A couple of weeks ago I was in music class with my kids. I was in a precarious position, baring my belly as I tried to contain my daughter. A good friend looked at me and asked, “How is your stomach so flat?”
My friend, mind you, just had her third baby. She is home with her children all day and doesn’t have a babysitter. I am quite certain she doesn’t have a moment to herself.
Why are moms so tough on themselves after mere months of giving birth?
Hello! Of course I am in good shape! I have a great motivator: I would never be able to effectively recruit and maintain clients if I did not practice what I teach. And guess what? I don’t have a babysitter either (thanks to this crappy economy) but I have ALL of the equipment in my house. I can hop on the cadillac or the reformer while my daughter is napping. All I need to do is set up the arc barrels and other props for my son to drive his cars around and I am good to go. If I am interrupted? I return after the children are asleep. Exercising is just no big deal for me. It could not be more convenient.
This is not the case for most mommies. If you are like my friend, and you want to get in shape, here is my advice: make exercise convenient and easy. Buy a few things to add to your child’s playroom. A mat, a flex-band, and a stability ball would be perfect. Exercise as your children play. You can even involve them. Just strive for 30 minutes a day. It IS doable. I know because I do it.
Don’t know which exercises to perform? Start with the basics: perform crunches, squats, and superman on the ball. Do push-ups on your knees, bicep curls and triceps extensions with the flex-band. Still lost? Hire a trainer to help you figure out what you can do in those quick 30-minute sessions. I can’t tell you how many people have come to me to have Pilates demystified so that they can either take classes or use DVDs confident that they are performing the exercises safely and effectively. I guarantee that if you find a great trainer, it will be the best money you’ve spent in a long time. Not only will you learn a lot, but you will be equipped to work on your own. Then, once you become an expert at what you learned, or you get bored, call that trainer again to learn a host of new things. Hiring a trainer can be affordable, and this is one way that works for many people. What is more important than being healthy, strong, and feeling great about yourself? It all starts there…
