Thursday, May 7, 2009

Fitness Friday: The Sneaky Exercise Edition

OK--so I see on my Google Reader that several of you have already posted! I guess I better get with it, huh?
I don't have a gym membership. I don't own a treadmill or a bike. I don't have any exercise DVDs. Yet. I really stink at this part of fitness. Making better food choices is much easier.

I didn't say easy. I said easier!

So this week's assignment was really for me. But I hope some of you can benefit too! If there is one thing I've learned during Fitness Friday, it's that busy weeks can throw our plans completely off. We've got to sneak some exercise in sometimes.

1. Get a pet! We got rabbits recently for the girls. See how cute they were when we got them?

They've grown a bit, but they are mini-lops so they will stay pretty small. Anyway, cleaning out their bunny house is HARD WORK! And it has to be done twice a week. We feel like regular farmers mucking out the stall. Removing the old hay and newspapers and all the other pleasantries that bunnies leave behind, then re-papering and putting fresh hay out....it's exercise, trust me.

2. Swim. We get an above ground pool each year. Like this one:


Yes, theoretically you should be able to use these again but so far that hasn't worked out for us. Long story. Anyway, it's worth every single penny especially considering the drive to the public pool and the cost to get in. We swim nearly every single day for about an hour. Now, understand there is precious little "swimming" going on in a pool this size. Today, however, the girls and I had a kicking contest, I threw them both up over and over, we run from each other, etc. There is a lot of activity going on there where normally I would be inside doing not so much.

3. Tackle odd housekeeping jobs. Scrubbing baseboards comes to mind. Cleaning out behind the fridge. Scrubbing, and moving furniture are physical tasks AND you get the added benefit of a cleaner house. Just one job a day and it's good for your muscles.

That's the bulk of my ideas. Now I can't wait to read yours! Here are my goals for this week:

1. Eat more fruit and veggies. I've added these to nearly every meal this week. So far, so good.
2. Pray for strength and help from the Lord. This is hard and I do not need to try to go it alone.
3. Move furniture and clean behind it. My sneaky exercise this week.
4. Drink water with meals. Well, not breakfast. Ew.

Hope you have a great weekend ladies!!! Can't wait to read all of your great ideas!

17 comments:

  1. Guess I'm first. Thanks for giving us homework every week. I probably wouldn't be blogging at ALL if it weren't for you.

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  2. Impressive, Rachel! Way to go! :)

    Brenda, I love all the exercise you get in your pool! I bet that you and your girls are exhausted at the end!

    This is a good topic, Brenda! Thanks!

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  3. I miss our bunnies now : (
    We used to have bunnies too and we always named them Oreo, yes, like the cookies, but only cause they were black and white and so sweet natured. Our dogs gave each and every one of them heart attacks and now they are gone. Your bunnies are super cute!

    That water drinking thing is hard, but you know what I have been doing? I set a timer for every hour on the hour starting after breakfast and drink one glass of water in one shot every time the timer goes off. It really works for me cause I forget to drink if I don't. I mean like forget to drink anything. I am like a desert animal, I can go for quite a while without drinking anything. Probably not good for my insides huh??

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  4. Great post, thanks for sharing.

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  5. You know...you have a lot more exercise in there than you give yourself credit for :) I love the awimming idea...sucha great way to be active and spend quality time playing with your girls too :) Keep it up and have a great week!!

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  6. that would be swimming idea....I was typing too fast!

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  7. We have had that same above ground pool for three years now. We take it down in the fall and put it back up in late May. Why again are you buying a NEW one every summer?

    As for your seneaky exercise: Great way to remember that life can be a workout (the title of my post, incidentally).

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  8. One year it was a used pool and band-aids were literally holding it together. We retired that one end of season. :) The other year we had torrential rains and we didn't yet know how to keep the chemicals straight and it was covered in the grossest substance ever and we chunked it. I think we're good to go now. :)

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  9. Love your title for this post, and you have some very good suggestions (especially the doing one good scrubbing chore a day with dual benefits).

    My link for this week is http://greatgrannygrandma.blogspot.com/2009/05/fitness-friday-hmmm.html but I'm not seeing any Mr. Linky on your post to add it to. I'll try again later.

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  10. It worked -- I tried again, and voila. Mr. Linky appeared.

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  11. Hmmm, you have some awesome ideas. I keep begging hubby to allow me to get a bigger pool like the one you've shown, but no go. Swimming even if it is just runing around in the pool is good natural exercise.
    You have given me some great ideas on what I can be doing to get further in this fun filled trying to get fit fitness fun! Thank you.

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  12. Benda, my link is up. Don't have time to read anything yet; gotta hurry and get dressed. We are going out to eat AGAIN.

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  13. thanks for your post! i got mine up (in record time for me) because i am letting my kids run rampant through the house and nobody is dressed and our teeth aren't brushed...but, hey! nobody's coming over, right?

    oh, shoot. there is the doorbell...ack!!

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  14. Love your pool idea! Those things aren't meant to be permanent anyhow, so I wouldn't "sweat" it! We have a neighborhood pool at the end of our block, but lots of people have put one in their backyard. Honestly, we're too lazy to maintain our own pool, and when we've good a great & free one so close, why would we spend thousands and thousands of initial and continuing dollars to dig up one of our own??? Sounds like we'll both be staying cool this year, again!

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  15. By the way, Brenda, I really like your new profile picture. You look so(what's the word I'm looking for)...smart. I guess that'll have to do.

    And since you are, the picture fits!

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  16. hmmm...had to go back to post to mr linky again..i don't think he likes me!

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  17. Oh my word ya'll!!! We moved the bunny house (former playhouse) across the yard today! If you've seen the bunny house you know how big that is! S and I did it alone.

    I have now worked out!!!!

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)