How To Workout As A Stay-At-Home Mom & Get Results

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Do this kind of workout as a stay-at-home mom for a fun, flexible, and consistent routine that gets you the results you want.

As a stay at home mom, your life can feel like it revolves around…home. You are at home day in and day out taking care of everyone and everything. How do you get fit and stay in shape when you don’t have the time, money, or ability to get to the gym? By letting one more aspect of your life be brought into the home, your workouts! You ABSOLUTELY do not need to go to a gym to get an effective workout in.

Home exercise is my favorite way to workout as a stay-at-home mom to stay committed to my health, fitness, and happiness. Let’s dive in!

Can you get fit while working out at home?

When we workout at home there’s a better chance you will actually see results. How do we get results? Consistency. Regular, steady, and constant effort. Working out at home will put you closer to success because it is so much easier to be consistent. Notice that I didn’t say the actual exercise itself was easier, but the effort seems to be. Home workouts reduce many of the hurdles we face in order to exercise at the gym.

Money. You don’t need to pay for a membership, app, program, or fancy equipment if you don’t have the budget. Exercise is completely free and there are many free resources out there. One of my favorite resources are videos. Workout videos give you the gym/class experience without the fees.

Time. You don’t need a lot of it when you are home. Sometimes we don’t even have much to begin with. There is no travel and you can squeeze a workout in at a moment’s notice. You can even do a 10 minute workout if that is all you for the day.

Goals. You can focus on exactly what you need for your fitness each and everyday. You won’t feel pressured to join the latest fitness trend, or use weight that is too heavy, or follow programming that isn’t fun nor meets your physiological needs. All of which can hinder your motivation to stay committed to your fitness.

Mood. You can choose your workout based on what your mind and body are telling you that day. Maybe that is low or high intensity, strength or cardio, mobility or agility, and use of equipment. Having complete freedom allows us to actually be excited to workout the way we want to and have complete control over our fitness.

The same way that eating one salad a week doesn’t make up for a mess of junk food and empty calories the other six days, working out here or there will not produce the physiological response you need. And it will be even harder to maintain the habit of working out. As long as you stay consistent, continue to set new goals, and expand beyond your comfort zone, you will get the results you want.

Why is it harder to workout at home?

Lack of equipment, atmosphere, coaches, accountability partners, and mental focus causes many moms to feel unmotivated to workout at home. You can’t escape the “mom mode” when surrounded with distractions and responsibilities.

But the problem is not your enviroment, it’s your mindset. A successful workout is not about the “where,” but about the “why.” You can read all about what that means in my post The BEST Workout Motivaiton For Stay At Home Moms. Here is how you can make these “negatives” turn into positives.

Instead of the kids being a distraction, choose a time they are occupied and use it as “me time.” Or you can include them and set an example by teaching them the importance of personal health and how to persevere through challenge.

Exercising without other people around is actually one of my favorite things about home workouts. You can feel free to try new things or look silly when you are in the comfort of your own home. I am NOT a dancer. So dance exercise would never be something I could feel comfortable to do around others. But at home, I don’t need to worry about what I look like or what other people may be thinking. I don’t care if I mess up, look awkward, or am heavy breathing and sweating like a pig. I am more apt to try new things when I am comfortable. Plus, getting through a tough workout by motivating myself empowers me more.

And for days that I feel demotivated by my messy house or in a crummy mood from a battle with my toddler, I put on my favorite music. It helps me to snap out of it and get pumped up to move and groove.

Home workouts keep me on track and give me a greater sense of accomplishment knowing that I did it on my own. Adjust your attitude and working out at home will never feel hard again!

Best workout for stay-at-home moms

Home workouts are the best style of exercise for a stay-at-home mom. They are flexible, inexpensive, fun, and allow moms to have complete control over their fitness.

As a stay-at-home mom, I want to exercise in a way that helps me to feel my best. Workouts that help me in my everyday life. I want to have the strength to pick up and carry my kids, the groceries, or laundry to easily knock out chores. I need endurance to run and play with my children. Keeping my toddler out of trouble requires speed and a quick reaction time. And in order to do it all over again the next day I want to maintain my mobility and comfort so I can keep up with my lifestyle as a stay at home mom.

The type of exercise that is conducive to my stay-at-home mom lifestyle is functional training. That is exercise made of compound movements that help you in bending, twisting, lifting, loading, pushing, pulling, squatting and hauling. These workouts help to improve movement patterns, stability, mobility, and posture.

Home workouts are often, not always, functional by nature. This is because we usually have little equipment on hand. Therefore we have to use our bodyweight or free weights (like dumbbells or kettlebells) to create and control resistance, intensity, and range of motion. For example, in a gym you may use a leg press. But at home you would do a squat. Not that functional training is exclusive to home workouts, but they go hand in hand. You are not going to leg press that laundry basket off the floor, but you will squat down and deadlift it back up. Doing these kinds of exercises in your workouts will create muscle memory for when we need to do them in real life.

I have a great variety of home workout videos that are all free. Whether you want strength, cardio, mobility, kickboxing, or functional training. Check them out on my youtube channel and you can workout as a stay-at-home mom with me!

Do you need equipment to get fit

You do not need equipment to get nor stay fit. You can progress and adapt your training for almost every goal without equipment by manipulating training variables such as volume (reps & sets), frequency, exercise selection, rest, and pace.

For example, you can only create so much strength with little to no outside weight. But there are ways we can adjust. Like creating more time under tension, manipulating the range of motion, adjusting body position, and more. You can even use household items as weights! Like a full laundry basket, milk jugs, wheelbarrow, or even your kids (With safety of course. Think Mommy and Me workouts).

Or if you want to improve your speed in running and it’s the middle of an Ohio winter, you can’t exactly do that in your home without a treadmill. Instead you can do an agility workout in your living room to improve foot speed and cardiovascular endurance and recovery. Just get creative! Otherwise stagger or adjust your goals based on your resources and environment. Like focusing on strength in the winter and cardio in the summer.

Although not necessary, equipment can still be something you may want to invest in over time to mix it up or challenge yourself in other ways.

Making a home gym to workout as a stay-at-home mom

You don’t need to have a dedicated room or ample space for a workout as a stay-at-home mom. Anywhere in your home can be your gym space. Many exercises and workouts require little room to still get in your sweat. Most of the time a yoga or gym mat is the most space you will even need.

I have successfully been able to workout in the hallway, bedroom, living room, backyard, garage, and basement. And that is while living in small apartments and our modestly sized starter home. Sometimes there are just so many toys out and my toddler is running all over that I have to quaruntine to a little area of the living room so I don’t trip.

The important thing is that you can adjust the atmosphere to get in the mood for your workout. Whether that is tidying up, adjusting the lighting or temperature, turning on music or videos, or getting out equipment, do what you need to get pumped up and ready to exercise.

If space is already a limiting factor, acquire equipment that is easy to access and simple to store. My favorites include

• mini loop resistance bands,
• gliders,
• a jump rope,
• smaller dummbells/kettlebells,
• stability balls (since you can deflate them),
• and even smaller weight plates since they are slim

You can throw any of these items in a closet, decorative storage bin, or under furniture.

Where to get affordable workout equipment for home

Luckily, exercise has become so common to most people’s lives that many stores offer something fitness related. Personally, I have seen most, if not all, of the items listed above at relatively affordable stores. Places like Walmart, Target, 5 Below, Dollar General, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and The Ross Store are all just a handful off the top of my head. There are also used sporting goods stores depending on where you live. Check out local garage sales, facebook marketplace, and Amazon has so many options as well!

But if you don’t want to invest yet, you can always use household items like soup cans or water bottles as dumbbells. You can also use sand or water to fill old laundry detergent or a milk jugs in place of a kettlebell. Fill a laundry basket with clothes or blankets to deadlift or squat. A broom can be a PVC pipe for mobility. And towels on a hard floor can replace gliders.

Like I said before, equipment is not essential, just a cherry on top to home workouts. So drop the excuses, adjust your attitude, find some resources, and get to your workout as a stay-at-home mom!