My first BodyPump back

December 24, 2016December 23, 2016 | cheriarmour

I’m kind of getting a kick out of like, telling you what I’m doing as I’m writing. So now, I’m sitting in the lobby at work (because I needed a locale change), taking a little break from work-work, and decompressing with a little writing. The lobby is a challenge because you literally see everyone you’ve every known in your life.

People keep stopping, and looking at me sort of suspiciously.

Them: …did you??

Me: Yeah, I did!

Them: …what did you…

Me: A little boy, want to see a picture?

I think everyone is like really hesitant to ask, in case I’m not who they think I am, and then they’ve got this awkward moment where they’re in two camps – I either look like all the other black women they know OR they’ve just implied that I look like I just had a baby. Which I don’t mind at all, because I did, but I understand how that could be a little off-putting to someone not feeling their best on that day.

*******

So I finally, taught a BodyPump™ class. It’s one that I haven’t really committed to teaching because it requires a lot of forethought, and teaching it is really hard. They recommend for instructors to teach the tracks with the same weight that you’re instructing the students to do, so I was not super looking forward to squatting with like a billion pounds on my back when I’d just given birth.

A week or so ago, Abbey, who typically teaches the lunchtime class at this other place I fill in at, cut her hand like cooking or something. And she cut it badly enough that she had to sub out all of her classes, one of which was like a 30 minutes pump format, followed bay BodyAttack™. Which I don’t teach, but I offered up a cardio step. 30 minutes works, right?

So, I tried to get my tracks together on one playlist the night before, for organizations sake, but ended up falling asleep when the baby went down around 9:45, and then never waking up to do much of anything. By the time I got bottles packed and Liam off on that morning, I was running around like a lost little chicken, and barely had my phone charged and myself dressed before I went to go teach the class at noon. I ran in a few minutes before class was supposed to start (big no-no), and pretty much started the playlist and went off.

I screwed up the entire warm-up. I’m talking about (if you know this format, you’ll know what I’m talking about) the entire part at the end of the warm-up where you’re supposed to lunge on one side, and then the other was lost, until I realized and fumbled my way back there. But I smiled a lot. Since I was running late, I hadn’t gotten the chance to pump and drain everything like I like to do before I work out, and I turned around and what I saw was absolutely obscene. I was wearing a grey tank top that I’d worn through most of the pregnancy. Grey is really fun because it shows all of your sweat, but I think I look pretty decent in the color so we have a dilemma. But as for the obscene part, my boobs were hanging out of the top of my shirt and bouncing with like every single step I took. It was nuts. Because there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it, I just pretended like I didn’t notice, and avoided eye contact with the guy in the front row. Eep.

Other than my complete chest hanging out due to my lack of planning, and the flubbed warm-up, the rest of the class went really really well, and the cardio portion that I incorporated a step into went awesome as well. I snapped this before I left…

…and I suppose I’m really feeling okay with the way things are going as far as teaching. I’m definitely, definitely not back to, or capable of, teaching 5-6 days a week right now, or multiple classes a day, days and days in a row. I’m still healing up some of those ligaments that went loosey goosey during the pregnancy, and I’m still not up to 100% high-impact moves. Jumping, for instance, is something I’m not comfy with just yet, so I modify by keeping one foot on the ground, things like that.

So I guess I’m getting back to some things? And feeling okay about it? But that was my first Pump. Looking forward to a few more in the new year.

37/38 Weeks

August 19, 2016August 29, 2016 | cheriarmour

I know, I know. I took some time off the past few days. I’m getting to that point where I’m uncomfortable and not sleeping a ton, so instead of doing as much writing as I’d like to, I’ve kind of been sleeping where I can, and then I’m up and down to use the ladies room all night. I promise, I will be a little better about it. Not immediately, cause I’m about to give birth, and I’m not absolutely delusional about the division of my time.

Baby is the size of a: Winter Melon? Once again, I’m finding these fruit comparisons to be highly unrelateable. This other app said romaine heart, and I totally know what that is, but I feel like it doesn’t give me a sense of how much he weighs, and all I can think about is cradling a romaine heart. It’s weird.

Due date: Sept 3rd, 2016

Total weight gain: I have not hopped on the scale in a while. I think I’m holding it down around 30ish pounds of boobs and belly. Seriously, these things are out of control.

Sleep: Ha. Sleeping is not really a thing, but I figured out a trick to help me sleep okay WHEN I’m actually sleeping. I’ve been doing a short lavender bath before bed and that has helped with some comfort. I’m up even more often using the bathroom and every time I wake up, Austin is like ::gasp:: “are you okay?”

Best moment this week: It’s always nice to hear the baby’s heartbeat really strong, and since I’m up to my weekly appointments, I got to hear it again with the doctor I hadn’t met. I have a little doppler machine at home, but the doctor’s thing is fancier so you really can hear what’s going on.

Food cravings: I drank an entire case of seltzer in a really really obscenely short period of time. Like, really obscene. I can’t even say. I also had this amazing raw food bowl thing at this juice bar place in Raleigh. It was TOO expensive, like I can’t be there all the time, but it was SO delicious, and now I want another one. But there is no way I can routinely spend that much on lunch.

Food aversions: Hm. I don’t think so, I mean I’m still not able to eat a ton, but nothing is making me want to just fall out when I smell it.

Symptoms: There’s just a lot going on toward the end. I am going to the bathroom like crazy, and moving slower. I’m really sad because I think yesterday was the last class I’m going to teach, like I feel like it’s time, but it makes me sad, because even though I’m still moving, I feel like I’m moving underwater.

Looking forward to: Shoot. Now that I’ve talked about this damned raw food bowl, I’m kind of thinking of getting one. And now, I want one. Blah budgetary constraints! But if I WAS getting one, I’d really be looking forward to that, later on today…

ICYMI…

35 Weeks, 34 Weeks, 32 Weeks, 31 Weeks, 29 Weeks, 27 Weeks, 26 Weeks, 25 Weeks, 24 Weeks, 22 Weeks – Changing it Up!, 21 Weeks (A little late), 20 Weeks – Halfway There, 19 Weeks…it’s a…, 18 Weeks, 17 Weeks, 16 Weeks, 15 Weeks, 14 Weeks, 13 Weeks, 12 Weeks

Hydration

July 19, 2016 | cheriarmour

Hi!

I hope it’s perfectly fine with you if I talk about something other than Melania Trump, police brutality, Brexit, or Kanye West. The news literally gets weirder and darker every single day. With the exception of the Taylor/Kanye thing, which I fully plan to discuss my theories on that at some point this week.

However, let’s take a total right turn, and talk about something not awful and stormy, but something really really necessary for summer survival. Hydration!

Okay, so I’ve always been pretty good about hydration, especially since I spent those summers at camp. At camp, I was there before canteens really started coming out with any significant ounce-age (not a real word), so I started making a habit out of buying 101-oz Deer Park containers and just toting those with me to camp. And then again when I started running seriously, water was crucial to avoid bonking on long runs and not damaging muscle terribly when I went for a run.

Now, I’m still super active, and lifting more, but my drive to stay hydrated isn’t just for the purposes of keeping me afloat (tee hee) in a long workout or during a long day of teaching classes, but it’s also to keep me from having contractions and to get into the habit of drinking constantly so that I can keep my breast milk supply up once the baby gets here. Plus I think it helps with some of the headaches I was getting really badly in the first tri…which we can also chalk up to the first tri just being a miserable time in life.

First off, here’s the trick I was kind of given by a nurse 21 weeks or so in, when I was overdoing it, and ended up spending a day on the couch with my feet propped up. On the phone, the nurse told me to try and get 30 oz. of water in before lunch, and then another 40 or so after lunch. Sounds like a lot, but it’s plenty doable with a few tricks I’ve mastered over the past few weeks that totally help you get more clear stuff in. Plus, with all that liquid in, getting diet soda in is harder. My like main vice, even though I consider myself fairly healthy, and plenty active is artificial sweetener, but I figured at some point that that can’t be awesome for the baby, so I’ve backed off a lot. Tricks to stay hydrated, especially in the summertime!

Get cute/large water bottles or canteens.

I’m a big believer in keeping some sort of water bottle with you at all times, because there will never get to be a point in the day when you’re like CRAP, I’ve had nothing to drink all day long! I tend to gravitate toward larger, double-walled ones that are pricier, but can keep things cold. The thing about the price is that it’s something that you’re toting around daily, and you’re not reaching for plastic bottles consistently, which is really not great for you, or for the environment. I have a S’well (24 oz.), another S’well (17 oz.), a Yeti (30 oz.), and I’m in the market for a larger canteen since I’m drinking more lately.

Really quick. The S’well is cute, and a fashion statement I kinda, think, but it’s hard to shove ice cubes in it. I stick to plain water from one of those tappy things at the water fountain for this. The Yeti is great because you can get ice in there and it can fit in most machines. It’s not very pretty though, and I had to buy a separate lid with a straw in it so I wouldn’t have to sip out of it like a coffee mug. I am totally open to suggestions for a slightly larger, double-walled canteen.

Start early!

I do my best on water on days when I have to get up really early for class, and I have to drink to get through classes. On Friday mornings, I get up around 5am to get to my 5:45am class, and typically can at least get a Yeti in during/after class.

Seltzer

I really love anything carbonated, but I can’t slam Diet Cokes all day. Just no good. So, when I’m really wanting something super super cold and bubbly, I’ve done a few flavored seltzers, in the the form of Dasani Sparkling, but my absolute favorite thing is to stop by the Burger King and get plain seltzer out of their Coca-Cola remix machine. It’s always super cold, and overcarbonated, so it really has the most delightful effect.

Monitor your pee.

This is a sorta-gross trick I picked up, that I start using heavily whenever I’m heavy into a training cycle for a marathon. This trick sort of also depends on what supplements you’re taking – a multivitamin or a prenatal can turn your pee BRIGHT yellow, but otherwise, you should be operating in light yellow territory. The darker it gets, the more your eyebrows should raise.

Those are the best I can do on a few tips to stay headache-free this summer.

What are your tricks to keep your water intake up?

Any suggestions on a slightly-larger canteen that I can start to use as I try and get in a few more ounces throughout the day?

Lately…

June 19, 2016 | cheriarmour

I think I’ve figured out what’s happened to ALL of my good running/working out socks. After class this morning, like the phenomenal housekeeper I am, I threw my socks on the floor to dry, and when I came home, the dog was literally tossing the sock into the air and catching it. Not sure where the other one was/is.

On Wednesday night, I arranged to have someone take my classes, and I headed to my parents’ so that my mom and I could go to Buy Buy Baby and register for some stuff.

So when I got there, I headed straight to the Y to catch a Zumba class. I was kinda exhausted, as I found out once I got moving, but since the class was only 50 minutes, I sort of bargained with myself to stay til the end. Once I got to my parents’ house, my dad was all excited about a recipe he found on Facebook for strawberry ice cream. It was really really good.

IMG_8536[1]

We balanced our our healthy dessert with a green smoothie, which I made in my parents’ Vitamix. I really need a blender – I make about a smoothie a day, but my Oster won’t get through kale and sometimes my morning smoothies are a little chunkier than I’d like.

The next day, my mom, my sister, and I went to the baby store to register for stuff which was fun because my mom hadn’t been around baby things in like 20 years, and I think she liked seeing what the new developments are.

The trip was really short – I had to head right back up to teach my 5:45am Friday BodyPump class, and I needed to get back to work – I need to save my vacay for when the baby comes so I can get paid out some of it. I managed to catch the Cavs/GSW games, which was pathetic – but it spurned a lot of these memes.

I’m so done with Twitter – no chill whatsoever. I laughed out loud in my office for a good 10-15 about these.

So that’s me lately.

What have you been up to lately?

Exercise While Pregnant

May 6, 2016 | cheriarmour

A question I’ve gotten a lot, given my profession (Group Fitness Director at the Y), is if I’m continuing to teach classes, followed up by how I’m continuing to teach classes and exercise in my current delicate state. (That delicate is total sarcasm btws. I feel a lot of things. Tired. Big-bellied. Kinda sweaty as it relates to my bra area. But certainly not delicate.)

As kind of a frame of reference, here’s what I’m teaching in a typical week. This is definitely down from my old usual – I used I teach one or two classes on Fridays (Zumba and Barre as needed), and I used to teach every Saturday morning Zumba. I usually try to add a little bit of elliptical or treadmill in on these days – I do NOT do that on Mondays typically. On Fridays, I work out with Jill, for a half-hour, down from the hour we used to do. I’ve begun to make arrangements for my Mondays for over the summer, and the same for my Wednesday mornings.

Mondays – Zumba 7:20pm

Tuesdays – Total Body Strength (TBS) 5:30pm

Wednesdays – 7:30am Cycle

Thursdays – 5:45am BodyPump™, 6:15pm TBS

Fridays – 5:45am BodyPump™ Express (this format is only 45 minutes)

The answer is that it’s doable, it’s all doable, but it’s definitely different. Here’s how. (And seriously, keep in mind that this is all going to be very different for everyone. And that I’m not a doctor. So don’t go doing something weird.)

So early in, even before I knew I was pregnant, something was different. I was really fatigued in Flywheel, and assumed that it was the holidays, and that I just needed to sign up for a marathon or something to get my butt into fighting shape. I continued with HIIT workouts, went to hot yoga, and continued to notice some fatigue, almost as if I was fighting some sort of illness. In reality, I was starting to make a baby, and we were starting to fight for air, and the hormone dump in the beginning was contributing to my fatigue and headaches.

Certain Core/Ab Work doesn’t really work for me anymore. For weeks and weeks into the pregnancy, I was able to continue with some core work without much issue. At some point, being flat on my back became sort of uncomfortable, so I’ve made the switch to demo-ing a lot of these moves quickly, and then switching over to planks, side planks, and standing core work, where my focus is really maintaining a strong core, and not getting a six-pack (obviously). I believe it has helped some with lower back pain, but I’m not far enough in my pregnancy to definitively say that it’s working against back pain.
Lifting feels really good. Lifting weights is probably one of the things that I’ve not only maintained, but gotten a little stronger with, and I really credit teaching and taking BodyPump™ with that. My upper body is really strong, and my glutes/quads/hamstrings are really really strong from tons of squats and lunges. I am careful with weighting squats, and I’m careful with lower back, even though clean/hang and clean and press are some of my favorite lifts. I make sure to lift juuust enough, and not overdo it, and to really watch my form. I have not really done a truly heavy deadlift, but just enough, once again, so that I’m engaging my lower back muscles without completely overdoing it.
Running is a challenge. I was a woman who swore that pregnancy would not affect my mileage, and when it did, it wouldn’t be huge. It has been a big change. The way things are set up for me, my son is having a great time, and all the equipment he comes with is really restricting my bladder. The second I empty my bladder, it begins to fill back up, and when I do higher-impact exercises, I find myself ducking into bathrooms immediately. So I tend to keep runs to 20 minutes or so. It was definitely sort of discouraging at first, but I’m keeping up with it in other ways, so I feel okay about it.
Cycle feels good…even though I have to dial the crazy back a bit. I have fallen in love with teaching Cycle, and I really enjoy how I sweat when I’m on the bike. It really reminds me of a running sweat, without the damage I feel like I’m doing to my bladder. As I get bigger, I may have to figure out how to accommodate my belly, but for now, it has been really awesome. I do find on some climbs, I feel like I’m fighting for air, so I have to deal some of the up/down/up/down that shoots your heart rate through the roof back a bit.

I think pregnancy and remaining active is one of those things in which you walk a really really fine balance. It is a necessity, to sweat each day. However, within the bounds of a growing and changing body, it it necessary to sweat safely, and more so than ever, do so with proper form. When you go for a run, the goal isn’t necessarily to kill yourself or burn the most calories, but perform this daily routine in the hopes that labor, delivery, and recovery (that one is the biggie) is as smooth as it is supposed to be.

Anyways, I’m enjoying figuring out what modifications work for me, all while eyeballing things I may like to challenge myself and do once I don’t have a belly in the way.

Pregnant or not, what’s your favorite way to stay fit?

Weekend in DC

March 23, 2016March 23, 2016 | cheriarmour

So guess what I’m doing right now?

I texted Chelsie (the woman who not only convinced me to take a pregnancy test back in December cause she knows what’s up, but who has been an absolute guru throughout this process), and I asked her if she knew of a way to make something more loafy, and less cakey. She gave me an answer before she was like, “wait…what are you doing…” and I confessed that I really wanted to eat Funfetti. She encouraged me to just make funfetti, but we did find a recipe for fufetti banana bread, which is either going to be really disgusting or awesome. I will let you know.

I spent last weekend (kinda a gross weekend, weather-wise) in DC. I’m still working on convincing Austin that we need to move there. Lately, I’ve been thinking that it may be a cool place to raise an interracial child. Not that Raleigh is a bad place, Raleigh is actually pretty progressive, but I think a big move one of these years may be in the cards for us.

On Friday, I drove up and went straight to the Rent the Runway storefront, which they have in DC, and New York City. I had to pick something up for a gala I was attending since all of my stuff fits pretty snug. The girl was very sweet – I told her that I just needed something in my size. She brought out a few choices and I think I went with something I found already in the dressing room from the shopper before.

The store was cool – you pick something, and they run back and grab it in your size for you to rent, similarly to the website. It was a godsend for me.

After that, I drove to my friend Jeff’s, and we Uber-ed over to the gala. I met Katie Couric, and I really wanted to stick around and chat with her longer, but suffice it to say that she was a lovely, lovely woman with a really sharp sense of humor. I hope our paths cross again, because she was just that fantastic. And little! Everyone is so much shorter in person than you think!

I hate hate hate flats on fancy occasions, but felt good in them since my feet were kind of exhausted. If I could live in workout clothes, I totally would!

Leading up to the weekend, Jeff and I had planned to go to Soul Cycle on Saturday morning with friends. The first time I’d gone, I was a little mehhh on it. The class itself was really good, but I’d gone in Georgetown, and it was a very homogeneous crowd, which made me really uncomfortable, almost as if there was some purposeful reason that there were no people of color there. This time, I went to the Mt. Vernon location, technically Chinatown, and it was FULL of people of color. We actually went to a Beyonce vs. Rihanna class on Sunday, and it was probably about half black people, Asians, and Indians. It was so, SO cool to be in a place where black women are working out, and I was right in the thick of it!

By the way, check out the way that Soul tricks you into leaving your phone in your locker.

We need this at the Y. There was a woman sipping a coffee and checking her phone the entire class again this morning until I really turned the heat up. The rest of the class can thank that woman for how much I beat up on them today.

Saturday evening, I met up with Scott (who’s been mentioned a few times here), and he took me to the coolest little party, a bourbon tasting party. I sipped on water with the other pregnant girl, and we actually had a blast. And Sunday, we met up with even more friends for brunch at some amazing bread and cheese place. DC has zero shortage of good places to eat.

Sunday evening, after another Soul class (the Beyonce vs Rihanna class), my check engine light came on, despite the fact I had just taken the car in for maintenance on Tuesday. After a few calls to my poor husband (who probably was panicking with his pregnant wife wandering around the city with a broken car), we decided to get the car towed to the dealership in Alexandria.

The tow truck driver was really kind, and I rode down with him to the dealership, and then caught an Uber to a nearby hotel. Long long story short, the car had some sort of valve issues that made it not super drive-able, and on Monday, instead of working from work, I worked from Centerline Digital, where I’d met a friend for lunch.

Side note about that – the people from Centerline were ridiculously nice to me, and they had no reason to be. In addition to my friend, Andrew, multiple people, after hearing what had happened with my car, offered for me to sit in a conference room or an office to work there, instead of finding my way to another coffee shop with all of my bags. I am so thankful for that. That’s kinda southern hospitality, right?

So how was your weekend?

Staying Active While Pregnant

March 10, 2016March 9, 2016 | cheriarmour

So I just got back from one of the first “runs” (shuffles) that has felt somewhat decent since I found out I was pregnant back at the end of December.

I promise you, before I got pregnant, I had all of these fantastic mental plans to be the fittest mom ever. My reasoning was that hey, I’m super fit now, what would change, right?

The first trimester Kicked. My. Ass. And not because I was so sick, but because I was so incredibly tired. Even before finding out I was pregnant, I remember running while I was listening to an episode of Serial, and just dragging myself around, not exactly knowing why I felt that way, but resolving to sign up for a race or something to get my butt back in gear. Woops!

Since finding out, I’ve continued teaching my classes, run a little bit, and supplemented some of my longer, bigger runs throughout the weeks with some time on the treadmill and on the elliptical. I struggle with feeling like I’m not doing enough, but I can only do what I can, and not a whole lot more, so I’ve just stuck to that.

If you’re struggling with any of the same, I don’t know that I can offer a whole lot of wisdom, just what I’ve found to sort of help keep me from laying on the couch for days at at time.

Decide that staying active will be a priority. This could mean that you might have to redefine what “active” means. It may not be 6 miles in Umstead on Sunday mornings. But it might be hiking, biking, shorter runs, or whatever. But reworking your priorities and making nutrition and staying active will be huge.
Listen to your body. Admittedly, I still struggle with figuring out if I just suck, or if I’m really worn out because of what’s going on. But I work up sweat without hurting myself. For me, some light cardio and weights have been really good for me. Body Pump feels AWESOME. Running, not so much. So I do what I feel that I can.
Track it. I don’t know how anyone, let alone the newly-pregnant, did anything without tracking their activity/steps, but my Fitbit has been one of the only things that has kept me on track, especially during those weeks when I could barely muster the energy to get off the couch. The numbers can motivate you to get outside, or hop on a treadmill and…
Just walk. This is hard to hear for marathoners/ultra runners/crossfitters, but walking is fine. It’s good. It’s okay. And really good when you have a buddy. So take a friend, take your husband, or take some headphones (be careful with them)!

Fit moms, did you/how did you stay active while pregnant?

Getting the hang of it.

March 1, 2016 | cheriarmour

So, back in November, I went again for my BodyPump certification. I went for it like the July before I got married, in ’14, but I let it lapse…in the hustle and bustle of us getting married, I never did my video (I did, but that’s another story), and sort of let it lapse.

[I recorded the video, and we discovered that the camera shut off midway through, and I never refilmed.]

But I went back, did the course again in November, passed, turned in my vid, passed, and started picking up a few classes here and there.

And let me tell you, even though I’ve been teaching for over 6 years at this point, that shit was/is hard.

When I started teaching, I started with all freestyle classes. Zumba, then I moved into Toning, and Cycle. All things I went to trainings for and received credit, but things that really gave you the freedom to play with BPM, music, adding cardio pieces, and generally, screwing up with minimal detection from your class. Seriously. I actually restarted a song last night because I blanked.

[Enter Les Mills]

About two weeks ago, I had a mortifying experience with an early morning class. The class starts at 5:45am, and due to a music disaster, and a late start, I ran into class 3 or 4 minutes late.

First (huge) mistake.

To my horror, one of the best Pump instructors I’ve ever taken from in my life happened to be in the class. She had started the warmup, and for that I was grateful, but immediately, I started shaking. I’d barely had time to shower, I was late and already making a terrible impression, and suddenly, I had the feeling that I was doing to forget everything I knew.

And I did.

I blundered through every. single. track. My music was off. My counting was off. I forgot huge chunks. And I was mortified.

Never, in my entire life, have I struggled so much with a format, and now, never in my life have I wanted to prove myself to myself so badly. So, I’ve started by attending more classes (something that falls by the wayside sometimes when you’re directing a group fitness program), team teaching more, and subbing more (which exposes you to a new group that you can talk to, and if you’re really good, they’ll ask for you back when your teacher can’t be there. If you suck, you’ll hear it). But this is hard. And in it being hard, it is 100% infuriating, since I’m strong in other formats.

All that said….how was your Monday? What did you work out?

If you want to keep moving, make it happen.

February 26, 2016 | cheriarmour

Working out this winter has been really hard for me. I am by no means the poster child for the best worker-outer of all time.

I’ve done it, but it’s been really hard. It’s a few things I think. I finished the Chicago Marathon in October, which was amazing. But once I did that, I felt a little…draggy as it pertained to my workouts. I got them in, but didn’t really run more than 10 miles following that.

And then, before I found out I was pregnant, but was pregnant, I was really dragging. I would go to Flywheel for a class, and sort of wonder why I wasn’t really making waves on the leaderboard. All makes sense now…

But I’m starting to get to the point in my pregnancy where my energy is coming back. My motivation isn’t always there, and that’s annoying, but I do what I can to at least get moving, motivated by the fact that I’m teaching my baby good habits, even in the womb. (Which is actually a thing, if you’re thinking about having kids/currently in the process of cooking one).

So yesterday, I taught my early morning BodyPump class, and fully intended to hop on the treadmill to get more steps in, but I was really lazy, and ended up picking up some email that I really needed to catch up on, and before I knew it, it was afternoon, and my brother and my husband were asking what we had around the house to eat. I popped a lasagna in the oven, and while it cooked, I grabbed a step (like a step aerobics step), turned on a 136 bpm mix that I’d just gotten for class, and went for it for like 20ish minutes. I didn’t run a marathon or solve the issues surrounding world hunger, but it was enough to get my heart rate slightly elevated, and keep me feeling not-crappy for not doing something to get my blood pumping.

All that is to say…

Austin and I get some ribbing from folks, a lot of times family, when we make time while we’re at home to work out. It doesn’t hurt our feelings obviously, but it’s one of those things that just makes you go “hm” because it seems like, for a lot of people, fitness is the first thing to go when things get messy. Long day? Skip the workout! Happy hour later? Skip the workout! Favorite show’s coming on? Skip the workout!

Which seems really silly when we think about the things we do not and would not skip.

We shower, brush our teeth, go for mani/pedis, go to triva Tuesdays at the wing place, never miss Keeping Up with the Kardashians. All things that are required in some of our minds. But we skip something as simple as marching up and down on a step for 20 minutes. Why?

What if we bumped working out up on our priority list – made it less of a negotiable, and more of something we hate to miss?

What if we made working out, something that we wanted to happen, instead of something that we dreaded?

Need some ideas? Check out this dope article I read and Well + Good the other day, How Busy Women Make Their Workouts Happen.

How do you find time to move?

Do you find yourself bumping your workouts down on the priority list?

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