How I’m Prioritizing Fitness
I had a hard time getting back into the fitness groove after my third child was born. There never seemed to be enough time, I was tired, and frankly, keeping groceries in the house and the laundry done were more pressing issues.
I tried to remain active with family walks and a workout DVD here and there, but I just couldn’t get my workout mojo back. It’s not easy when you have little time and lots of littles demanding most of that time.
It wasn’t any particular thing that flipped the motivation switch for me. But I did decide to make fitting in those workouts a top priority again. And it has to be a priority because if it’s not, it’s so easy to spend your time elsewhere. Is it easier to pick up your smartphone in your downtime and mindlessly surf the internet? Yep. Is it easier to sit at your desk during a lunch break rather than walk around the block? Yes. Is it better to instead get up and do a quick workout, even if it’s only 10 minutes? Certainly.
Instead of sporadically hitting workouts, I’d try to get in a workout almost every day. I’d do one of our FBG Challenge workouts while the kids played or do a lower body circuit while the TV was distracting the kids. When I go to Zumba on Saturday morning, I take advantage of the child-free time to tack on 10 minutes or so of strength training. If I’ve been unable to carve out time to even fit in one of my 10 minute sessions one day, I’ll bang out some push-ups while the baby does some tummy time.
Now that I’ve been steadily ramping up my fitness level for a couple of months now, I’m feeling stronger — and being stronger helps with everything. But it truly takes making it a priority, as much of a priority as eating, spending time with your kids, and going to work. Maybe you have to get some push-ups in while you’re watching TV or maybe you have to go for a walk after dinner with the kids instead of leisurely lounging. Maybe you have to get your kids involved because you only have precious few hours with them after daycare pickup and before their bedtime.
I discussed how each workout counts, and that was part of my problem at first. It’s easy to feel like just one workout isn’t going to make a difference when you’ve had some time off, but they do. They really do. Because what is one workout one week might be two workouts the next week. And two the next week. And then you might be hitting three workouts most weeks. It’s a snowball effect. Pretty soon, you’ll consistently be working out, and it hardly seems like an adjustment at all. But it’s true that you are what you consistently do — and if you consistently make it a priority, it’ll become a habit.
How do you consistently prioritize your fitness? —Erin