We all know what jogging strollers were invented for, but that doesn’t mean we feel inspired to use one. Even if it’s outfitted with an insane attachment that promises to increase the efficiency of the workout.
Maybe it’s -2 degrees outside; maybe your toddler is sleeping; or maybe you simply cannot get motivated to pack your child up to go exercise. I don’t have any of these excuses myself, yet I still have a hard time getting myself out there.
My go-to indoor exercise method is low-tech. I pick a TV show that my husband doesn’t care about and I place a child’s step stool in front of the TV. I hold 5-lb weights in my hands and step up and down on the stool for the duration of the show. During commercials I do something more intense to get my heart-rate up, such as jumping jacks or push-ups.
But technology has brought us more options. Here are some of the ways I’ve experimented exercising indoors.
1. On-Demand Exercise TV. I have Comcast cable, and in the On Demand menus, there is a section called Fitness Workouts, which is found in the Sports & Fitness category. There are at least one hundred workouts to choose from, from 8-minute Cardio Dance sessions to 30-minute power workouts let by Kristi Yamaguchi.
2. Free You Tube workouts. No cable? That’s alright. Cafe Mom, among others, have posted complete exercise classes online. Just prop your laptop or tablet up and press play. Here’s one I did recently. Search YouTube for “30-minute workout” to find some choices.
3. Not-free stuff on iTunes. If you want a certain program, you’ll probably find it on iTunes. I have Apple TV, which means I can watch any iTunes content on my big screen, but even without that, watching on a mobile device works too. (Just note that there’s no need to buy the popular Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred on iTunes because you can find it free on YouTube.) Most podcasts are free, actually, and there are some that coach you through a yoga session and other indoor activities. So search in both the TV Shows section and the podcast section of iTunes.
4. Virtual, but real, trainers. Navafit is a website where you can sign up and get four free classes to try out before paying a monthly subscription fee. The exercise classes are live online, and a Skype-like interface makes it so that you are literally in a class with other people and the trainer can see you. Register for the classes in advance and then log into the room when it starts. I had a couple of sessions with one of the trainers, Byron, where we talked about my fitness level and set goals. I loved the accountability it forced on me, but ultimately, I fell off the wagon.
I like having all these options at my fingertips because trying something new keeps me coming back. As many times as I have set the intention to do the 30-Day Shred for 30 days, I have never made it past four or five days. I always end up back in front of Beverly Hills 90210, stepping up and down with my hand weights.
Hulu has a number of workout options a well, including a program titled “Fabulously Fit Moms.” Another option is a subscription to GaiamTV, for about $10/month. Netflix used to have a number of streaming workout options; these seem to have expired, but discs should still be available for rent.
My challenge: I Zumba’d my way through pregnancy (including the day before my son was born!), but now I’m struggling to carve out a routine workout time around going back to work and baby wrangling, especially when said 3-month-old baby is still not sleeping by himself.
You’re making me feel a little lame that my big excuse for not doing the 30-day shred is that my DVD stopped working. Go, girl!
Oh man! I feel you, lauramich. I wasn’t able to start working out until my baby started sleeping. Then I started with 30-Day Shred and then did TurboFire for 90 days and voila…30 lbs of baby weight GONE! It’s flippin’ hard, but not impossible. I’ve since fallen in love with Zumba, too, and even teach Turbo Kick now! It helps me be accountable to someone so I don’t let the weight creep back up like it did after my first child! Thanks, Whitney and Heather, for posting these great ideas 🙂
@Elizabeth, Always good to hear from you. I’ve never heard of TurboFire/Turbo Kick! I’ll have to look it up. Congrats on your massive weight loss accomplishment. Impressive!
Whitney, if you keep getting more good ideas, you’ll never have an excuse again. Sometimes we all just need someone to tell us what to do. Love it.
I really think that home workouts are the best option for moms that just don’t have a lot of extra time. I think the main problem that people run into is the belief that you need to do 45min-1hr of cardio in order to see results.This is not true. I was able to lose 60lbs of baby weight doing simple weight training/bodyweight circuits at home – just 3x per week (for about 30-40min.) I found that my newborn usually woke around 5am. By 8am she would settle down for a 40min nap. I always made sure I had my workout clothing on before she feel asleep to maximize the time available to workout. I followed a specific program but in general I started out with lighter weights (3lbs) moving steadily up to more and more challenging weights (15lbs+) every week. Usually I would do a combination of push ups, rows, lunges, shoulder press, and so on. Any person could pick up a book like Women’s Health Big Book of Exercise for other good examples. Sometimes I would not be able to get through my entire workout. I would just leave my exercise clothes on and then start back up where I left off as soon as I could. Another challenging workout is to put your baby in the stroller and do hill climbs. I live half way up a very steep hill and in order to walk anywhere you end up having to go up a series of extremely steep slopes. I found that afternoon walks in the stroller always put my daughter to sleep. You can get a very intense workout in just by pushing the stroller up an incline – just push yourself to go as fast as you can. Don’t get me wrong, there are a LOT of challenges to maintaining a workout program – you always feel too tired, too busy, etc. Its important to workout for yourself – for your own happiness, health, stress relief, and maybe personal pride – not because you are “obligated” to lose the baby weight all at once. Sometimes i think we get way too caught up in this.
Agree, Amanda! What determination you’ve demonstrated! Thanks for sharing your story. (I’m now old enough to start thinking about my heart health and my bone density as motivators for exercising as much as staying fit. Yikes!)
I signed up for a subscription website called FitnessGlo, which is affiliated with YogaGlo. Both sites have a monthly fee ($12 for FitnessGlo, I think $18 for YogaGlo) and lots of different video workouts to choose from. You can choose different types, levels, and durations, and they add new workouts a few times a week. So far I really like it. I also like the BeFit channel on YouTube — the one time in my life I worked out consistently, every single day, was when Denise Austin had a daily workout show on TV. The BeFit channel has a lot of free content from her, including entire videos that I have already paid good money for…
I also like the exercise video “games” for the Kinect system on X-box 360. The Men’s/Women’s Health one is great!
A little late to the conversation but there is a free app called Daily Workouts that I started doing a little bit ago. The best thing about it is that there is a 10 min workout choice (I do the full body option). I figure if there is a 10 min option then I shouldn’t feel guilty choosing it. Perfect for me trying to squeeze something in with my two littles. Even my 4 yr old attempts it with me sometimes!
@Becky, you’re not too late! Thanks for adding your tip. I love to be bossed around by an app. I’ll definitely try it.