MIX IT UP Blend family time and fitness time for a healthier lifestyle.
A day in the life
Personal trainer
Paul O'Brien
Meet Caroline. She’s in her mid 40s, and is a working mother with two teenage kids. In her younger days she was a habitual exerciser, walking most days and enjoying a swim a couple of times a week in her local pool. Nowadays, she finds it extremely difficult to fit any exercise into her busy schedule. Lacking vitality and regularly feeling exhausted, she came to me for help.
Caroline’s average day is pretty normal for a working mother. She is up every morning at 7am to sort out the kids and prepare for work. She works from 8.30am until 4pm, Monday to Friday. Most weekdays she picks her kids up from school or from a friend’s house. The kids are shuttled to and from music lessons, football training and dance class most days of the week.
Twice weekly, she gets a break from this, thanks to a car-pooling arrangement with a friend. On one of these ‘free’ days, she helps out at a local charity.
Each evening, she’s back home at about 6.30pm. Once the family has dinner, it’s pretty close to 9pm and she begins to wind down for the day. Once every fortnight, she goes out with her husband. Weekends are packed with family activities. Time is scarce.
Old ways
When we met, Caroline was keenly aware of her low energy levels and wanted to change things. She used to enjoy exercise but was worried about fitting it in. However, she was motivated to change things after a visit to her GP. Told that she was suffering from periodic bouts of exhaustion and high blood pressure, probably brought on by stress, her doctor advised her to find more time for herself and exercise a little more.
It was obvious that prescribing a ‘normal’ exercise program, including long walks or lengthy periods of exercise wasn’t going to work for Caroline. The key was to incorporate bite-size chunks of exercise into her day. Once this became habit, I hoped that Caroline would then find time to prioritise exercise and ‘me time’ a little more. After much discussion about her exercise preferences, goals and motivations, we devised a plan.
New life
7am – Rise and shine. Caroline performs 3 sets of 12 repetitions of bodyweight squats and push-ups and a 30-second frontal plank. She does this as soon as she gets out of bed. It takes about 3mins and she says it fires up her body in the morning and gets her focused on the day ahead. Best of all, she doesn’t need to get up any earlier to do it!
11.30am – Caroline takes a coffee break at work. Having been seated for the morning, I prescribed a series of stretches to open out the body, improve circulation and energy flow and prevent muscular strains. This takes 2mins out of Caroline’s 15-min break.
1pm – Three days each week, Caroline uses half her one-hour lunch break to take a walk in a park close to her workplace. Recently, she has started jogging the route on one of these days. She returns and enjoys a 20-minute lunch feeling revitalised and mentally sharp.
Weeknights – Caroline and her husband take turns in prepping dinner each night. Caroline now uses this time to carry out a home workout routine I prescribed twice weekly. The routine takes 20mins, including a warm-up, main session and post-stretch. Caroline has a variety of routines to choose from and sometimes has the company of the kids.
Weekends – Caroline is in the pool. The family swim every Saturday or Sunday morning, and Caroline is up to about 30 lengths. She’s loving it and even thinking about a short triathlon.
Fourteen weeks in and we review Caroline’s progress. She has made exercise a habit again, and one she enjoys. She doesn’t always follow her program but gets back to it the following day if she misses a session. Her energy levels have improved and she feels she is achieving more, both at work and generally.
CAROLINE’S story is a typical one in my experience. There is always a way to include exercise in your life. All you need is a little imagination and a willingness to work.
Paul O’Brien is a Personal Trainer and Life Coach and runs his own fitness and coaching business in Westport. He is the founder of Bootcamp West, a fitness program running in Westport, Castlebar and Louisburgh. For information about fitness training, coaching, bootcamp programmes and new TRX classes, email Paul at paul@bootcampwest.com or call 086 1674515. visit www.bootcampwest.com or e-mail paul@bootcampwest.com or telephone 086 1674515.
