Monica says "I can't just do it, but I gotta do something!"
I am hoping that once the weather is warmer I will be so excited to get outside running again, that once the evenings are longer it won't feel like bedtime by the time I get home at 6:30pm at night! Basically, I'm just hoping something happens to get me back on the motivated train because lately, working out has just been a chore by the time I can squeeze in the chance to actually do it.
I have given myself "goals" of working out every day - but let's face it, that is just too hard for me and my lifestyle. Some extra-motivated folks may say "well, then you're just not motivated enough!" or "that's just an excuse, you can workout everyday if you try harder!" But yea, not so much. I did it in the few months before my wedding, but even that was difficult and I didn't even have a kid AND belonged to a gym that was a 10-minute walk away that I would go to WITH my husband!
I was uber motivated again to shed the last of my baby weight last summer and got into running and even signed up for a "Boot Camp" class at the park district. I did lose the weight and it was fun and felt great, but I did have to sacrifice precious evenings with my daughter in order to do it. Even just going out for a 30min run can make me feel guilty sometimes that I'm basically taking that Mommy time away. It is a means to an end at times, though, as working around my schedule leaves little time for exercise. Even now I sometimes will workout before Addison's bedtime just to get it done because I know laziness and tiredness takes over too easily.
Ok, so long story long - now that you know my back story and woes, you understand my motivation to "Just Do Something!"
I am taking a leadership class through work, and one of the segments focused on time management. The part that spoke loudest to me was taking time from the "waste zone" and putting it into the "proactive zone", since that can be in our control.
I have adapted to this thinking, by instead of sticking myself with the daunting goal of working out 30min+ every day - giving myself an ongoing way of thinking to just work out when I can. Because let's face it, what happens when I'm a little tired and just not in the mood to work out - or get caught up in housework and have a busy weekend? I think of working out and just roll my eyes and say to hell with that. So to supplement, I've started doing little exercises intermittently as I carry on with the usual tasks of my day. Here's some examples:
- Calf raises or side bends/twists while brushing my teeth
- Sit ups/push ups/leg raises while watching TV
- Pausing to do a few squats while cleaning
- Running up the stairs instead of just walking
- Walking briskly and taking the long route to get water at work
- We have a chin-up bar attached to our spare bedroom doorway outside the bathroom so while Addison takes a bath, Tim does a few chin-ups!
- My boss and coworker recently purchased exercise balls to sit on at at their desks for chunks of time throughout the day
- Addison likes to play "Unning Too" which is basically her just running circles around the house and making us run with her. Well, instead of just fake running slowly at her pace, I've started to exaggerate my steps (like running in place). Well after 10min or so of this with her, my heart rate is definitely up and I'm out of breath!
So I'm not saying this in any way replaces the benefits of a solid workout, but we're all busy and we're all unmotivated at times. But if I can at least "Do Something" - it feels way better than not doing anything!
With that - I'm going to go speed walk to refill my water!
