Excuses and Working Out at Home

There are so many excuses that we come up with to not work out. One of the top ones on the list is that there is no gym close by, or you can’t afford the monthly memberships. I am here to tell you that this should not be one of your excuses.

Chris and I live outside of Birmingham….I have a good 35 minute to hour and a half commute each way to work every day depending on traffic. Since we live in a smaller “city,”  there was no gym close to our house. When you leave your house at 7:30 am and don’t return back until at least 6:30 pm at the earliest…the last thing you want to do is prolong getting home any longer by hitting up a gym. Waking up and getting to a gym in the mornings and making it to work on time wasn’t really feasible either.

Either way, one day I woke up and decided that not having a gym was not an excuse anymore. That one day we will buy an elliptical machine wasn’t coming soon enough. I had to do something.

Last summer I started the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I decided that if I was going to get in a work out, it had to be in the morning before work, as I can come up with a million excuses and distractions after work. I can think of about 10 reasons right now actually….

I started waking up about 45 minutes earlier than I usually did. The work out was 30 minutes long and I knew I needed a few minutes to “wake up.” I would get the work out in, then get ready for work. After about two weeks of forcing myself to wake up earlier, it started to become habit. After I completed the 30DS, I started her RIPPED in 30 program. After that, I did T25. And now? I am doing Body Beast.

Now you might say to yourself, I am not a morning person. Well, neither was I really…but my health is more important to me than sleeping til the last possible second before work. And if you can absolutely not wake up any earlier….then make time in your evening schedule to fit in the work out. I could find 30 minutes at night to work out, but I don’t want to…so that is why I now wake up at 4:25 am. Body Beast can be anywhere from about 29 minutes to almost an hour.

Another reason I found for not working out at home was I didn’t want to pay for programs. Well…with YouTube and Pinterest you now don’t have to!!! You can pretty much stream any work out on YouTube these days. And if YouTube isn’t your thing, many discount stores, close out stores, or even Thrift shops will sell work out DVDs for $1. I have picked up SEVERAL at places like Bargain Hunt. Know someone who has completed something you want to try? Borrow or swap with them.

Depending on what program you plan on following, you may have a few items you need to purchase. For me, I needed a yoga mat for any ab or plank work that I do, a stability ball (which can double as a weight bench) and free weights. As time has gone along and I tried out different programs, I add more stuff. For instance, recently I have had to up my weights because I am getting too strong for the super light weights that I had originally purchased. I have also added a resistance band in place of a pull up bar.

While purchasing these items can be expensive at times, shop smart! You can find work out equipment on craigslist pretty much any day of the week. If you don’t want to mess with that, look at Ross, TJ Maxx and Marshalls. I purchased a set of free weights, a resistance band and work out clothes from TJ Maxx recently. Target some times has their free weights on sale for $3-$5 off per weight, which is a huge savings when you know you have to purchase weights in pairs. Sometimes they are even in cartwheel for an additional savings. So don’t pay full price when you don’t have to!

Don’t want to mess with following along to a DVD or program? Make up your own! Pinterest is filled with ideas! Don’t even pretend like you haven’t seen these floating around:

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I have a Hot Body board that you can follow. I pin work out ideas, motivational quotes, healthy tips, natural remedies and more on there. Pick a few of these cards and do one each day. They don’t take long and doing something is better than doing nothing.

Sometimes I find myself doing some squats or calf raises while I am waiting for my water to boil. Maybe a few crunches during commercial breaks. Tightening up my abs while I am driving around corners in the car. That last one sounds weird, but trust me…you feel it!

Do you need inspiration? Do you need someone to hold you accountable? Leave me a comment. I am constantly emailing back and forth with a few of my fitness blogger friends and IRL friends. I love nothing more than to get encouragement, motivation and support from them and I can do the same for you.

Need some good recommendations of bloggers to follow?

Kathy @ Vodka and Soda

Liz @ Fitness Blondie

Jessi @ Not the Average Bear

They all post tips, rants, and all kinds of stuff about fitness Jesus and their soul mate work outs.

Confession: I have my work outs down. I have no problem working out at least five days a week. I get it in and get it done. I make no excuses for it. Where is my trouble area? Food!!!! I want all of the bad food all of the time. I really focus on meal planning, watching what I eat during the week, and trying to keep my weekend splurges under control. I know I can improve even more in this area. It is all about making little lifestyle changes and not being too restrictive and giving up. Balance is my friend.

Also, being conscience of boredom eating and emotional eating is key.

Some people talk about where they get their motivation and will power from. The thing is, there is no magic answer for this. You have to want to work out and eat healthy. You have to want to feel good. Your want has to be stronger than your desire to keep going on the path you are going now. And to be honest, you have to want more than to just look better or loose weight. You have to want to be healthy and feel better too.

For me, I got tired of standing in my closet every morning and trying on ten different outfits before settling on something that I still didn’t feel comfortable in. I got tired of feeling tired and bloated all the time. I got tired of that nasty feeling you get after eating fried or fast foods. I got tired of looking in the mirror and knowing that I could be so much better. I got tired of getting sick. I knew I had to do something.

And remember:

 

Are you working out at home and loving it? Is there one fitness tip that you wish you would have known when you first started out? What do you do to stay on track with eating healthy?