exercise at the park

[kamesennin]

When you go to the park and your kids are playing in the sand, do you do exercises? I want to since most parks we go to are deserted and my dd is fine playing with her sand toys by herself. I was thinking of bringing my resistance bands along, but what other types of things can I do besides lunges and squats? I can go on the swing but it makes me feel sick to go fast. I have to carry my 2.5 mo old in a carrier so I can't jump rope or anything like that. Or would I just look like an idiot...

[nolansmummy]

Pull ups on the monkey bars? That might be hard with a baby in the carrier, but man you'd get ripped! I 'm thinking push ups leaning against a piece of equipment. Resistance bands sounds like a good idea, as do squats and lunges. Sorry i don't have any better ideas. I don't exercise at the playground because the ones around here are packed, i'd rather not be working out in front of a bunch of people .

[ameliabedelia]

You could just walk around (and around and around ) the park...try to go as brisk a pace you feel comfortable with, with the baby in the carrier.

[Halfasianmomma]

If you can find a little ledge somewhere near a fence, tree or post, you can do single or double calf raises (and hold onto something if it gets too hard).

With resistance bands, if you're talking about the ones with handles on them, you could wrap one around a post and do a standing chest press or a standing deltoid row. Without the use of a post, you could do a lateral raise, overhead press (both for shoulder muscles), a kickback (for triceps) or a bicep curl...

If you have those smaller circular resistance bands, you can just stand and use them to work inner and outer thigh muscles...

HTH!

[CathToria]

I've seen moms walking the perimeter of the play equipment area. When mine were smaller, I woudl put them in the jogger or backpack and walk before playing... I woudl tell the "just 15 min and then we will play". Most o fthe parks we woudl go to had great walking trails and play equipment in another area. So I could park the car once, throw the lunch cooler into the stroller, get my exercise, and then we woudl play/have a picnic. HTH

[sunnysandiegan]

First of all, GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Most of the parks with playgrounds we visit have exercise circuits around the outside perimeter with incline benches, pull-up bars, parallel bars, etc along with a suggested group of exercises. Very nicely done, I might add.

That said, however, my DD is not keen on me doing my thing while she's doing hers unless I am very close by. So, I just use the playground equipment for various strength exercises and stretches and I run around with her for some cardio. When we go with our playgroup, us moms take turns watching the kids and exercising/chatting many times. A few times, we had one mom who is a trained exercise class leader (I forget her exact certification) lead us in group exercise while one mom would offer to watch the little ones. We used the benches and our body weight to do a lot of stuff.

Best wishes!

[kamesennin]

Ok I'm going to the park now and I'm going to try walking around the play area for 15 minutes before she plays--I'll have to practice some of the resistance band stuff at home before I try it at the park so I don't whack myself in the face!

[sunnysandiegan]

I guess I forgot to say we walk to several parks and they are up or downhill one way and the opposite to get home (1/2 mile each way for two parks; mile for another; 1.5 miles for fourth). I'd push the stroller when DD was little, and then push her tricycle contraption with the stroller-type handle, and now she walks with me.

[kamesennin]

You know, it just occured to me that I could walk to the park farther away. We went to a park 1 mile away so I got 2 miles in this morning.

[Panserbjorne]

google "parkour" and you'll get a ton.