Make Exercise a Habit, Not a Chore

The past two weeks have been a blur of doctors and antibiotics—for my kids and myself.

Kids love to share germs.

I found myself diagnosed with strep throat for the first time in my life. The cherry on the cake was having a nice raging sinus infection to go with it. While talking like Kathleen Turner is not necessarily a bad thing, the constant nose blowing and hacking doesn’t make for a very enticing package. My exercise routine had to be put on hold for more than a week while I tried to fight off the infection.

There’s only one thing worse than resuming your workouts after an illness, and that’s getting started for the first time.

It’s one thing to decide to start exercising, it’s another to actually begin. The biggest hurdle is usually finding the time and energy to do it. Who wants to come home after a long day of work and get on the treadmill? Who wants to spend the day running errands and lifting toddlers and then head to a gym to lift weights? We all have our schedules and the trick is finding a way to incorporate exercise into our daily routine.

The best thing to do is find the time that works best for you. When I first started weight training on a regular basis, I worked full-time and had two little ones under the age of 3. My evenings were precious to me since I had so few hours with my boys. My mornings were precious, too. I was routinely up at least once during the night with our youngest and wanted to squeeze in every minute of sleep I could. My husband had slowly built up a home gym and every night after the kids were in bed, we would head to the basement to run on the treadmill or lift weights. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was the only time I had—and I slept like a log afterwards.

Another way to exercise is to take advantage of small windows. Walk on your lunch break, head to a gym before your family gets up, or take them with you in the evenings. A friend of mine likes to take her kids to the YMCA in O'Fallon after school. She meets up with her husband and they workout while their kids take a children’s yoga class. Incorporating exercise into the whole family’s routine sets a great example for the kids while spending time together.

If you’re a morning person, get up an extra half hour early and go for a walk, a run, a bike ride. If you don’t belong to a gym, good-old-fashioned calisthenics provide a great workout. Lunges, sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, calf-raises, and dips will all help tone muscles and burn fat and you can work these into your day wherever you can. Lunge your way to the refrigerator. Get up from your desk every hour and do twenty jumping jacks. The key is finding the time and making it part of your day every day.

Research has suggested it takes 66 days to form a new habit (something done automatically without much thought). Make exercise as much a part of your day as brushing your teeth or taking a shower. It’s one habit you’ll be thankful for.