Struggling to Find Time For Exercise?

If you are a Mom with small kids,  you probably find it very hard to find time for exercise.  I know that I found it impossible. I also knew that I needed to do something about it as well.


I tried recruiting friends to sign up to various boot camps and programs with me, but most of my friends are Mom's as well - they also had a hard time committing to something like that. So, that didn't work.


I kept talking about pulling out my old Pilates DVD's - but I was not motivated enough for that either. I really wanted to do something that was fun, interactive and engaging.  But the question was "what"?


That was when a friend of mine suggested that we try the EA Active 30 day challenge on the Nintendo Wii system.   She figured that since we are both pretty busy and have children, that this was something that we could do from home and since it was using the Wii system, it would likely be fun as well.


So sure enough, my husband and I own a Wii. I decided that that I would not only go out and purchase the EA Active for it, but the Wii Fit Plus as well.


I was a bit hesitant at first. I was worried about actually finding the time since it seemed like my kids were always awake and I had no time for myself.  I decided since they were poor nappers, that I would just go ahead and do the exercise while the kids played around me.


Guess what? 


I was pretty successful. I started with the Wii Fit Plus and as I was setting it all up, I made sure that I told my son all about what I was doing. He was pretty excited about the Wii Fit board.  Since I had to create a Mii (character of myself) I would create one of him as well.  That way if I need to incorporate him into my fitness routine, he would actually feel involved. With that being said, once I was ready to start my first activity, I decided to try out the beginner hullahoop. I figured that my son could stand beside me and pretend he was hullahopping as well. Sure enough, the moment I stood on the board and started to shake my hips, he thought I was dancing and started to dance all around me. I was happy that I was finally able to do some exercise and my son was able to "exercise" with me. 


There are numerous fitness activities and routines on the Wii Fit Plus - from Yoga, strength training, exercises such as jogging, boxing, karate and snowball fights, and many, many more. There are also customized routines that focus on specific problem areas such as hips and thighs. What is nice about it as well, is that the board that you stand on, also acts like a scale and keeps log of your daily progress. It tracks the calories that you burn as well as your BMI (Body Mass Index). For more information on BMI, here are some good websites:


http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=16125
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/
http://walking.about.com/od/diet/g/bmi.htm



It has been less than a week since I started using the Wii Fit Plus, but I can honestly say that I love it. Mostly because exercise has never been more fun, but because my 3 year old son, loves it as well.  I doubt that he would have felt the same way about my Pilates DVD's. With the media reporting that child obesity is on the rise, I love that I can teach my son about exercise and have him do it with me and not even realize it. 


Onto the EA Active.


I bought the EA Active kit that came with the leg strap to hold the nun-chuck controller and the resistance band. These are both needed for a majority of the exercises and routines.
I cannot say too much about the EA active yet, that girlfriend of mine that I was telling you about is still waiting to receive hers. So we have not started our 30 day challenge yet. But, I did decide to try the beginner 20 mins workout and I can tell you that it is definitely challenging.  I was exhausted after the first 9 minutes and my legs felt like Jello. 
Considering that I have exercised in years, you can only imagine how out of shape I am. so - I decided that since I spent 45 mins doing various activites on the Wii Fit Plus that day, that it would be okay if I quit after those 9 minutes.


If this is something that you are interested in, check out these sites for reviews and for more information:


http://www.wiifit.ca/
http://wii.ign.com/articles/103/1031024p1.html
http://www.easportsactive.com/home.action
http://reviews.cnet.com/wii-games/ea-sports-active-wii/4505-9993_7-33394122.html


There may be some parents out there that don't like the idea of promoting a video game system, but a system that promotes my children to be active is okay by me especially considering the direction of technology the world is headed.


Stay tuned for more updates once we begin the 30 day challenge.