It’s a Family Thing
I’m really lucky that I grew up in an active and healthy household. My parents used to cut up veggies for me as a snack, always grew tomatoes in the garden out back during the summer, took me camping and hiking just about every summer, and were always game for some wiffleball in the backyard, tennis at the local park or a game of HORSE (where they probably let me win more than I realized). When I was a teenager, my mom and I would even hit up the local community center to work out. It was there, in fact, that I took my first group exercise class and started lifting weights. It definitely set the stage early, and I’m so grateful for that.
So, I shouldn’t be overly surprised that my parents are still fit and active. But I’m so grateful that they are! My mom is reading our book and doing the 10-Minute Fixes and workouts, and they walk all the time and even hit up a local gym on the reg. For birthdays and holidays a lot of the time, they ask for new workout shoes or active apparel, and I happily oblige.
Although, for this Mother’s Day, I think we all took it up a notch in the fitness department. Because we celebrated in the way my mom requested — a barbecue (smoked chicken, bacon-wrapped chicken livers, jalapeno poppers and salad, strawberries), lots of goat wine, and you know, putting together a TreadClimber.
Bowflex reached out to me a few weeks ago about getting a TreadClimber to review, and alas, none of us FBGs had room in our homes to put it (even though, for the record, the TreadClimber does have a smaller footprint than a treadmill). I know, #FBGproblems. But, I mentioned offhand to my mom about the opportunity and she jumped at it, saying that we could totally put it in their basement and I could come over and use it whenever I wanted. And, she could use it, too. Ding, ding, ding, we had a winner!
So, we (and by “we” I mean mostly my dad and Ryan) spent Mother’s Day putting together her new fit goodie: the TreadClimber. Assembling took a little more than two hours and wasn’t exactly easy (especially one part that required pulling a small cable through a hard-to-reach hole in the base — see middle right photo with the flashlight), but they got it together and working, and we all got to play on it.
I got my mom a custom-made Fit Bottomed Mama workout towel to wipe that sweat during her workouts (from just a few minutes on it, there’s no doubt that the TreadClimber is a sweat-inducing workout), and she’s pumped to have a new piece of fitness equipment at home to use. After all she and my dad have done for me over the years, it only feels right to pay it forward. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Do your parents work out? How did you celebrate Mother’s Day? —Jenn