subject: Busy Parents Save Your Gym Fees By Working Out At Home [print this page] Anyone who knows me will politely describe me as being cuddly, others who are probably a bit more honest would call me something else! So it will surprise most people to know that I was actually a fitness instructor for many years before I gave birth to my son.
After years of teaching aerobic classes, step classes, aqua aerobics, weight-training, circuit classes, personal training, and teaching line dancing, it was kind of refreshing to head for the sofa of an evening with a packet of crisps and actually watch all the soaps on television that I had previously only heard about while chatting in the gym.
Nowadays I admit that if I get the desire to exercise, I will go and lie down until the urge passes.
But the pressure to stay healthy and trim is constantly being pushed upon us from all angles.
You visit the doctors for a routine check-up, only to have him or her narrow their eyes at you and sigh as you step on the scale, which always seems to need budging up the scale a little each time you go. This is often followed by the usual pep talk about getting enough exercise and eating your five-a-day.
Even the television is loaded with programmes about weight issues - fat families, super-size to super-skinny, eat yourself slim etc.
But it is the morning TV shows with their resident health and fitness gurus grinning at you enthusiastically, all shiny and bright at stupid oclock in the morning that get my goat.
There you are all bleary-eyed with bed hair, in need of a good dose of caffeine, and having to get yourself and other family members fed, dressed, groomed, and lunches packed all within 45 minutes, and while you are doing all this these hyperactive TV gurus are saying come on, pull on your trainers and exercise with me!
I just want to throw my fried eggs at the TV screen when they appear!
However, we do have a rebounder in our living room. For those unfamiliar with this piece of equipment, it is like a round mini-trampoline with six legs that you bounce up and down on.
Unlike other pieces of home exercise equipment, a rebounder is actually quite good fun! It is like re-visiting your childhood when you could go bounce for hours on those giant trampolines the holiday parks used to have years ago.
I find after a little while of bouncing I can get quite giggly, it is truly a sight to see, and the best thing is there is no one around to shake their head and look down their nose at me.
And this is the whole point if you are going to buy some home exercise equipment, you have to buy something that you will enjoy using. This way you will have half a change of actually using it regularly, and therefore reap the health benefits. How many people do you know who got an exercise bike or other piece of equipment only to end up using it at a clothes hanger?
Parents lead very busy lives, and trying to fit in some regular exercise while looking after a family can be really difficult, if not impossible. Maybe going to the gym is something you just cannot manage, so having a piece of home fitness equipment is a good option if your time is limited, or your finances cannot stretch to gym memberships.
