Exercise

I need to start exercising. However, I have a small problem. I despise exercising. I hate it with my entire being. I find it to be a monotonous, tortuous way to spend precious hours of this short life. That being said, I need to do it. My knees hurt all of the time now. My ankles hurt. My feet hurt. I am beginning to get little aches and pains that I associate with people much older than me. I know that exercise will alleviate these troublesome aches. I also know the endorphins produced when exercising will give me a bit of a mental boost...something I could use every single day. Why then am I SO VERY opposed to doing it? It's difficult to find the time to do it, my kids are completely uncooperative, and quite frankly...it bores me. Wow...am I full of excuses or what?!

Being home with the kids in the afternoon, I am limited in the types of exercise I can do. I like to walk, but going for a walk with my children is far from a healthy endeavor. Lucas usually does ok. Unfortunately, I can't leave the little ones at home while Lucas and I go for a power walk. I am forced to take the little ones, which defeats the entire purpose of walking for exercise. Nicholas dawdles and strolls at such a leisurely pace that my heart rate barely rises above that of a comatose person. In addition, Sophie typically begins complaining of being "tired" within a block of our house. I'm not really working up a good burn walking to the end of the block and back.

I do have a treadmill in my basement family room. However, that really doesn't work much better. I believe that my children save all of their complaints and grumbles for the minute I step foot on the treadmill. They could be playing like perfect angels....all harmony and bliss. However, the minute mommy turns on the treadmill, everyone has to potty at once, someone gets hit, someone feels wronged and begins to scream, toys begin flying around the room...all hell breaks loose. I have no idea how they manage to create such utter chaos in a matter of moments, but the treadmill somehow instills in them the power to wreak havoc.

I have a couple of exercise videos at home, but it's hard to find the room in my Lego-covered living room to do the video. Plus, the kids inevitably get in the way of my doing lunges and kicks. I inadvertently smacked Lucas in the head mid-jumping jack the last time. I now consider those exercise videos a hazard. They are collecting dust in the DVD bin.

I own a Wii Fit. However, the first time I stepped on it, it was rather disheartening to watch my little avatar grow fatter and fatter. Lucas chimed in with ,"Wow mom, you're fat on the Wii!" Nice, Lucas. I try using it...I really do. Somehow, when I turn the Wii on though, I inevitably end up sitting on the couch with a bag of potato chips cow-racing with Nicky. Not exactly conducive to living a healthier lifestyle.

Ruanita and I have discussed buying a State Park pass this summer and taking the kids hiking in some of the State Parks. It sounds wonderful to me, but we'll see how well that goes over with the complaining crew that lives in my house. In the meantime, I continue my search for accessible, kid-friendly exercise....if such a thing exists.