Variety and Simplicity
Keep Exercise Fun For Me

by Diane
(Holland, MI)

I am a busy mom who home schools her children and works many weekends. Yet, I am committed to stay in as good of shape as possible without stressing myself out. So finding fun exercise ideas are important to me.

Summer is a breeze. The kids sleep in whereas I am up early year around, so I leave a note and slip out before anyone else crawls out of bed. What do I do? Mixing things up works the best otherwise I get a bit bored.

We live near Lake Michigan so walking on the beach or in the water is my first choice. Other mornings I drive to different attractive neighborhoods and walk around admiring the beautiful homes and landscaping. Sometimes, I get real ambitious and run, or a bit more casual and ride my bike.

Many times I listen to a book on CD while I exercise or I pray. I always return refreshed and so satisfied that I have started my day with exercise rather than trying to fit it in later which doesn't always happen.


Winter has alway been a challenge for me and I usually gain 5 pounds and worse yet, feel unattractive in my clothing. I do try to spend some time outside walking, cross country skiing, sledding with the kids, building snowmen or ice skating, but when the weather is down right nasty I exercise indoors.

This needs to happen before I start teaching the kids, so I must be very disciplined to get to bed on time, get up on time and have a plan in mind. My two inside options include riding my airdyne listening to books on Cd or doing an exercise video (DVD). I have found Karen Voight DVD's to be my favorite. For Christmas last year I bought myself several of her DVD's so that I could have variety.

As you can see, I don't do anything fancy or expensive. For me, it has to be convenient and flexible. Even if I only have 15 minutes I try to sneak in something.