The Kids Are Asleep! Let's Do It!

It's 8.30pm. The kids are asleep. I'm sitting on the sofa. Max walks up to me and winks. "Wanna?" he says. And then we spend the next couple of minutes working up a sweat, right there in the living room.

I know what you're thinking. 
Oh you think I don't know, but I know. 
You know I know. 

We could go on.

So anyway. If you think I'm going to talk about horizontal mumbo jumbo on this blog, you couldn't be more wrong.

So. For the past couple of weeks, Max and I have been moving all around the house to find suitable spots for our mini exercise regimes. We've had our set of weights for the years but over time, they kind of got engulfed by thick layers of dust. So that's what we've been doing. We've decided to exercise at home. And we sometimes do it when the kids are awake as well.

I have to confess. I hate exercise. I mean, exercise as in the conventional kind you know? Like playing badminton. Or swimming. Or cycling. But it's really jogging that I absolutely detest (sorry, joggers) - it just goes on and on and on and on... And jogging for nursing mums is seriously not funny at all. Max and I climb the stairs everyday and it's tiring but after 5 years, we've kind of gotten used to it.

I used to enjoy a good kickboxing session, or an aqua aerobics class, but that would mean I'd have to go out after dinner. But Calla needs me to put her to bed. So out of the house is out of the question then.

So Max, a little tired of hearing me gripe about how I still look 5 months pregnant, very graciously invited me to join him in his exercise regime. You know, sometimes when your husband is talking and you just nod your head and say uh huh uh huh but your mind is somewhere else, like what to write for your next blog entry for instance. This wasn't one of those times. I went into it willingly.

We do a set of exercises each time. He does the research, then he'll demo the new exercises to me, and then we'll get to work. We usually do sets of 25 of the same exercise together. Then we go about doing our own thing until one of us says "Hey wanna do the Iron Cross?" and after a bit of floor sweeping of dish washing, someone else might say "Hey I'm going to do Tricep Kickbacks, wanna join me?". We do as much or as little as we want each time, and as and when we want. Each set of exercise only takes 5 minutes, tops.

As you know, we live in a 3-roomed HDB flat where space is a constraint, and I'm not a big fan of daily movement of furniture (read: I'm not the kind who will push the sofa against the wall every day just so I have space for a Jane Fonda workout). We don't even get out of the house. So if the neighbours look into our living room, they might spy Max doing squats in front of the store room, or find me doing leg lifts in the kitchen or something. Sometimes we need a little more space and we've found that the best place in the house for that is.... the kids' play area :) So having no space isn't really an excuse.

It's been about 2 weeks, and I feel really energised (well, as energised as one can feel despite waking up a couple of times a night on some nights to be a snackbar).

And I'm now very proud to share that we have grown bolder, and also taken and completed the Core Workout Every Day for 7 Days Challenge. Which is:

50 crunches
15 push ups
1 min plank
30 secs side plank each side
1 min bridge
15 push ups
1 min plank
30 secs side plank each side
50 crunches
1 min raised plank
2 mins bridge
50 crunches

Everyday. Without any rest between the exercises. 

 

Seriously, on the first day you feel like you'd rather sit on a durian, or or clean the toilet with a toothpick. But today is day 7 for me and (dare-I-say-it-out-loud?) 50 crunches is not difficult at all. I'm not saying this boastfully like "Nieh nieh nee boo boo, I can do 50 crunches (actually it's 150 because it's 3 sets of 50, but who's counting)', but more like 'If I can do it, you can too!'. This is coming from the person who's last crunches were done in the 3 months leading up to the wedding in 2006. It is totally doable.

 

Note: When doing the above set of exercises, it is very important that you focus and your mind does not drift to Gangnam Style. Laughing and ab exercises do not go well together. Just sayin' . But then again, doing the Gangnam Style itself  might just be a good cardio exercise.

The best part about this is that we do it together. Come on girls, you can do it too!

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