Exercise....and why I don't do the gym

I am 30 years old and I have had three children.  I reckon I look pretty good actually.  Compared to most people, I am doing rather well.  I wear a size 8 jeans and I eat rather healthily most of the day (it all goes downhill once the kids are in bed, but hey, we all have our snack time!).  But just lately I have started to notice a wee bulge in the stomach area, not much, just enough to give me a "3 month pregnant" feel to the area...and a rather alarming growth in the kumu/thigh region.  Not enough for others to notice, but enough for me to start thinking "Hmm..perhaps it is time to revisit that (convieniently) "forgotten"  New Years Resolution I had made to exercise regularly"....drat.  Eating chocolate and corn chips in front of the TV seems a much better way to spend my evening, but my body apparently disagrees.

So I made about the sixth 'exercise schedule' of the year - you know how I love to make schedules - and pleaded and begged Marty to workout with me in the evening when the kids go to bed and just before I sit down, thus losing all energy completely for the day.  He wasn't that keen, but I reasoned my case well enough: A - I get bored with exercise...its not a social thing and nobody else relies on me to do it, so why bother?
B - I need someone to motivate me and hold me accountable - it worked well establishing my quiet times routine.
C - What on EARTH is the point of being married to a fitness/sports crazed man if he can't help me along my own health journey?!

So Marty caved, up went the new schedule on our calendar and yesterday we started off with a 30 minute total  body workout (it was on a 'Shape' DVD I have).  I love DVD workouts - they can't see me, but I feel part of a group and they give me encouragement and I don't have to think, just copy them!  And best of all, I can do it at home, after the kids are in bed.

Anyway, It was intense.  Unlike the rather deceiving smiling pretty girl on the front cover, this instructor was just downright MEAN.  We were both huffing and puffing as we did short cardio bursts that were crazy and brought the kids out of bed to find out what was making all that banging.  "Get ....(puff)...back in bed (huff)....we're just exercising (gasp)" we both yelled out as we performed squat jumps.

I was rather sore this morning, but not as bad as I thought I would be.  Tonight I went to jump on the exercise bike as Marty had done a bike ride at lunchtime and was off to homegroup...but alas, it seems our bike has broken.  Drat.  Must ask Grampa Muz to look at that.  In the meantime, I popped in my old 'Aussie Fit' fat burning workout.  Normally I save this DVD for the target area workouts, I try hard to avoid the fat burning routine for reasons you are about to read.  
Bright lycra filled my screen as headband clad 90's Australians beamed at me.  "Wahoo!" they gleefully yelled out as they grapevined across the screen.  Ah....THIS is why I don't want to join a gym (that, and the lack of funds).  I am always 3 steps behind them, and am always frowning in concentrated confusion and frustration as I attempt to master their steps.  And then, just when I get in sync finally....they change it and I am left jumping up and down on the spot waving my hands around, hoping they will move to something else soon.  Hey, jumping must be burning fat even if I can't keep up, right?!

I tried Zumba once.  I love to dance, figured this should be fun.  I managed ok as they taught me the first foot steps to each basic move...and then they told me to put it all together and away we go.  Or not.  Oh gosh.  The music started, they added in some fancy hand movements that they had NOT taught on the DVD may I add...and those amazing hip swaggers and I was left jiggling around like a lunatic again, wondering what on earth just happened!  Thank Goodness I had attempted this at home with a DVD and not at a class.

 Crazy stuff, that Zumba.  Give me squats, sit ups and lunges over aerobic dance any day!!   My FAVOURITE workout hands down is Denise Austin's "Shrink your female fat zones" (when you can get past her breathy voice purring at you "ohhh....that feels so gooood") but perhaps Marty might not be so keen on that one.

Well, lets hope this 'get fit' thing lasts and I can stop feeling like I am at the end of the first trimester.   I want to look great, it makes me feel great...and I really want to be able to run around kicking a ball with Luke one day without huffing and puffing after 5 minutes.  Feel free to ask me how I am going, I need a bit of peer pressure with this one!  Unlike my husband, I would much rather read a good book with a bag of Jalepeno Corn Chips at my side.