I thought about titling this post: Ten Reasons I Prefer to Exercise at Home, but then realized that I’ve never really worked out in a gym, so I can’t compare. I’ve had memberships a few times . . .
10. I’ve never been successful working out in a gym. I just don’t go.
9. It’s more difficult to say I don’t have enough time when I don’t have to add in time for loading up the kids and driving to the gym. Not impossible, just more difficult.
8. There are tons of options for workouts. From DVDs purchased at Walmart, to VHS tapes purchased at garage sales, to DVRed workout shows, to Bella Dancerella
7. No one sees me sweat, except for my kids of course.
6. I’m glad that my kids see me work out. I think this is very important, as they need to know that being healthy takes effort and requires time management. Sometimes, my kids work out with me. It depends on their mood, and the workout. The boys like anything with weights, my daughter likes to dance.
5. And this one is now just a precious memory, but it’s a guarantee that if you do any on-the-floor exercises, babies will think it’s playtime and come crawl into your lap. Love it!
4. I don’t have to worry about not having a personal trainer. My kids are eager to correct my form. “Mommy, that lady is lifting her knees much higher than you are.”
3. It gives me a reason to clear at least some floor space of clutter.
2. If I stick with one workout for a prolonged period of time (I said IF), I can start to feel superior to the class participants on the DVD who make the same mistakes every . . . single . . . day.
1. Knowing that the workout I should be doing is right there next to the TV . . . eliminates excuses. And I have to find every way I can to eliminate excuses. Because I’m so gifted at them.
And for those who asked a while back, I’m ready to give my report on Zumba for the Wii
I’m so considerate.
Anyway, I’m still just doing the 20 minute workouts, and I like that there are multiple choices at that level and time commitment. I found that there is one I really don’t like, but with lots of other options, I’m ok. I really do like the interactive aspect of the workout. My concentration is on keeping the girl on the screen green. Which means that I’m not concentrating on my own misery.
At least not as much.
I’m also less likely to cheat and give up before it’s over, because I know that there is going to be a score at the end.
As far as a solid workout goes, I’m still not totally sold. It’s very dance-based, and the ones I’ve done so far don’t seem to work on specific problem areas. But I’m trying to put more into it, lunging deeper and shaking my hiney a little faster, and that helps me feel more burn. Honestly, I took about a week off because I was getting discouraged that I wasn’t getting an intense enough workout. Then, I realized how stupid that was. A workout, any workout, is better than no workout. And the better I get at it, the more intense the workout feels, so I need to give it more time. Make sense?
Seems to parallel my housekeeping issues. Shocker.
I’m linking this up over at Top Ten Tuesday at Ohamanda.com.
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I too love the idea of the kids seeing us sweat and learning that it's a daily part of life and not always fun or easy.
I laughed out loud at feeling superior to the girls in the dvd making the same mistakes:)
Keep it up!
I agree! I love to do cardio first thing in the a.m. I really don't want others to see my "bed-head"! I try to do my strength training at the gym 2x/week, though… I just cannot replicate some of the machines at home. But, something IS better than nothing, for sure!
You go girl!!
Hmmm….I think I need a wii fit. My mom has one and she swears by it! But even dancing w/the wii sounds scary…
😉
First, before I forget: You have a Justin Bieber ad on your blog! And it is cracking me up! (Thank you, Google.)
Anyway. For now, I'm working out at home, too – and I love that my daughter is seeing me do it!
way to workout! I'm also an advocate for home exercise dvds–I have almost all of Jillian Michaels' workouts. *ouch* 😀
Your number 6 is so true – we need to remember that we are modeling lifestyle choices to our kids. Might just have to check out the ZUMBA for the Wii.
#2 cracked me up. 🙂
I have Jillian Michals 30 Day Shred BUT it is kinda scary to me, lol. One of these days I’m gonna bite the bullet and work it into my workout routine. The videos I really love and use almost every workout are anything by Leslie Sansone. I have several of her Walk at Home/Walk Away the Pounds videos and I LOVE them. Moves are not complicated or hard and it’s a really good total body workout. With alot of them I can get my cardio and strength training done at the same time. Did I mention I love these workouts? 🙂
You give me so many insights into my own abilities, ‘. . . excuses. Because I’m so gifted at them.’ ;0)
Not to mention ‘considerate’ for exercising at home.
You also helped me realise that I’m a germaphobe, Nope. I didn’t know that (even though I used the term in my first comment I totally stole it from you), which made me realise the impact it had on my cleaning choices. You helped me understand the value of daily tasks beyond doing the dishes – I’ve been doing them every day (almost) for a couple of months now and the difference is incredible. But it was you that got me sweeping every day and WOW – thank you. And you helped me figure out that I will have to start doing the bathroom regularly and probably some kind of daily put stuff away. And you helped me realise how I too blame inanimate objects for my messy ways, that i too can walk past something a zillion times and think ‘I should pick that up’ but don’t. And these insights into my own slob ways have helped me so much more then I expected when I thought I was doing pretty well on my own. I’m not good at taking advice.
I took a long time to find out what works for me… gym memberships expired mostly unused because if I managed go out of the house for a while, then I’d rather go on a hike (lucky me to live in a beautiful spot) rather than go move weird machines in a stinky warehouse…
But I still need specific exercise to avoid back pain.
So I looked for a while and found a serie of exercises meant for… old people. Like much older than I am. But it works! No back pain! There is no heavy lifting and jumping around, I need no equipment at all and the best… it takes me 8 time 30 seconds. 5 little minutes and I won’t be sweaty and need to shower afterwards? I can do that everyday.
Though dancing sounds really fun I wouldn’t mind doing it sometimes. But for the every day? I need my old-people-soft-exercices so that I’ll actually do them consistently.
Ok, I know this is super old, but just in case anyone else is reading from the beginning and might be able to use this, I *just* had a breakthrough about this exact topic this week.
I know this would not work for everyone, but I got rid of my coffee table. It still feels a little extreme, but I’m already seeing the benefits because…
The coffee table is BIG and always covered with junk, which makes it harder to move, and then even if I do move it out of the way, I find toys and remnants of snacks-past underneath and remember that I haven’t vacuumed the floor in forever because the coffee table/stuff under and around it was in the way. So, since I don’t have time to declutter the coffee table, wipe it down, put all the stuff back where it goes, tidy the whole living room and vacuum the rug, I just don’t have time to work out, right?
Bonus: now I don’t have to worry about procrastinating on moving the coffee table back to it’s proper spot for days because I’m *totally* going to work out again super soon… Nor do I have the ability to leave dishes on it and forget about them. It also makes it way easier to notice clutter on the floor and leaves more space for my little kids to play and be crazy without bumping into things. I’m just super happy about this realization that I never would have had the guts to try without reading your blog and learning to accept and work *with* the weird way my brain works, instead of trying to force myself to be “normal’ and have a perfectly clean, decorated coffee table that conveniently gets in the way of everything I should but don’t want to do. 🙃