Bathroom Exercises?

I’m not a big one for New Year’s Resolutions. Most resolutions are broken by January 2nd.

You start out with a good plan. “I’m going to exercise 7 days a week for 1 hour a day.”

That usually lasts for about 2.5 days before you’ve decided your crazy. Or, if you do stick with it for several months, you end up getting burnt out and give up. Before you know it, it’s taken you a year to talk yourself into it again.

This was my story. Until I gave up all New Year’s/spring/4th of July/first-of-the-month resolutions and just started.

Even if you have to start with baby steps, ANY type of exercise is better than nothing.

One of my favorite baby steps is something I call bathroom exercises.

Sounds weird, I know. But bear with me.

The idea is to pick a room in your house that you go into several times a day. Each time you go into that room, do an exercise. When I first heard this idea I picked my kitchen. After all, I’m the cook.

Did you know there are about 101 ways you can totally avoid your kitchen in the span of a day and still feed your family?

After being honest with myself and giving it more thought, I settled on the bathroom. I mean, it’s pretty hard to completely avoid that room for life. Eventually, you have to go in there.

I varied between several high intensity body weight exercises: push ups, lunges, running in place, etc. Sometimes I did five reps, sometimes ten, sometimes thirty – depending on the exercise.

The important part is to do that exercise until you’re out of breath (I mean really out of breath – no cheating!) or until you can’t do anymore.

I’ve squatted in the bathroom stall at Wal-Mart. I’ve done pushups in my sister’s bathroom. I’ve lunged until my legs felt like jello. It all works. Lately I’ve been jumping rope.

I started out slowly – about 50 before I had to stop – and gradually increased to 200 jump ropes of varying styles. If I used the bathroom even five times a day, I’d completed 1,000 jump ropes.

Do you know what 1,000 jump ropes a day can do for you! Think of all the muscles you’re calling into action each time you jump. Arms, legs, stomach, lower back. . . It’s great!

The best part of all this is that it’s so flexible. Maybe you don’t have a jump rope or your bathroom is too small. Choose an exercise you can do in what space you have. A jumping jack doesn’t take more than about 4 feet of space. You might be concerned that your neighbors below you would complain. Squatting or doing pushups isn’t any louder than your breathing.

Pick an exercise you’re comfortable with and start.

Today.

You don’t need to spend an hour a day at the gym. You don’t need to find a sitter each time you want to run. That just gives you an easy excuse to put it off for another day.

Remember, ANY exercise is better than none. Don’t wait for the New Year. Don’t wait for Monday, or the first of the month, or your 30th birthday, or. . .just start with baby steps and a bathroom.

The more water you drink, the better.

P.S. What are your favorite bathroom exercises?

Shared with: Healthy Home Economist, The Prairie Homestead, Motivate Me Monday, DIY Home Sweet Home, 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven, Skip To My Lou, Hartke is Online, Home Savvy A to Z, Time-Warp Wife, Chef In Training, Tip Junkie, Vintage Wannabee, Permanent Posies, Hope Studios, Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Mommy, Rook No. 17, Juliecache, Above Rubies, Women Living Well, Blue Cricket Designs, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, We Are That Family, The Thrifty Home, Raising Homemakers, Milk and Cuddles, Live Renewed, Nourishing Gourmet, A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa, Real Food Whole Health, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Simply Sweet Home, Life As Mom, Thirty Handmade Days, Crumbs & Chaos, Celebrating Family, Raising Mighty Arrows, Our Simple Country Life, Country Momma Cooks, Little Natural Cottage, Growing Home, Deep Roots at Home, Our Simple Farm, Christian Mommy Blogger,

Tagged as: exercise