Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Who Needs a Personal Trainer...

when you have a three and a half year old?

Yesterday I had an unusual burst of motivation, threw on a sports bra (by the way, IS there a sports bra for a girl who's actually got boobs? Because I've never found one. Ever.), and did that painwhore Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. Actually, I've been doing it somewhat regularly in the past week or so (and by regularly, I mean I do it every time the pain from the last time I did it subsides--so my "30" Day Shred will probably be 90 Day Shred).

So yippy for me. I exercised. And I felt good about it. I really do think that her thirty minute work out does more for me than an hour on the elliptical trainer because she kicks the everloving crap out of me with her jumping jacks and her push-ups (I say 30 minutes even though it's only 20 minutes of actually working out because my DVD won't let me fast forward through her yappity-yap at the beginning. Annoying.)

I picked Ethan up from school, feeling good about myself---two days without any high fructose corn syrup AND a good cardio & strength work out under my belt by noon on a Tuesday? Not too shabby for little old me, if I say so myself.

And then, in the car on the way home, out of nowhere, the child says, "Mom, today we can go to your gym and I can play in the play room."

Huh?!

A.) He's never been to the play room in this gym. I always go when he's in school. I didn't know he even knew I HAD a gym membership. Or that the gym had a play room.

B.) When I used to take him the Y play room in Los Angeles, he would cry and cling to me and beg me not to go. So how he went from that to "let's go to your gym so I can play in the play room," is kind of beyond my powers of understanding.

But what could I do? The kid is offering, nay, DEMANDING to go play in a new place so that I can exercise. It's really hard to say no to that. No matter how badly my thighs were aching from all the lunges I did at 10am, at 5pm, I found myself on the elliptical trainer for another 45 minutes, while Ethan happily went from toy to toy in the new play room. He was mightily disappointed that they didn't let him go outside and play on their big play structures, but he still managed to make me a heart fish:

When I went to pick him up at the play room, I was really looking forward to going home and parking my exhausted, if slightly more toned, ass on the couch. But Ethan had other plans. Plans that involved more movement. Oh, so much movement.

On our way home from the gym, Ethan piped up with, "Mom, when we get home, let's have a dance party!"

What?! Kid! Jillian Michaels beat your mama up this morning. Then she got up on the elliptical machine so you could turn a bunch of construction paper hearts into a fish (that I will treasure forever, naturally). And now I have to go home and dance? Dude. Do you know me at all???!!!

But we did. I switched the TV back and forth between the electronica and classic dance stations and we pumped up the jam (hello, 90's, "It takes 2 to make a thing go right") for an hour before daddy came home. I tried to take some breaks under the guise of getting some video of Ethan, but he is a wily little man and would not go for that. If he was dancing, I was dancing.

Today? "Sore" doesn't quite seem to really do justice to the ache in my muscles. Given that I only do the 30 Day Shred when the sore goes away, I should pop it in the DVD player sometime in 2011.

But it's all good because our dance party was a riot. The boy's got some crazy rhythm. A little "Elaine" at times, it's still pretty entertaining. And once again, nothing highlights my inability to go outside the safety of beige (or my inability to keep my house clean and organized) like a video. And our cat? Is so bored.

10 comments:

cicadalady said...

noni loved the video. now she keeps saying, "where's a video of penny?" though!

Becca said...

Ha! Love the little Karate Kid thing he does in the middle. What fun! We do the same thing when we get bored.

Also? That annoying chit chat at the beginning of the Shred makes me VIOLENT. Now I start the video, change into workout clothes, eat some cookies, move the coffee table, and THEN it is time to start the video.

gringa said...

John Travolta move over!

Are you sure he wasn't watching Michelle Obama yesterday in Pre-school?

Elizabeth said...

aw, that little heart fish is so sweet!

Jen said...

Hilarious and so cute! I love that he lets you film him like that.

Your reference to Jillian Michaels as a "painwhore" made me crack up. That video kicks. your. ass. I used to do it and also needed like 3-4 days in between to recover. Then my knee started hurting so I stopped.

20 minutes of that followed by 45 minutes on the elliptical (not to mention dance party)? Yowsa. That's some serious exercise.

Sarah said...

How can you not want to dance w/ him hen he asks so sweetly-- I so feel your pain. Love the beads-- an inspired touch :)

The hardest thing about an HFCS-free life for us has been Teddy Grahams. TJ's cat cookies are just not as good. Whole Foods has some pretty okay ones, but still.. they're no Teddy Grahams. Sigh.

Emi said...

ROFL (vid & post) He and gordita need to get a routine going (like Ross and Monica) and take it on the road... I LOVE it.. Hey have you looked into Intuitive Eating.. I am intrigued, scared but intrigued... http://www.intuitiveeating.com/

lonek8 said...

that is so cute! I can't believe he can maintain interest in dancing for an hour - I used to try and start dance parties for exercise, but my kids will only dance with me for a few minutes at most, and then they wander off or it turns into hanging on mommy which is way less fun.

Also, I go to the gym every day - because my kids beg to play in the kid's room. Or because they're screaming and Ii don't want to be around them anymore (haha). Otherwise I'd never make it

Crystal said...

That is so awesome. Just reading about all that exercise makes me feel tired, btw. The 30-Day Shred inspired one of my favorite Keira moments ever, though: as I'm trying desperately to do those push-ups, Keira kneels down so her face is THISCLOSE to mine and keeps saying, very seriously, "You have to drop it down, Mama. She said to drop it down." It is very difficult to do push-ups when you're giggling uncontrollably.

Monica said...

way to go mom of the year! Good job for staying motivated. Love the heart fish, so cute.