I am super-psyched that my friend, Marlene has written this for our Busy Mom readers.  I’m off and on the exercise wagon (just keepin’ it real) but I have got to say, when I’m on it, I feel 1000000x better in every way.  I shoot for early morning as that’s the only time my kids will leave me alone 🙂  but anytime is the right time!  Moms, you need to take care of your beautiful, baby-making, husband-loving body.  My favorite workout (I have a fracture in my lower back) ended up being a yoga workout.  DON’T FREAK OUT.  I do what I like to call “Yoga without the Ya-Ya” (See the note I added at the end of this paragraph April 2019!) meaning I do all the stretches and strengthen my body while keeping my heart and my listening to my favorite, soul-healing music.  Try listening to this album by Shawn McDonald. My favorite song is called “Rise.”  Let’s RISE to this, moms!  We can do it!  <3 You want to run around with your grandkids some day with me, right?  It’s not impossible, it just takes some thought and determination.  Thanks Marlene for the encouragement!

EDITED APRIL 2019: Women, I used to think Yoga really was just fine, disconnected, stretching, whatever.  I obviously said so right here! But I met a friend who was deeply entrenched in the Yoga world and the Lord used her to completely change my mindset on this.  I implore you, listen to these podcasts!

• Christianity and Yoga: Do they mix? Part 1
• Christian Alternatives to Yoga with Jessica Smith Part 2

xoxo

 

As moms and wives, we tend to be the heart of the home. We keep track of everyone’s schedule, meal plan, cook, clean, and somehow have to find time to take care of ourselves. More often than not, our health and fitness tend to fall to the back burner. It’s not easy making time to workout, and when we do make the time – guilt often follows shortly after. At least that was my experience. But this year I’m making it a goal to live a healthier lifestyle.

I’ve realized that if I’m not at my best, I can’t possibly offer my family the best version of me. So after some time planning and reflecting on how to do this, without going all crazy and jumping in head first, I broke it down into baby steps.

First, I started with reducing my sugary drink intake. I swapped anything high in sugar (soda, juices, etc.) for green tea or water. Making this one change alone made a huge difference in how I felt and how I responded to everything around me. Every so often I’ll treat myself, but it’s definitely more of a treat now than a way of life.

Next, I worked on my eating habits. I cleaned up our meals and have switched to high protein meals which keep me full and help me feel more energized. We all seem to be thriving on this, and I’m feeling much more energetic!

Now, I’m full force working on my physical fitness. I’m not aiming to be a fitness model, nor a body builder, but I do want my body to be strong.

My first goal was setting up a mini home gym. I have everything I could possibly need to legitimately get a good full body workout. I like to switch things up every so often, and some days the garage is just too hot to workout in, and on those days I turn to fitness videos.

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Here are my favorite at-home workout videos

Ballet Workouts

• Ballet Beautiful Total Body Workout – Low impact, no jumping around like you would do in aerobics videos. I tend to have back problems, and workouts like these are my favorite.

Pilates

I’ve been doing Pilates off and on for years. They are similar workouts to ballet movements. There are many Pilate workout videos now, but here are my favorites:

• Winsor Pilates Upper Body Sculpting
• Winsor Pilates Bun & Thigh Sculpting
• Winsor Pilates Maximum Burn

Jillian Michaels

• Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred
• Jillian Michaels: 6 Week Six-Pack
• Jillian Michaels: Shred-It With Weight
• Jillian Michaels: One Week Shred

The cool part about most of these, is that they are available for free on Amazon Prime Instant Video if you are an Amazon Prime customer.

These next videos are all free and can be found on YouTube!

• Legs, Abs, Arms from Blogilates
• The Push Plan Challenge (Arms and Core) from Blogilates
• Full body workout from Jessica Smith TV
• A GREAT inner thigh workout from POPSUGAR Fitness

What are your favorite ways to work out at home?

Read more about Marlene in her Author Box below!