Hi Shannon!!
<center><font size="1" color="#ff0000">LAST EDITED ON Jul-10-00 AT 01:46PM (EST)</font></center>
Here are some ideas you can sift through. I have three girls, 3, 4, and 8, and have been working out since they were 1, 2, and 6.
1. rack your brain for different times you could work out. Since I live in a small house and 2 of my 3 are early risers, I can't get up at 5 am and work out or within 10 minutes I would have 2 little "helpers", so early morning don't help me much. However, at 10 am when Blues Clues and Franklin are on Nickelodeon back to back, my younger two are riveted (my oldest can entertain herself) so I can work out 10-11. If I miss that opportunity, I can work out 2-3 when my youngest is napping and my two older girls are snacking. If I miss that, I can work out 9-10 pm after they're all in bed (I'm awfully tired at that point but those are also my most blissfully peaceful workouts!). HAVE OPTIONS!! Flexibility is going to be a key if you want to maintain as your child grows and his schedule changes.
2. Would he stay in a playpen? My daughters were happy in the playpen IF it was in the same room where I worked out and IF I had "special" playpen-time-only toys and books in there. IN fact, one day I put the youngest in the PP and 10 minutes later ALL THREE were in there partying away! HOWEVER, I had trained them to be in the playpen, so they were used to it. I doubt if an 18 month old who's never been in one would be very happy if you suddenly plopped him there!!
3. consider splitting your workouts. Do 30 minutes of cardio in the morning, and 20 minutes of strength in the afternoon. usually kids do better with littler blocks of time, that's for sure.
4. Lower your expectations. Don't expect yourself to do the same workouts that someone with no kids (or older kids) is able to do. THis is a precious time in your child's life and in yours. Treasure it, MAINTAIN your fitness, make all kinds of grand plans in your head for later if you want to, but be realistic about what you can do now. I don't do the check-in because I see those AWESOME 2 hours per day workouts and I just KNOW I can't do that and if I start checking in I'll feel pressure (TOTALLY self-induced) to "produce" more, so I just don't go there. I do enjoy reading what people are doing and thinking "when all three girls are in school, I'LL DO THAT!!"
5. Don't have an all-or-nothing mentality. Do what you can fit in. If you only have time to do a warmup, ONE step section, and cooldown of one of Cathe's tapes, then DO THAT rather than be discouraged that you can't do more. Being consistent will get you LOTS farther than being perfect EVER could!
6. NEGLECT THE HOUSEWORK!! Don't neglect your child, don't neglect your workouts, NEGLECT THE HOUSEWORK!! It matters the least. Don't wait until you can "fit in" your workouts. Schedule them in as a priority, and fit in little spurts of housework here and there where you can.
About results, I have found that I see quicker results from strength training than cardio alone. . . YOu are probably having results that you just don't recognize just yet. . . But in terms of BODY CHANGE, strength will do it for you quicker than anything. You'll love the cross train express package, I ordered it too and can't wait to get my tapes! Maybe we should keep in touch, when the tapes come we could encourage one another to stick to the program. Just click the e-mail button below my message and you can e-mail me if you'd like. In the meantime I am sure you will get lots of good advice here, these ladies are AWESOME folks!
