So I've realized that it's harder for me to exercise when I don't have the motivation of losing weight or training for a race or something. Maybe that's why I've never been great about exercising while pregnant. Except that awesome water aerobics class we took 4 years ago, remember Amber?
But anyway, exercising for a healthy and strong body? You know motives like taking care of our body and preventing future health problems? Yeah, doesn't push me through a hard workout. Like last night, I did one of the 30-day shred workouts and kept saying "Why am I doing this?" and "This is stupid."
So I need to grow up and mature. In the mean time, any suggestions to keep me actually trying while working out?
You're probably one of those people who has been thin all your life. :) I usually try to do something that I enjoy. My 4 year old was commenting, when I was doing a 30day shred video, "Mom! Your exercise dvd is too long!". I asked her what she would like to do instead, "I want to do my OWN exercise" and proceeded to run around in circles.
ReplyDeleteI would say, figure out what you love (dance, hike, run, bike, fence, climb, swim...) and then do that. I usually have a few videos that I rotate through so I don't get bored with them (I get VERY bored with repetition). When it was warmer I would go play with the kids on their jungle gym in the back yard, and man, that was a workout too!
One thing that I absolutely LOVE (because it doesn't wear you out, but gives you a good workout) is yoga. I used to think it was for sissys, until I saw what the yoga instructor (on the video, of course) could do. :) I found yoga to be the only kind of exercise that I had the energy for after a long day at work.
Hope that helps a little. :)
Angela, you're amazing! I'm on day 11 of 30 day shred and I struggle and am out of breath most days - you're pregnant and doing it!?! Nice job! I don't know if this will help and I haven't had a child so...maybe just think how toned you'll be...or how awesome your arms and legs will look especially in month 8 and 9 when maybe you're not feeling as well as you'd like...and possibly how much more muscle you'll have to burn off extra weight quicker post-baby? I'm sure one day when I have a baby it will not be easy for me to look at the bright side of any of those things...But, just remember that you're amazing for even doing it. :) Thanks for keeping us motivated.
ReplyDeleteYou're not shallow...you're just like most of society! That's why any fitness trainer worth their salt will give the mantra, "Find what you love and do it." I find group classes of any sort really get me motivated (though I don't make it to many these days with G's weird schedule and my own reticence to venture to the gym amid flu season). I love cycling and Kickboxing, so those classes and videos (Kickboxing, cycling videos are hard to come by or do...) are my favorites and are more likely to get me out to exercise than just doing my own thing. After that, being able to exercise with someone. And last, just doing something I enjoy at home.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have G, my motivation for living healthily comes in the form of wanting him to have a good example to follow. But part of that is helping him know that exercise and eating well can be fun, tasty, and not a chore! Sometimes, that can be hard to model!
Do you want to borrow some workout DVDs? I have a fairly large library...and Netflix has a few available for streaming. The library is another great source. I used Netflix and the library a lot at one point when I was at a loss for anything else to keep me going.
I completely oieced together todays workout. So glad for this challenge - I would NOT have exercised at all, otherwise. 10 minutes on eliptical (then baby wanted to be held). So we went upstairs and I stepped on and off of their kid chair while they played with toys for 5 minutes. My legs are tired! 3 hours later came 5 minutes of hand weights. Ad then an hour later 5 minutes of stretching followed by 5 minutes of leg lifts. But it is DONE.
DeleteWay to go Jen! Hang in there! Are you up for running another 5k at 8 months? :)
DeleteOf course I remember it, Angela! I think to those days...ah! I still frequent a water aerobics class here, for the reason main reason that I get overheated and that class that summer showed me how much water can relax me. (I HAVE to be able to get wet during the summer!)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I only recently had the luxury of going to the gym for classes and such; before then, I was trying to rely on my old soccer training routines, and frankly, those didn't work. They involved a lot of running, and I don't see a point to running unless there's a ball in front of me. And there's not. At least not yet.
I would second what some other have said. Find what you like. Dancing is awesome. running is hard work and in my opinion, boring. When we lived in MA I would rent videos from the library called Dance to lose it, or something like that. So just branch out, or just wrestle with your kids! Good luck!
Two things that motivate me to exercise are (1) having a work-out buddy/friend (2) or having a good book to read if I'm on the treadmill or elliptical. :)
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