exercise ? for moms

[choeve]

I have a question for all you moms of small children. My husband is working nights so I am basically living the life of a single parent. I get my daughter up in the morning and ready for daycare, she is only 2, because my husband is not home from work yet. I take her to daycare, go to work an hour drive away, pick her up at night because now my husband is sleeping, and I don't get home now until after dark. I feed her dinner and bathe her and get her ready for bed which leaves very little time. Just for a little background. I cannot leave the house to exercise without dragging my daughter out before or after dark so walking and such is out of the question. What do you guys that cannot get out of the house and have no equipment do for exercise? I have two dvd's one aerobics, one toning, and I have weights 1 lb, 3 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb and 15 or 20 not sure since I cannot lift them. LOL I need something fast but very effective but not so hard a 295 pound 44 y/o woman can do it. Any suggestions? Oh yeah also I am broke so I cannot afford to buy anything. LOL

[Lyssie]

Does your work have a gym? It's how I get exercise in. My 3 year old steals the TV for Thomas the Tank Engine. You can do a lot of exercises just with dumbbells, if you're looking for weight training with them, I can give you a list or whatever for a full-body type thing (I made one up for myself when time got short). Other than that, I say do your DVDs until they annoy you, then rent from the library/blockbuster/etc. I don't know if you have any of these memberships... or if you have cable, there used to be a station that would do workouts with you (like a dvd only they alternate). If you want some VHS workouts, I'd be happy to give you some of mine that I don't do anymore.

[choeve]

No workout room at work and no access to vhs either just dvd. Already tired of the two dvd's, that's why I am asking. LOL

[Elizellen]

Sadly I have no children so have no firsthand experience to offer you solutions,but I have a few thoughts that might help.

I cant remember offhand which of our members posted that she has devised exercises she can do lifting her small child which allow her some resistance training while bonding with and amusing the child, but I am sure someone out there will be able to remind me so I can find a link to the thread about it (please!!)

Do you have some music you like to dance to? I am sure your 2 year-old would love dancing along with you at home in the morning as part of the getting-up routine, and even love doing your exercise dvd's with you!

I hope this helps and am sure some other members will have other ideas for you too!

[2big4mysize]

you have the most wonderful equipment in your daughters body.

you can lift her and have some specal bonding play time too.

you can hold her our in front of you and bring her to your face for some specail smooching to work your bicepts and tricepts you can lift her up in the air have her pretend she is a plane and hold her for sholder work you can do squats and lunges holding that " plane" for some resistance work too.

of course you can lay down and fly her on your foot for some leg work too and let her sit on your foot and hug your shin for some lower leg extentions.

you can do cruches with her sitting on your chest for some resistance there and pushups with her ridding you gently too.


libraries are wonderful places to get exercise videos like walkaway the pounds for beginners and even harder ones too.

[choeve]

Very good suggestions. Things we can do together are great.

[2big4mysize]

oh try to let her do your exercise video too. i can fondly remember as a 2 yr old doing TV exercises with my older sister and mother. had no idea what I was doing but if mommy was doing it then it must be something I should do too.