Growing up I always enjoyed being physically active - whether it be basketball, swimming, cheerleading, or dance - I was always busy. Of course the past few years have brought some changes to my life: graduating college, getting married, getting a "big girl" job; but
I still tried to make exercise a priority. I took long walks in the summer, tried fitness classes at gyms; I even found my love of yoga! This led to me becoming a certified instructor and then teaching at a local gym and studio 4x/week...not to mention trying to practice yoga on top of that. Did I mention I like to stay busy? ;)
However, my biggest life change of all came last year when I found out I was pregnant. During those 9 months I was constantly hot, exhausted, nauseous, suffered from extreme headaches and had to pee every 30 minutes (this is not an exaggeration)! Working out was not something I looked forward to, and I spent most of my free time sleeping on my living room couch.
Teaching yoga also became a struggle the further along I got in my pregnancy. I couldn't stand even the slightest amount of heat, demo-ing certain poses became a challenge, planning classes seemed to take me longer; and with me being so tired, I started to not look forward to teaching and unfortunately felt "burnt out"...by summer of last year I took a break from teaching so I could have more time to prepare for Eli.
After Eli was born in November, my exercise motivation unfortunately didn't kick in right away. I had a minor case of the baby blues, but also lack of sleep, lack of energy, and scheduling my days around baby left zero room for me-time. I was so focused on everything baby that even taking a shower and eating a meal became a luxury.
Eight months later, I finally think I'm catching on to this "mom" thing ;) After I returned to work in January I realized I needed to start prioritizing at least some "me-time" time during the day - whether that be reading a book, spending time with my husband ALONE, hanging out with friends, writing, or DANCE, or YOGA...I needed something to remind myself that while I may have a billion responsibilities, taking care of me & my sanity is important, too.
So my WOD (Workout of the Day) really varies day-to-day. Reason being? TIME. I now understand my clients who say that fitting in exercise is hard...because it is! [Especially when you have an infant who needs to be constantly watched because he likes to crawl away, climb things he shouldn't, put things in his mouth he shouldn't...you get the idea.] Just remember that anything is possible if you set a goal and make it a priority. I may not increase my heart rate substantially everyday, but I try to do some type of movement ~4x/week.
What kind of "workouts" does this mom like to do? First- I hate the word "workout" because in my mind, that provokes something that doesn't sound fun. You'd never catch me outside running, or doing crossfit or P90X videos... so plain & simple, I don't do those. Exercise, or just moving your body, should be something you enjoy....you're more likely to continue doing it, you forget you're doing your body good, it gives you energy while also helping promote better sleep at night.
Find a way to move your body that makes you feel good and that you like doing.
Below I've listed information, videos, websites, etc. of activities I enjoy doing that hopefully will inspire you to find something you like to do (if you haven't already!)
COMMUNITY YOGA
While as a teacher I can go through my own practice at home, it is nice to take classes from other yogis every now and then. While studio memberships can get very expensive, during the summer months I've been trying to take advantage of as many free community classes/events as I can. Some cities have yoga in the park programs, pop up yoga classes, and free community yoga. Here are the links for Des Moines area yoga classes that I've taken part in:
^^^ this is the studio I received my certification from and taught at. They offer free and reduced priced classes multiple times per week at many of their locations! They also have community events throughout the year that are free to attend. Check their Facebook page for updates.
DANCE
Many dance studios have adult dance classes you can take; but most of the time my schedule doesn't allow me to make it to a class. Thankfully there is YouTube and the internet to help mommas like me out! When I was pregnant I found an awesome hip hop dancer whose youtube channel had prenatal workouts; now that I'm post -pregnancy I've found she has fun, sexy workouts that are usually 30-45 minutes or less! What an easy way to fit an entertaining workout in!
My husband Dee, along with a few of our friends, started a dance group Midwest Vision that's aimed to make dance accessible to everyone - adults included! They host drop-in hip-hop classes and workshops every month. I plan on making more of these in the near future :)
MISC./ONLINE
Below are two other resources/links I have used to help me move more...Both are also FREE.
Now what does my 'WOD' really look like? I feel these photos may give you more of an idea ;)
Eli wanting to dance with me...
Community yoga with GoodVibes...don't let Eli fool you, he was crawling all over me the entire time :)
Yoga in the Park...and then in the car, because Eli got hungry...
Eli wanting to practice yoga with mom :)
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