How can a busy mum get fit at home? This is the difficulty facing many women raising young children. With five of my own children this was always a big challenge for me. How I wish I had discovered kettlebells a few years ago especially when I had three under five’s at home!
Many mums believe that running around after young children all day is enough exercise in itself. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard “I expect you keep fit running round after five children” – no is the short answer! A recent study conducted by Kelli O’Neil, a personal trainer who is on the exercise science faculty at Central College in Pella, Iowa found that women do not get anywhere near as much exercise as they imagine whilst looking after children. O’Neil’s study looked at 58 women, with children under the age of 6, which revealed only a third got an average of 30 minutes moderate physical activity a day – the recommended minimum. Yet this group, who also worked outside the home, believed they were getting more than 1 hour physical activity a day. Much to the surprise of the mums, running after kids did not account for as much physical activity as they thought.
One of my children was ill recently and needed some time off school. This coincided with my husband being out of the country on business which effectively left me housebound for days. So without being able to go for so much as a walk, no evening respite from childcare duties, and a child that needed to be closely watched how could I workout? Yes, you guessed it kettlebells!
Training with kettlebells has so many advantages in a home setting. For a start you only need to buy one or two to begin with. They don’t take up a lot of room and you don’t need much space to use them. They don’t make any noise (an important consideration if you have young children sleeping) unlike a home treadmill/bike or workout DVD and finally, you don’t even have to leave the house to exercise. Add to this the knowledge that there’s nothing quite like kettlebell training for blasting fat, making you super fit, strong and burning calories. It’s a wonder that every woman on the planet isn’t using them!
I am fortunate in that I have a well equipped home gym, to train clients from. However, as most people don’t have a home gym, I decided to restrict myself to the use of two kettlebells, a 12kg and a 16kg, with some bodyweight exercises thrown in. In doing so I hope to illustrate how a great workout can be achieved at home with minimal equipment. This workout wouldn’t prepare anyone training for kettlebell sport and competition – no 10 minute time sets here – but it delivers a concise and effective full body session without stepping outside your front door.
A five minute dynamic warm-up and joint mobilisation followed by each exercise, performed for 30 seconds
Double arm kettlebell swing
Hindu press ups
Military press (right arm)
Burpees
Military press (left arm)
Fire feet to drop (several thrown in for good measure!)
Alternate arm kettlebell swing
Kettlebell squats
30 seconds rest
Single right arm kettlebell swing
Jump squat
Single left arm kettlebell swing
Mountain climbers
Snatch right arm
Russian twists
Snatch left arm
Figure of 8 with punch
30 seconds rest – which just about gave me time to run and check on my sleeping, poorly child!
So that was a 9 minute total body circuit based workout which I was able to complete a further two rounds of before my son woke up! I was hot, sweaty, my heart was pounding I’d used every muscle in my body and I hadn’t even left the house. Of course, you can easily adapt a circuit based approach to training based on your level of fitness and available time. You could put more rest intervals in, you can make the workout intervals longer or shorter your can change the order of the exercises, you can drop the body weight only exercises and replace with more kettlebell drills, the possibilities are endless; this workout is just one example.
I believe in integrating lots of different training methods in order to achieve optimal fitness and well being. This also serves to reduce the risks of problems and injuries that can arise from overuse. So I don’t train exclusively with kettlebells but I do feel they have a real place for people who are looking to train from home, whatever their reason.
Please note: On a point of safety – I would not advocate swinging a kettlebell around a room with a young child around. Wait for a time when they are having a nap or in bed or pop them in the playpen.
