The busy back-to-school season is officially here, which means many of our members are getting used to waiting in early morning carpool lines and juggling multiple after school activities again. While your everyday schedule may be filling up fast, we’re here to remind you that it’s still important to keep fitness at the top of your priority list. Don’t forget, exercise is a great form of stress relief to help you get through this hectic time of year.

But no matter how overwhelmed you might be, just know that you don’t have to figure it all out on your own! That’s right; we’re sharing some back-to-school fitness tips for the whole family to help you conquer your workouts and your kids’ homework assignments all in the same week. 

Put it on the Calendar

According to Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” This means it’s up to you to put your workouts on the calendar, but once you do, you must treat them like any other important event you’ve scheduled. Never cancel on yourself, and don’t easily sway when booking conflicts come up. Your health and fitness are priorities, and your workouts deserve the same level of commitment as important work meetings or kids’ sports practices. Luckily, as a 9Rounder, it’s easy to schedule your workouts around other obligations because it only takes 30 minutes to get a KILLER workout.

Pro Tip: Whenever possible, get the whole family involved with your fitness routine to prevent scheduling conflicts and to help everyone get the incredible benefits of regular exercise.

Plan Your Meals in Advance

Leaving your eating habits up to chance is not the best idea when you’re trying to follow a healthy nutrition and exercise routine, especially during back-to-school season when life is a little more hectic. Just knowing what your plan is for lunch or dinner can help you better control what you eat on a given day, but if you want to take things to the next level, then we recommend meal prepping your lunches or dinners at the beginning of the week to minimize how often you need to cook on workdays. Snacks are another thing you can streamline by prepping them ahead of time, so you have plenty of healthy options to reach for during the week.  

This not only allows you to have greater control over your macronutrients with each meal, but also helps reduce the number of times you’re ordering out on apps like Door Dash or Postmates out of sheer convenience. If all else fails, you can at least chop a few vegetables before leaving in the morning to make dinner run smoother later in the day. Remember, a healthy diet and regular exercise work together to help you achieve your fitness goals!

Read: 6 Tips for Simplifying Weekly Meal Prep

Encourage Competition

Take advantage of the natural rivalries that exist between spouses or siblings and start encouraging a little competition with exercise. Not only will this inspire your family to stay active, but it can also bring you closer together as you all participate in the same activities each week. See which one of your kids can do more push-ups than the other before bedtime or compare weekly CHOW scores with your spouse to see who brought their A-game to the studio. You can even incorporate some fun rewards to help motivate your family to compete, like letting the winner of the week pick the next family outing.

Pro Tip: Keep track of everyone’s score on a whiteboard or chalkboard in a common area, such as the kitchen. This helps encourage everyone to work harder on their exercise goals throughout the week so they can beat whoever is currently in the lead. 

Give Yourself Grace

Sometimes, things don’t go as planned, and that’s okay. Don’t sweat it if you miss a workout because something last-minute came up and there was no avoiding it. This isn’t a reason to give up on your fitness goals and stop working out completely. Give yourself some grace when life gets busy and then get back into the swing of things with your next planned workout. Remember, it’s not about being perfect. A few mistakes are not going to throw you off track, as long as you can get back up and keep pushing forward.

Want to try the revolutionary kickboxing-themed workouts that have changed lives all over the world? Then come claim your free session at your local 9Round studio. Follow the link below to kickstart your fitness transformation today!