How To Strength Train As A Busy Parent

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Being a parent doesn't mean giving up on your health—it means training differently.

In this episode, I share the exact framework I use with busy parents who want to build strength, stay healthy, and remain active without spending hours in the gym.

We cover how to determine the right training schedule, why full-body workouts are so effective, a complete 2-day strength program, simple progression strategies, and the common mistakes that often lead to inconsistency.

Whether you're squeezing workouts in before work, during nap time, or after the kids go to bed, this episode will help you build a routine that actually fits your life.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Black Line Blueprint. In this episode, we are going to talk about how to build strength as a busy parent. So this is going to be me breaking down how I would normally approach writing a training program for you if you were coming in as a client with me. So I've worked with a ton of people who have multiple children at various ages or just had a newborn and they still need to train and maintain their strength, whether it's for recreational sports that they still like to enjoy, or whether it's just nursing, some type of just past injury that they may have had that they definitely don't want to stop strength training around in order to make sure that pain doesn't come back up. And for just in general to be the best version of themselves that they can possibly be for their family. So the biggest thing is that I normally see as far as the issues go are a lack of time, a lack of energy, and then as well as mental capacity because you're thinking about all the things that you need to get done to even think about like a training program or even working out. But it is very important so that way you can show up as the best version of yourself for them. So we are gonna go through this step by step. So first and foremost, let's go over. We have to figure out how many days you can genuinely commit to working out. So you have to be realistic with yourself and you know, not say, oh, I can train every day of the week, even if I do squeeze in this. But genuinely think about like how many days can you commit that you know for certain. And of course, when you have kids, it is no days are really certain, right? But you know that you have a schedule and things are you you have a way to figure out whether or not you have a couple of days or so. So we'll just say for this example, you got two days to train. Now, um, think about for those two days, how much time can you commit in those two days? Um, and in this example, we're gonna go with 45 minutes, but you have to figure that out for yourself. And where will you be working out? Uh, most of the time, this will be at home. Uh, most of the people that I've worked with and I still work with, they'll usually be working out at home, or maybe they might like try to get to the gym really quick, squeak out a workout, and then go back home. But if you're at home, you don't have access to machines, more than likely you'll be using free weights, or maybe you have like one of those cable machines. I have a client who's um used cable machines at home as well. So um let's get right into what the structure is because this is the biggest piece that most people uh lack as far as the understanding on the ability to be able to get a quick workout in. Because most of the time, I hear it all the time. They'll say, Oh, I'm doing some type of body part split. They're doing back and by chest and tries, they're doing legs, or they're doing hamstrings and glutes, something like that. And that is the most ineffective way. Um, I'm saying this politely, but the most ineffective way that you could possibly try to get in um your workouts and you know, build strength when you have a busy schedule. So, what we'll be doing is a full body workout. So the full body workout, um, you'll we have two days, we have 45 minutes to get the workout in. So if we only have 45 minutes in, the goal is to build strength. And remember, strength is relative to what you're trying to accomplish. So let's just say if you know you're trying to maintain your strength so you can compete in powerlifting, then that's totally different than if you were just trying to maintain strength so that way, you know, your joints aren't achy, or you want to like still go out for some runs here and there, or just play some recreational sports. Totally different um means to where you can build some strength. All right. Now, um, so the whole entire breakdown. How do we do this full body workout? If we only have 45 minutes, I would say we'll keep it to four exercises. The four exercises we'll go over in movement patterns. So you'll pair all your exercises. This is going to keep it efficient as well. You're not doing one resting and then doing another one and resting. So the first exercise, let's just say for day one, we got A1, exercise one, you have a squat movement. And let's just say you were doing a goblet squat. Let's say you have access to dumbbells, and then we'll keep it pretty general. If you're pretty experienced with training and you're just trying to figure this out, you'll get what movements you can substitute in there. So um, let's just say we're doing 10 to 12 reps uh times three sets, uh, and we're resting one minute and 30 seconds between each movement. So we do our goblet squats, we rest a minute and 30, and then we're gonna go into our pull exercise. So for this one, we're gonna do a horizontal pulling exercise. Say we're gonna do a single arm dumbbell row for this one. We're gonna do the same rep scheme. We're gonna do 10 to 12 reps per arm, but we're gonna rest 45 seconds in between each arm. So that way we get the proper rest period. Now, if you are lifting heavier or you're deconditioned, maybe you can rest a little bit longer. Maybe you rest a minute in between each arm. Maybe you rest two minutes in between each movement. It depends on how conditioned you are and how much time you have. But generally speaking, if you can um rest a minute and 30 or even a minute and do these four exercises, you'll be able to get it in in under an hour. Now, we did A1, A2, and we're gonna do that for three total rounds. Okay, making sure we are resting in between. Rest is very important in order to be as fresh as possible to lift the most that you possibly can in order to still get stronger. Okay. If you're not resting long enough, you're not giving your muscles enough time to recover the stores that it needs in order to put out the same amount of effort or um more effort in order to lift heavier weights in order to build strength. All right, now B1, B2. B1 is a bending motion. So we're gonna go dumbbell RDLs for this one. But again, if you have access to a barbell, maybe it's a barbell RDL, maybe it's a deadlift, whatever it may be. Now, 10 to 12 reps here, same thing, three sets, uh, rest a minute and 30 between movements. B2, you have a pushing movement, it's gonna be a horizontal pushing exercise. This one's gonna be a dumbbell bench press, and you're gonna do 10 to 12 reps times three sets and rest 130 before moving back up to the dumbbell RDLs. Okay, so that's day one. And you would definitely get that done in under 45 minutes. How do you warm up for this thing? You just go through all the exercises at a lighter weight, okay? You go through all the exercises at a lighter weight, doing half the repetitions for maybe one to two sets, and then start on your working set the third time around. Simple as that. You don't need any extra uh mobility drills or anything like that in order to get into this workout. Because the thing is, as long as we're doing movements that are within our capabilities, we don't need an extravagant warm-up in order to get the work done without getting injured or having achy joints or whatnot. Okay. The now, day two. We have a one, a two. So now we're gonna start with a bending motion this day. So we're prioritizing the bend and we're gonna do a dumbbell hip thrust. Same rep scheme, same rest period, same um sets. And now, a two, we're gonna do a pushing motion and we're gonna do push-ups for this day. For this day, typically, depending on like how strong you are with push-ups, we might go six to twelve reps instead of being like 10 to 12, and you just do as many as you possibly can. Um, same sets, three sets, same rest period, one minute and 30 seconds. Okay. Now we do that three times through, and then we come back and we do now. We're doing B1, B2. B1, we got a lunge pattern. Okay, so we're gonna do alternating reverse lunges. The reason why we're doing alternating reverse lunges, so that way we save more time that we're not doing one leg resting, then the other leg resting, and then doing our uh rowing motion. So if we do the alternating uh reverse lunges, we're doing one leg, the other leg back and forth until we're done with all of them. So we don't have that rest period in between. Okay, so you're doing 10 to 12 reps per leg, and then the same thing, three sets uh for a minute and 30 between movements. And then we're going to B2 is a pulling motion. We're gonna go three-point dumbbell row, and really it's it's just you putting your hand on a bench, your feet are flat on the floor, and then you're doing a dumbbell row from there. Okay, or you can simply do the same row that you did um on day one. Okay, so after you finish three sets of that, you are done. So the key thing here is to make sure that you have at least a day of rest in between each one of those. Um, so that way you have enough recovery to where you can push it in each workout and you're not fatigued. The whole entire purpose of you doing three sets, and maybe it's not five sets, is because, again, we said mental capacity isn't there as well as energy is kind of low. So we don't want to overload our bodies because we don't have enough energy already. We just need to do enough in order to get a good training stimulus in order to maintain what we have, and depending on your training level, to build up um some more strength. Okay. If you were very limited in time, let's go in a special case scenario, then maybe you only do A1, A2, right? Maybe you only do a squat and a pull on day one, and then you do four sets of that and you call it good. And then on day two, maybe you do just a bend and a push and you do four sets of that and call it good. So right now, like you're just maintaining the strength that you do have when you're doing it that way. So that's another quick way in order to make sure that you still get a workout in and they do count, they do add up because you're maintaining what you have. Okay. So how would we progress this whole entire thing? So we could just add volume, and that could be adding more reps as the weeks go on. We could add um more uh sets as the weeks go on. So instead of three sets, we do four sets of A1, A2 for week two, and then week three, we do add on another set to B1, B2. So now we're doing four sets of each and every exercise. Um, or as the weeks go on, you could just add one set to each exercise. So it's a ton of different ways you can do it while by increasing the volume. Add more weight or go heavier. So if you have, you know, multiple um dumbbell sets at home, or if you have a barbell and you're doing barbell movements, obviously the best way would be to add weight and then also lower the rep ranges as you go into your next cycle. Usually we would go with four weeks of these exercises, and then we would change it up to other exercises. Okay. So if you're just starting off, I I usually start off my people with two sets in week one of each exercise just to get your body adapted to the movement, and then you're not doing too much. So that way, by the time you hit the next week, you can push it a little bit more when you do the three sets. Okay. So, and only choose one progression. So don't try to add weight and add sets in there or add repetitions in there. If you're gonna stick with three sets, add weight as much as you can each week. If you're gonna stick with the same weight, try to maybe add a set to one exercise as you go through those four weeks of those exercises. And if you want a complete guide that gives you everything that I just talked about, you can go to the description down below and click that link to download the guide. So I already talked about a few of the mistakes, but let's talk get into these mistakes again. So the body part splits for the workouts. Body part splits are okay if you know your whole entire goal is bodybuilding, body composition, and you have a very extensive training um age, like you've been training for an extended period of time. But I usually tell people if you you're low on time, low on energy, and your goal is just general strength, then full body workouts or even maybe an upper and a lower body split would be bet better for you as far as your time and as well as just energy levels overall. Because when you do body part splits, the goal is to completely um fatigue that area of your body. So that way by the time you come back around to it the next week, then you are you're fresh thin. But the whole entire week you're gonna be sore and you know, pretty burnt out from that exercise session. The next one is high intensity workouts. So that's doing like CrossFit-esque workouts or HIIT workouts because you think, okay, you don't have that much time, so you need to get something in quick and you need to sweat. Remember, sweating is not count as you burning more calories because people sweat more than other people, and that's a genetic factor in general. So just because you sweat doesn't mean that you're getting a good workout in or you're burning more calories, okay? So if you know the goal is to build strength as well, then you don't want to be trying to do these high-intensity workouts because that is not conducive to actual strength building. Strength is you lift as heavy as possible, you rest as long as you can in order to go back into the next set and lift heavier. High intensity workouts are not gonna be good for that specific thing that we're trying to build here, as well as your energy levels. If you want to have good energy for your family, then high intensity workouts are really just gonna burn you out. You may feel good in the moment, you may feel a little energy burst, probably maybe 30 minutes to an hour. But after that, like you the fatigue level sets in for sure. Um, and you can't sustain that level of capacity over an extended period of time. If we want this thing to last for an extended period of time and do this for but if we want to do it for a long time, then we need to make sure we're doing exercise uh workouts that allow us to do it for an extended period of time. Um, and then the final thing is just not understanding the season that you're in. Okay, so if you have a newborn, but and you are working out beforehand, like five days a week for an hour or even two hours, you know, that's gonna change you up now. And accepting that, not trying to keep the same schedule, because one thing can happen is that you're not getting that much sleep because of the baby. And then also now you're working out so hard, then your body doesn't get to recover, and then you start to break down. And if your body's not recovering from your exercise sessions, then you keep breaking down, keep breaking down until you start to get those aches and pains, and then you can potentially have an overuse injury. That's just what it comes down to, okay? You just make yourself more susceptible to injuries when you allow that fatigue to build up. So if you have a newborn, or let's just say it's summertime and your kids are out of school now, and this and you got them in different camps and um activities and stuff like that, and you have to spend more time running them around doing those things. All right, now you probably can't do all the sessions that you were doing before. Okay. So just understand the season that you're in. Yes, it may not last, it's not gonna last forever, and you just have to adjust your training to accommodate for that for now. Okay. So you got to figure out what works for you in the season that you're in right now. And remember that it's not gonna last forever. And also, like, yes, you're still taking care of yourself, but then you're also still taking care of your family and doing the things that you need to do. Um, yeah, so that's it uh for this episode. So I just wanted to go over how to build strength as a busy parent because I get the question a lot about um just what they can fit in, and then also just people wasting their time on different workout routines that's just not effective for the season that they're in or what they're trying to accomplish um with their fitness goals overall. Uh, if you have any questions about this, you want me to go into more detail, you have uh yeah, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below in the YouTube video. Um, thanks again for tuning in, and I'll see you in the next one.