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Keep it easy for yourself to Keep fitness in your life

Since I (obviously) work from home, going to the gym used to be a great change of scenery, a way to get out of the house (office) for a while – except that I would usually stay out running “errands” which usually consisted of unnecessary stops to Target or the mall.  I ended up with sculpted shoulders for sure, but my work product was definitely suffering.

 

So I cancelled my gym membership…….6 months later my work was back on track, but I hadn’t done a single burpee.  I had to reassess my priorities:

• It’s important for me to have fitness in my life to (1) be healthy for my family and (2) keep making money, and
• It’s important for me to save time by not driving to and from the gym.

 

Now that I had my WHY (my reason for not only exercising, but for exercising at home), how did I start doing it?

 

I can’t say there wasn’t a trial period when I picked up my dumbbells at home.  It was AWKWARD.  I didn’t (and still don’t) want to work out in front of the hubby, or let anyone see me in the window.  Doing squats where my postal worker or neighbor can see me made me feel like an idiot.

I also went searching through my whole house for any excuse to put the exercising aside – laundry pile, dishes pile, grocery list.

It took some tweaking, planning and mindset shifting to finally take this seriously and make it a real and regular part of my day.

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Here are the tips I used to

Break Through Exercise Excuses:

 

1. Put out workout gear the night before along with your next-day’s outfit. I actually workout in my PJs in the mornings.  If you can, pick out your workout (grab one from the list below!) and which area in your house you will be exercising, the night before.

 

2. Pick workouts you love & if possible, invest in one small piece of equipment that will help you do a workout you love. If you love:

• Cardio, get a step or jump rope.
• Boxing, get a pair of gloves (These are decent but don’t come with wraps).
• Yoga, get a mat & yoga block (I haven’t purchased one but will update this if I do!).
• Weight lifting, get a small set of weights or some resistance bands (good for the shoulders).
• Also consider your fitness goals.  For balance for example, BOSU balls are great & small enough to fit in a closet.

 

3. Do it in the morning, especially if you regularly put it off.  Wake up and put on your workout stuff to make it harder to talk yourself out of it.

 

4. Make it a priority. Remember your WHY.  Just like brushing your teeth – you gotta fit it into your day or you’re going to have bad breath.  Plan out your week if you have to (I kind of have to).

 

5. Take it easy. One of the things that always drove me away was the soreness after working out.  I wouldn’t work out for months & then go hard to make up for the lost time – then the muscle soreness for days after made me drop it altogether.  The workouts on this list are almost all under 20 minutes – the idea here is to bring fitness into your life on a manageable level.

 

6. DO NOT BE HARD ON YOURSELF and especially don’t couple working out with ANYTHING else.  If you group your “I’m gonna work out” together with “I’m gonna eat healthy and I’m gonna wake up early” you’re going to feel like a failure if you hit snooze or ate a cookie & that’ll make you skip the workout.

 

**QUICK TIP: Sometimes you just have to tell yourself you’re doing it – like I had to seriously say out loud “I AM NOW GOING IN THE LIVINGROOM IT’S ARM DAY” the first time I gave exercising at home a real shot. It worked great!

 

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Now that you have your WHY and you closed up the “excuses” box, let’s get down to the workouts!

 

Here are 6 workouts you can do at home: 2 real-time workout videos, 2 videos that show the moves but are not working out with you, and 2 workout articles with pictures.  Some need a set of dumbbells, some need only a mat!

**None of these are sponsored, these are actual workouts I personally use at home**

**Check with your doctor before starting any new workouts!!  

 

Video Workouts: Real Time

My favorite workout videos are the ones where the person is working out real-time with you – there’s no rewinding/pausing awkwardness to mess up your sweaty groove:

 

16 Minute Hotel HIIT Workout

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I LOVE this one from the Body Coach TV – absolutely no equipment & if you can get through it twice you’ll be sweating your butt off.  This one is super low-impact (no jumping) and quiet enough to do before anyone wakes up.

 

17 Min Home Leg Workout Routine

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HASfit is another great real-time workout video series – there are two instructors, one does beginner moves and one does intermediate/advanced moves, so you can follow along at your level, or challenge yourself.

 

Workouts: Video But Not Real-Time

These videos show you the moves but don’t exercise the entire time with you:

 

Tracy Anderson’s 7-minute cardio workout

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Tracy is sort of doing the workout with you here but she doesn’t time it, its 3 really interesting weight-transfer moves with around 40 reps per move.

 

 

Beginner Upper Body Workout & Tips

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 by YouTuber Whitney Simmons – this one is basic-basic-basic if you are literally picking up dumbells for the first time – gotta start somewhere.

 

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Workout Articles: No Video

At least I dont have to write anything down! 🤷‍♀️

40-minute do-anywhere body weight circuit

This one’s from Popsugar is a doozy, it’s the longest at 40 minutes, but there’s no jumping involved for those of us with bad knees.

 

The No-Equipment Workout You Can Do At Home

This one from Oprah.com says “no equipment” but you do need an incline for one of the exercises (a stair or sturdy piece of furniture will do).

 

There you have it! Take a breath, point your body in the direction of your workout stuff & set your timer for 25 minutes.

 

What workouts do you love to do?  What is holding you back from exercising regularly? Please let me know in the comments, I love to hear from you!

-XO, Mina

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Here are some more posts that might be helpful:

–How to Reduce your WAHM Stress Level in ONE Day

–How I Meal Prep Lunch, Snacks & Dinner Working From Home + 3 Days of Recipes!

–5 Quiet Tips to Incorporate into Your Early Morning Routine

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