When the Best Laid Workout Plans Often go Awry

As outlined in The (Almost) Naked Truth, my weekly workout plan was:

Mondays: Mom & Baby Yoga

Wednesdays: Mom & Baby Bootcamp

Thursdays: Yoga on the Beach

supplemented with P90x, walking, running, etc.

But as Steinbeck essentially said: even the most organized of goals may not happen...

The first Wednesday following the above mentioned post, I had contacted the owner of the bootcamp and also emailed the woman running the classes; I found out what I needed to bring and the name of the location I needed to go. Yup, I knew the name of the place, not the address. In the age of SmartPhones and Google Maps, why on earth would I need more?! 

The first Wednesday, I packed my car full of baby gear and was off. At the end of my iPhone app directions, I found myself at a park with signage that matched the name of where I was told to go. I drove around its perimeter looking for strollers, bootcampers, or babies. Nada. 

Once parked, I went back to my phone checked the website and the emails, but found no guidance. So, I fired off an email explaining my predicament, drove to a near by path and went for a jog. The following Wednesday with an actual address in hand, I found myself faced with a sweet little baby in need of a longer morning nap. I let my daughter sleep, and worked out to P90x DVD for the remainder of her nap.

The moral of the story: When life throws a wrench in your workout plans, make it into an opportunity to do something different! If there is one thing Mom & Baby Yoga has taught me, it is that with some adaptation and a couple of breaks for feeds/ diaper changes throughout, most workouts are still possible. Moreover, working out can be a great opportunity to engage your infant for an extended period of time. Lay down a blanket near your mat, have toys on hand, sing to your baby and make adjustments to involve them! It may sound like I'm suggesting you create your own at home version of a three ring circus. But, you'd be surprised how exciting this can be for baby!

Supplemental, Cost-Effective Work-outs:

Walking briskly: This may not sound all that exciting, or revolutionary for that matter, but doing so for an hour can burn a few hundred calories. Choose a scenic route (whether its through the touristy areas of your city, by the water or through the mountains). And use a pedometer to track your pace, distance, and calories burned; for my iPhone, I have the free "GPS Watch" App which works quite well!

Running: If you hate running, but have good cardiovascular endurance, the 10 and 1 technique, wherein you run 10 minutes and walk 1, works very well; you may find you're able to run longer and are happier doing so! I also highly recommend, getting off the road and onto a trail. The beauty of the great outdoors acts as a marvellous distraction. For those of you who are easing back into workout life, after say chid birth or a cesarean, a program such a this Learn to Run may seem monotonous, but will get you happily running, injury free before you know it!

My brother's results without changing his diet

P90x: The reason I love this so much because it's incredibly hard, but oh so fun! The creator of the program, Tony Horton touts "muscle confusion" as the reason for its success. Because the plan outlines different work-outs for each day, your body doesn't habituate the same way it would completing the same workout. And as a result, there are no plateaus. Admittedly, I have not read any research on this principle. What I do know, this plan gets AMAZING!!!!! results. Having used the DVDs over the course of several months, I was running faster than ever (I knocked almost 5 mins off of my 10km race time from the year before); I was undoubtedly in the best shape of my life. Of the DVDs, the ones requiring the least amount of equipment are Cardio X, Kenpo X, Plyo X, Ab Ripper X, and Yoga X.

NB - before starting any exercise program, consult your doctor. Before starting P90x, there is a fitness test that needs to be completed (comes in the DVD package).

Don't be ashamed if you need to ease into running, or need to hit the pause button on your workout DVD. What is important is to be consistently active and enjoy what you do!!!