Client wins- spring break

This corner of the blog is dedicated to my clients and students. I think a lot of us tend to feel extremely isolated during some of these rough patches of motherhood. My clients have generously offered to share some of their tips that have worked for them in our process together, and also to offer up some support and struggles that they’re dealing with. If I notice a pattern of success or areas that my clients are working on, I'll share anything that I think might be helpful to you and your journey!

What's on most of my client's minds this month? SPRING BREAK!!!

For most of us, gone are the days of Senior Frogs and sleeping in. Spring Break can kiiind of feel like hell-week for school-age parents who aren't taking off work and managing multiple schedules. Traveling with young kids isn't exactly a picnic either!

(I think this is also applicable for when you have little kids and can truly only stuff the only time you have to yourself during the small slivers of naptime!) We are currently on Spring Break too, with one kid out on break and one in preschool, and it’s been a juggle!

Here is what has been working for myself and my clients this week:

1- Make everything shorter and do it FIRST.

Yup, get it in before you get out the door. Or, if you’re exercising during “rest times” in the afternoon, or after the kids go to bed, let it be the first thing you do. Don’t clean up, don’t make phone calls, put your workout time first. You’ll have more energy for the other stuff once it’s done.

For those of us working from home with kids off school-

2- Communicate communicate communicate

I’ll tell my spouse, who works from home, the hours that I’m planning to have the kids out of the house so he can work in peace, and then the hours that I’ll need to work with my clients, film my videos, write things like this etc. Same goes for when I’m working out. We both need the accountability to actually step away from the million things we need to do in order to work on our own stuff. Personally, I like to also explain that I’ll be exercising prior to doing certain household tasks and they are on my radar. (This has been helpful to share the mental load of working from home in general. Little tasks like field trip forms, washing/ folding/ setting out preschool bedding, taking out garbage, etc are all on the whiteboard so we both see them and can work together to get them done.)

For Those of You Traveling!

1- Three of my clients took some rad day trips and vacations this month. One of my clients, who hasn’t had a break in a VERY long time, chose to just “stay active” and get in her exercise by taking walks, swimming, kayaking, and spending time with her family. Two of my other clients packed small resistance bags in their luggage and exercised during naptimes or after the kids were asleep.

I have a log of hotel room workouts I’ve made for clients over the years, so I’ll add some of those in their workout documents so they can pick and choose which option works best for them while traveling. Some of my clients had access to a hotel gym and tried new cardio equipment, some used a chair and beach towel at an AirBNB for their sculpting workouts, etc.

If you’re traveling and want to workout, plan to either pack light equipment like a TRX, bands, or water weights, see what gyms/ studios are nearby that offer day passes, or look up what equipment is available at the hotel.

One thing I really, really want to be clear about though… Sometimes you just need a break! Like the example of my client who just really needed a vacation- it’s perfectly fine to skip out once in a while!

Most of my clients are consistent at this point- a day off or a day shorter isn’t going to hurt. One momma had family visiting that she hadn’t seen in a while, so we used the week before as a “push week” where she made a bunch of gains and took this week as a “rest” as she knew she’d be busier.

Rest is so important, you should never feel guilty for taking days off during vacation. However, if you’re feeling up for workouts, a little planning can go a long way to actually get them in.

Those are my notes from this month so far!

For more tips from moms like you please click on the "client corner" tag.

For more information about training and how I work with clients virtually from all over the world, please visit my training page.

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps!

- Sarah Ann