Hello moms, are you always feeling tired and out of energy? If yes then you might need some exercise! I know how it sounds; you are exhausted after juggling kids, work and everything else and all you want to do is lay down, exercise is the last thing on your mind right? Rest is good and so is exercise too. Exercise has a lot of health benefits; one of which is surplus of energy.
Today I will be writing about different types of exercise and how they impact health. Moms are always so busy that they find it hard to find time for exercise. Exercise do not have to be done in a gym; you can exercise at home or outdoors in a park.
Types of exercises
Aerobic exercise
Aerobic exercise (cardiovascular exercise) is the type of exercise that strengthens the cardio respiratory system. This type of exercise works large groups of muscle and require a lot of oxygen thus the name aerobic exercise. The lungs works hard to provide the oxygen necessary to sustain this kind of exercise. Aerobic exercise involves rhythmic activity like running, cycling, step aerobic and jump roping. This kind of exercise needs to be sustained for about 20 minutes. For more information on this topic, visit Aerobic for information about aerobic, the benefits of aerobics, types of aerobics, exercises, aerobic videos and photos.
Flexibility exercises
It feels good to stretch those muscles and release some kinks here and there. Flexibility exercises increases your range of motion and the ease of movement of your joints. Flexibility exercises are good after any intensive activity. Stretching help nutrients reach you muscles. Stretching/ flexibility exercises prevents you muscles from getting too tight and shortening. There are many types of stretching but the most recommended is a static stretch where you flex and hold your post for sometime before releasing. The American heart association have plenty of information on this topic, with details on a variety of stretching exercises.
Stability exercises
Stability exercises help with posture by enhancing body alignment while resisting unwanted motion from bones and joints. Stability exercises strengthen the muscles of your trunk. Types of stability exercises include agility, balance and core strength. Agility is your ability to walk fast and easily; it can be achieved by using drills with obstacles you have to stir away from. The ease with which you move around these obstacles is a measure of your agility. Balance exercises are great at improving your confidence, especially in older adults. You can balance on one leg, you can also shift your weight from leg to leg and finally you can use an unbalanced surface to make it more challenging. WEB MD have some great information on of-balance core training.
Anaerobic exercise
The word anaerobic means without oxygen. With this kind of exercise, your muscle generates a lot of energy in short burst. It is very high intensity exercise that is usually done in a short period of time. Examples of anaerobic exercise include weight lifting, sprinting and plyometric. I will not recommend this kind of exercise for new moms but if you are interested, livestrong.com have some great information on this topic.
I hope these exercises can help you stay a healthy mom. Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment.
Reference
http://www.aerobic.org/
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/CardiacRehab/Stretching-and-Flexibility-Exercises_UCM_307383_Article.jsp#.VpPcORvSnIV
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/ss/slideshow-off-balance-core-moves
http://www.livestrong.com/article/406513-what-are-some-different-types-of-exercise/
I never knew what anaerobic exercise was so thank you for this! In fact after reading your post I feel a lot more enthusiastic about exercise (surprisingly ) as I am not a big fan of the gym. I find it quite mundane and it doesn’t really motivate me.
Your post and informative content has given me a lot of ideas on how to be more healthy and fit. Thank you so much!
Your welcome Holly. I’m happy i could help.
I must say new moms need to do exercises to help them feel fit.Also doing exercises is usually a way of relieving stress because they help the body relax.it is a good thing you thought of new moms and offered quality content on this post.Apart from feeding,at least there is an extra task to performed.I believe these services are not for new moms alone,Even other men and women can benefit from it too.Generally you are moving along nicely.
Thanks for commenting. I agree, people other than new moms can benefit from exercise and good diet.
Hi Denise!
This article has totally inspired me to get into better shape, I have a 3 year old and a 1 year who definitely keep me on my toes. I think it is important for all moms to take your advice, especially if they are like me, tired all the time!!
Thank you for breaking down the different types of exercise and for the inspiration! This couldn’t have come at a better time as for many people now is the time of year that many people are looking to start a new workout regimen.
I will be checking back for future posts and hope to also incorporate a better diet as well!
Diana
Thanks Diana. I’ll be writing sometime soon about healthy diet and exercise. It’s tough being a parent, you can forget to take care of yourself.
Hi Denise, I just stumbled across this your site, and although I am not a women thought I’ll share my thoughts about exercise and and parenthood, because I think what you say applies equally to dads. You are spot on with your advise to try to equally work on cardiovascular strength, flexibility, balance and muscular strength. Family dynamics and schedules totally change when kids arrive. Juggling a busy work and family schedule leaves little room for parents to take care of themselves. But neglecting your health will backfire big time, as it did for me with a back injury (I write about this on my own blog). This in turn can impact your family very natively and put even more strain on the other partner. It is really easy to add some exercises to your routine that will only take a few minutes and that you can do at home. BUT should I have to make a choice between muscular and cardio training I would first go with the cardio…this was one of the reasons we got a sport stroller when our kids where born, We actually got a lot of great runs in with this thing and believe it or not, you can build a lot of extra workout routines around that stroller…combined with some TABATA intervals you’ll actually get in great shape. So the sport stroller is really a great addition to your workout routine…sound funny I know, but it’d true…on that note, dad’s are equally time- pressed and in need of exercise…and guess who takes the baby to get some fresh air on the weekends…
Best, Adam
Thanks Adams for your very informative comment. You are right the life of both parents get busy after a baby. I think it will be fun if mom and dad can share their exercise with their kids. I’ll do my best to direct my post to both parents in the future.
Hi its Alexey,
I want to say that your post looks very good and easy to read. I enjoyed the content because I do excercise as well, and those are wonderful excercises not only for moms, but for men and athletes as well.
You gave here some valuable information – thanks.
Thanks Alexey! I’m happy you like it. Please don’t hesitate to propose exercise ideas from your experience.
Hi
These are some fantastic ways to exercise. Like many moms I too feel exhausted more often than not. It’s really hard to find a good balance between all your committments let alone exercise!
You’ve motivated me to find a little more time for both Aerobic and Flexibility exercises. Excellent Read.
Kind Regards
Michelle
Your welcome Michelle
This is some great information, I don’t have any kids but my cousin is due in about two months and she has already started complaining about being hungary and tried. She has also gained a little to much according to the doctor. I could sed this website being good for her and even helpful for people just looking to wine Dow from the stress of everyday life.
Hi Amanda,
I know exactly how tired and hungry one can get during the third trimester. Funny thing is you can only eat bits at a time because the baby pushes on the intestines. I have been at it three times lol. Not to worry, after the baby, all she will need is a healthy dose of exercise and some healthy food and a lot of motivation of course.
Excellent, I’ve been looking for something like this, to get some new knowledge on the topic. Time is of the essence. Thank you for your effort!
One of my friends is new mom & initially there have been all kind of regular problems going on – Less energy, body that’s out of shape after giving a birth as well as overall body weight that has been going up & up.
We’ve already started with proper nutritional plan to get energy back. Also new recommendations are always welcome.
The parts I’ve always looking for to improve, not only to help others, but to have a progress myself too, are flexing & stability exercises. Adding mobility to your body is usually always a very good thing. Releasing stress from muscles that are too tense as well as increasing your overall agility. So many pros here from couple of simple things. What do you think?
On anaerobic exercises I have a different opinion – I think it’s extra important part not only for new moms out there but for all women in general. Why? – Functional strength.
A lot of females are having serious back problems. The reason for that can be very simple – Muscle function efficiency – Their poor backs are doing all the hard work alone all the time by neglecting other weaker muscles. Result is dominant muscles getting fatigued.
How does this happen? If you haven’t done weighted squats or even simple unweighted squats in your entire life, it’s very likely that your body nervous system won’t make connection to a lot of muscle fibers that are existing in your body (in hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings): It practically has never done it before, it has no experience, it has never used those muscle fibers before & so, it doesn’t even know how to do it! The engine isn’t set up to work on 100% yet.
There’s the back pain – Lack of support from other muscle groups. It’s a very big deal for females since they’re biologically designed to carry babies.
Common myth spread among women is that “Oh, but lifting heavy weights makes me go muscular”. That’s never going to happen due to naturally occurring estrogen in females. Your own body will keep it in check – You can work 3x harder than regular stud & you still won’t be anywhere near big or muscular. Regardless of not achieving huge mass, what will happen in first place is a lot of functional strength gain to help you with your every day life & tasks, avoiding injuries, having better health in general & trimmed up body as bonus.
Despite not having visually intimidating looks women can also be exceptionally strong. I don’t know who was the one who said females are the weaker ones of the two sexes. In my opinion it’s just a blunt lie, they aren’t weaker, they’re amazing.
Thanks for your references, I appreciate it a lot!
& I also hope my comment is helpful in some way for moms out there who are looking to get into better shape.
Stay healthy!
Regards,
Hi Henry,
Thank you for such a detailed comment. I see where you are coming from. I went back and read this post and realized that I had made a vague statement about anaerobic exercise. I will be fixing that because I agree with you that anaerobic exercises are very important. When I wrote that I was thinking about the first six months after birth and worrying that the body might not be ready for such intense exercise yet.
I will try to specify the time frame. Thanks for taking the time to read through my post and bringing this important fact up. Your comment is totally going to be helpful to a lot of moms
Cheers
Hi,
This is a wonderful article for new moms! Often, as you say, moms are so busy trying to juggle everything that they have to do in the course of a day, that exercise is the last thing on their mind!
It’s really important, though, to take good care of yourself so that you can take good care of your baby! You’ve explained each type of exercise so well. I have never heard the term anaerobic before, so I learned something new!
Thanks so much for this great article! 🙂
Hi Anna,
It’s nice when one learn new things especially if one can apply those new things to ones life. Anaerobic exercise like I mensioned in the post is very intense exercise that occurs in short burst. It requires plenty of energy in a short period of time and is very demanding on the muscles. Because of the intense nature, it has to take place with little or no oxygen so the name anaerobic.
They really need this. I’ll be looking for this if I become a mom.