Summer Fitness

This weekend pools all over Pasadena are opening for the season.  Summer is upon us.  Excitement is in the air. In classrooms and hallways there is a steady countdown of days left before school is finally out for summer. 

While most of us are thrilled to slow down for a bit, the more fitness minded among us know that is summertime is danger time.  All of the work we have put in throughout the school year is threatened.  Instead of being able to drop the kids at school and get a quick run, ride or swim in before started on the rest of our parent duties, we are now faced with little to no time to dedicate to our fitness. 

But have no fear.  There are steps we can take to stay fit throughout the summer without disrupting our family’s life.

1. Add an hour to your day - The easiest way to stay fit over the summer is also my least favorite way, get up early.  Wake up before your spouse or significant other is awake and workout before they leave the house.  The added benefit to this method is that you avoid the heat of the day.
2. Exercise in increments – This is a method I use a lot during the summer.  I don’t like to wake up super early but sometimes I will wake up 15 minutes early and go for quick jog with the dog before my husband leaves.  Sometimes I will pull out the jump rope and get in a fast 15 minute workout while the youngest naps. The trick to this method is doing several sessions of 15 minutes. Often this means using every single one of the adult swims available to me to get in some laps.  When the guidelines for 30 minutes of exercise a day were set there was no rule about how those 30 minutes were completed.  Dividing them does not make them any less affective.
3. Water run – Sounds boring, right?  Well it can be if you are stuck at a gym pool by yourself.  But at the community pool with other parents to converse with while doing it, it is quite fun and even refreshing.  The belts cost less than 30 dollars and your pool only needs to be at least 5 feet deep.  The only trick to aquajogging if you want to use it as for fitness is making sure you treat it like a workout and put a genuine effort into it. 
4. Combine duties – My favorite way to stay fit throughout the summer is to involve my children.  Each week I plan bike rides, hikes or kayaking adventures for us as a family and I combine my workout with my family time. There are two benefits to this method.  First the entire family stays fit throughout the summer but also, it allows my children to see that fitness is a priority in my life.  My hope is that seeing this will lead them to lead a fit and healthy lifestyle as well.
5. Step outside of the box – I spoke about this method in another article a few months back.  Fitness doesn’t have to be boring.  Just because I am a runner most of the year doesn’t mean running is the only exercise available to me.  So during the summer I look for things that are outside the norm.  I head to the batting cages, get in the kayaks and paddle like it is a workout, hike through the woods like a kid would do, clambering up and over rocks and downed trees, running jumping and skipping my way through a hike, play basketball, soccer or tennis with the kids.  The point to this method is just to burn calories.  Add activities that are not your normal workout and get the benefits of the additional movement.
6. Create your own insurance – Summer really is a danger times for parents.  It is easy to head into the summer feeling fit and trim only to end the summer feeling a bit like the Pillsbury Doughboy.  In order to assure this doesn’t happen, I schedule races throughout the summer.  If I know that I am going to have run a 5k at the end of the month, I am more likely to keep up with some sort of routine.  It is my insurance.

To lead a fit life in the summer does take more thought than the rest of the year.  There are more temptations and more opportunities to sit and watch the world go by.  But if we make it a priority and use some of these methods we can make it through without losing all that we have built throughout the year.