Made-Up Workout #63

So us busy moms really need to find movement wherever we can get it.  Make no mistake, the best way to maintain physical and mental health is regular high-intensity cardio and strength training.  But any FitMomma, especially those with infants in the house, knows that's not always easy to get during the day - especially when certain Piglets start fussing at 5am in the morning, and continue off and on until awake for good at 7am.  Bring on the coffee!

But I digress....So a friend reminded me today of yet another pseudo-workout in our midst!  Grocery shopping!  Have you ever taken two kids to a grocery store and not felt like you were training for a marathon?  So put a little more effort into it, and by all means log this as workout time.  

Tips for making a trip to the store into more:

• Go armed with a well organized shopping list - you are multi-tasking!
  
• Don't stroll the aisles, move it!  Just beware of the other zombie moms and avoid running over small children.  
  
• See that bar in front of you, otherwise known as the cart handle?  Use it!  Calf raises, squats, lunges - all done easily with the support of the cart.  Fine with me if you opt to do this down that aisle with the random household items that no one ever visits.
  
• Make hard to reach items count - lunge, stretch, tighten the abs and buns as you reach for the Dijon on the top shelf, or heave a pallet of water from the bottom shelf.  Just use your legs and keep the abs tight to avoid back injury.
  
• Take advantage of bagging it yourself.  Don't rely on the zitty teen to do all the work; bag your own stuff, load your own cart and take your own groceries out to the MomMobile.  
  
• Take the kids - right there, you've added wrestling, marathoning, and strength training to the mix.  Not to mention building your endurance because your shopping trip just became twice as long.
  
• OR - leave the kids at home, and go all-out-freak exercise in the store.  Speed walk, full-on lunges and squats, plus you can slip on your iPod for musical inspiration.  Not to mention it'll take half the time!