Saturday, Day 2 - Today I was determined to get moving more constructively and I knew that I was just going to have to get on with it and not think too hard - the more you think the more excuses you can give yourself for not doing something like a workout or anything that's going to serve you well. One of my principals that I really try and drum in to my clients is you don't need to find a special place or wear special clothes or make sure you’ve eaten/not eaten specific things or make sure that the children are completely out of your way because if you wait for all that stuff to align you'll never do it - grab opportunities to move smarter when you can, however you can and with as little fuss as possible. So on this morning we had plans to visit a museum, my husband wanted to go out for a run which was fine as I thought the kids would just play for a bit while I got on with a workout in our bedroom bit of the room but of course that's not how it worked out, they were hungry and fractious so I had a shower and we went for breakfast instead. Getting back to the room I thought I wouldn't then be able to do something - too full from breakfast, everyone wanting to get going etc. However, the kids got into playing, Guy had a shower and I had 20 minutes to get on with it. No jumping around due to the heavy stomach but a short Pilates session and some strength work is still fine on a full meal.
As it's the start of my movement month I'm starting at Week 1 of my programme (sorry that's probably blooming obvious!!), reminding my core how to activate in simple positions and feeling my spine and breath connecting together again consciously. Then I found there was still enough calm going on for me to fit in some strength work - I have some small equipment with me, inflatable soft ball, mini band and long stretchy resistance band so I did a strength circuit of 12 reps of each of 4 exercises aiming for as many rounds up to 4 as possible. I got to 3 before the kids starting fighting which I thought was pretty good. Not too much sweating - a quick flannel under the arms and a change and we're ready to go out. I start the day feeling brilliant as I've already done something to benefit myself today.
Sunday, Day 3 - The next day I get up and throw some shorts on quickly before I think of doing anything else, we feed the kids in the hotel room as we are also packing up to move on so whilst my husband kids I set the interval timer on my phone and get moving with a circuit down one side of our bed in a space just big enough for me to squat and lunge. 5 simple exercises, 30 secs on each with 10 seconds to change, all just getting each part of me moving and it's up to me to increase the intensity by working on the movement quality and number of reps per time period. I manage to get in all 3 rounds without any problems from what's going on with the family - 3 1/2 minutes and I'm done!! Ok it's not the greatest workout in the world but I've done something that gets me moving, my heart rate up, gets me sweating and most importantly helps challenge my strength in important movements - squat, lunge, press ups, dips etc - whatever you think about it, it's 1 1/2 mins of squats more than I would have done otherwise - 1 is more than none after all!