Who has time to workout and get started?

[XENO]

Who has the time to workout out and how to get started:

I have a busy life. I am married and we have four children. This
alone makes life busy, right? But of course to make things more busy,
we also run our own rowing business. Being busy has taken a whole new
meaning over the last 8 years of my existence, which brings me to
wonder how others find time to stay healthy and what a struggle it is
to make time for working out in a day that is busting at the seams.

We get up early and go to bed late. We work and care for others,
because we are selfless. By writing this sentence moms come to my
mind. Yes I am selfless, but I also know that if I don’t take care of
myself, I can’t take care of others. In order to make time for a
daily workout, and I mean daily workout, you have to look at your
situation two ways. For one, you must make the decision to workout,
which requires you to find the logic in it. Think of the saying: “Use
it or loose it.” The list of benefits are endless when it comes to
exercise, do you want those benefits? The answer is a resounding
“yes”. The second way to look at it is by understanding that exercise
will help you be a better person. You may give all the love that you
can, but if your body is not maintained your “love-giving” is on a
path of diminish returns, do we want that? “NO!” is the answer.

We just came back from a few days in the mountains. I did not have a
rowing machine and had been exercising less because I had been
coaching more on the water. My body started feeling lethargic, which
gave me thoughts of horror, “me feeling like that, I used to train 4
hours per day, aah what is happening!” So I took off for an early
morning walk at a California state park. It was 7 in the morning and
no one around. I marched and quickly noticed that I could be doing
one knee bend every fourth step... After five minutes of step-step-
step-step-squat, I stopped and decided to do 50 knee bends all at once
while alternating the position of my arms to strengthen my back while
I was pushing the quads, gluts and hamstrings. After those 50 my legs
felt like rubber and so I proceeded to walk back to where I came
from. Shortly before dropping into my long chair and looking at the
sky, I piled on another 50 knee bends. Overall I had been walking and
moving my body for 55 minutes. I exercised between 7 and 8 in the
morning, which is possible because I was on vacation and the kids were
asleep. You may ask, what about enlisting your children into the
exercise routine. You are absolutely right, my three oldest kids
start-to-want-exercise, I learned that in the last couple of months.

Here is my advice about starting to workout: Don’t set goals that you
can’t reach. Be flexible with your type of exercise and adjust the
type of workout to the environment that you are in, I had no rowing
machine, therefore I went for a walk etc. Look at breaking a sweat
one way or the other. Approach the intensity of your workout
carefully, because you don’t want to overdo it and you want to stay
clear of injury at all cost. Remember that you only have one body and
that exercising is a daily and gradual process. Daily moderation is
the way to go with working out.
Make your exercise entertaining by using music or in company of a
person who supports you.
Accept the fact that spending time on you helps you spend to time and
energy/love on others.

That is it for now.

Live life, break a sweat, because not too long ago we were hunters and
gatherers. Socially we evolved faster than physically, LET’S WORKOUT
OUT and have fun doing so!

Xeno

Join one of the fastest growing communities of indoor rowers at www.row2go.com
Xeno Muller won an Olympic Gold in Atlanta and an Olympic Silver in
Sydney, and is the current Olympic Record holder in the 2000m Single
Scull. He is also the President and founder of Row2Go which is
quickly becoming THE online community for both indoor and on-the-water
rowers providing its members with weekly online workout routines and
individualized coaching programs.

[Jenny in Atlanta]

Great post, Xeno! Your attitude toward conquering the urge to put off
exercise on busy days is a real gem. However your keys to success when
starting - set realistic goals, be adaptable, and keep it fun - sent
me off on a new line of thought. If my exercise habit gets off track,
successfully starting again will build my energy much faster than
being disappointed with myself for not exercising.

So applying your keys to success daily could really keep me on track
with my long term goals. There are days when I can't work out on my
rower or get a full workout in a gym, but there is almost always time
to "move my body" for 20 minutes doing something else I enjoy. That's
a realistic, adaptable, fun goal that I can live by.

Thanks for the inspiration!
Jenny in Atlanta