Squeezing That Exercise In!

"I'm so tired" or "I've had a long day" and how about, "I'll do it tomorrow". Yep, there are so many excuses to why you should not exercise but how about all the reasons you should? What if you said, "You know, I'm right in line for diabetes so I think I'll go walk to help keep my weight down to prevent weight being a cause." Maybe you could say, "I don't want to be a 1 in 3 woman with a heart issue so I'm going to walk to help decrease my chances of heart disease." Last one, "I want to sleep good tonight and feel great in the morning so I am getting my rump off the sofa and burning some calories!"

Sometimes we make excuses as to why we can't or don't want to exercise but hardly do we ever make excuses to make ourselves get up and get out.

My boys LOVE walking around the block with me. That's one of the "perks" to moving to our new house was for me. At our old house we lived on a very busy road and I would have to cross that road to get to a small neighborhood to walk a quarter of a mile one way. It's pretty boring having to walk the same scenery four times each way to get two miles in and half the time I was done after a mile because I was so bored.

Now we take walks after dinner and I use the excuse that my wacky, wonkey, silly pup, Holly, needs her exercise. The boys usually insist on taking the wagon so Judson can pull it for fun. Then Tucker will jump in and get him to pull him (he's very smart when it comes to these things) and then by the end of the walk I'm dragging them up a hill both ways in a wagon while Holly is steadily dragging me because she's not tired yet! Whew! One thing I do know, I'm getting a dang good leg workout when I'm pulling them! Haha

So, maybe you are like I used to be and don't have a great place to go walking or you work a weird schedule and it's dark when you get home. I work 30 miles from my house so during the winter months I definitely can't get the walking in so now is the time to take full advantage of the long days so I get it. What if you flat out HATE running or walking because you get so bored you can't stand it and then just quit. There are so many options that don't require a treadmill or a boring walk alone.

Well, so what can you do to "sneak it in" versus just skipping it???

Well, let's talk about a few things we like to do! If you know me, you know I take my boys almost EVERYWHERE! I feel it's so important for them to learn about the things we love and educate them on being around adults, having manners, trying new things, and being adventurous.

Last Saturday the Jaycees had our 5th Annual Splash and Dash down the river. It is our biggest fundraiser of the year and helps us do our bags for Foster Care. It is because of the Jaycees that the Queen of Bags Initiative got off the ground. I'm forever grateful to this organization, where I serve as Vice President, for helping me make a dream come true. Now it is our biggest donation event of the year! So this year I decided it was time for the boys to join us in the kayak trip down the river. All I can say is that they had an AWESOME time! We got them some tubes with a netted bottom and tied one to my kayak and one to mama's. Half way down my Father in law decided Mama needed a little break and he took over the pulling! LOL. All the rowing was great exercise and it was something new. My Mama had never kayaked and had admitted she was nervous but once she got out there she said, no lie, ten different times how relaxed she was and how much fun she was having! Kayaking is an awesome way to exercise and also a huge stress relief! If you have a lake or river near you, give it a try!

Next, I sneak in little things throughout the day to help me "stay on track". Eric totally makes fun of me but when I am curling my hair in the mornings I do 175-200 squats. It may not sound like a lot but I can burn around 100 calories doing that. Not a bad start to my morning and I've already gotten my mind set that I've done something!

Another way I squeeze in extra steps is by printing pages to the public copier and not the one in my office. I have to get up and grab them! I also have a stand up desk so I can burn several hundred more calories by working standing up. If you have never seen these desks, go check them out. I have one from Varidesk! www.varidesk.com

Lastly, at night I do hand weights. I can watch TV and do sets of 10 or 20 and get a sneaky arm workout to help those pesky under arm flaps. Tucker thought it was so funny when he asked why I was doing that when I told him, "Mommy doesn't need her underarm waving...just my hand!" Now he has some little one pound weights thanks to my friend, Cindy, so he like to do the weights too!

So, think of a creative way you can get outside and do something fun and get going! Take a swim, ride a bike, kayak, jump on the trampline with your kids! Whatever you do, find a reason why you SHOULD and stop making excuses. You are worth it! Your kids and your fur babies will thank you too!

Happy Friday Y'all!