How to Set Fitness Goals as a Busy Mom (5 Realistic Exercise Tips for Moms)

We know exercise is beneficial for our health and wellness, but sometimes that knowledge is not enough to make it happen. We’re busy! As moms, our days are planned around our family and work needs. It’s so easy to put ourselves last. And when we do have time for self-care, we’re often too exhausted to exercise. These 5 realistic exercise tips for moms will show you how to set fitness goals as a busy mom, recognizing that every stage of motherhood is different. The tips will guide you to figure out how to create an exercise plan that fits your real life. Plus, they’re helpful exercise tips for people who don’t like exercise.

There’s also a free printable fitness tracker to help you achieve your fitness goals. Here’s the truth, when we feel better, we do better as a mom and in life. And exercise is a powerful way to help us feel better.

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How to Set Fitness Goals as a Busy Mom

As the title implies, I know you’re busy. If you’ve got an extra minute, you can dig into more depth and find helpful resources and inspiration with each one of these tips. Additionally, this post includes sample fitness goals and workout schedules for a working mom, a stay-at-home, and a work-from-home mom. But if you have 30 seconds, here are the five tips to help show you how to set fitness goals as a busy mom.

1. Understand Your Personal Health Recommendations
2. Clarify Your Intention for this Particular Season of Life
3. Set Goals By Minutes, Rather than Miles
4. Select Realistic and Beneficial Forms of Exercise
5. Pay Attention to Your Gut or Intuition

The Fitness Goal-Setting Worksheet can help you apply these five exercise tips to yourself and the accompanying free printable Fitness Tracker can help you follow-through with your fitness goals.

Click image to print, or let me know if you want me to send the worksheet and tracker to your inbox for later.

Now, let’s dig into these tips and create an exercise plan that fits your real life.

Exercise is High Bang for Your Buck Self-Care for Busy Moms

In some seasons of mothering, we might not choose to spend a ton of time on ourselves. It’s important to us to spend time with our families, fulfill work requirements, and keep our homes running.

During these busy seasons, I’m a huge fan of finding high bang for your buck self-care options. Well-cared for moms are better able to care for their loved ones. You and your family are worth that. However, not all self-care options are created equal, and if we’re short on time, it’s super beneficial to find self-care practices that are really worth our time because they have far-reaching benefits.

Exercise is one of those options.

Related: Top 3 Self-Care Myths Debunked, Plus 3 High Bang For Your Buck Self-Care Options

Is Self-Care a Struggle?

If so, you’re not alone. The Busy Mom’s Guide to Self-Care will help you quickly work through the top 3 hurdles to self-care and find self-care options that fit YOUR life and meet YOUR needs.

Why Exercise is So Beneficial for Busy Moms

While exercise is good for everybody, the wide range of benefits are especially applicable to busy moms or stressed out people. The benefits of exercise are far-reaching and go way beyond pants size.

Here are a few benefits of exercise that can help motivate us when we don’t want to take time or energy to get moving.

• Exercise increases energy.
  • I don’t know a mom who wouldn’t love to have a bit more of her toddler’s energy. In a massive review of the research, over 90% of studies have shown that exercise increases our energy. It might feel counterintuitive to exercise when we feel tired, but the movement releases chemicals such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin which decrease fatigue. Additionally, exercise helps our bodies work more efficiently, which saves energy in the long run.
• Exercise improves mood.
  • The chemical combinations released when we exercise also boost mood. In fact, many studies have shown that exercise even decreases symptoms for people struggling with clinical depression. In one study, individuals were assigned to exercise, antidepressants, or both. All three groups improved at about the same percentage. Interestingly, those in the exercise group had the lowest rate of relapse after ten months.
• Exercise helps us sleep better.
  • Although the studies don’t typically mention newborn moms in particular, research shows that exercise helps those with poor or disordered sleep. (I think frequent night wakings should count in that category!) Plus, in general, exercise helps us fall asleep quicker and sleep more soundly, with benefits often felt that very night.
• Exercise prevents and manages many diseases.
  • Exercise can help prevent or manage diseases such as osteoporosis, heart diseases, and some cancers. Lest we think these issues are only important for “elderly” people, heart disease is among the top three leading causes of death for women in the US age 20-64.
• Exercise helps us manage stress.
  • Mom life can be stressful, and exercise is an effective stress management technique. The combination of chemical interactions, mental break, and other factors during exercise can help reduce stress.

Benefits of a Mom’s Exercise for Her Children

Along with the benefits to our own bodies, when we exercise it’s good for our kids!

Beginning with pregnancy, our exercise has positive benefits for our baby in utero and some studies even show positive effects later in their lives.

Further into life, when mothers are more active, their children are more active as well.

Additionally, we can often exercise with our kids. This is a great way to show that fitness can be fun and helps us connect with our kids in meaningful ways. Those connections are so important for our relationship!

Related: 25+ Ways to Connect with Kids

We teach what we are. So if we’re hoping to raise kids who love their bodies and take good care of them, we’d be very wise to do the same.

Ok, so if we’re convinced that exercise really is good for us and our families, how do we make it happen?

The Importance of Setting Fitness Goals for Moms

Humans in general are creatures of habit. While it’s hard to change, we can do it. YOU can do it. If we want to change or implement a new habit, the commitment that comes from setting a goal is a great way to start.

After going through these five realistic exercise tips that will show you how to set fitness goals as a busy mom, it’s a great idea to write down that goal. You can post it by your desk or mirror with a reminder of why it’s important to you, or write the schedule in your calendar or using this free printable Fitness Tracker.

Our brains are better at making goals happen when we can vividly describe them and write them down.

Alrighty, here are five realistic exercise tips that will help show you how to you set fitness goals as a busy mom.

Tip #1: Understand Your Personal Health Recommendations

If we think we need to spend an hour at the gym every day to get the benefits of exercise, that’s a pretty daunting task. However, the good news is much more realistic.

First take into account any specific recommendations from your personal healthcare provider. Then look at general recommendations.

According to the CDC, a healthy goal for adults to aim for is 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity (like a brisk walk) or 75 minutes of intensive aerobic activity (something that breaks a sweat, like a jog) per week, plus two days with muscle strengthening activities. This averages out to 30 minutes moderate intensity or 15 minutes intense activity per weekday.

According to one study, risks from heart disease decrease with even short, intense bouts of exercise. One of the doctors involved with the study said, “Our study suggests that exercising vigorously at least one to two times per week for at least 11 to 24 minutes per session can get you a pretty significant risk reduction.”

Keep in mind that the benefits of less intense aerobic activities, say vacuuming for example, also add up over time, just not as quickly.

While these are great goals, if you’re not there yet, the personal recommendation for YOU is to be a little bit more active than you currently are.

I hope that feels doable.

So when it comes time to set fitness goals as a busy mom, start where you are and work your way up to (or beyond!) these health recommendations.

Tip #2: Clarify Your Intention for this Particular Season of Life

Motherhood (like life) is made up of seasons. As our kids grow and we all change, seasons of life do too.

As you set a realistic fitness plan, take into account your intentions for the current season. Remember that we don’t have to do everything all at the same time.

Is this a season where you can push Littles in a stroller or invite older kids to work out with you? Do you want to invest in a gym membership or home fitness equipment in this financial season? Do you feel a drive to accomplish a goal such as running a 5K or completing a triathlon?

In general, I find it’s extremely helpful to define this basic intention: do you want to maintain or increase your fitness level during this season? This clarity will give you direction in deciding what kinds of exercises to choose and how hard to push yourself when it comes to intensity.

Lastly, for intention, think about your why. Look at the benefits of exercise for you and your family. It’s not about going back to a pre-baby body. For me, it’s about being able to show-up for life with energy and feeling the best I can. It’s about living in gratitude for this body that has birthed babies and gets me through every day. And it’s about setting a healthy example for my kids. Find what it’s about for you.

Tip #3: Set Goals By Minutes, Rather than Miles

If it has been difficult to figure out how to make exercise happen, begin with setting weekly goals for minutes, rather than miles or repetitions. The exception to this is if you’ll be tracking steps and can pick them up anytime throughout the day. There are several reasons to look at your goals this way.

One, it’s easier to schedule minutes. If you’re just starting up or getting back into exercise, you’re pace may be irregular or unpredictable. When we’re not sure how long something will take, it’s harder to fit it into a busy schedule or figure out childcare if necessary. Plus, unpredictability is a great excuse. “I’m not sure if I’ll finish in time for my next appointment, so I better skip it today.” Let’s outsmart our own excuses. 🙂

Two, minutes are mentally friendlier. On a day when we’re tired, doing 20 push-ups or jogging 2 miles can feel daunting. However, when we’re exhausted, we can still do 20 minutes of movement and simply choose a less-intense exercise. Consistency builds on itself.

Three, minutes allow for greater variation. Participating in a variety of physical activity keeps things interesting and helps prevent injury. Even if you want to train for a 5K, it’s wise to incorporate cross training, which is basically exercise that’s different than your main exercise of focus.

It’s really fun and can be motivating to choose a small specific fitness goal that works into your larger intention and minutes goals. Examples include being able to do a certain number of repetitions of an exercise or complete something in a given time. These types of goals can also be a way to focus on progress, which is fulfilling.

Tip #4: Select Realistic and Beneficial Forms of Exercise

When we’re looking for realistic exercise tips, we want to consider both lifestyle and experience level. For lifestyle, what do you enjoy doing? What can you see yourself motivated to continue? Is there a way to make your exercise more enjoyable like talking with a friend or listening to a podcast? Do you need to include your kids in your workout time?

For level of experience, if your goal is to increase your fitness, do so slowly and steadily. If we make drastic jumps in intensity, it’s difficult to stay with it long enough to see the benefits because burnout and injury are more likely.

Dream really big and then remember that we get there one step at a time.

The easiest way to choose beneficial forms of exercise is to select a variety of activities. If we’re wanting to benefit the whole body, we’ll choose activities that work our heart, lungs, and aerobic systems and strengthen our muscles with weight bearing activities. We’ll round it off with stretching that helps our muscles heal and maintain flexibility.

Here are some examples of exercises that could be realistic and beneficial for you.

• Walk or jog in your neighborhood.
  • You can push a stroller, which has the added benefit of increasing intensity and helping your child(ren) get fresh air.
• Do a fitness video at home.
  • Google ____ minutes cardio workout, and you’ll have an endless supply of suggestions.
  • I recommend Jessica Smith TV for beginners because I appreciate her approach to fitness, and she has a wide range of free videos that incorporate a variety of exercises at different levels of difficulty.
• Exercise for the first 30 minutes of a movie, then fold laundry or relax during the remainder.
• Do ten minutes of Yoga when you first wake-up or before bed.
  • Yoga with Adrienne has a lot of beginner options. One of my favorite videos is this 10 Minute Yoga Flow with Yoga Girl.
• Dance.
  • Whether you move in the living room with the family or try a Zumba video on YouTube, dancing is pretty fun.
• Try ten minute Pilates workouts.
• Follow a workout program.
  • Nearly every instructor has a program. Print it out it, and follow along for added motivation and elimination of decision-fatigue.
• Play a fitness game as a family.
  • My husband taught me this fun one he learned from his fire fighter days…assign one exercise to each suit in a deck of cards. For example, hearts could be jumping jacks, clubs crunches, spades push-ups, and diamonds squats. Draw a card and do the corresponding repetitions of that exercise. (7 of hearts is 7 jumping jacks.)
  • Take turns drawing cards or do them all together. For added difficulty, if you draw cards of the same suite simultaneously, do all the numbers together. (For example, if you draw a 5 of spades and do 5 push-ups then draw the 3 of spades, you’d do 8 push-ups.)
• Join a group or club.
  • Find a group that plays tennis or basketball or whatever you enjoy once a week. Join a club that hosts classes that interest you. The regularity and social aspect can be great motivators and help us commit our time.
• Invest in home workout equipment.
  • Purchase dumbbells, resistance bands, or even a treadmill. It’s much easier for many women to fit a short workout in at home, when it doesn’t feel worth it to get out the door. This also allows you to take advantage of times when kids are sleeping, but still need you home to supervise.
• Go on a family bike ride.
• Schedule a weekend hike.

If your goal is to increase your fitness level during this season, you’ll want to increase the time or intensity of any of these exercises.

I also recommend 10 Exercise Hacks for Busy Moms which will help you get the most out of the time you spend exercising.

Tip #5: Pay Attention to Your Gut or Intuition

I remembered writing the date of the half marathon on the calendar and heading out the door for a run. It was raining that day, which I actually love. Maybe that’s my Seattle roots. 🙂 But as I splashed through the puddles, the gut feeling about the half-marathon wouldn’t go away.

I had wanted to get back into racing for quite a while. With two little kids and super supportive friends who loved babysitting them, I could do a lot of my training with a double stroller or even on my own. The date of this particular race made perfect sense in my head.

However, as I researched and committed to the race, I was trying to ignore a gut feeling that I shouldn’t do this one.

That day on my wet run, I decided to pay attention to the feeling. And then I chose to listen to it. I decided to cancel my plan, and as I did so, tears of disappointment and frustration mixed with the rain. But I moved on with life.

Lessons after Looking Back

I didn’t realize it until much later, but looking back, something else came up for our family during that time. If I had tried to train simultaneously, it would have been a huge stress on me and my family. Additionally, a specific event happened on the scheduled day of the half marathon, and there’s no way I would have chosen to race that day.

During that season, my time was better spent elsewhere. However, fast forward a few years and another baby, and I was able to race again in a triathlon.

Sometimes you’ll feel a deep nudge to take it easy or focus on maintaining during this season. Sometimes you’ll feel a pull to get in better shape or push yourself a bit more. Maybe the pull is for you or for your family or you may not know why.

But pay attention to the pull, the nudge, the gut feeling.

This is a really helpful tip to set fitness goals that you’ll feel good about and that will work for your busy life.

Quick Tips for Creating a Realistic Fitness Schedule as a Busy Mom

After you’ve set fitness goals, you’ll need to create a realistic fitness schedule to make it happen. There are so many ways to fit exercise into a busy schedule! You can set a goal of 10 minutes per day to start, and then find that time whenever you can and do whatever is convenient that day.

Often however, the best schedules draw on routine because we are creatures of habit. So it’s helpful to plan fitness time on a regular basis. This could be every morning or a Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine. Get creative, and be willing to try something new, evaluate, and plan again if things don’t work out.

Saturdays can be a great time to plan physical fitness activities as a family. You could go on a hike or family bike ride. Go to the park and play tag or soccer. Even gardening and many forms of housework are physical activity.

Include a rest day in your schedule. Rest days are important for healthy exercise. They prevent injury and burnout. Some moderate exercise can feel like a rest compared to more intense days. However, I suggest one full rest day a week anyway. It’s nice to have this break, especially if we don’t love exercise, are trying to get back into it, or are trying to get motivated to start exercising.

Sample Fitness Goals for Moms and Sample Fitness Schedules

Here are three sample fitness goals for moms with different schedules. Remember, we’re each starting where ever we are, so maintain or increase will look different for each of us. Additionally, if you’re not exercising at all right now, you might want to start with just two days a week. Remember, something is better than nothing, and everything adds up over time.

These samples may give you some ideas of how you could structure your goals and schedule and more details about how to set fitness goals as a busy mom.

Sample Fitness Goals for Working Mom and Fitness Schedule

Fitness Goal: Increase Fitness with 75 minutes high intensity aerobic exercise, strength training, and additional fitness activities. Run 5K in under 25 minutes.

Monday: Wake up early, and do a 45-minute high intensity aerobic workout (run, treadmill, high intensity aerobic video, etc.).

Tuesday: Do 10 minutes of yoga before bed.

Wednesday: Wake-up early, and do a 30-minute high intensity aerobic workout, followed by 15 minutes of strength training.

Thursday: Do 20 minutes of Pilates right after kids go to bed.

Friday: Do 10 minutes of yoga before bed.

Saturday: Do one physical activity as a family.

Sunday: Rest Day.

Sample Fitness Goals for Stay-at-Home Mom and Fitness Schedule

Fitness Goals: Increase Fitness with 120 minutes moderate intensity aerobic activities, strength training, and additional activities. Be able to touch toes.

Monday: Do 20 minutes aerobic/dance video during morning nap or with kids, followed by stretching.

Tuesday: Go for 30-minute brisk walk with stroller. Do 10 minutes strength training during morning nap.

Wednesday: Do 20 minutes aerobic/dance video during morning nap or with kids, followed by stretching.

Thursday: Go for 30-minute brisk walk with stroller. Do 10 minutes strength training during morning nap.

Friday: Do 20 minutes aerobic/dance video during morning nap or with kids, followed by stretching.

Saturday: Family fitness activity.

Sunday: Rest Day

Sample Fitness Goals for Work-at-Home Mom and Fitness Schedule

Fitness Goal: Maintain Fitness with 150 minutes moderate aerobic activity, strength training, and additional activities. Do 20 full push-ups without a break.

Monday: Wake-up early. Do 30 minutes moderate aerobic activity, 15 minutes yoga.

Tuesday: Wake-up early. Do 30 minutes moderate aerobic activity, 15 minutes strength training.

Wednesday: Wake-up early. Do 30 minutes moderate aerobic activity, 15 minutes yoga.

Thursday: Wake-up early. Do 30 minutes moderate aerobic activity, 15 minutes strength training.

Friday: Wake-up early. Do 30 minutes moderate aerobic activity, 15 minutes yoga.

Saturday: Family Fitness Activity

Sunday: Rest Day.

Summary for How to Set Fitness Goals as a Busy Mom

Whew, we’ve covered a lot here about how to set fitness goals as a busy mom! Let’s pull it all together.

Frist, consider the healthy fitness recommendations from your personal healthcare provider and for adults in general. How are you doing in relation to those recommendations?

Second, set your foundational intention for fitness during this season. Why is fitness important to you? Do you want to maintain or increase your fitness level?

Third, set a goal for weekly minutes of exercise that aligns with your intention and helps you move toward the healthy recommendations. Additionally, choose a fun or motivational specific fitness goal if you want to.

Fourth, brainstorm specific exercises that fit your lifestyle and fitness needs. Fill your goal minutes with movement that helps fulfill your personal intention. Organize these exercises into a weekly routine or fitness schedule.

Lastly, throughout the whole process of setting fitness goals, pay attention to the gut feelings or intuition you have felt about your personal fitness at this point in life.

Free Printable Fitness Tracker and Fitness Goal-Setting Worksheet

Now it’s your turn to set your fitness goals. Commit to the habit for two weeks and follow-through. After two weeks, look at how it affected your life. Did the kids survive? Do you want to adjust when you exercise? Are you doing a little more than you used to?

The Fitness Goal-Setting Worksheet can help you go through these tips for setting exercise goals as a busy mom and the accompanying 4 Week Fitness Tracker can help you follow through with your commitment.

Click the image to print, or let me know if you want me to send the Worksheet and Tracker to your inbox for later.

Ready, Set, Commit!

It’s not easy taking care of ourselves as moms, while we care for everyone else. But I hope this information has been helpful for you to see how to set fitness goals as a busy mom. It is possible to set aside time for exercise and still meet your family and work responsibilities.

In fact, when we prioritize some time to exercise, we put ourselves in a better position to show up for our families with energy, feeling good both physically and mentally. This investment of time helps us better fulfill our other responsibilities as well.

You’ve got this, Mama. Ready, set, commit!

Was this helpful in figuring out how to set fitness goals as a busy mom? How do you set fitness goals? What helps you prioritize exercise? What struggles do you have when it comes to setting goals or prioritizing exercise or self-care in general? Share in the comments, or for personalized help, schedule a call or learn more about upcoming coaching opportunities with Marielle.

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If you feel guilty taking time to exercise, I highly recommend The Busy Mom’s Guide to Self-Care. This short guide helps you quickly work through the top three hurdles to self-care, one of which is the myth that self-care is selfish.

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