Fitting Exercise In

One of the things moms struggle with is fitting in exercise. We think that taking an hour for ourselves a few times a week is hurting our children and our families. The truth is you're hurting your family if you don't do it. How do you fit it in without feeling guilty? For a while I was getting my workout in first thing in the morning. Yup, up at 5 AM just to exercise. This seems to work for a few of my closest friends. It worked for me because my husband gets our son ready in the morning and takes him to school. Me not being present doesn't disrupt anyone's routine. I've recently had to start getting to work earlier. 5 AM is early enough. I can't do any earlier than that. Now I take my lunch break at the gym and eat at my desk. Sure there are days that work is too busy and I can't get away. My trick is to aim high and by the end of the week I accomplished what I needed to. By aim high I mean I'll plan to workout, lets say, 5 times a week. If I don't get to it twice I still completed 3 workouts for the week. The days that I don't get to the gym I still try to move around. If I have a busy day at work and can't get out for an hour to hit the gym I'll still give myself 20 minutes to take a walk. I don't count it as a workout but it is still physical activity. At night after my son goes down and hubby and I are ready to unwind in front of the television I lay my yoga mat out and stretch for 15-20 minutes. Again I don't count it as a workout but its good for me. Workout videos are also great. Sometimes my last workout for the week is an Insanity video Saturday morning before I clean the house.

Get the kids involved! Shortly after dinner I have a dance party with my son. We sing songs and dance. The sillier I dance the more he laughs. This is quality time with my munchkin. And it's a way for me to make sure I don't overeat at dinnertime. As my son gets heavier I get stronger. Have you ever met a toddler that didn't like getting thrown up in the air? I count and do it in sets. Get on the floor with them and copy them. Kids are limber. You might be surprised at the positions you end up in.

Set a goal for yourself and work towards it. I have two specific goals set for this year. One is to complete the Spartan Sprint in Pennsylvania in July. When I say complete I mean do all of the obstacles. If you don't complete an obstacle they make you do burpees. I don't want to do a single burpee! My other goal is to complete an official 10k at the same pace I do a 5k. I raced three official 5ks last year. My fastest time was under 29 minutes. My slowest was under 32. I will probably race two 5ks earlier in the year and save the 10k for September or October. This will give me time to train outside in the warmer months.

What are your goals? Is it to eat better? Take it one step and one meal at a time. Is it to be more active? Take it one workout at a time. In a month you might be surprised at what your body can do. I wish you the best in your journey to a healthy lifestyle. Until next time...

In good health,
Alana