#angegetshealthy – Backyard Workouts

One of the things I like most about Active Mums is that many of the exercise can be done, safely, anywhere, without any fancy equipment. While we’ve been on holiday from the classes, I’ve been working out in our backyard or in the lounge, with my own special helpers.

When the sun has been shining (pretty much most of the time since before Christmas), I’ve been getting out and mixing up some toning exercises with shuttle runs on the lawn. Using my mobile phone as a timer and music player has made it so much easier to keep track of how I’m going; doing press ups for two minutes sounds simple but without a timer, I find I always give up well before I need to!

Squats and lunges are fun and easy to do with kids – babies and toddlers make great extra weights – and my boys love copying me while I’m doing press ups. They usually turn a shuttle run into a race (of course), and often a bit of an obstacle course (balance bike or golf club hurdle, anyone??), and we have a lot of fun racing outside together.

It takes a lot longer, of course, but in my mind, a 30 minute workout completed over an hour is better than no workout at all.

(I often post on Instagram using #angegetshealthy and #angestayshealthy, and love seeing other people’s inspiring and motivating getting healthy posts!)

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Oh hi, 2015

A few weeks into the new year and I feel like I’m owning it already. Yesterday, I was crossing things off lists like a woman possessed, and today…well…today, my brain is busy with a plethora of ideas, tasks and plans.

Last year, my main goal was to finish the final dozen or so books left on the BBC Big Read. I didn’t finish them, and by the end of the year, I didn’t care. I will finish it, but there are so many other good books I want to read, so I’ve decided not to put a time frame on it. Seriously, when someone as awesome as Angela says, “You should read this…”, you can’t say no.

This year, my goals are a bit more complex and perhaps not as quantifiable. Among them are the usual culprits of saving money and budgeting better (or in my case, just “budgeting”, something I am completely rubbish at). There’s the obligatory fitness goal, however instead of vowing to exercise more, I’m simply hoping to maintain the good health and level of fitness I ended 2014 with. I also have little goals like making contact with friends I don’t (or can’t) see very often, and saying “No” without worrying I’m missing out on things (this relates directly to the saving money one).

On a loftier level, I want 2015 to be the year I do something important. I have various ideas swirling around my head, and I hope this will be the year I can make one (or some) of those ideas into reality. My boys are growing up (see below) and I’m not going to be a stay-at-home mum forever (sadly).

On a more philosophical level, I want to embrace the changes that 2015 is going to bring. Recently, I had a minor drifting-off-to-sleep freak-out over Tiny starting school in roughly 12 weeks time, and Pickle starting kindy in less than two weeks. I can not stop my children growing up, so why am I resisting these things?

So bring it on, 2015. I’m going to throw myself at you….once I’ve dug my way out of the pile of washing I need to get through.

#angegetshealthy with Active Mums

Sitting here, listening to rain fall and thunder crash above me, this morning’s Active Mums outdoor exercise session seems like a bit of a dream. It was so good – SO GOOD – to be out in the warm air, getting some much-needed vitamin D at the same time as working off all the Kettle Corn I ate yesterday (seriously, have you guys tried that stuff? Sweet and salty at the same time, man it’s good!).

I used to go to Active Mums when Tiny was a baby, but I was never really that into it. If I’m completely honest with myself, I am inherently lazy, and if I can’t lift a weight or see a change in my fitness, my interest tends to wane pretty fast.

This time, it’s completely different.

I feel less pressure to keep up with the other lovely mummies, and this gentler approach has actually seen my fitness and strength improve more than I expected. Our instructor (hi Jo!) takes a very holistic approach to health and fitness, and mixes things up for us every week, which makes things fun – variety is the spice of life, right? Before my first class, I told her I was feeling apprehensive, having not dragged my lazy butt off the couch in a while, and her response has stayed with me: “There are no egos at Active Mums”. That helped, so much. I went to that first class worried that I’d be a sweaty mess after five minutes, and I was, but I didn’t care because I was made to feel like being there was more important than how long I could shuttle run for.

It also helps that I’m doing the classes with some very good friends. I used to be a solo exerciser – the idea of running with others didn’t interest me at all – but getting fit and healthy with friends is THE BEST. We chat, we encourage, we sweat, we chat some more. We go for walks and runs together and I look forward to those times like you wouldn’t believe – we’ve laughed and cried and vented and brainstormed, which has helped clear the cobwebs on many occasions. Being fit and healthy isn’t just a physical thing, and being able to get outside with like-minded people is pretty awesome.

Physically, I’ve noticed big changes too. There is muscle definition where there has never been definition before (or not for a looooooong time, anyway!), and my energy levels have skyrocketed. I actually look forward to each class, and our extra workouts – I missed them like craaaazy when I was sick recently!

And where else could you find a group of women willing to lift a heavy Holden Captiva that was stuck on a little pole???

(I often post on Instagram using #angegetshealthy, and love seeing other people’s inspiring and motivating getting healthy posts!)