Last week I was thinking about working out since having Anna in April. I was trying to figure out why it is totally different than it was before. It is better! I was telling Ashley at dinner the other night about my reasons and I think they make sense.
Here are the reasons my workouts are better now that I have a baby and here are some things to remember/learn about maximizing your workout!
1. My time is limited now.
When you have a baby you no longer have all of the time in the world to workout. Before Anna I would go to the gym and do the elliptical for 50 min. then do some weights then talk on the phone while I walked on the treadmill. It didn’t matter if my workout took 45 min or 1 hour and 45 min. My time was MY time.
This is no longer the case so I now I make my minutes count. I do some cardio for 25 min, but a really hard 25 min. Or I take a class and push myself and leave when it’s over rather go halfway through the class then spend another 20 minutes on a machine.
Lesson to be learned: Limit your time and make the most of your workout.
2. I don’t know when you will get a chance to workout again
Each morning when I go outside to run or go for a workout, I think about the fact that I may not have a chance to workout tomorrow. It depends on the day, the night, if I slept, if Anna is doing well and what we have planned (things that used to take 10 minutes, take a good 40 minutes now!). So I workout like I may have a break day the following day. This actually works pretty well for motivation.
Lesson to be learned: Workout like you have a day off tomorrow.
3. My body is mine again.
Not sure this applies to everyone…but after you have the baby you are no longer sharing your body with anyone else. This feels great when it comes to working out! While I was pregnant I felt like I had to be careful and slow down or stop if I felt much discomfort. Now, I can push myself as hard as I want knowing that I am not harming anyone(baby) else!
Lesson to be learned:..hmm not sure on this one. 🙂
4. Things feel new again.
We all get into ruts with working out. We do the same things over and over again and we get bored or burnt out from them. After being pregnant, things feel new again. I am not bored from running because I took a break and it is different (easier) now. I am not sick of abs (although I have NO ab muscles left) because I haven’t done them in a year! By changing what we do, we can challenge our bodies and minds!
Lesson to be learned: Change it up to get more out of it!
5. My workout is my time for myself.
The only time of day when I don’t have Anna (unless we have something planned) is when I am working out. If I am running, she is in the jogger but she is happy and content (so really she is with me). If I go to the gym, she can go to the child care center while I workout upstairs. And if Brady is home, or family is around, I can do either on my own. I love being home with her more than anything, but the few minutes a day I have to myself are so nice! They let me zone out and focus on myself.
Lesson to be learned: It’s your YOU time. Think about your workout as your time to do something good for yourself and enjoy it! Whether it is yoga, a walk, a class at the gym or a morning run!
What do you do to maximize your workouts?
Thanks for the quick “Lessons Learned” in this post–great reminders about how to make the most of a workout with a hectic life!
I maximize my workouts by exercising first thing in the morning (6:00am!). Early morning lacks the distractions and “to do” lists that come later in the day, so it’s much easier to focus.
Hope you’re having a good day!
LOVE this post! I haven’t gotten into working out as much as I would have hoped by this time but I really agree with everything you said!
Just a question – if you leave Anna with Brady, a family member or in the child care center do you leave whoever with a bottle for her? I’m so paranoid if I leave Sophie with someone that she might all of a sudden get hungry and spaz out, which would make their time with them pretty stressful. I always make sure to feed her well before hand, but i’m a worrier when it comes to that.
Hey! I hear what you are saying. Working out is so much better now…because there is a time press! I do leave some pumped milk when I go out –just..in..case..
Great post! Thank you!
I am very much looking forward to being able to push myself again without feeling nervous about how it might be affecting the baby. I plan to push myself because, ike you said, there’s less time and you don’t know if you’ll get in tomorrow’s workout or not.
I think its great how often you get out and run with Anna. I’m sure she loves it as much as you enjoy it.
I THINK THIS IS A GREAT POST! What you have said makes so much sense I feel so many of us can substitute other life changing events that can fit into similiar mind set.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
LOVE #3 – workout like tomorrow is a day off. I need to work on that, sometimes I don’t really try hard enough. 🙂
Fabulous tips! I can especially relate to tip #1. I take forever to work out. And I don’t really push myself all that hard. I bet I could burn almost as many calories – if not the same or even more! – in half the time, if I pushed myself harder. This is definitely something I will try. An added bonus is that it might make me work out more often, as my usual excuse is that I don’t want to devote the next 2 hours to it. When you think about it, 30 minutes every day is probably a lot healthier and more efficient than 2 hours once or twice a week, regardless of how hard you push yourself. Even a slow-paced walk would be great for 30 min every day. Your post might be just the thing to make me finally get on a regular schedule of working out! Thanks! 🙂