Finding Time For Fitness

I truly didn’t think I had time for exercise before this year – and I certainly wasn’t very eager to shift my schedule around much to make time for it.  Now if chocolate is involved in an activity, I can make time f0r it - no problem.  But exercise?  That hasn’t made it consistently onto my priority list since high school.  And that was, you know…way back in the 1900′s.  ;)

So, how did this happen?  For starters, I had to just decide that I was going to be consistent with exercising - plain and simple.  I found that it really helped that I was going to be working out with a friend.  Accountability is key for me.

It wasn’t long before I started seeing results – mainly a huge increase in my energy level!  Then I started noticing that my muscles were more toned.  My lungs started to feel stronger.  My endurance level increased.  My belt needed to be tightened.

Somehow, since I have discovered that I love exercising, the time needed for it has magically appeared.  I’m guessing that this is because I’ve decided to make fitness a priority in my life.  I’m not really sure what I took out of my schedule in order to add in the workouts, but I have consistently been able to exercise four to six days each week since mid-January.  Somehow, I’m still able to get everything else done each day.  That probably has something to do with that increased energy I mentioned earlier!

Keep in mind – my children aren’t babies anymore.  I think that most people can find at least a little bit of time to exercise each week, but I know that I would not have been able to work out at my current level of intensity a few years ago when my boys were littler.  Could I have done something though?  Yes, I believe I could have – at least two or three days each week.  I sure wish I would have.  If I would have only known how good I would feel!

At this point, Jen, my friend and work-out buddy/personal trainer, and I try to work out five to six days a week.  Some days we get in about 30 minutes of resistance training (lifting weights).  Other days we take long walks – sometimes up to eight miles if we have time.  Occasionally we jog part of that walk.  Some days we do a 45-minute intense work-out video.  Some days, we can’t find time for a workout at all.

Our workout times vary from day to day.  We just try to grab those minutes that fit into the schedule, even if it means we can’t start a workout until 9:30 at night.  Ha!  Recently at a soccer game, she and I decided to go for a jog/walk while we waited for Justus’ team to warm up.  Then we took advantage of half-time too.  Hey, you gotta make it work whenever you can make it work.  And sometimes, while running around a soccer complex in front of dozens of people, you just have to realize that you’re a little bit crazy.  (Um, that would be me…not Jen.  Although she was with me, so…)