photo by SuperMommies

A good majority of my runs are done with my two year old in the stroller.  These runs are quite fun, he entertains me most of the way and talks about each thing he sees.  The problem is: he gets bored in the stroller and sometimes is asking to get out, play, or starts to whine.   If you are a mom of a young baby, you probably haven’t experienced this yet.  If you have older children you understand that eventually the time comes when you can’t keep your child in the stroller for a long period of time. 

So there a lot of solutions for getting your workout in and entertaining your child at the same time.  Here are some of my favorite exercises to do with my son in the stroller and out of the stroller.  Typically I will start this workout after doing a fifteen minute run to the park, you could also substitute a good paced walk to a grassy area, a track, open field or another area you can workout in.

1. Hill Running – if you have a hill or incline near your workout area.  Leave your child in the stroller facing you, at the top of the hill.  Walk backwards squating down the hill, then run a sprint up the hill making funny faces and noises.  My son loves this and always gets a kick out of his “crazy mommy.”

2. Shuttle Runs/Suicides – Remember the Presidential Fitness test from your elementary days?   Find a basketball court or open field.  Skip with your child to the first line, sprint there and back.  Skip to next line, another sprint there and back.  Repeat until you finish with two full court sprints, make sure you turn your child around so they can see you sprinting.   Add more to this exercise… each time you are at the end add 5 push-ups before you continue the shuttle run.

photo by Axel Buhrmann

3. Footwork drills – If your child will stay in the stroller, do 10 jumping jacks in front of you child, side shuffle to half court, run in place footwork for 10 seconds, and then shuffle back. Repeat 5-6 times.  If your child won’t stay in the stroller you can do the same thing while your child is in a swing.

4.  Lunges, Squats, Sprints – Let you child out of the stroller and let him play with you.  You can do lunges and squats standing still or moving depending on how much your child is moving.  If your child wants you to hold them, it is just extra weight/resistance for you!  My son loves me to lift him over my head while I do squats!  Then, find an area to do some sprints with your child, my son loves to play chase.

5. Ab Work – Take a towel with you in your stroller.  You can let your older child play in the park while you do your favorite ab exercises.  Or you can take  your baby/toddler out of the stroller and have them on your towel with you.  If your baby is wanting mommy time you can do ab work with your child laying on your belly.

Mix it up and have some fun.  Working out is possible with your baby/toddler/young child.  Plus, they will get the advantage of seeing you workout and learn a life lesson about keeping fit.  If your kids are older you can have them ride a bike or scooter with you in the park and enjoy the workout as a family together!