No time to exercise? Think again!

Exercise...
That word can mean very different things to different people. For me, exercise means mental and physical energy, it means time to myself and peace and quiet. We all need it, we all crave it, and most of us don't think we have the time, patience or energy for it. And some of us don't even know where or how to start with everything else  we have  going on in our busy lives.
Well my friend, you're in luck, because exercise can be done anytime, anywhere, with or without physical objects, dvd's, sneakers or weights.
I'll give you some examples. One night, feeling a little cooped up, I got into my workout clothes, ready for some hard core cardio. But my baby was fussy. She was so squirmy and wouldn't stop crying. On a normal day, I  exercise when she is napping. Tonight, I realized I couldn't do my regular routine and would have to make due with what I had. Sneakers, a ten pound crying baby and a nice long patch of grass outside my house. That night I did dozens of lunges and squats until my baby fell soundly asleep. It got my heart rate up, my blood pumping, raised my serotonin levels and gave me some very sore legs and bum.

On a nice sunny morning, while my kids were out with their Abba I figured I would go for a nice long power walk. My baby fell asleep. While that is a very good thing, I really wanted to get outdoors while I had the chance. Again, I realized I would have to be more flexible. I ran down to the basement, brought the air conditioners up to the top floor, installed them in the windows, screwed in some window shades, put together a toddler bed and still got to get a walk in before my kids came home. If you use your muscles correctly, even doing regular household chores can be great exercise. Every time I went back upstairs I would skip steps. While drilling in the window shades I used my core muscles to stabilize myself while I balanced my body, holding a heavy drill above my head. Carrying the AC up and into the window gave my arms a good work out and the walk calmed me down and energized me. And all this still raised my heart rate and got me good and sweaty.

 Even you don't have time to pop in a dvd, or spread yourself out on the floor for some yoga, be mindful of your body and muscles while you are doing your chores, and find your own ways to strengthen them. Your brain and body will really thank you!

So what does exercise mean for you?!