Make the workout work for you

Let me just start by saying that I'm drafting this post at 2 AM.  Not because I'm a night wool, I mean owl (see, I ain't lying about the time!) but because I'm Mom to a nursing baby, as are many of you.  Exercise is important to me for several reasons - most noticeably that I tend to get cranky if days pass and I haven't found time to workout. My brain slowly switches to the my-kids-are-taking-over-my-life mentality, and it ain't pretty, so I try to avoid getting to that stage.  But as you can probably relate, the last thing I want to do after having my sleep interrupted several times during the night is to set an alarm  in the morning so that I can have my sleep interrupted again, even if it is to workout.   So here's some ways I have found to exercise! with my kids! without losing sleep over it!

The running game- we set the timer for three minutes, then I start chasing the kids around the house. After three minutes we switch whose turn it is to chase.  Our house isn't super big, but after five or more reps of this, especially using two levels of the house and incorporating stairs, your heart rate definitely gets up. The best part is how excited the kids are for this game. I figure a workout that gets my heart pumping at the same time it gives me quality time with my kids is a win-win.

The exercise video. A few years ago I would have shuddered at the mention of the word.  But now since it means I don't have to bundle up 5 bodies and trudge to the gym, I'm much more in.  The best part is if I don't get to the exercise video before the kids are up, they don't care.  They either play on their own or sit down and do the moves with me.  And tell me how much better the people are the screen are doing the moves as sweat drips down my nose.

So even if the weather looks like this outside:

there are still plenty of ways to get the heart pumping.  So grab your nearest child and get busy!