As regular readers know, I am making a real effort to get fit this year. The school run alone forces me to walk five miles a day, and I’m going out for a run with my arch supportive sneakers at least three times a week in the evenings. So far, I’ve been pretty disciplined and motivated and kept it up, but the summer holidays are looming, and that’s worrying me a little bit.
Without having the school runs to get me out and walking, I’m worried I’m going to lose the level of fitness that I’ve built up over the past couple of months. I’ll be doing everything I can to get out the house as often as I can with the kids, but it’s neither fair on them nor practical to drag them out for five mile walks every day. Not only that, but after the summer, I’ll be dropping one of the school runs because Alex will be at full-time school, so I need to find a way of compensating for that missed walk as well.
With this in mind, I’ve started to build up some equipment and workout routines to do at home. In an ideal world, I’d have the space for a treadmill and possibly a CrossFit trainer or exercise bike, but we just don’t have anywhere to put them, so that’s out of the question. Instead, I’ll be looking on YouTube for workout videos and using smaller pieces of equipment, such as these 1.5kg dumbbells and ab wheel from Discount Supplements. I’ve been using the dumbbells for a few weeks now, and they’re great. I don’t have a lot of strength at all in my arms, and I have a really dodgy left wrist, so I needed something fairly light to start off with and comfortable to hold, and these tick both of the boxes.
They’re nice to grip, and I leave them in the dining room. Whilst I’m waiting for the kettle to boil or the washing machine to finish, I do a few reps with them – every little helps! The ab wheel was a little trickier to get to grips with. It took more than one demonstration from Graham to show me how to use it, and lots of me collapsing on the floor in fits of giggles before I managed to use it properly. We did just try using it on the carpet, to begin with, but the wheels did catch a little bit. However, once my beautifully thick Yoga mat from Andrew James arrived, I could use it properly – my god – I can feel muscles in my stomach that I never realised I had! I really like the fact it has a brake on it to stop me overstretching myself.
The mat from Andrew James is lovely and cushioned and rolls up into a compact bundle, making it easy to store. I’m using it for ab exercises at the moment, but eventually, I want to look at Yoga as well, and this will be perfect. Even if you’re into Pilates, this mat would also be a great addition to your pilates equipment. It provides the perfect amount of cushioning and grip for the exercises and can help you achieve better results. The mum in me is also seeing other uses for it – for camping or for taking down to the beach to sit on!
I’m hoping over the next few weeks and months to incorporate these into a regular workout to help me improve my strength and tone up. It won’t replace the running and walking, but will form part of my fitness routine.
*Contains PR Samples. All thoughts and words are my own.
I’m sure you’ll manage to keep up the exercise in the summer with these bits. There are so many good workouts on YouTube. I love blogilates, yoga with adriene and the lean in 15 guy for hiit workouts.
Debbie x
My wife keeps herself a size 10 going on 8 by cleaning the house from top to bottom every week! Mind you, so is a bit OCD on cleanliness. She calls dust “The Spawn of the Devil”!!!!