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Lisa Bibel of King George County uses Wii Fit to work out while her daughter, Emily, works on a school project. Bibel, whose schedule is packed with work and family responsibilities, relies on Wii Fit and walking with her dog for exercise.
Julie Clements, a teacher, swim coach and mother, runs after school some days. Other days, she gets up early to hit the gym.
Jim Crawford of Spotsylvania County works out in his basement after dinner. A commuter, he says the home gym is invaluable. |
According to the federal government, we're supposed to get at least 21/2 hours of exercise a week to stay healthy.
But commuting to work, driving kids to activities, cooking dinner, paying bills and everything else we have to do can make it tough to find even the time to catch our breath, not to mention lose it on the treadmill.
So how do people squeeze physical activity into the small openings
More than 50 people responded when we asked for help finding people who make time for exercise, sharing countless tips and tricks on how they stay active while leading busy lives.
Here are some of their stories:
LIFTING WEIGHTS AFTER DINNER
Exercise was not part of Jim Crawford's life until, at 32, he found himself on cholesterol and blood-pressure medications. At 358 pounds, he worried about the length and quality of the life he'd be able to spend with his youngest son, then 3.
So he signed up with Weight Watchers. At first, he focused more on watching his diet than on physical activity, but then Crawford started walking a little bit every day.
He started with just 15 minutes. Then 30. Then more.
After his first year with Weight Watchers, he was 138 pounds lighter. Crawford knew he couldn't keep the weight off for the long term if all he did was whittle his diet down to a tasteless, pleasureless array of foods.
Family dinners at restaurants are a favorite weekend activity, and Crawford says there's no point paying for someone else to cook if you're not going to order something you like.
So he knew he was going to have to make exercise a regular part of his life. His strategy: Get rid of all excuses.
Crawford works in information technology for the National Science Foundation. He wakes at 4:30 each morning to catch a van to Arlington.
Working out in the morning is not an option for him--he says it's hard enough just to get to the van on time.
Crawford leaves work just after 4 p.m., and typically returns to his house by 6 p.m.
He does have a gym at his office, and gets in some activity there. But the key to his consistent workouts is his home gym.
"I knew I could find 10 reasons not to go to the gym," Crawford said.
Having a stationary bike, treadmill and Bowflex machine at home has helped him keep the habit of heading to the basement to exercise after he sits down with his wife and son for dinner--an activity that is a priority for the family.
"You don't live to exercise, you exercise to live, so you structure your exercise around your life," Crawford said.
Crawford looks at exercise as
He's not too heavy to ride roller coasters with his son at Kings Dominion now. He has been able to wear the same size clothes for the past eight years.
But he has also found that exercise has some benefits that go beyond weight loss, like stress relief.
Most importantly, Crawford knows this is a habit he needs to keep in his life.
At 40, he's proud to say, "I think I'm in the best shape of my life."
PRE-DAWN WORKOUTS
Julie Clements' biology class at Chancellor High School asked her recently what she thought about energy drinks.
"I said, 'If you want real energy, go home and go for a walk or go for a run,'" Clements said. "That's all I have to do, is go for a run, and I'm energized."
Clements is a mother of two children--Jack, 7, and Carlie, 4. She and her husband balance parenting with her full-time teaching job and his duties as a teacher and football and basketball coach.
But to Clements, who has been active all her life and swam competitively in high school and college, exercise is a necessary stress reliever and component of healthy living.
Working out at the end of her day of teaching, driving kids to basketball practice and dance lessons and parenting isn't something she can do on a regular basis--though she does it when she can.
"By the time my children are into bed, I am too exhausted to do anything else," she wrote in an e-mail.
To make it all work, she pulls some early mornings and takes a little help from her family.
Clements, 37, wakes at 4:30 a.m. to get to the gym at 5 a.m. four days a week. She has been doing cycling classes there regularly, but recently added a body pump class to mix things up.
On Wednesdays, when her mother-in-law takes her children to church, Clements meets her brother-in-law to get in a long run--the two regularly train for half marathons, and plan to run the Marine Corps Historic Half in May.
USING EVERY MINUTE
If the lack of an hour-long window in your day for a workout has been keeping you sedentary, you need to talk to Lisa Bibel.
Bibel, 44, is education manager for Northern Neck Head Start, and a wife and mother of two children, ages 16 and 13.
Weekdays begin for her at 5:45 a.m. She has to get her daughter, Emily, to the bus that takes her from King George County, where the family lives, to her school in Fredericksburg, and she has to get her son, Jesse, to King George Middle School before running back home, grabbing a bagel for the road and heading out to her job.
She works from Colonial Beach, but travels all over the Northern Neck visiting various Head Start classrooms.
Once she gets home, Bibel puts on her tennis shoes and sets out on the first phase of her workout--a half-hour or longer walk with the family's golden retriever, Mia.
That's the only solid block of workout time she'll get.
After the walk, it's time to start cooking dinner. Bibel said she looks for recipes that include some passive time--like baked chicken dishes, meat loaf and Crock-Pot meals. She spends that passive time trying to fit in about 15 minutes of strength training.
Bibel asked for a Wii Fit for Christmas, and she said the game helps her to track the time she spends on strength exercises and track her progress. She does push-ups, abdominal and balance exercises on the Wii. Her family has gotten into it, too, and things can get competitive.
Some nights find her scurrying back and forth between the kitchen and Wii, getting a few crunches in here and there between dinner prep steps.
Bibel said being able to work out at home is key to keeping exercise in her life.
"I can't cook dinner from the Y," she said.
Of course, this is Bibel's schedule during the winter, "the calmest part of the year," she said.
Come spring, evenings will find her at her son's baseball practices. She said she'll take Mia with her to walk, and "I've even been known to fold the seats down in the van and do push-ups and sit-ups."
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
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How to stay active Many regular exercisers told us they rise before the sun to head to a gym or use the treadmill in the basement. But not everybody's a morning person. Other exercisers explained complicated schedules that involved slipping activity into even the smallest gaps in the itinerary. Wii Fit--a video game that uses motion-sensor technology to count your crunches, push-ups and yoga poses--has helped many area residents stay in shape and lose weight. Some have even found its stat-tracking addictive. Others found fresh ways to view exercise, like counting household chores toward their daily activity goals--there's not a Nautilus machine at the gym that simulates the upper-body effects of scrubbing a bathtub. |
