Monkey See, Monkey Do

I didn't realise how much kids pick up from what you do, yes yes I know the old adage "kids are like sponges" but I also know kids can be little pains in the bums at times and don't do as their told and don't want to listen.

Sport and fitness has always played a big role in my life from playing football and rugby in my younger years to competing in marathons and races and now as a parent I still like to try and stay ontop of my health by regular bike rides and training in the gym. I was lucky during lockdown that I had a gym set that I had been putting together over the years and was able to remain ontop of it. I don't particularly do it to "look good" but with Rona around I felt it was alot more important to maintain my health and fitness in case I contracted the virus.

Lil miss has followed my lead and gone head first into sports although lately she isn't liking the cold weather and early Saturday mornings wanting to sleep in and keep warm. But she shows up and thats half the battle done.

Due to it being cold lil bloke hasn't been coming lately but I really think he knows his missing out. He turns one this weekend and they say kids aren't really that conscious at that age but he is fully across everything we do.

It is the middle of winter, absolutely freezing (I also learned kids don't feel cold) and this is my home gym. It's where I also hang my home made Salami and what lil miss has transformed into her lil miss shed. A scooter ramp built from cardboard boxes a trampoline and a ladder. She tells me it's her cardio. In between sets she's smashing out her own routine.

But right there in the middle of the frame is lil bloke, he had an absolute melt down with mumma bear and wouldn't stop crying until she brought him out here with us. He knew we were in the garage training as we often do this at the same time together everyday.

His also recently learned to bum shuffle so he scoots around alot too.

Oh and he is totally down for weight lifting, you want to know what sibling rivalry is? It's when lil bloke picks up a 1kg dumbbell with great ease who isn't even one yet and lil miss who is 4 (and a half gotta get that right, well almost 4 and a half) cracks it thinks he's stronger than her and ups the notch trying to lift rhe 5kg dumbbells. She was able to lift one with ease and use it but had to drop down to the 2kg dumbbells. Apparently lil bloke can't be stronger than her...

He's not even content with the 1kg and opted for my 15kg dumbbells but he wasn't able to lift them off the ground, they weigh more than him by ALOT.

I always get worried about them training and if it is going to cause them physical harm, I have a bit of knowledge about training and safety and I don't push them, lil miss will jump in and out of sets and take off and do her own thing but I think she really enjoys spending time with the old man. I know there will come a time where she won't want me around anymore and she'll probably go off and do her own training so it's great that they're starting early in that aspect because it normalises the routine.

And who knows, we could be looking at tomorrow's Olympic champions in the making.

How did you go with kids and training? Did you include them or head off to the gym alone? It can be beneficial training on your own and I did so for quite a few years and had a few on days at home, but I'm really enjoying spending time with my kids and getting them into the Groove.

Do you have any tips? Let me know in the comments section below.