Carving out time to work out has been on the back burner ever since my second child was born. I made excuses that cardio workouts at home would be easier said than done, so I never bothered investing time into researching routines. When I had my first kid, I had the luxury of time, energy, finances, and support to work out at a kickboxing gym three times a week. I felt great and was physically and mentally firing on all cylinders. But with the birth of my second baby and some new responsibilities, I let the daily grind take control of my health and fitness. With an overwhelming list of chores and work to do (I’m a work-from-home mom), fitness fell to the bottom of my to-do’s.
Then came the day I jumped on the scale after a week of feeling sluggish, edgy, and depressed. It gutted me to see that I had gained around 15 or 20 pounds in the year since I’d stopped breastfeeding my second boy. I had long been using breastfeeding and chasing after my kids as excuses for not having to work out. I went on walks two to three times a week, though obviously those weren’t enough. So, I decided to research some home workouts to do and made a commitment to schedule them into my calendar every day for two weeks.
This was my journey…
How Many Minutes Should You Exercise A Day?
Depending on whether you are planning to lose weight or maintain physical fitness, you should try working out 150 minutes a week, according to the Mayo Clinic. These can be moderate exercises like climbing stairs, swimming, and well-paced walking. Depending on your fitness level, you should aim to do at least 30 minutes of physical activities a day. If you are looking to accelerate your fitness goals, a total of 75 to 300 minutes of intense workouts should be included in your calendar.
Benefits Of Daily Workouts
Women’s Health Mag contends that you can reap enormous benefits of exercise simply by doing 30 minutes’ worth of physical activities a day. They don’t necessarily have to be exercises that leave you completely out of breath. You can select anything from moderate aerobic exercises to interval training, which can draw some very significant health rewards and prolong your life. You would be surprised by the benefits of walking for a few minutes a day:
Boosted Mood
Physical activities can leave you happier and more joyful, even if you dread the thought of doing the exercising. Studies show that running 30 minutes a day or doing some cardio workout at home can leave you feeling more relaxed.
Increased Longevity
Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, and lower risks of cancer are among the physical health benefits of sticking to a 30-minute fitness regimen a day. You are less likely to have risks of premature death among your peers.
Improved Memory
An at-home workout plan can boost your memory recollection. The physical activity stimulates the production of cells in your brain that can increase your memory and ability to recall information.
Increased Energy
The general slump around mid to late afternoon can be attributed to sitting all day. If you introduce exercise into your day, you can actually have higher productivity from the boost of energy you’ll get from the activity. No wonder many offices have on-site gyms nowadays!
Improved Mental Health
Depression and other mood maladies can benefit from an at-home workout routine. You can work out without any equipment and reverse some signs of the blues. Studies show that basic workouts at home can quickly improve social functioning and mental health.
Reduced Stress
Nothing is better to de-stress than a quick cardio workout. Whether it’s CrossFit at home or a brisk walk around the neighborhood, your brain increases the chemicals that deal with stress when you exercise.
Day 1
I spent the day before my experiment preparing for what I was going to do. To be honest, I was really dreading the prospect of working out, so I decided to look specifically for at-home workouts for women of all fitness levels. I came across the YouTube channel Fitness Blender and completely fell in love with it. It very much reminded me of the high-intensity HIIT cardio workouts (without equipment) that I used to do at my kickboxing gym.
The next day, I waited until my 2-year-old toddler was soundly napping to start this cardio workout at home. I should have also waited for a day when my 4-year-old preschooler was at school. He was so curious and wanted so badly to be a part of it that I elbowed him in the head about three times because he got too close (I also accidentally slapped his arm and knocked him to his feet twice). Nonetheless, I completed the workout from start to finish — here’s the breakdown of how I felt throughout the routine:
It started out great, I thought. Piece of cake! I am not that out of shape after all!
Five minutes in I thought, “I am breathing heavier than I can remember on simple jumping jacks, and am starting to feel thirsty,” so I ran for a glass of water during the active rest phase.
By a little before the halfway mark, I was out of gas.
I had to modify some of the exercises because I simply could not keep up, and I did planks on my knees versus on my feet.
I took sips of water during the active rest phase several more times.
I was so parched, I was dying a little inside.
The 4-year-old kept wanting to touch my sweaty back for some strange reason and kept crawling under me during the planks and lunges. I have a “spirited child.”
I survived, and in the end, it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated — but I was going to have to figure out how to build a workout routine with the kids around. I also became very aware of what I needed to focus on, which included my core and my breathing.
Day 2
I woke up so sore the next morning. Everything hurt and new areas that had never hurt before were feeling the pain. I had a hard time even rolling out of bed that morning, and I walked with a limp whenever I went from sitting to standing. Sitting down was the worst, but thankfully my boys gave me kisses all day because they thought I had hurt myself.
I had a busy day and put off my cardio workout until much later in the evening when my husband came home. My husband asked whether I had done my at-home workout and if he could join me. At that point, I had no excuses — I had to commit. Dressed in our gym gear, the boys got excited and decided to join us as well. So, the husband, child one and child two all decided to join me on this painful second day. Here’s how it went down:
I used the same video because I felt that this was the best at-home workout I could find for this phase of my workout journey.
I took it slow, my muscles were on fire, and my limbs felt like jelly. I was going to push myself, but not that much.
We paused a lot because the toddler knew how to turn the video off from our office and he kept running in there, so we had to run after him during most of the workout.
My preschooler continued to touch my sweaty body, but thankfully he was equally harassing my husband today. With his daddy present, he wanted to try harder, so he worked up a good sweat with us.
My husband underestimated this at-home workout plan. It was more intense than he thought, but he loved it as well.
The whole family was sweating bullets, but we had a ton of fun. To top it off, my aches and pains went away because the workouts stretched out my sore muscles.
I finished all 30 minutes of the workout without many modifications, but I drank a lot of water, around five mugs’ worth.
My husband is a genius. He stretched the rest of the night while I sat in my office to work. I woke up very sorry the next morning.
Day 3
Boy, was I in even more pain — but the good kind, the kind that you want to pat yourself on the back for because you stayed committed. I was tracking a number of calories we were burning because I was simultaneously counting them.
The Fitness Blender video said that I was burning anywhere from 290 to 450 calories per cardio workout at home. FitnessBlender.com had some really great content for at-home workouts, and I was very excited to continue. I also downloaded the app MyFitnessPal on my Android, and went great with everything I was doing. I will probably grab a Fitbit or some sort of fitness counter within the next few weeks to track everything – overall, I am pretty excited and determined to make this a part of my lifestyle.
We had a very long walk today with the family being out and about, so I didn’t get my workout in until slightly before midnight. My husband joined me again, and by this time, my aches and pains were gone. Here are my thoughts on today’s at home workout:
The pains in my muscles have left, there is still a bit of dull pain in my inner thighs and hips, but that’s about all.
I may have to continue these midnight or late-night workouts because my kids are nowhere in sight to disturb a good workout. I was mentally focused and could keep up much better than the two previous days.
Stretching is key, keep stretching past their recommended stretching exercises at the end if you want to avoid tremendous pain.
Do At-Home Workouts Really Work?
By the end of the two weeks, I felt so much better in terms of my energy levels and my overall state of health. I went on the scale to find that I had only lost a whopping three pounds, but that’s brilliant in terms of progress. I eliminated my excuses of not having the time or the motivation to work out, and I can honestly say that this is something I can move forward with as a part of my regular routine. The benefits of exercising, even if they are at-home workouts, are tremendous. They are hard at the beginning but the more I pushed myself to fulfill one more day, the more I could do in the long run. If you can start an at-home workout routine and keep it up for three days straight, everything else from there is just a mental game. Cardio workouts at home are easy to do — the key is to schedule them properly. That’s the main difference between working out at home versus a gym: you can work out without equipment, but the discipline of a gym membership forces you to go. If you can become self-disciplined, you’ll see amazing results!
So, come on! Give it a try and make sure to SHARE with friends and family who want to get fit.
