Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Workout Wednesday: No Gym, No Problem!

Once upon a time I used to rely heavily on a gym membership for my workouts.  I would use the treadmills, ellipticals, weights and participate in the group fitness classes.  While these workout options were great, the cost of having a gym membership were not so great.  My husband and I decided to cancel our gym membership before our son was born.  While I miss it at times, we are finding ways to fit fitness into our lives outside of the gym. 

I do have friends who go to the gym regularly, and this does work for many people.  For us though, finding ways to be active together as a family is critical.  I want my son to see his mom and dad being active.  When I was younger, one of my favorite memories of living with my dad was that we would have family dance nights.  We'd put Bon Jovi or the Go Gos on the record player and dance around our living room.  It was a blast!

Today, we are trying to create the same active lifestyle in our family.  For example, tonight we took a walk with our son and dog to a nearby park.  We stopped for a few minutes to push our son on the swing, and then we headed to an open field to let our dog run.  To make it fun and to push our dog to really run fast, my husband and I would take turns sprinting around the field, having our dog chase us.  My husband held our son who giggled like crazy to be bouncing around with his dad!  We had an amazing time and got a pretty good workout in the meantime. 

For me, the biggest obstacle I have to being fit is TIME.  Working out takes time and going to the gym takes time.  I don't want to waste precious time that my husband and I could be spending together with our child, just to make the trip to the gym.  What I realize is that by finding things to do together that are also active, I can have the best of both worlds.  I can stay in shape AND I can enjoy my family. 

Stay tuned for more Workout Wednesday posts.  I will talk about some of the other ways that my family and I stay healthy.  If you missed them, check out my posts on Fitness Plan Friday and on being a Fit Family

Your turn!  What does your family do to stay fit?  Is it a focus in your life?  Is this an area that gets neglected?

2 comments:

  1. Great post! Exercise NEEDS to be a bigger focus . . . I really like the Turbulence Training plans and do well with them (there are several free workouts online) and I can do them at home with the equipment we already own. But, I haven't done them lately.

    I think the main thing is that my son (who just turned six months old) wasn't sleeping through the night. at all. He is now only waking up once or so, and I'm feeling much better and ready to begin focusing on my fitness goals again. Without sleep, I can't focus on anything! :)

    Best,
    Sarah

    PS - We also love walks to the park with our little ones. We go several times a week when we can!

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  2. This is so great! Before becoming a mom I was a personal trainer. I love the gym but we don't want the expense right now. We go hiking as a family and after the kids go to bed my husband and I workout with Wii or Jillian or something that I put together. I love having two toddlers and being my pre-pregnancy weight. No excuses from me even though I gained 65 lbs with each pregnancy.

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