Me and my kids after my first 10K. I was happy because I ran the whole way and even finished third in my age group (Source: Nicole Crawford)

Running With Kids

When I first started running before I had children, I wanted to run fast. So I started doing things like hill sprints and plyometrics a few times a week. But all that did was give me chronic shin splints. Eventually those got so bad that I gave up.

“Since I started running with my kids, I have met many of my goals, like running a 10k and placing in my age group. But most of all, I’ve learned to slow down.”

After I had two children, I started running again, more for mental reasons than physical ones. Running gave me a chance to have quiet solitude and focus. I would run in the evening after my husband was home, and it soon became a nightly habit. But I wasn’t a good runner. I was in pain, and I was constantly fatigued.

I took a break from running during my third pregnancy. Now, two years later, I have three children, and I also have what I consider the most essential piece of fitness gear I own – a double jogging stroller. Running with a stroller has helped me make gains in my fitness and more importantly, it has taught me how to train sustainably.

A Lesson in Going Slow

But it hasn’t always been rainbows and sunshine. My first run with the stroller was a rude awakening. Pushing a double stroller with fifty extra pounds through the Texas Hill Country (that name is accurate) was discouraging. It took me twice as long and I was twice as tired. The hills I normally ran without breaking a sweat were now so daunting that I had to slow to a walk. I didn’t like that. But that run also taught me a valuable lesson that has helped me become a better runner. It taught me the value of going slow.

“‘Go hard or home’ might make for a good fitspiration Instagram post, but it doesn’t always translate into long-term success.”

Since I started running with my kids, I have met many of my goals. But most of all, I’ve learned to slow down. And because of that, I can finally say I enjoy running on every level – mental and physical. I no longer feel pain after I run, so I can do it five days a week. I’ve come to appreciate the importance and effectiveness of consistent, easy runs. “Go hard or home” might make for a good fitspiration Instagram post, but it doesn’t always translate into long-term success or consistency.

It’s harder than it looks, but it’s worth it.

Start With a Plan

What follows is a four-week plan for getting started with a jogging stroller. It’s most appropriate for parents who already have a regular running habit and can easily run a 5K without stopping. If that’s you, follow the plan as written.

You will probably notice this is a walk-run plan. You might think you’re above this, but keep in mind you’re adding a pretty heavy load to your runs. In his brand new e-book, Run Strong, coach Andrew Read explains the value of using a walk/run plan to ease into running and avoid injury:

The top minds in movement all say the same thing – develop mobility, stability, and proprioception, then strength and power, before finally adding endurance. But you can build mobility and stability concurrently while learning how to run at the same time. The best way to do this is a walk/run program.

I’ve seen huge benefits from taking this approach to running – with a stroller and without. The goal for these four weeks is to get you to the point where you can run comfortably for eight minutes with the stroller. If you can do that by the end of the four weeks, great. If not, repeat the cycle and add one minute to each of the intervals.

Listen to Your Body

If there’s one thing you need to know before you start running with a jogging stroller, it’s this: Your body makes the rules. This is always true, but it’s especially important when you’re running with your kids in a stroller. It might sound dramatic, but their safety is in your hands – literally. The last thing you want is to be on the verge of vomiting or blacking out on a hot day with two kids in the stroller.

But that’s what I love about running with my kids: those little people are built-in self-regulation. Running with the stroller will teach you your true limits in a safe way, provided you train smart. And it’s exciting to see your solo times get better by running with the kids three times a week. That’s why Sundays in the plan are solo run days – so you can see what impact the stroller has on your personal records, even without the kids.

Here’s the first week of the program as a sample. For the entire four-week plan, click the link below to download a PDF version.

Click Here to Download the 4-Week Plan

A few notes before you begin:

• Use rate of perceived exertion to pace yourself during these four weeks. It’s easy to do if you have conversational toddlers in the stroller, and it will keep you from pushing too hard. You should be able to muster a few sentences to your child without gasping for breath, and you should feel reinvigorated after your runs. If you get to the point that this becomes impossible, slow to a walk or slow jog until you get back to an easy to moderate pace.
• You might find in order to stay at this RPE, you have to walk during the designated “run” periods. What is most important is not whether you are walking or running, but how much effort you are using. So some of the numbers in the plan might be different for you, depending on your fitness level. That’s okay. Prioritize RPE over running/walking. If you can’t run at a RPE of 4 or 5, slow down.
• Do mobility work on off days (and on run days if you can). Regular mobility work will help you create a sustainable running habit.
• Track time instead of mileage, with the exception of your solo runs. The Sunday solo runs will show you how your running is progressing.
• For some pointers on form, read my article, 5 Tips for Running With a Jogging Stroller.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• Mommy and Me Workouts for Moms on the Go
• Beyond Baby Wearing: Mechianical Nutrients for Babies (and Parents)
• Prioritizing Your Fitness Isn’t Selfish – It’s Necessary
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

The post A 4-Week Plan for Getting Started With a Jogging Stroller appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

At first, it was some friends of mine who are teachers complaining about how unprepared some of their incoming students are. You know, that handful of little ones who should have some basic skills taught by their parents, yet show up to first grade completely lacking in certain areas that are entirely the parent’s responsibility. Thanks to mom or dad not holding up their end of the bargain, these kids become the boat anchors of the class, tend to be the most misbehaved, and drive the underpaid, underappreciated teacher nuts.

Then, as an observant father, I began to notice something just as damaging.

As my children are getting a bit older (8, 6, and 4 years old), they are all trying different sports. My son, the oldest, has played baseball, basketball, flag football, soccer, and done gymnastics. My middle child plays soccer, softball, and gymnastics and my youngest does gymnastics and is chomping at the bit to do the team/ball sports. All three are showing reasonable levels of natural ability, and the older two tend to be the best players on their respective teams. Is it because my wife’s and my genes are so superior that we are breeding super athletes? That would be great if it were the truth, but I know it’s not the case.

The reason my kids are outperforming most everyone on their teams is because we practice their sports with them on days they don’t have formal practice. You know, we play catch. I rebound for my son and shoot around with him. My wife kicks the ball around with my girls. We encourage them to do cartwheels in the living room. I throw the football with all three of them in front of our garage. We take an active role in the lives of our kids. Weird, right?

You Don’t Know the Game? Neither Do They

What I am seeing among many of their little teammates is that the parents of their teammates are doing absolutely zero with those kids away from practice. And that sucks. Before you begin to throw a hissy fit about how you don’t know anything about soccer, have never played basketball, or would almost certainly break your neck if you tried a handstand, I have a little secret for you: I don’t either, I never have, and without a doubt would end up in the hospital alongside you. It’s not an excuse.

Both my wife and I were scholarship athletes in college. I played college football for Eastern Kentucky, and my wife played volleyball for San Jose State. We’ve both maintained an association with our respective sports—she coaches club and high school volleyball, and I am a strength coach at the local university. Neither of our two sports are represented in the above listing of my kids’ sports. Okay, my boy plays football, but flag football. I was a center for 13 years. So when they teach drive blocking for flag footballers, my son will definitely have an upper hand. We are simply two parents doing the best we can, with limited knowledge. The only secret we have is that we show up and play, regardless.

Keep Score, or Put on a Glove

Those of you who think that you are doing your child a service by not keeping score in their games; that winning and losing isn’t for kids, and it’s all about fun, I have one thing to tell you: You are dead wrong. This isn’t some sociological or political position, or an attempt to incite an argument. This is coming from a dad who watches not only his son and daughters, but the sons and daughters of others interact with one another, during and after games. They all ask what the score was. It’s innate for someone who plays a sport to establish a winner and loser. They do it on the playground when we all aren’t around, so we are basically making ourselves look like fools to our kids when we attempt to justify the silly reasons no one is counting points.

Listen, I know the intent of not keeping score is to save our kids the weight of defeat. None of us want to see our kids hurt. But what about the kids who have next no experience in the sport they are trying, who may get the feeling that they are the worst player on the field? Think that doesn’t cross their mind? Think again. My son’s basketball team is a mix of first and second graders. Many of them, regardless of age, can’t get the ball high enough in the air to get it to the hoop. That isn’t a lack of talent, that’s a lack of repetitions. That responsibility falls to the parent more than the coach, especially at this age, due to the fact that they only “practice” once a week.

If you are going to sign your children up for these activities, you better be prepared to practice with them.

Whatever pain you are saving them by not establishing a winner or loser is only being replaced by the cold hard truth that their lack of practice is making their lives considerably harder for them among their teammates. Kids are brutal. They tell the truth, most of the time. I’ve seen it countless times: that one kid who is totally a fish out of water gets teased, or worse, ignored by the rest of the kids on the team. 99 % of the time, if that kid’s dad would put on a baseball glove and simply play catch with them, he’d save them the humiliation of being the worst kid on the team.

Almost All Youth Coaches Are Not Coaches

They are just some wonderful moms and dads who are literally taking one for the team. My wife was the head coach of my daughter’s softball team, and my son’s soccer team. She played softball in high school, but never played soccer. She was just a mom who stepped up to make sure that the league had enough teams to carry on a season. So, she did what most youth coaches do, and faked it all season.

If you are a parent who is sending their child off to some coach and team and expect to see monumental improvements over the course of the season due to the coach’s tool box of drills or level of expertise, you are in for a major letdown. I have assisted every year on my son’s baseball teams, his basketball teams, and one of his flag football seasons. Like any self-respecting strength and conditioning professional, I coached hustle, good listening, and great effort. I teach that because it’s all I know. Our current basketball coach is a contractor, so if we are teaching the boys how to pour concrete, we have the right guy. But instead we have a dad who loves his son so much that he’s taking on the responsibility of coaching something he knows very little about, so his boy can have a team to play on.

It’s not your kid’s coach’s responsibility to teach them to throw, catch and swing. It’s yours.

What’s even more disturbing are the parents who push their kids to play these sports, then do nothing to compliment it. Maybe they think of it as cheap daycare, or a way to buy them an hour or so of freedom each week. Those kids really pay a price. Driving them to practice, bringing a snack bag for everyone once every two months, and cheering at the games isn’t enough.

Don’t Be a Dream Killer

Maybe your kid’s success in sports just doesn’t seem that important to you. After all, only 1-2.6% of high school athletes playing one of the big three sports (football, basketball and baseball) will receive a Division I athletics scholarship. From that bunch, 9.7% of baseball players will get the chance to play in the pros, whereas football and basketball plummets to 1.1-1.6%. But is that reason enough to blow off of the parental responsibility to go outside after work and play some Around the World with your eight-year-old? Not at all.

My son loves basketball. We are diehard Warriors fans. I’ll never forget last year’s NBA Finals, when in game 7, it became obvious that we were about to lose. My son looks over at me with only a couple of minutes left and simply says, “DAD?!” The tone and tremble of his voice made it crystal clear to me that he was suffering.

See, he has it in his mind that he’s going to play in the NBA. Now, he’s a white kid from San Luis Obispo, whose mother is 5’4”, and whose father is an ex lineman who still weighs the same as he did his junior year in college. The proverbial deck is completely stacked against him. But do you think any of that is going to keep me from going out and shooting hoops with him? As you might imagine, the answer is an overwhelming “no.”

Your Kids Need Your Coaching

Our kids get denigrated as “just being kids,” or told they have a lot to learn. But on the contrary, the only difference between us and them is experience, and the jadedness that we all carry from watching dreams fall to the roadside. In fact, they have something that we all lost somewhere along the way on our journey: faith in themselves.

If you are going to put your kids in youth sports, the $200 sign-up fee is just the beginning. They need you to take part, take an interest, and participate beyond a ride to practice and a mom in a team sweatshirt on gameday. They need us to make our best attempt at participating and helping some good folks just trying to do an acceptable job. Get off of your ass and do the best job you can playing catch, kicking the ball, or swinging a racket. Not all of our kids are going to be the starting shooting guard in 2033 for the Golden State Warriors like my son is, but you never know.

We’re handicapping our kids by shielding them so much:

Protect Your Kids From the Danger of Taking No Risks

The post Parents: You Are the First Coach appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Recently, I was reading an article about this new Ken doll. According to the article, the doll’s proportions are based on a nineteen-year-old male’s body. But most nineteen-year-old guys aren’t fathers yet. That got me thinking: why has this newest version of Ken been touted as the dad bod version? It seems the more accurate title would be “frat boy Ken.”

The fact that these physical qualities are so quickly atrributed to fathers is just one example of our tendency to make parenthood into a scapegoat. You have kids, you lose muscle, and you get a dad bod. Before you know it, toy manufacturers are naming Ken dolls after you.

You don’t have a “dad bod.” You have YOUR bod. [Photo courtesy of CrossFit Impulse]

Let’s Examine the Evidence

Society often assumes that having kids makes you makes you gain weight, feel more tired, and generally err in the direction of lethargy, overindulgence, and unhappiness. There are even studies that support these assumptions. Here are five especially depressing ones I found right off the bat:

• Overprotective parents are at high risk for lack of exercise and general unhappiness.
• Becoming a parent means the end of happy marriage and all its enjoyable benefits.
• Parents – especially moms – are less healthy than their childless peers.
• Raising kids is “a challenge to mental health.”
• Parenthood is “worse than divorce, unemployment – even the death of a partner.”

Clearly, studies support the idea that dad bod and similar undesirable effects of reproduction (not limited to men) are inevitable.

But what you don’t hear about as much in the headlines are the many high-level athletes who manage to juggle their training with overtired toddlers. To me, these stories are much more interesting and inspiring than the ones about overtired parents.

A few examples:

• Swimmer Dara Torres made waves when she competed in the United States National Championships fifteen months after her daughter was born. She went on to win three silver medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
• Jan Frodeno, the only person to win an Olympic gold medal, the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, and the Ironman World Championship, finished off the 2015 World Championships in Kona by kissing his wife’s pregnant belly. His wife just happens to be retired Olympic gold medalist, Commonwealth gold medalist, and three-time World Champion triathlete, Emma Snowsill.
• Marathoner Paula Radcliffe famously ran and won the New York City marathon when her first daughter was less than ten months old. She went on to place third in the Berlin Marathon in 2011, just one year after having her second child.
• CrossFit superstar Rich Froning, Jr. and his wife, Hilary, adopted a newborn baby girl, Lakelyn, in 2014, just before the CrossFit Games. Of becoming a parent, Froning said in a video interview, “It makes you a little bit less selfish. You’ve got somebody else that completely relies on you.”
• Next time you see one of those Muhammad Ali memes floating around Facebook, remember he had nine kids.

Raising Kids Is Hard

Despite these success stories, the stereotypes about unfit parents are based on a crumb of truth. That truth is, it is harder to keep up when you have kids. Everything you love about your neat and perfectly organized gym schedule changes. If your child wakes up with a fever, you’ve got to skip your planned training session. If she has a snow day, you’re stuck at home. If she has a potty accident at school, you have to leave your workout to go bring her some new underwear. And if you’re trying to do your hour-long workout at home while the toddler is awake and throwing a tantrum because you won’t hold her while you do kettlebell swings, good luck.

But there’s an underlying assumption that fevers, snow days, soiled underwear, and tantrums have an uncanny power to wreak havoc on parental fitness to such an extent that mothers and fathers are destined to simply give up. We are expected to throw up our hands and say, “That’s just the way it is.”

Parenting stereotypes feed on this expectation, as well as the reality that a lot of us parents are dissatisfied with our bodies. Too often, we brush our dissatisfaction aside. We easily excuse ourselves. Parenting really is hard work, after all, and society doesn’t expect much of us in the way of outstanding fitness. But for many parents, the frustrations and dissatisfactions always resurface.

Parenting Is Just Like Training

I just had my fourth child, and I understand the discouragement and frustration you can feel when your fitness isn’t quite epic. It’s okay to complain to a friend that you just can’t find the time to work out because your kids’ schedules are so demanding. But after you’ve done the venting, do something about it. Don’t buy into the B.S. that says you can’t, or even worse, that you shouldn’t because it’s selfish or “just the way things are.”

What would change if, instead of seeing raising kids and keeping up with fitness as diametrically opposed, we thought of them as related, or even complementary?

Start simple and small. Run a race, or just run, period. Lift and throw something heavy and awkward and carry it for a distance (kids count as heavy and awkward objects). Reconnect with your body through yoga or slow, intentional movement. Play a sport with your child. Dance. Go for a walk. Do cartwheels.

None of these things require expensive equipment or large amounts of time. But what if we could say we had done every one of them at the end of every week? How would that change our perceptions of ourselves and of parenthood in general?

You Are Enough

Fitness teaches us to be bigger than our self-imposed limitations. That’s why we run marathons and do workouts that make us uncomfortable, or why we add more weight to the bar when almost every ounce of our being says we can’t do it. Training shows us our potential for growth, just like parenting. The two aren’t as detached as we are often led to believe – or at least, they don’t have to be.

That’s why I don’t like labels like “dad bod.” They’re misleading, because ultimately, Joe down the street who wears plaid and drinks Bud Light doesn’t have a dad bod, just like I don’t have a “baby belly.” I have my body, the one I have formed and shaped by my own habits and choices. It may have some scars and a few undesirables I want to change, but it also has amazing potential. I know if I can take ownership of that potential, everyone will be better off in the end.

In Case You Still Need Convincing:

Good News: You Can Have Have Kids and Be in Shape

Coaches: Parents Are Busy. Maximize Their Training:

Stop Shaming Your Clients – Help Them Solve the Time Crunch

The post Dad Bod Is a Lie appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Before I had children, I was critical of parents who let their young kids compete in sports or other activities. But by the time my first daughter was old enough to compete in Highland dance, I realized it didn’t have to look like an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras.

My two daughters, ages four and six, on the way to their Highland Dance competition.

Competing has benefited my children in many ways, including:

• Teaching them humility and respect
• Increasing their interest in their sport or activity
• Building confidence and trust in their parents and teachers
• Allowing them to have a lot of fun!

But as demonstrated on the above-mentioned TV show and others like it, competition can go horribly wrong, and that’s especially ugly during early childhood. So, how can we as parents foster a healthy competitive spirit in our little ones?

Cultivating Competition

The word cultivate comes from the Latin root cultus, which means “care, labor, culture.” This word is closely related to the idea of tending plants. Just like seedlings that compete with weeds and other plants in order to emerge and flourish, children need support and cultivation in order to develop a healthy competitive spirit.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the garden lately, and I thought what better time than spring to learn some lessons from these small seedlings? Here are five lessons the natural world can teach us about cultivating healthy competition in the smallest of people.

1. Give Them Structure

You can throw a bunch of seeds in your yard and they will probably grow if you live in the right environment. But your chances of success are much greater if you give them a head start by providing healthy, well-structured soil. Good soil has the right combination of three primary nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Likewise, developing a solid foundation in young children requires three primary “nutrients”:

1. Security: Make your child feel secure by communicating openly with her. As competition day comes closer, encourage her talk about any positive or negative emotions she might be feeling.
2. Confidence: Build your child’s confidence by showing trust and getting her involved. For example, ask her to create a checklist of tasks and items you need to get ready for competition. This will make her feel confident and also get her involved and excited about the big day.
3. A Good Coach: Our daughters have been so fortunate to have amazing dance teachers who encourage healthy competition. For example, the night before the Highland Games, their dance teacher posted this message to her students:

Well the day is almost here…how exciting! Dancers, know that as you stand on that stage with your head up, everyone will see one proud teacher. I am so proud of each and every one of you! You have all worked so hard for this day. Enjoy the moment and dance your personal best. Some may win and some may not, but in my “books” you are all winners! The only way you can disappoint me is by not being a good sport or not supporting others in your dance family. Be sure to get plenty of rest tonight.

When I asked my four-year-old what made her happy about competing, the first thing she said was, “I was happy because my teacher was there watching me dance and I love her too much.” How great is that?

With their teacher after the competition.

2. Give Them Space

Last fall I planted pumpkins and squash. The seeds took off and before I knew it, my raised bed was full. In fact, it was too full. I came away with a tiny harvest because I didn’t give the plants enough space.

In the same way, we can stifle our children’s chances of success by not allowing them room to be themselves. As a parent, what this means to me is allowing my child to compete in her own way. A little bit of comparison is natural – it is competition, after all – but it can go too far when you don’t allow your child’s personality to inform her experience.

“We can stifle our child’s chances of success by not allowing them room to be themselves. As a parent, what this means to me is allowing my children to compete in their own ways.”

For example, my two children are opposites when it comes to being on stage. My oldest was never prone to stage fright, so it has been a learning experience to work with my younger daughter, who is more timid. I have to consciously step back and let go of my expectations and previous experiences to allow her to be herself, but when I do, it’s more enjoyable and beneficial for everyone.

3. Use “Companion Planting”

Companion planting is a natural way to optimize plant growth. For example, basil is commonly planted near tomatoes since it improves their flavor and repels common tomato pests.

Likewise, competing shouldn’t be your child’s only activity. The best companion plant for young kids who compete in sports is unstructured playtime. And not in equal parts. I would say seventy percent play versus thirty percent serious, structured activity is a good ratio for kids under age seven. Early specialization can lead to overtraining and injury, not to mention emotional burnout. Provide plenty of opportunities for unstructured play if you plan to let your young child compete in her sport.

4. Know What They Need

Your chances of gardening success are much higher if you know what conditions your seeds need. Do they need sun or shade? How much water do they need? Are they sensitive to frost or high temperatures?

“Be conscious of your child’s unique personality so you can assess her needs as you prepare for competitive events.”

So it is with young children. Not all personalities are the same, and this becomes strikingly clear during competitive events. Some children need more affirmation than others. Some might be better competing with a team, whereas others might prefer individual sports. Be conscious of your child’s unique personality so you can assess her needs as you prepare for competitive events.

Showing off their medals!

5. Take It Slow

Gardeners use a process called hardening off to transition seedlings from the greenhouse to an outdoor garden. This allows the seedlings to gradually acclimate and avoid transplant shock. There are two lessons we parents can learn from this practice:

1. Provide opportunities that are as close to real-life competition experience as possible. For example, participating in dance performances has helped my kids prepare to be on stage during a competition.
2. Don’t overwhelm them by overscheduling competitions. My children only compete a few times a year, and at ages six and four, that’s plenty for them. The rest of the year is spent practicing and performing every now and then.

Love Is the Essential Nutrient

Above all, show your child love through words of affirmation, physical affection, and time spent together. Invite loved ones to come cheer her on and provide moral support. A child who is rooted in love will be strong and confident – in competition and in life.

Do you think young children should compete in sports? If so, what practices can parents use to build a healthy competitive spirit?

More Like This:

• The Life-or-Death Reason Kids Need to Learn to Fail
• Should Kids “Participate” or “Compete” in Sports?
• How Not to Be “That” Sport Parent
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

The post 5 Ways to Cultivate Healthy Competition in Young Children appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I read an article a while ago, where a professional athlete was interviewed about his workouts and recovery. This athlete commented that there is absolutely no excuse for anyone not to get at least eight hours of sleep every night. I thought to myself, “This guy obviously does not have kids.”

He then went on to say, every night he would lay down in his perfectly darkened, temperature-controlled room, put in his ear plugs and fall into a splendid sleep, while his saint (I added that part) of a wife would deal with the kids. Well, that’s just super, but what about the rest of us who don’t have the luxury to throw our spouses to the wolves while we enjoy blissful z’s?!

Real Life

With three young kids in our house, a full night’s sleep is a rare luxury. Even when all the kids stay asleep, I find myself waking in expectation of someone crying about a drink of water, dropped binkie, or dirty diaper. Aside from buying some high-tech ear plugs or hiring a night-time nanny (which has crossed my mind), how are we average parents supposed to hit it hard in the gym when we’re so sleep deprived we can barely remember what workout we did two days ago?

“Even when all the kids stay asleep, I find myself waking in expectation of someone crying about a drink of water, dropped binkie, or dirty diaper.”

I have been pondering this predicament for some time now. Especially once I realized I couldn’t come close to hitting the same intensity I was doing BC (before children) without feeling like I got run over by a freight train. Yes, I’m being slightly dramatic, but you all know where I’m coming from. In search of an answer, I dove into the research and did a little experimenting. What I have come up with will probably not get you to peak performance, but it should help keep you from feeling old, tired, and sore every day.

Sleep 101

First, let’s do some minor exploration into sleep, in which there are four stages:

• Stages one and two occur when you’re transitioning from wakefulness to a light sleep. I’m guessing this is where I spend most of my sleeping time.
• Stages three and four are where the good stuff happens, deep and REM sleep.

During deep sleep, your muscles relax, blood supply to your muscles increases, hormones are released, and tissue growth and repair occur. REM sleep, which occurs about every ninety minutes after falling asleep, is vital for the restoration of neural functions. If sleep is disrupted before deep and REM sleep occur, the entire process starts over again.

So, if you live in a house with a nursing baby, or just young kids in general, there’s a good chance you’ve spent at least one night in the last week where not once have you reached the third and fourth stages of sleep. Not only does sleep disturbance keep you from feeling rested in the morning, but the National Sleep Foundation notes that sleep deprivation may increase levels of cortisol and decrease glycogen production, which can significantly hinder your recovery efforts.

Nutrition

Everyone knows nutrition is imperative when you’re working for results, but when you’re failing on the sleep requirements, that makes nutrition much more crucial. Not only should you be choosing fresh, nutrient-dense foods, but you also need to make sure your protein intake is up to snuff.

In a recent issue of the Strength and Conditioning Journal, the timing of post-exercise protein ingestion was discussed. While some experts believe there is a golden window of opportunity after a workout to ingest protein, others believe the amount of protein you ingest within a 24-hour period is actually the key. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on which tactic is most effective, and different studies have found both methods to be beneficial.

So, why not cover all your bases? Unlike how much sleep you get, what you put in your mouth is completely under your control. Play it safe – eat or drink some sort of protein prior to training, so that you already have amino acids present in your blood stream when your muscles begin to break down. Post-workout, go ahead and hit that window of opportunity, just in case it actually does exist.

“Play it safe – eat or drink some sort of protein prior to training, so that you already have amino acids present in your blood stream when your muscles begin to break down.”

Please note, I’m not suggesting you slam a protein shake before and after your workout. If you use shakes, drink one either before or after. Whichever side of the workout you don’t take it, choose a different protein source, preferably real food. I like cheese sticks before a workout. They’re easy to pack, and give you a minor carb and protein boost without making you want to hurl mid-workout.

Throughout the rest of your day, incorporate wholesome meals and snacks with adequate protein, fat, carbs, calories, nutrients and antioxidants, and don’t forget to hydrate. While good nutrition can’t make up for lost sleep, the combination of bad sleep and bad nutrition is certainly not going to help you.

Rest

No one really likes recovery days, but in the grand scheme of things, they are one of the most important aspects to a successful training program. Our bodies are constantly under stress, which can be broken down into three categories: physical stressors, psychological stressors and emotional stressors.

Obviously, our workouts are the primary source of the physical stressors, but packing and caring for kids could also fall into this category. I know for a fact, packing a squirming, thirty-pound two-year-old and a twenty-pound baby in a car seat from the car into the doctor’s office is more of a workout than a couple sets of cleans.

“Nothing screws with your psyche more than being awakened from slumber, yet again, to offer the loving acts of a parent when all you really want to do is scream.”

Jobs, kids, and life fill out the psychological and emotional stressors. I think sleep deprivation could also fit here. Nothing screws with your psyche more than being awakened from slumber, yet again, to offer the loving acts of a parent when all you really want to do is scream.

Since we’ve got these stressors coming in from all angles all the time, we have to give our bodies the time to rest and reset. During the recovery period, we aim to normalize cellular processes and enzymatic functions, while giving the body a chance to return to homeostatic equilibrium. We’ve also got to have the opportunity to restore and replenish energy sources.

So, what’s the best way to go about this? Passive recovery is one option in which you actually rest, take the day off, kick your feet up and spend a day on the couch – oh wait, you have kids. Never mind.

In all seriousness though, passive recovery is one way to give your body a break. The other, and maybe more favorable, alternative is active recovery in which you engage in low-intensity exercise or a lower workload than normal. Active recovery facilitates blood flow to the recovering muscles, removing metabolites and flushing the tissues with oxygen and nutrient-rich blood.

The number of rest days you need per week is dependent upon your own personal recovery abilities. Play around with it to determine the programming that best enhances your performance. Back BC, I used to be able to go two to three days at a time and then take a rest day. Fast-forward to three kids later, and now I lift every other day with the occasional two-day break when my joints and muscles still aren’t up for another heavy lifting day.

Keep It Simple

To sum it all up, I failed to find the Holy Grail of recovery. It’s basically stuff we already know. The key to succeeding in the gym while raising kids comes down to optimizing recovery when your quantity and quality of sleep are limited.

So here’s to stealing as much sleep as humanly possible, fueling your body with only the best, and giving yourself a much-needed break every now and again.

You Might Also Like:

• Parents Who Move More Have Kids Who Move More
• Parenting an Athlete: It’s a Razor’s Edge
• 8 Keys to Back-to-School Fitness Success
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. National Sleep Foundation: “What Happens When you Sleep?”

2. National Sleep Foundation: “Sleep, Athletic Performance, and Recovery”

3. Jeffreys, I. “A Multidimensional Approach to Enhancing Recovery,” Strength and Conditioning Journal. October 2005. 

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post How to Get Adequate Recovery as a Sleep-Deprived Parent appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But we all know it’s not that easy. With the school year comes the added stress of homework, extracurricular activities, waking up early, and carpooling. I’m cringing as I type.

As a mom, it’s hard enough to keep up with exercise without all the added stress thrown in. Here are eight ways to maintain your fitness and your sanity throughout the craziness of back-to-school season.

1. Manage Your Stress

I’ve found doing an activity every day, just for the sake of enjoyment, is one of the best ways to minimize stress. Before the school year starts, sit down and make a list of ten activities you enjoy. Don’t put too much thought into it; just let the thoughts come. Here’s my list so you see some examples:

1. Hiking
2. Reading a novel
3. Working in the garden
4. Doing yoga
5. Writing poetry
6. Dancing
7. Playing piano
8. Knitting
9. Baking
10. Taking a hot bath with essential oils and magnesium salts

Every day, do at least one of these things for a minimum of thirty minutes. If you find yourself thinking, “I don’t have time for that,” take a step back and think about what this means. If you don’t have thirty minutes a day to do something you enjoy, you need to re-think your life.

2. Eat Food You Like

A healthy diet won’t be sustainable if you don’t enjoy the food you eat. During this busy time of year, it can become even easier to slip into bad eating patterns. Imagine you’ve had a busy day at work and and now it’s time to go pick up your kids from school. You have a salad you brought to work with you, but honestly, you can’t stand salad. In your mind, you might start to justify fast food, telling yourself it’s for the sake of convenience. In reality, the truth is a burger and fries just sounds a lot tastier than a salad.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against salad. And if you happen to prefer salad to In-N-Out, I admire you. My point is, if your healthy food is also food you enjoy, you’ll be more likely to eat it. There are plenty of delicious and nutritious foods out there, so don’t settle for bland and boring just because it’s good for you.

3. Play With Your Kids

It shouldn’t be hard to play with your kids, but sometimes it can be difficult to go from get-things-done mode to play mode. Challenge yourself to make that transition once a day. Losing yourself in play and forgetting about all the things that need to be done will go a long way in easing anxieties and worries you might have. I also find taking breaks throughout the day to play with my kids brings a new and refreshing perspective when I come back to my work.

Physical play presents some opportunities to get in a few exercises with your kids as well. For example, create obstacle courses that involve movements like crawling, carrying, balancing, and hanging. When your kids get home from school, run the course with them a few times to get in play time and a short workout as a bonus.

4. Move Some Weight

I am amazed at how many moms I come across who don’t engage in some type of resistance training. That can mean anything – bodyweight exercise, kettlebells, or Olympic lifts. Not only is moving weight around regularly good for your health – bone and joint health in particular – but it also relieves stress. It doesn’t have to complicated and require a lot of equipment, either. Bodyweight exercises like pull ups, muscle ups, dips, and pistols are challenging and fun to progress as well.

5. Stock Your Home Gym

You might intend to make it to the gym three days a week once the kids are in school, but that’s often easier said than done. Set yourself up for success by investing in equipment for use at home. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but I can guarantee you will find more time to exercise if you have some equipment lying around the house.

6. Walk Every Day

Walking is an easy activity to do every day. Walking helps balance the pelvis and relieve stress. It’s also something you can do anywhere, with or without your children. Aim to walk briskly for at least thirty minutes every day.

I work at the computer for a good portion of the day, and one thing I’ve started doing is the pelvic walk outlined by the Feldenkrais Institute. It’s a good way to keep the blood flowing in your legs and pelvic region, and you can even type while you do it.

7. Sleep Whenever Possible

I read an article lately about sleep deprivation in new mothers. The title of the article was, Sleep Study Shows New Moms Are Dangerously Exhausted for Months. Well, you don’t say.

Even eighteen weeks postpartum, fifty percent of the subjects still reported significant daytime sleepiness. The study group was small – only 33 mothers participated – but another larger study also found parents of babies and young children are likely to be sleep deprived. The researchers estimated that for every child a parent has under age two, the parents lose thirteen minutes of sleep per night.

My point is, if you’re a mom, particularly one with young children at home, sleep needs to be a priority. If possible, take naps during the day with your younger children. Go to bed at least eight hours before you need to wake up. That way, even if your kids keep you up for two hours at night, you’ll still get in a minimum of six hours of sleep.

8. Set Goals and Reward Yourself

Some people say goal setting isn’t effective, and I would agree to some degree and in certain contexts. But during hectic times, having small-scale goals that fit into a big-picture scheme is a helpful way to make sure you accomplish the things that are most important to you.

This applies to all aspects of life, but here’s an example of how it might play out with fitness. After my son was born eleven months ago, I discovered my kettlebell press had suffered. I’m not going to even say how badly because it’s embarrassing. So my long-term goal was to get the 16kg kettlebell overhead by his first birthday.

The short-term goal was simple – each week, complete three sets of ladder workouts. Basically, that boiled down to three workouts a week – a heavy day, a medium day, and a light day – with presses and pull ups as the key exercises. Sometimes I did assistance work and sometimes I didn’t. I have a month left to go before my son turns one and have already pressed the 16kg on my right side.

And don’t forget to reward yourself when you achieve your goals. When your children work hard to make progress, you reward them, right? The same should apply to you.

Conclusion

Remember, don’t let Facebook status updates and viral photos of perfect moms fool you. Taking care of kids and keeping up with exercise is not always easy or glamorous. There will be days when the last thing you want to do is pick up something heavy because you’ve been dragging around toddlers all day. Then there will be days you’re on fire and can’t wait to get in the gym.

The key is to remember fitness isn’t just about fitness. There are other aspects at play that are just as important – if not more important – than grinding it out in the gym. So when the going gets tough and you find yourself grimacing at the thought of exercise, think outside the box and evaluate other lifestyle factors first.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 8 Keys to Back-to-School Fitness Success appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Aquatics

Try a water workout at the pool, lake, or beach. The buoyancy of water reduces the weight of a person by about 90%, so stress on joints, bones, and muscles is also reduced. Aquatic workouts are great for overall fitness, but can also help soothe sore muscles and aid in the recovery of injuries.

Basketball

Play on a summer team, a neighborhood team, or as a family. Playing one hour of basketball can burn around 630-750 calories. Additionally, basketball can help build cardio and muscular endurance, while improving balance and coordination.

Create Your Own Family Workout

In this workout, family members take turns making up the exercises and the number of repetitions. Set a time limit (ten, twenty, or thirty minutes) for the workout, depending on your family’s fitness level.

Dumbbells

Incorporate the use of dumbbells into your workouts. Help combat osteoporosis by using dumbbells to help strengthen muscles, as well as increase bone density. Using dumbbells not only helps strengthen you, but also increases your metabolic rate. No dumbbells on vacation? Have small children? Carry them on your back to work those leg muscles.

Eat Summer Foods

Eat a healthy diet filled with fresh summer produce. Try to add a new fruit or vegetable each week for variety in your diet.

Fun!

Involve the whole family in a fun workout. Once a week, let one person choose his or her favorite family activity, and then all do that activity together.

Go Golfing

Nine holes, eighteen holes, pitch and putt, or crazy golf. Don’t know how to play golf? Sign up for some lessons. Just be sure to walk (not drive) the course.

Hit the Trails

Take advantage of hiking the trails in local and state parks, as well as national trails. Feeling more adventurous? Book a hiking vacation, complete with a tour guide.

Ice Hockey and Ice Skating

Beat the heat and head to the nearest ice rink for cold summer fun. According to Kristin Kane, skating coach and coordinator of skating programs for the University of Calgary, ice skating is easy on the joints due to its low impact, while providing a great workout for small stabilizing muscles. A great calorie burning exercise, a beginning skater can burn about 387 calories per hour, while a hockey player can burn about 633 calories per hour.

Jogging

Strap on those shoes and hit the road, family style.

Kayaking

Kayaking is an overall body workout that burns approximately 400 calories per hour, while reducing mental and physical stress. Research shows the sound of waves alters wave patterns in the brain lulling the person into a deeply relaxed state. Sign up for a family kayaking outing, if you have never tried it.

Lounge With a Good Book

Overtraining can lead to injury. Take time to recover, recuperate, and enjoy an evening of reading as a family.

Mow the Yard

Mow with a push lawn mower, while family members help with weeding and gardening. For every hour of weeding or gardening, approximately three hundred calories are burned.

Navigation Skills

Make a neighborhood or park map, to include checkpoints. Run as fast as you can to each checkpoint. First person to the end wins. Navigate the map individually, in teams, or as a family.

Obstacle Course

Use a playground or make your own obstacle course in your backyard. Run the obstacle course individually or as a family.

Paddle Surfing

Stand up paddle boarding or surfing offers amazing fitness benefits. Although it is a low impact activity, it is a full body cardio workout that strengthens core muscles, as well as arms and legs, while improving balance and coordination.

Questions?

If you are new to your area or on vacation, ask local residents what their favorite summer activities are.

Run a Race

Sign up for a family friendly 5K. If your family is not ready to run, then walk the race.

Seaside

Head to the beach for fresh air and fun. Sea air is charged with healthy negative ions that accelerate the body’s ability to absorb oxygen. Negative ions also balance levels of serotonin, a body chemical linked with mood and stress. Need more encouragement to hit the beach? The heat of the sun also affects our endocrine system, which secretes endorphins. Endorphins are natural chemicals in the body designed to make us feel relaxed and less stressed.

Tennis Courts

Hit a tennis ball against a wall, play with a friend, or take on the family in a competitive game of tennis.

Ultimate Frisbee

Need to get some sprint work in? Enlist your family’s help and try ultimate Frisbee for some great sprint work, interval training, and agility work.

Volleyball

Gather your family for a fun game of beach volleyball, grass volleyball, or court volleyball.

Walking

Walking helps to maintain a healthy weight, prevent many conditions such as heart disease and high blood pressure, and improves balance and agility. Time your family walk to include watching the sunrise or sunset. Either way, walking is a great way to start the day or unwind after a long day.

eXamine Your Skin

Look at moles and birthmarks carefully. If you see any changes in your skin, make an appointment with your doctor to get it checked.

Yoga

Practice yoga or take a family friendly yoga class. Yoga is great for flexibility, with studies showing that after only eight weeks of taking regular yoga classes, people can improve their flexibility by 35%. Many yoga classes focus on breathing techniques and meditation, aiding in relaxation and stress reduction, which may also aid in lowering blood pressure.

Zzzs

Even though the days are longer, you still need six to eight hours of sleep a night.

By including your family in your summer workouts, not only will you be spending quality time together, but you will also be modeling a healthy and fit lifestyle. How many fitness activities can you add to your family’s fun in the sun? Post your favorite activities to the comments below.

References:

1. Ace Fitness. “Make a Splash with Water Fitness.” Accessed July 25, 2014.

2. Best Health. “The Fitness Benefits of Ice Skating.” Accessed July 28, 2014.

3. Better Health Channel. “Basketball – Health Benefits.” Accessed July 25, 2014.

4. Mail Online “Three More Health Benefits of Being Beside the Sea.” Accessed July 25, 2014.

5. Fat Secret “Yard Work (Gardening).” July 28, 2014.

6. Medical Daily “Benefits of Dumbbell Exercises.” Accessed July 28, 2014.

7. PaddleSurfing. SUP Advice. Accessed July 28, 2014.

8. Wed MD “The Health Benefits of Yoga.” Accessed July 28, 2014.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The A to Z of Family Fun in the Sun appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Our culture has a tendency to restrain babies. We swaddle them, put them in strollers, and tie them up in baby carriers. Now don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing wrong with any of these things. But how often do you see people walking through the grocery store carrying their baby, sans carrier or stroller? Does that cultural tendency have any effect on infant development – not to mention parental development?

In Katy Bowman’s newest presentation, Paleo Parenting, she describes the baby’s need for movement. “We tend to see a crying baby as tired, not fed, in pain, or uncomfortable. The modern gatherer’s first response to a crying baby is that the child is undermoved. That’s their first go-to.” This is where baby transportation comes in. Moving your baby from point A to point B is not only about getting them (or you) to a destination. It is a naturally-occurring opportunity for a baby to get what Katy calls “mechanical nutrients.” From a biomechanical perspective, carrying your baby – and by that I mean plain and simple holding of the child with no additional gadgets – places a unique load on baby’s developing musculature that you just can’t get with other modes of transportation. It teaches your baby to hold his or her head upright without support from an early age, and gets you both out of what Katy calls a position rut:

We’re stuck in a position rut, because we can’t imagine asking our kids to sit up vertically while nursing, or training our kids to hold on when they’re just a few months old. These limitations in our body positions are due to our limited way of thinking, brought upon us by our cultural experience. And when we limit our geometry, we in turn pass those limitations on to our children. They become strong in a single position or breastfeeding latch and then prefer to use it, thus reinforcing that pattern. Variance of position is the key to robust development, but we have to think out of our cultural box that approaches human development from an ergonomic perspective and sets the dial of human experience to static.

So, are we bad parents if we use baby carriers instead of toting our kids around in our arms? This question is symptomatic of a deeper cultural paradigm, what Katy called the ergonomic perspective. This approach looks for the single best position to use for a given task. The problem is, as Katy noted, “There is no single position that optimizes human development. Rather, what optimizes human development is the ability to move constantly to avoid adaptation to a single position…If there is anything a broader look at research into disease shows us, it is that ‘single position’ is the problem.” The specific methods of baby transportation are not the issue. The issue is that as parents and caregivers, we are building a movement matrix, and that matrix should be as varied as possible.

Of course, since holding your baby is more demanding, proper alignment is key for pain-free carrying. As Katy said, “Working on your personal alignment will help you use more appropriate muscles to do the holding. If you’re prone to neck and shoulder tension, you’ll carry these patterns with you when you go to baby-hold.” If your own alignment needs work, Katy’s “alignment snacks” videos provide correctives to help you get on the right track.

Strollers, Moby wraps, and Mei Tais are not the problem or the solution. And neither is carrying your baby everywhere all the time – that’s impossible. The answer is varied movement that trains the specific movements you want to accomplish without pain. “The adaption of your physiology follows the Law of Specificity, which says if you want to be better equipped for something (like carrying your kids), you have to use your body in a similar way beforehand.”

To illustrate, Katy told me a story about what happens when a biomechanist parent encounters a bodybuilder parent at an amusement park:

True story: My husband and I were at an amusement park and there was this super buff bodybuilding guy there pushing his two girls in a stroller. My husband and I had been carrying our one and two year old for over an hour, while walking a couple of miles, and he came over and said “How can you carry them that long? That would totally kill my back!” He was way ‘stronger’ and stronger-looking than either of us, but his strength was in a particular way.

For us, being able to carry our kids is a natural and functional strength that we train for hours a day. Sixty minutes three or four times a week (read: exercise), selecting modes and moves that are designed to improve generic health variables is not specific or frequent enough to keep up with the loads created by carrying squirming, live animals with opinions…Carry them as much as possible, while they’re smaller and lighter. Carry them a couple hours a day while they’re growing. This keeps you in the necessary shape. Law of specificity, baby. Learn it.

This story brings me to one of the most common reasons I hear parents give for not carrying their kids around: it’s uncomfortable, or even worse, it hurts. One of our knee-jerk reactions to pain is to stop doing the movement we correlate with pain or discomfort. A lesson I’ve learned as a doula is that we need to alter this attitude about pain and discomfort and take both as a cue to change position frequently. This applies to a woman in labor, and it also applies to a parent carrying a baby. As Katy noted:

The reason baby-holding positions (or breastfeeding ones for that matter) become painful is that they’re supposed to. Nothing encourages ‘change your position’ like a signal saying that, right now, you’ve exceeded your strength for doing it this way. In the same way there is not one best way to sit or stand all day long, there’s no best way to carry or nurse your baby. Arms are tired? Switch sides. Try holding a different way.

If you’ve made it this far and you’re one of those parents who experiences pain after carrying your baby or toddler, you’re probably wondering what you can do. Here’s a helpful video to teach us all something about pain-free baby holding:

To sum it all up: carry your baby when you can. When you carry him or her, listen to your body’s cues. And speaking of cues, if your baby has been crying inconsolably and food, swaddling, and a diaper change haven’t helped, try going for a walk outside. Movement, like food, is nutrition, and babies need it.

For more information, Katy Bowman’s presentation “Paleo Parenting: A Biomechanical Perspective” is an excellent expansion on this topic.

Read more Katy interviews:

Katy Bowman and the Biomechanics of Human Growth: The Necessity of Monkey Business

Katy Bowman and the Biomechanics of Human Growth: Barefoot Babies

The post Beyond Babywearing: Mechanical Nutrients for Babies (And Parents) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Researchers reviewed 29 studies conducted between 1990 and 2013. The studies were limited to children under three years old, and most of the studies examined American children. Researchers pulled some interesting tidbits from the review. Almost all children under three years old get some amount of screen time. Screen time increases with age, and by the three-year mark up to 95% of kids were getting an average of two hours of screen time each day.

The kids who received the most screen time also had something in common: they were usually obese. Several other factors also correlated with more screen time, including depressed or stressed mothers, obese mothers, and mothers who watched a lot of television.

But let’s be clear. This study does not say screen time will make your baby obese. This study says that if you examine the habits of obese babies, you’ll find that most of them get more screen time than their peers. That doesn’t mean the screen time caused the obesity. In fact, screen time was also found to be linked to ethnicity. We know that ethnicity, obesity, and socio-economic status are a tangled web, so it’s not fair to point the finger at screen time.

However, I’m not one to completely dismiss correlation. Let’s say someone told me, “We know that driving on Birch Street cannot give you hemorrhoids. That’s ridiculous. But the fact remains, 75% of people who drive down Birch Street get hemorrhoids.” Guess what? I’m staying away from Birch Street.

Another limitation of these studies is that the different types of screen use are all treated equally. Activities like watching a math tutorial are lumped together with watching season two of Jackass, and that doesn’t seem right. I also don’t buy the argument that just because it’s different than twenty years ago, it must be bad. It wasn’t long ago that kids didn’t get polio vaccines, and that seems to have worked out for everyone.

Right now we just don’t know enough to make many definitive conclusions about screen time. But these studies do give us reason to apply some scrutiny and planning to our children’s use of these potentially awesome tools.

References

1. Duch, Helena et al. Screen time use in children under 3 years old: a systematic review of correlates. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 10:102, 2013. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-10-102.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Does Screen Time Make Babies Obese? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Nevertheless, studies also show physical play, particularly in an outdoor setting, is becoming less and less popular with modern kids. This is true even during early childhood, when children are most likely to partake in physical play, and is contributing to a lot of the health concerns that are becoming increasingly common in children and adolescents. It seems self-evident that moving and learning to use the body efficiently from a young age is a good thing. So why is this form of play becoming less common, and how can we, as parents, caregivers, and coaches, encourage physical play in young children?

First, let’s think about the why behind the problem. If it’s true that physical play is becoming less common during early childhood, why might that be the case?

1. Parents Don’t Play

Young children do seem to have more of a natural proclivity to play, regardless of adult involvement. In a study in the Journal of Play, young children were more likely to engage in activities like jump rope and chase than their older peers. Nevertheless, according to a 2012 research review published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, “Active adult involvement, increased creativity of parents during play, and role modeling especially by mothers were all perceived by parents to promote physical activity among preschoolers.”

The fact is, kids aren’t that different from you and me. If your child has the choice between sitting in an air-conditioned house with her iPad or going outside in the hot weather to jump rope, she’s probably going to pick the first option. The problem is, parents are also becoming increasingly clueless as to how to play. I read a recent article reporting that parents are now hiring “playdate consultants” to come into their homes and teach their children how to play most effectively. If parents or caregivers don’t demonstrate physical play is important and worthwhile, children are going to have a harder time getting the message.

2. Safety, Liability, and Social Pressure

Over the last year I’ve read a lot of articles bemoaning the rise of the “helicopter parent”. While I think this is true to some extent, as a parent I’ve also noticed that there’s a certain amount of social pressure involved. If the safety obsession exists, it is a cultural phenomenon, not a purely parental one. One recent article argues that parents don’t let their children engage in outdoor play because of other people in the neighborhood’s concern for their chidlren’s safety or lack thereof.

Even on the playground, there’s a whole list of social taboos parents have to learn. Don’t let your child climb up the slide, make sure they don’t walk in front of the swings, stay within six feet of them at all times, and NEVER condone rock throwing, even if there’s nobody around. Honestly, I get exhausted just thinking about going to the playground. I’d much rather just take my kids to a big field and let them run around like the wild things they are.

3. Screen Time

I’ve written about this before, and it should be obvious that increased time staring at screens affects children’s desire to engage in physical play. Screen time is an easy and convenient solution for parents, particularly during early childhood, but I think we sometimes forget it’s also an easier choice for kids, due to the effects of computer and television screens on brain chemistry. New research also suggests the time children spend looking at screens affects not only their brain, but also their cardiovascular health.

Of course, there are many more factors that contribute to growing lack of physical play during early childhood. It’s easy to make lists of problems, but finding a solution is the hard part. Here are a few things that have helped my husband and I encourage our two young children to engage in physical play:

1. Provide a space for indoor and outdoor play. It doesn’t have to be fancy, nor does it have to be outside. We live in Phoenix and my children just don’t want to go outside when it’s 115 degrees, so we’ve given them some indoor options for play. My five-year-old spends most of her day hanging on the “flying trapeze” we installed in her room, and my two-year-old loves balancing on a two-by-four.
2. Set aside time to play with your children. We’ve tried to make a habit of going to the park at least once a week to play as a family. Involve them in your physical activities when you can. Get your children some of their own WOD toys or a small yoga mat so they can follow along and feel involved.
3. Limit screen time. This is often easier said than done, but I think awareness is key. Just like it’s easy for your child to zone out while watching a movie, it’s easy for parents to get involved with their tasks and forget how long their kids have actually been in front of a screen. With my own children, I’ve found that setting a timer helps me keep track of how long they’ve been watching a show or playing a computer game.
4. Don’t make play a chore. As research suggests and experience often confirms, young kids are already becoming hesitant to partake in physical play. Try to make physical play an adventure that kids can get excited about, not something they do to keep from being bored.

Most importantly, remember early childhood is important and foundational. It’s easy to let these years slip by without seeing the potential these amazing little guys and girls actually possess. When your child does the monkey bars for the first time or comes running to you with breaking news that she just picked up a really heavy rock while you’re in the middle of planning the monthly budget, take the time to listen, and maybe even let her show you.

These feats of strength and power might seem small to us adults, but who knows? Before you know it, your little one might be doing this:

Further Reading:

1. J.P. Chaput, et. al., “Combined associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary behavior with cardiometabolic risk factors in children.” Journal of Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. May 2013, Vol. 35 (5).

2. Eric A. Hodges, et. al., “Promoting Physical Activity in Preschoolers to Prevent Obesity: A Review of the Literature.” Journal of Pediatric Nursing 28(1) (2012).

3. Play England: Play and Exercise in Early Years, 2008.

4. Sarah Goodyear, “No Kids Allowed: How Our Street Design is Killing Play.” The Atlantic Cities. August 2013.

5. Robyn M. Holmes, “The Outdoor Recess Activities of Children at an Urban School.” The Journal of Play 4(3) (2012).

6. Peter Bray, “The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents.” American Journal of Play 3(4) (2012).

Photos courtesy of Nicole Crawford.

The post Physical Play During Early Childhood: Why It’s Disappearing and What To Do About It appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Or there’s the other option: healthy, attractive Jack marries healthy, attractive Jill. They’re both classic type-A personalities and manage to frequent the gym five days a week despite the fact they also work overtime. They decide to have some kids who rebel during the teenage years because mom and dad are too obsessive, distant, and strict. In the meantime, Jill is battling depression and Jack is having an affair with the Pilates instructor.

These are some loose descriptions of a few families I’ve seen in movies recently. There have also been several studies that suggest parents are worse off than their peers who don’t have kids, mentally and physically. For example, a study released in 2011 found that “young children make parents less fit.” According to this study, mothers eat more calories and exercise less than their childless peers, and both moms and dads of young children exercise less frequently.

The good news is these are just caricatures of what it really means to be a parent. True, you might see examples of exhausted parents who have let themselves go or the other side of the spectrum, but these stereotypes only contain a grain of truth. If you’re a parent or considering plunging into parenthood someday soon, be on guard against these three half-truths regarding parents and exercise:

1. Parents Don’t Have Time or Energy to Exercise

It’s true, parenting is time-consuming. There are a million things to do and not enough time to do them all. I’ve found this is especially true right after a baby is born, but I haven’t experienced the teenage years yet, which I’m sure are absolutely insane with children being run all over creation for extracurricular activities. So yes, as a parent you will have less time than you did before.

But there’s also a hidden opportunity here: you can get a great lesson in time management and learn to make the most of the time you have. Your schedule might not be the linear, neat and tidy, step-by-step outline it used to be, but you’ll get creative and find ways to juggle. I love reading dad and powerlifter Chris Duffin’s journals every week and seeing the creative ways he manages to fit in his training.

Here is an example of what a typical week might look like in our own family of four:

MONDAY

• AM: 2 mile run (Mom), 45 min. kettlebell workout (Dad)
• NOON: Afternoon hike with kids (Mom, carrying a 30-lb. toddler in a hiking backpack, which is actually quite a workout!)
• PM: Krav Maga class (Dad), yoga at home (Mom)

TUESDAY

• AM: Bodyweight workout (together)
• NOON: Kettlebell workout (Mom)
• PM: Yoga together after kids are asleep

WEDNESDAY

• AM: 2 – 3 mile run (Mom), 45 min. kettlebells/weights (Dad)
• NOON: 2 mile walk/jog with kids (using the stroller this time)
• PM: Krav Maga class (Dad), Mom off due to taking daughters to dance lessons

THURSDAY

• AM: Weights/kettlebells/CrossFit workout (together)
• NOON: Off
• PM: Swim at the gym (Mom), yoga together when I get back

FRIDAY

• AM: Off
• NOON: Hike with kids (Mom)
• PM: Off

SATURDAY

• AM: Yoga (Mom), Krav Maga class (Dad)
• PM: Mom long run, Dad weights/kettlebells

SUNDAY

• Rest day/family hike time and weather permitting

2. Kids Don’t Let You Work Out

In one analysis of 495 parents, 40% said their children interfered with their workouts some of the time, and 17.9 percent reported their kids made it hard to exercise often or almost always. Yes, it is hard to get in a workout when your children are walking in front of you while you’re trying to do kettlebell swings. But again, this is only part of the story.

In reality, your children can be your biggest cheerleaders if you find ways to involve them in your training. If you’re looking for moral support as a parent, don’t underestimate the power of pint-sized cheerleaders. In the same study, parents were more likely to exercise when their children encouraged them to do so.

3. “That’s Just The Way It Is”

I was at a party a few months ago where a group of exhausted parents of children under five were having a dreadful discussion about the struggles of parenthood. It went something like this:

“I don’t know how these parents find time to stay in shape,” said Parent #1. “By the time I get home from work I’m so tired I just want to collapse.”

“It won’t last long,” observed the wise, seasoned Parent-of-five #2. I thought he was talking about Parent #1’s exhaustion, but he continued: “They probably only have one or two kids. Just give them a few years and they’ll be in the same boat. That’s just the way it is. You make sacrifices.”

It is true that parenting will necessarily bring a change of pace and a new perspective. It’s also true that you make sacrifices as a parent. But when you decide to start a family or have more children, remember it’s not a thorn in your side. Parenting has the potential to help you grow as a person. That pertains to everything, including your training and your health.

And of course, there are also the studies that show kids who have active parents are less likely to suffer from many of the chronic childhood health issues that have become so common today. So do yourself and your children a favor and don’t fall for the “I have kids” excuse.

References

1. J. Berge, N. Larson, et. al. Are Parents of Young Children Practicing Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity Behaviors? Pediatrics Journal 2011, 127:5

2. H. Laroche and L. Snetselaar. Rural Parents and Exercise: Children as Barriers and Motivators Topics in Clinical Nutrition 2011, 26.3

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Good News: You Can Have Kids and Be in Shape appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

One of my favorite people in the health and fitness blogosphere is Katy Bowman, expert in biomechanics and founder of the Restorative Exercise Institute. She has a lot of wonderful unconventional things to say about how to raise healthy children. Over the next weeks, I am happy to feature her biomechanical perspective on three topics that are more important during early childhood than many adults may realize: putting babies in shoes, letting them hang from stuff, and keeping them in cribs, carseats, swings, and other restraining devices.

Of course, these are very small pieces of the bigger picture that is early childhood development. But sometimes it helps to start with the little details when you want to affect the big picture. Bowman focuses on the biomechanics of human growth and development, which plays a critical factor in future health and wellness as well. You might wonder what biomechanics has to do with raising kids. Isn’t biomechanical science a holy grail of wisdom reserved for elite athletes and physical therapists? Why would a parent need to be thinking about this stuff? Here’s what Katy had to say:

Physical human development is phenomenal stuff. A baby comes out really soft. And I just don’t mean their skin! Their ‘bones’ aren’t really bones yet and how they move – specifically the initial loads placed on their body – can determine qualities like bone shape. When it comes to babies, most people are familiar with the “flat head” effect as a result of too much on-their-back time. But this bony adaptation to the environment happens all over the body, not just to the skull.

What we do as parents plays a crucial role in how these loads alter tissues. Many of the devices that we parents use regularly to make things more convenient play a role in this alteration. Some babies and toddlers spend just as much time in cribs, playpens, car seats, strollers, and high chairs as they do crawling around and getting into trouble. This certainly makes life easier for the caregivers, but does it have any effect on development? Katy noted the relation between these devices and more permanent biomechanical issues:

Over the decades, there has been a myriad of baby-devices created; things that make dealing with a baby more convenient. But a lot of these items affect human development in different ways, by altering the load types or load frequencies to the baby’s tissues. The results range from delayed milestones, which aren’t necessarily a huge deal, to more permanent changes to hip sockets and gait patterns.

So what’s an Information Age parent to do? After all, if What to Expect says it’s okay, you’re probably safe, right? Katy suggests we look to a different paradigm: the Hunter-Gathering (H-G) populations of ages past, and those that still occupy our planet. What new approach could these populations have to offer the Industrialized world, and what role does biomechanics play in that perspective?

When you compare load types and frequencies placed on early infants (what I call “baby biomechanics”) in Industrialized nations to those in Modern H-G populations, you can see how the latter maximizes the early strength-to-weight ratio. Hunter-Gatherer children are extremely capable, for lack of a better word. Their physical prowess and ability to negotiate their space is much closer to an adult, comparatively speaking. As our kids continue to decrease in health, taking a look at a more natural approach to movement can offer a different perspective.

When we consider many of the modern health crises in childhood – obesity and childhood diabetes, to name a few – it seems that perhaps we can learn a thing or two from this new perspective. One of the most obvious and striking differences between the two is the amount and type of movement that takes place during early childhood. These loading patterns during infancy and toddlerhood can create a domino effect that affects mobility, muscle development, and stability well into adulthood. In particular, as Katy noted, daily habitual practices can alter body position, load time, and bodily shape:

The shape their bones take as they firm up is a result of the loads and geometry of their body while they are loaded. Which means the positions they cycle through daily, the position of their body relative to the gravitational force, and the quantity of load-time will set the shape of their pelvis, the quality of their hip mobility, the muscle development in their feet, legs and core – which all affect their lung inflation. The stability of their knees. I could go on and on. And about this, I usually do. So much of what people battle against in their adult body stems from the strength profiles and movement patterns they developed in the first few years.

This all sounds great in theory, but where do we start as parents, caregivers, and coaches? Today we’ll address one issue that has a tremendous impact on baby biomechanics: footwear. “For a long time, it was believed that kids needed a good, sturdy shoe to develop properly,” says Katy. “Flash forward sixty, seventy or a hundred years; now Pediatric and Podiatry journals say the opposite. Footwear can interfere with the development of foot strength, ankle stability, general nerve health and gait patterns.”

That’s interesting, but why the conflicting advice? You’d think these health professionals would be consistent. According to Katy, part of the problem lies in a changed understanding of how the really foot works:

For decades, the foot has been modeled in the scientific community as a rigid body. We study what happens at the ankle without much regard to the numerous joints in the foot. When looking at data that way, it is easy to overlook the shoe’s role in different ailments of the hips and knees. With new data in on barefoot populations and a revisit to older data collected in entirely unshod populations, researchers are now looking at the role of minimal footwear (flexible, flat, and mimicking “barefoot” mechanics as much as possible) in repairing osteoarthritis in the knees and hips. What is clear is: Shoes alter human movement. Many of the ailments we suffer from, musculoskeletally speaking, are a result of our dependence on footwear and the strain on the ligaments and plantar fascia from decades of muscle atrophy. If you can start a kid off with a preference to minimal footwear, it saves time and degeneration later on.

In my own experience, this is right on. I started off my oldest child with the older shoe advice. When I noticed she was showing signs of fallen arches and complaining of foot pain, I did some research and decided to try to transition to a barefoot/minimal footwear habit. I encouraged her to go barefoot outside if the environment was safe, and always took off her shoes when we were at home.

Within weeks I noticed a huge change and she stopped complaining of leg pain and foot cramps at night. Nevertheless, it was a hard transition because she was so used to wearing shoes. She didn’t want to go barefoot outside because her poor little sheltered feet were way too sensitive. Fast forward to the next child, and things are completely different. This little monkey rarely wears shoes and fights it tooth and nail when I try to get her to do so.

That’s not to say that your child has to go barefoot all the time. As Katy noted, “Going barefoot all the time isn’t very realistic for children, especially if they live in the Urban Jungle. You can, however, pick shoes that interfere less with development.” To conclude, here are five tips from Katy for choosing shoes and strengthening the feet:

1. Don’t put your child in heeled shoes. Even a little heel.
2. Let summer time be foot-freedom time. This is the time when kids are outdoors more often, so Katy suggests swim shoes as a summer shoe. They’re cheap, flexible, and breathable too.
3. Choose shoes that are super flexible. Looking for minimalist shoe ideas for your kids? Katy provides a great list in this post.
4. Play foot games with your kids to encourage motor skills and healthy foot development. You can find some examples in this post at Katy’s blog.
5. Massage your child’s feet for a few minutes before bedtime.

Read part two of the series here: Katy Bowman and the Biomechanics of Human Growth: The Necessity of Monkey Business

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Katy Bowman and the Biomechanics of Human Growth: Barefoot Babies appeared first on Breaking Muscle.