My journey: EXERCISE

DAILY ACTIVITIES

This morning I took my daughter for a walk in her buggy. I'm glad I got it done earlier because the wind outside now would blow you away. I just did a 30 min brisk walk which is whats needed to be done daily to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. It is also benificial to be doing outdoor activities so as to get your daily dose of Vitamin D which plays a very important role of assisting with the maintenance of bone health along with calcium.The buggy added a resistance which made it feel like I was working harder than my usual walk. Also it was great for Michaela as she gets a bit of fresh air and has a nice long nap after being out so I can relax and have a bit of time for moi.

I have Zumba class tonight so I cant wait to get moving as I don't feel like I did enough activities at the weekend. I was at a party Saturday night where I danced quiet a lot but other than that and my walk today, that was about it. Time to start working hard and lose a lb to get my silver 7 on Friday morning.

Although I attend 2 classes of Zumba a week at €8 a pop, the costs can add up and I know it may be difficult for people to always have money to spend on such luxuries. That's why I want to remind you there are always ways of doing FREE EXERCISES, so no excuses! There are plenty of things you can do for free e.g. walking, running, sit ups, skipping rope or even just playing with the kids that are sure to have you burning calories and not just a hole in your pocket!

What I like to do is record things on my Sky Box.There is a channel called the Active channel where I record workouts I feel I should try. So when I get the time I will try the workouts that are stored on my t.v. There are some great workouts always being shown and a lot of the time they are especially for woman wanting to get their bodies back in shape from pregnancy. It's so much better than racing out to get the latest fitness DVD just to let it sit on the shelf gathering dust from being viewed once.

KETTLE BELLS

I was up early enough with Michaela so the sickness had subsided by 12 and seeing as it looks like the floods outside I couldn't even go for a walk. So I tried a work out I recorded on the telly ages ago. It's called Kettle Bells For Mums and its not too much of a high impact workout. It was just what I needed to get me sweating after the alcohol I had last night and get me moving around.I also drank lots of water which I think helped too.
It's starts off with your stretching, you see cardio exercise will help with overall fat reduction but if you want toning it's mostly about doing non-moving exercises like the plank, performed on knees or toes (which is supposed get you a toned tummy without doing sit ups)!

Here is a demonstration of The Plank. It is a bit hard the first few times you try it but I promise it does get easier with practice.

The main workouts are mostly a lot of stretching exercises, particularly using 1 or 2 kettle bells. It is a great way of getting your upper body strength back. I remember when I first tried to do a sit up after I had my baby and I just could NOT get my body to cooperate, it was like I was incapable of it but I suppose it's just because the muscles have not been used in sooo long it takes time for your body to adjust. So it's good that there are workouts out there that are solely for mothers getting back in shape because the worst thing you can do is push yourself too hard by doing things your body isn't ready for yet and get an injury.It's also very hard trying to get back in shape after a baby so to know that these workouts are especially for your post baby body that work on your problem areas is a good thing to know.

Here is a demonstration of a kettle bells exercise for beginners. The particular exercise I did I recorded from the Active channel on my Sky Box.