My Organized Nest

I don’t know about you, but exercising is not something I look forward to eagerly each day! Not only that, but the part of my brain involved in exercise has the attention span of a small gnat. I am not the type of person that can do the same thing over and over five days a week.

In my perfect world, I would have a personal trainer – you know, one who keeps things interesting and keeps me motivated without yelling at me. Last time I checked, I didn’t live in the perfect world so I have to be my own trainer and keep myself motivated. Thankfully, my husband does a good job of keeping me motivated since I can’t possibly let him get away with exercising more than me!

A couple of things that influence how I exercise are the fact that I live about twenty minutes from the nearest gym and Minnesota weather forces me to exercise indoors for about five months out of the year.

To deal with these factors, I have found some ways to exercise indoors that I like.  On my energetic days, I really enjoy kickboxing, The Biggest Loser for Wii or Zumba. I also love doing Yoga and Pilates in the evenings. And yes, on my completely unmotivated days, I’ll use Wii Fit because something is better nothing. On days with nice weather, I’ll take my cat for a walk. Yes, I really did just say that… my CAT! Believe it or not, I’ve trained him so that I can just put a leash on him and take him on a twenty-minute walk, through the fields, down the side of the road, wherever! What can I say? He’s a brisk walker!

My newest exercise motivation has been to clip exercise routines from a number of magazines that I get. Of course, Health is a great option for workouts, but other magazines like Woman’s Day, Better Homes and Gardens  and Real Simple feature a variety of workouts. If it looks interesting and like something I can do in my own home, I clip it out.

Up until now, most of them had been hidden in a folder along with a bunch of other ideas and recipes that I had clipped out. I had put a few of them up on a poster board in my family room where I work out.

However, I really wanted to use all of the workouts I had found, so I decided to make a workout folder. First, I clipped each workout so that it would have straight edges. (Try the Fiskars brand products for this; they work fabulously!)

Then I found some bright paper I had from way back when. (Check out what amazing colors your creative kids might have!) I glued each workout to a brightly- (insert motivatingly) colored paper.

Then I slid each paper into clear sheet protectors and slipped them inside a newly-repurposed folder.

Now I have one more way to motivate me to get/stay in shape.

Here’s one set of exercise routines from iTunes that I have really been loving recently. Check out Anytime Yoga by Exercise TV. I like it because it’s mostly stretching and nothing to weird or out there.

Do you have any unique ways of keeping yourself motivated to work out? Trust me, I (and other readers) would love to hear them!

On a side note, you may have noticed a change in my blog today. Due to the fact that I have opened my new Etsy shop, Sweet April Cards and Gifts, I have changed my blog up a little. My blog is now called My Sweet April and, as you can see, can be found at www.mysweetapril.com. However, continuing to direct your browser to www.myorganizednest.com will still work since you will be redirected here. Enjoy the changes!

Tags: exercise, exercise folder, exercise motivation, Exercise TV, kickboxing, Sweet April Cards and Gifts, The Biggest Loser, yoga, yoga on iTunes, Zumba