A minute here and there can add up to functional fitness

Chicago Tribune (MCT) - I knew motherhood would change my life, but sabotage my workouts? I never dreamed it could happen.

It did. My plan was to exercise in the morning before everyone woke up. But when that was a bust _ I was way too sleep deprived to pull off a 4 a.m. workout _ I had to radically revise my definition of "exercise" to balance fitness, family and a full-time office job.

Before having children, a workout meant a long bike ride or run, a trip to the gym or a yoga class.

Now the bar is considerably lower: a workout is any movement I get during the day. I run next to my son as he pedals his little two-wheeler down the sidewalk. I weight lift by carrying groceries or lifting a 25-pound child out of a car-seat. I lunge to pick up toys or wipe spills.

I'm not in marathon shape right now, but I do have something more relevant to my daily life: functional fitness. After all, training your body to handle real-life situations is one of the main benefits of exercise, regardless of your life stage.

Here are a few of the ways I've managed to cram exercise into a busy day during the last four years:

Commute to work. I turned one of life's biggest time-suckers into a workout by riding my bike to work. To keep my heart rate up, I chase down anyone who passes me. This can be irritating to the "passer," but it gets my competitive juices flowing, a bonus when I arrive at the office.

When it's too cold or rainy to ride, I take the less-convenient Metra trains rather than the CTA for a longer walk to the office. I also apply deadline pressure: Leaving late forces me to run to the train.

If you're driving, try isometric training methods, which use common objects (a steering wheel) and your own body's resistance to build your muscles. Both men and women can benefit from kegels, which consist of contracting and relaxing the muscles that form the pelvic floor. To initially find these muscles, stop the flow of urine midstream.

Relive your childhood. When my toddler was obsessed with dropping rocks into storm sewers, I'd stand next to him and jump rope, an underrated exercise that burns up to 1,000 calories an hour. This not only kept me awake and warm on cold mornings, but cars also slowed down to look at the spectacle, giving me time to whisk my son out of harm's way.

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Jumping rope is also a great way to kill time at the playground. But if that's too embarrassing, reach for the tallest bar you can find on the jungle gym and hang for two to three minutes. Dangling from a bar doesn't just feel wonderful; it relieves lower back tightness, decompresses spinal disks, makes your back more flexible and stretches and strengthens shoulder muscles, said Burr Leonard, who does this routinely as founder of the Bar Method exercise program. (Don't do this if you're pregnant or have a shoulder injury.) This, too, is a lot harder than it looks.

Seize the moment. I do at least 50 push-ups a day by sneaking in 10 at a time whenever possible, which often draws smiles when I'm in my cubicle. I also do push-ups at home when the boys are in the bathtub. Do wall sits while you're waiting for the microwave, an elevator, the train or putting someone to sleep.

Work your quads by taking the stairs, two at a time, instead of the elevator. Out of milk? Take the jog stroller. If you're really hard core, set your bike up on a trainer and ride while you watch your child's soccer game. Trade off workout mornings with your partner.

And if all else fails, take a stab at what I have yet to master: Get up at 4 a.m. and work out in the dark.

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Get an even healthier helping at Julie's Health Club blog, chicagotribune.com/julie

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