No Gym Required (Part 1)

Since I haven't had access to the gym this week, I thought it'd be a perfect time to do a series called No Gym Required. I'll have ideas of things you can do at home without going to the gym. Here's what I did today.

Cardio: I got out my old road bike and bike trailer. I loaded up a picnic lunch and took my kids to the park. Now I recommend you get AT LEAST 20 minutes of consecutive cardio, so pick a park that will take you 20 minutes to get to. No cheating! Normally when I go for a bike ride I do a lot of coasting, and leisurely go about it. NO NO NO NO. If this is going to count as a workout, you better get huffing and sweating! I happened to have a couple of hills on my route which are near to impossible to do with a bike trailer with 60 lbs worth of kids stuffed in. Trust me, I was huffing and puffing.

Then while you are at the park, don't be the mom that sits on a bench and watches your kids play. If this is going to count as a workout, you better pick a park with lots of area and chase those kids all over it.

My kids chased the birds > I chased my kids = a bit of an extra workout.

I estimate that I burned about 200 calories with this excursion.
And my kids LOVED me for it!
(That's not as much as I burn at the gym, but it's pretty good considering the kids thought I went on that trip for THEM! Ha.)

Exercises: For this I put the kids to bed beforehand. I decided to focus on abs today. I admit they are my favorites. I have a video illustrating the exercises. Please keep in mind, I am not a professional trainer or a professional videographer.



Basically I'll do 30 reps of each exercise (except the plank -- 2 minutes of that one). If I have more time and I'm not burning yet, I'll do 30 more of everything. You don't want to stop just because you may feel a bit uncomfortable. No pain, no gain. You'll really see results if you work through the pain. Ideally, you want to make sure you aren't going to be able to move the next day. Call me crazy, but I LOVE those kind of workouts.