Finding New Ways To Exercise

I walk everywhere, kids in tow. This is great for many reasons, including health, financial and environmental. I'm finding that I'm not getting as much of a workout as I used to though.

A couple of years ago the kids rode everywhere in our Graco DuoGlider. I was pushing close to 100 lbs (not sure how much the stroller weighs but the kids were about 35-37 lbs each), AND I was walking briskly. Since my time wasn't eaten away by dawdling toddlers, I'd schedule us a little tighter and walk faster to reach our destinations. So when you combine brisk walking with weight pushing, you get calories burned! All my exercise needs were basically met.

Now, at the ages of 5 and 6 1/2, my kids walk everywhere too. This means we don't walk as quickly, and we stop to look at flowers and bugs and anything else you can imagine would interest a couple of curious kids. I still take the stroller to carry our stuff, but as you can guess, it's much lighter.

As a result, I'm having to be more creative as far as incorporating exercise into my day. One of the changes I've made is to remove a laundry basket from the main floor of our house. Now instead of tossing items into this basket and making one trip downstairs when the basket is full, I run each laundry item downstairs in individual trips (sometimes I wish my kids still rode in the stroller ;)

What are some interesting ways that you sneak exercise into your day? I'd love some new ideas!



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