So my mate Chantelle has had this brilliant idea of getting a group of us together who’d like to make better choices about our health and wellbeing for a bit of support and encouragement: she’s called it the Good Life Gang, and it’s a Facebook group anyone can join.
I thought I might share the few things that have helped me over the last 10 or so years that I’ve been trying to move my body in a healthy way – I’m not into extreme exercise, but I like to do what I can to get off my butt and get the ole muscles moving/increase my heart health.
This is where I tell you I’m not a doctor or a professional, so seek their advice before you start.
What I am, though, is a work-at-home mum who does a a mix of walking (occasionally jogging), yoga, and at-home strength training. I have just started experimenting with home dance classes but I’m about as co-ordinated as an albatross. It does make me laugh though, and gets the heart pumping so it’s a win-win. Plus, the kids love it so we all have a bit of a dance break when we can to get the endorphins going.
I used to be a member of Fernwood gym for a few years, and I enjoyed using their equipment and going to the classes, but these days as a mum to a four- and a two-year-old, I just do everything at home.
Yoga
I have done plenty of yoga classes, including pregnancy yoga, but I like the flexibility (heheh) of doing it at home at my own time. I used to have two DVDs I watched to death (one was a Ginger Spice yoga series, you can laugh now), but nowadays I just follow the free classes of Yoga With Adriene on YouTube. She’s got a great range for every level, and she always keeps it gangsta. I like the spirituality aspect of yoga, but I do prefer a bit of a practical approach.
She also has a 30-day Yoga Challenge to get you into the mood – it was really helpful for me getting back into it after I stopped doing yoga for quite a while after number two was born.
Walking
Walking has been a bit of a non-negotiable for me since forever – it’s easy to do and requires no equipment. It’s what you can do when you can’t do anything else. I know it can be useful to keep a log or something else to keep you accountable and there’s all manner of devices and machines that go ping to help you to stay on track these days, but I don’t bother. A few years ago I signed up to RealAge (it’s called something different now) and used their Activity Tracker because it was in prehistoric times before iphones and their apps or fitbits and it was a bit of fun to chart my progress. You could always just use a regular ole calendar, but I liked how the Activity Tracker gave me a badge as a reward, haha. I always do at least 30 minutes as often as I can, but I’ll take what I can get.
Jogging
I’ve also half-done the Couch to 5k app, which I found to be awesome when I decided to start jogging (with a soft ‘j’) regularly. It is a gentle start and before you know it, you can run farther than you ever have before and it’s easier every day. I didn’t complete it as I cut my foot quite badly about 5 weeks in and then it was too hot to run outside. Then it was too cold. Now I’ll have to see about reviving it – I really enjoyed it.
Dancing
Oh man, this is outrageously hilarious. I cannot do this with anyone watching.
At first I decided to try the Carmen Electra Fit to Strip box set because hey I was in my 20s and it was cheap at JB Hi-Fi. There is a disc that’s just dancing (hip-hop style) and no stripping so thought I could give that a go. It didn’t quite work out, but then I found the aerobic warm-up and toning exercises on the first disc and I did them for years. They were great! And I could keep all my clothes on!
I recently found a link to Dance Fitness with Jessica in my inbox and decided to check it out. I cannot do any of the harder dances, but the beginner level ones are mostly do-able! I also love the ones that she does at home in her garage, kids wandering around all over the place – she even accidentally whacks one in the head, which gave me a good laugh as I tripped over my own child for the eighth time. It’s cool to do for something different, and I find that I’m concentrating so much on trying to do the moves that I forget to HATE THAT I’M EXERCISING! Such a bonus.
At home strength-training
I’ve always done some form of this throughout the years – from DVD workouts to exercises I found in books, to stuff I learned in classes and brought home with me. A few years ago I asked a friend who was a personal trainer to develop a lounge-room workout and it was very similar to what I was already doing. You can find it here (although Linda no longer is available for classes). I had originally asked her for “whatever a regular mum with two small children can do to tone up and be cardio healthy” and she totally delivered! It’s a really great way of getting simple moves in during the day, at home, around your work or kids.
I’m still working for that ass, for real.
Podcasts:
I am REALLY cautious when I listen or read advice about health and nutrition given online. I don’t abide bullshit and fear-mongering and I prefer to stick to common sense stuff backed up by science. So I’ve listened to plenty of podcasts and there are only a very few I recommend.
I found The Healthy Moving Podcast when I did Jen’s Stay at Home yoga program for a few months, and I really liked how she focused on how we should be conscious of how move our bodies all day every day, from a base of proper alignment, rather than 30 minutes of rapid exercise and then sitting around for the rest of the day.
I also don’t mind a few of Chalene Johnson’s episodes about movement and sleep. The diet-related ones I raise an eyebrow at, but you can find interesting and useful things in amongst all the topics she talks about. Chalene is best known for her workout videos and home fitness programs she developed in the US and it’s interesting to hear how her perspectives on fitness have evolved.
So these are my go-tos for getting my butt into gear – I hope they help!
If you have been doing something that works, please share in the comments – I love learning new things, and you just might help a friend 🙂
*image from here, modified by me.
I’ve tried lots of different things, and the only one that doesn’t seem like a chore to me is running. Not so easy to do with a 3 year old and a 5 year old in winter, so very much looking forward to the longer days and warmer weather to start getting out there again in the evenings.
I wish I liked running. But it gets too hard too quick and I don’t have the mental strength to push on when I hate every fibre of my being, everyone else’s, the world, and most asteroids
Horse riding, playing with the kid, yoga, kayla itsines program and walking for 45+ minutes 🙂 I hate exercise that feels like exercise!!
Hahah I did a boxing class once – NEVER AGAIN
Shhh, I too have Fit to Strip and love the exercise disk. I used to do the lap dance one when I was young and sad.
Downloaded Couch to 5K a while ago but it is now magpie season and my enormous fear of being swooped leaves me exercising at home so I have just signed up for 30 Days of Yoga. Thanks for pointing me in stretchy directions.
Stretchy directions are the best! Magpies are not. I really should pop in a Carmen video again, her trainer was great. Although I still say “nice and tight, nice and tight” like he did ALL THE TIME
Ah, a timely topic. Definitely feeling the winter spread. The 7-minute workout app is worth trying – I usually do it twice through, but even once is enough to feel the muscles working! (Disclaimer: I was doing it 4 times a week at the end of last summer, then it stopped working on my old phone and I fell out of the habit. I have recently downloaded it on my new phone, but have yet to relocate my mojo 😉
On the three days I go to work, I always head out of the office at lunch for a 25-minute walk. And I try to push myself to go for a jog on Sat and Sunday mornings when my husband’s around for the kids. I don’t think I go further than 7km on a good day! Other than that the only exercise I get is the movement involved in wrangling 2 young boys, and I don’t think it quite balances out the baked goods and alcohol consumption 😉
I love the yoga with Adrienne vids, but find this harder to fit in – the boys always want to stand/climb on top of me while I’m doing the poses and this harshes my zen.
oh man, I’m forever being climbed on! I ended up having to give them their own video to watch on the laptop while I did my own elsewhere. Otherwise i’m NOT ZEN haha.
I’ve heard someone else talking about the 7 minute app, they were doing it while they travelled extensively and were never in one place for too long. Sounds genius! I always forget apps though, which is why I never get them, haha.
Dont’ know how you run on weekend mornings, that’s rad! That’s totally my bludge on the couch for as long as I can time…
Dude, you made me guffaw multiple times in this post. Lucky I’m pretty diligent about the old Pelvic Floor Exercises… and that’s pretty much the only exercise I do these days.
Once upon a time, I did lots of kickboxing. But it just made me super angry and aggro. So as a Community Service, I stopped. I gotta check out these dance exercise things!
Guffawing is my game! I wish that was a workout.
Any kind of boxing just about kills me, I’m such a wimp. I’d probably die on the Biggest Loser. Also have done about 8 pelvic floor exercises in my whole life… not optimal…
this looks quite useful – I am always amused by get fit at home exercises I have seen using tins of soup instead of barbells – I love cycling if I have somewhere to go (not toooo far away) and am enjoying the Merri Creek bike path lately – a new discovery. But not easy to do with little ones. Might look at the yoga vids – tried some a friend recommended by they were a bit crazy and the intro looks more down to earth in these.
Oh Adriene is so do-able! I like her a lot. And I think I did the same kind of workout with those cans! It reminds me of 80s midday Oprah housewives
I love running although I’m very slow so I use the term loosely. It’s a great workout for both the body and the mind (kind of like meditation on the move.) It’s free, you can do as little or as much as you like and you can do it at a time to suit. Winning!
I wish I loved it, I really do! I like it but I’ll also get out of it any time I can, haha
I love to run but haven’t done any for over a year so I’m going to fix that very soon! I’ve been getting into Booty Barre which I LOVE not quite fit to strip but some definite shaking going on and some weight training. My soon to be new neighbour runs her own yoga studio from home so I’m going to make friends with her and take it up (I have resisted yoga for years but now now excuse) plus it will almost be like doing it at home!
MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR NEIGHBOUR!
I am so bad at the sports and the running and stuff. I do like the challenge of lifting heavy things and this is something i need to get back to somehow between working and mum-ing.
I know, it’s ridiculous trying to find time. I’ve failed 6/7 this week
I’m a yoga / walker from way back too. I think I fall into the ‘non-exerciser’ category of exerciser, in that I’ll do things for my mind rather than my body. Yoga and walking are both such creative things to do. I like them very much. I tried jogging for many years, but I think it was just too bouncy for me. THANK YOU for the introduction to Adriene. I did her Back Pain video last night and it was really, truly fabulous. x
Jogging just feels like 20 minutes of gruelling bullshit, so I can’t do it very often! I love how yoga is like: “do something strenuous for a minute, and then just sit there”. My favourite way to exercise, haha.
So my gyno and I got talking about how it only takes 30 minutes a day to get healthy – we talk about more than just my clacker – he’s a star and at a strapping 62, quite the gent now that he’s started PT. I feel it’s my time to reclaim my pre-kid body – like he said, I do have skinny legs and wrists and am not meant to be this porky. I paraphrase of course! Thanks for sharing x
hahah well it’s quite the paraphrase! Except I’m very concerned, as I’ve had an extensive conversation about this on social media, and I thought clacker was your arse. It was a VEHEMENT discussion. I’m sticking with arse, but this was too funny! I kept thinking “oh I’ll go back to doing stuff regularly when the baby grows up” and she turns three next week and I’m GODDAMN OUT OF EXCUSES! Are you in the group? We can do it together!
Yes I’m in the group – time to starve the skinny girl out of me, because quite frankly it’s 80 % food and less you shove in your gob the smaller you will become. xx
haha but I love food.
I haven’t done much exercise for a couple of years. I could get away with it because I was physical on the tools. But now the baby bulge ain’t budging and I need to get moving. I’ve started walking again and I love it.
I’m a massive fan of walking! I try to do it as often as I can. It’s so nice this time of year too – not so cold and everyone’s beautiful flowers are out!
Oh god I am so irritable at the moment because I haven’t exercised in 2 WEEKS (Yes. I am that sad douche. Minus the inspirational LJ slogan singlets). I’m a runner, I need that time to clear my head, and escape the kids. 😛 But I also love strength training (5-3-1 is a good program!), and high intensity interval training (HIIT) is da bomb too. I pop on some HIIT sessions via YouTube when pressed for time and the kids like to try and do it with me…. for 30 seconds and then they go and find a My Little Pony to fight over. I need to do yoga though- that chillness is what I need!
Mine would be fighting me over the YouTube and wanting to bloody watch MLP
I LOVE yoga, but suck at doing it at home. If its not the kids, the dog thinks its playtime and its bloody impossible. When I travel for work I use the fitstar app with Tara Styles (my girl crush) and I also box with the huz on super saturdays and we take turns running around the block in between sets while the kids play in the back yard and get in our way. Its fun punching the crap out of the huz! You should try it! xx
hahah! I can just imagine it now. I will totally go and google Tara Styles…