Exercise

This year I have been noticing that I have not had the energy that I need in order to get through my day. I was told that exercise would boost my energy. What? Exercise makes me tired..and sore...and sweaty. Why the heck would I want to do that? Well, according to science, it does a lot for you. According to the Mayo Clinic, "physical activity delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and help your cardiovascular system work more efficiently. And when your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you have more energy to go about your daily chores." Not to mention, it boosts health, maintains weight, enhances mood, and  improves sleep. Okay, I am sold.
I guess this means I will be scheduling exercise into my lesson plans. I have not really taken exercise seriously before, as my job had always kept me moving. So, I have done some research to try to find some exercise plans that are free and require very little equipment. This is what I found.

1. Body Rock TV would be an easy way to do have a regular routine. It is an online program that schedules new workouts regularly. It requires very little equipment and is free. All you do is log in and do the daily routine. It has 5 routines a week and two rest days.
2. Woman's Health magazine has printable workouts with fantastic explanations. They are free and once again require very little equipment. I think the bikini workout looks very interesting because it is a plan that has three different routines that you do for six days. Then, you have one rest day. It is recommended for 21 days. There are so many great workouts on this site.
3. Livestrong wrote this great article on how to exercise as a family. I love some of the ideas. I think the dancing together is a great idea and I plan on using the video games that we have at home in order to do so. My kids love their gaming system and I think if I could convince them to do 30 minutes of dancing with me, I could get my exercise in as well as spend quality time with them.
4. Prevention magazine also has some great workouts. I have always been interested in yoga. The yoga workouts (among others) on this site look interesting. Plus, this would be a nice way to try something new without a large investment.
5. Divine.ca is a great website. Select what part of your body you want to work on and it will give you different exercises for that specific area.
6. Hiking is a great activity for the family and is often free (we usually have to pay for parking). Trails.com is an excellent resource for finding local trails and for getting information. I like the feature that allows you to create a profile and save the hikes that you are interested in.

My plan is to make weight and inches goals using a measurement tracker. I will then pick a workout plan and do it for three weeks with a sprinkle of family workouts as well. I will check my measurements weekly and check for progress. If the workout is interesting and is working, I will continue it. Otherwise I try different workouts until I find the one I want. Also, workouts will need to vary based on the results I am looking for. For example, I am not happy with the jiggling in my arms, so I will want to choose plans that address that.