes wait until we can take care of ourselves “properly”. When we have more time, when the children sleep better, when life is more organised.
Except life with young children rarely hands us a perfectly free hour in the middle of the day.
So I am trying not to wait for ideal conditions anymore. Some days I have time for a longer workout in peace. Other days I move for five or ten minutes in the living room before somebody interrupts me.
Both count.
Because looking after yourself does not always mean stepping out of family life for an hour. Sometimes it simply means finding a little space for yourself inside the life you already have.
Even if it only lasts five minutes.
