Wanting to start fitness journey.... again.

[jienne]

Hi everyone,

I'm a young mother in mid-20s. Between work, university, caring for little one and keeping up with household duties pretty much single-handedly, I find that I don't get a lot of time to myself, and that the time I do get is mostly spent feeling utterly exhausted.

I'm 5'6" and 55kg and hate body... I'm a size 8 in clothes, but I have absolutely zero muscle tone and a bad case of "skinnyfat". I also have terrible cellulite and a flat, sad looking butt.

A little while ago I was working out regularly and making reasonable progress, but after exercising 5-6 days per week, on top of everything else, I found myself burnt out and ended up falling off the wagon. This has happened at least a few times in the past as well and it's left me feeling kind of defeated, and left me feeling kind of doubtful about ability to do this (get toned, maintain a nice body and integrate fitness into life in a way that feels normal and not like an enormous chore).

I've read that for muscle tone/weight loss it is recommend to exercise 5 days a week for around 45 minutes to an hour. I feel overwhelmed and anxious at the thought of jumping into what is (for me) a heavy routine like that again and feel almost certain that I will end up burning out if I do that, which in turn leaves me feeling hopeless about even trying.

Does everyone here work out that often? Do some people work out less than that and still have toned bodies? I'm suffering from depression lately and motivation and energy levels are lacking.

Sorry if I seem a bit negative!

[Rickinator]

This is the most common situation that I hear. What I would suggest is......#1 if your so busy you don't have at least 30 min a day ,try to loosen up your scheduall a bit. Ask a partner to pitch in on a chore for you so you can get in a quick workout.#2 Also find a workout that is effective and ENJOYABLE for you...if you hate it you are less likely to jump in and get it done. This advise is fairly general but can be an extremely important way to go about it. I get heart rate up 7 days a week even on "off days" contemplate priorities...30 to 60 min a day = 23 hours a day of feeling charged and well everyday. Your gonna do great!!

[vamp]

Hi Jienne,

First off... WELCOME! Raising a little one is difficult and exhausting with the rest of life's daily chores and doing it alone almost triples the stress!

So, first off let's see if wee can work on ways for you to incorporate some exercise into your day to day without stressing you further. I am pretty sure you know about clean eating and can do that if you keep the stress and exhaustion down.

if you have a toddler or smaller you can make a game out of squats ( hold the baby straight out in front and try 3 sets of 10 squats.... perhaps your breath out could blow the baby's hair for lots of giggles.

A daily 20-30 minute walk with a baby stroller is excellent for both of you even if it is on your way to or from appointments or errands.

If baby is crawling, play a bridge game so they crawl under you while you hold the top part of a push up. Singing London Bridges Falling Down.... as they pass through, go to the lowered position and pop back up,,,, you can even pretend to crash on the baby for an added element of fun and giggles.

Try crunches and curls using your baby and raspberry their or kiss their cheeks.

Perhaps by just adding some activity to your routines instead of a designated time slot for workouts you can accomplish some of your goals until the time slot is cleared when you are no longer balancing as mush in your life.

Walking to a farther bus stop or walking instead of using other transportation. Using stairs instead of elevators or escalators, teach your baby to use their body with these functions instead of the lazier forms (obviously if its baby and groceries, climbing to the 3 floor can be a little daunting but you can work towards it.) If you drive, literally park in the farthest spots so you have to walk (less people fight for these in malls anyway).

if you can wake up to or do just before you go to sleep, try a couple of sets of box squats, push ups and planks.... 5-10 minutes of 3 rotations through these will have you breathing a little heavier and help your metabolism ramp up for a bit.

Sometimes that focus on 30-45 minutes of straight work out time is not available and these are some of the ways to get healthier without trying to find those chunks of time.

I do hope this is helpful
Chris

[Boss Man]

Hi Natasha, good to talk with you

Firstly I will politely decline the apology, as I'd find it rude to accept an unnecessary apology from a Lady. You might sound a bit negative but that's perfectly okay, because if you don't give some kind of backstory that you might want to, you might miss something out that's of relevance to us.

I am guessing you might be looking more towards home workouts, rather gym based ones, so I can give you some things to ponder over.

Both of these workouts are ones I've posted before but they can be done on different days and it will all be explained as you read.

This workout involves just using bodyweight and is done 3x a week every other day, coupled with plyometric cardio 2x a week

Squats, 2 sets, 10 reps

Lunges, 2 sets, 10 reps

Good Mornings, 2 sets, 10 reps

Bent over Rows, 2 sets, 10 reps

Vertical Flyes, 2 sets, 10 reps

Shrugs, 2 sets, 10 reps

Planks 30 seconds.

In relation to the training ideas I gave you above, your bodyweight workouts and cardio schedule could look something like this.

Day 1. Bodyweight

Day 2. Cardio

Day 3. Bodyweight

Day 4. Day off

Day 5. Cardio

Day 6. Bodyweight

Day 7. Day off.

This prevents you doing 5 days straight and 2 days of nothing, as I think that's allowing too much consecutive taxation and 2 days of your body doing nothing, slowly starting to adjust to it, before 5 days of grind again, which might take the edge off progress potential, so the 5 split days should be better for you.

In relation to the plyo stuff I mentioned, you could work it into a system, which might look a bit like this.

Circuit 1.

3 minutes marching on the spot to warm up.

30 seconds jumping jacks

30 seconds mountain climbers

30 seconds, star jumps

30 seconds, scissors

30 seconds spotty dogs

30 seconds, squat jumps

1 minute rest


Circuit 2

45 seconds jumping jacks

45 seconds mountain climbers

45 seconds, star jumps

45 seconds, scissors

45 seconds spotty dogs

45 seconds, squat jumps

1.5 minutes rest


Circuit 1

30 seconds jumping jacks

30 seconds mountain climbers

30 seconds, star jumps

30 seconds, scissors

30 seconds spotty dogs

30 seconds, squat jumps

3 minutes marching on the spot to cool down

Effectively a 3 part workout lasting 20 minutes, because it's about you doing as much as you can within a time frame, not a fixed number of things, because then you might take a lot longer than 20 minutes based on the speed you can do an individual movement just once.

The beauty with this kind of workout is, you can progress by striving to fit more volume into the timeframe, like say one more star jump each week or two, by developing a slightly more rapid execution of the movments, once your fitness is progressing, if that makes sense.

This would be done on the cardio days, as listed in the weekly schedule above.

Hopefully that all makes sense and it gives you other options along with what has been mentioned above by others.

GOOD LUCK, with your wellness endeavours and also not least with the studies and with bringing up the litte 'n', as I'm sure you'll do just fine with both of those things as well and I'm sure when they're older, your child will find a fit strong Mother a great rolemodel to aspire to be like and If you need anything else or would like more clarification, please don't hesitate to ask and please do keep us updated, as we really like to read how people get on .

Remember that this is not about thinking whether you will end up like last time, just allowing your efforts to peter out to nothing, but thinking of how capable you can be a sticking to these things, by believing in and using the emotional and mental abilities, I am confident you DO possess and believing just how much you ARE worth and what you CAN do.

You should be proud of giving yourself a second chance and I'm proud of you for finding the strength to take that second chance, because you ARE worth it and if you put the required effort in consistently, you WILL deserve and earn the results you get .

[Rickinator]

You also asked how long others work out.... I was working out 45 min a day 6 to 7 days a week in a cardio/weight combo for about 3 months in this picture------------>

[jienne]

Thanks everyone for your fantastic replies! I'll take on board everything that has been said here and will definitely try some of the at home activities with little one.

Good news is that I have managed to find a gym near house that is a.) Within limited price range, and b.) Has childcare! This is such a relief as it means that I will get extra time during day to work out and not have to worry about it cutting into 'productivity hour' while son is napping.

I'll admit to feeling sort of nervous about ability to stay on track, but I suppose I won't get anywhere unless I challenge that anxiety and get back on the horse.

[vamp]

Well said Jienne,

"I suppose I won't get anywhere unless I challenge that anxiety and get back on the horse."

This applies to all of us and can't be better expressed! Can't wait to see how you progress! Keep in touch!

Chris

[Boss Man]

If you can make it to the gym 3x a week, then the bodyweighted system I proposed will be transferable.

You just do most of the exercises wih the smallest barbell available except the shrugs which you do with the second smallest dumbells available and the planks are not a weighted exercise anyway.

You can then increase the weight on the 2nd and by week 4, you'll be ready to do something a bit more challenging. This workout is done 3x a week every other day as well, as expressed in the bodyweighted schedule.

The plyo stuff could still be done at home anyway, but if you had the time to go to the gym another 2 days week, it could be done there on a sprung floor exercise room if the gym had one and the room was not being used for classes when you wanted it.

I totally appreciate why you might feel anxious, when you've tried this before and it all seemed to come to nothing in the end, but remember that you ARE worth it and every second of effort you give to yourself is worth it and both those things will always be the case for the rest of your life and you deserve ot give yourself another chance at increased happiness and physcial empowerment, because you ARE worth that chance.

As Chris said, please do keep us updated, as we always, always like to hear about the good things people achieve .