From mom to Amazon

Belen

New member
Amazon from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Posts: 4
"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."
Hi everybody!

Old bee returning to the hive here :)
I'm Belén, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I'm 34 years old and a mom of a 20 month old toddler :lovely:

Trying to find some renewed motivation. Being a mom has completely turned my routines and priorities upside down and it's been a challenge to make time for self care. I also work in an office almost 8 hs a day (I'm a physicist with a permanent position as a researcher). It's really hard to be consistent because baby's needs and demands keep changing and you need to re-adjust all the time.

I have been working out mostly with Adriene from Yoga With Adriene, which I know that a lot of you guys know and love, but it's been very hard to stay consistent lately. So I came back to Darebee which helped me a lot some years ago when I needed to get out of my sedentary lifestyle and lose some weight when I was feeling uncomfortable with my body.

This time I can't say that my lifestyle is sedentary... it's hard to stay still with a toddler running around all the time XD But I'm feeling the strain in my body (my back and neck mostly) from my bad posture during office hours and a lot of time spent playing with my child. He is also tall and sturdy and is growing fast and I need to be stronger so I can play more comfortably with him.

With this in mind, I have chose the Amazon training plan and started with difficulty 1 workouts. This helps me keep the workouts short and sweet and even though they don't challenge me too much, I can feel the body working and I think it's best to work my way up slowly and focus on staying consistent at first.

This week I've used the Classic Warmup and the Full Body Stretch and the week of wourkouts looked like this:
Week 1
D1
Super Charge (Strength) + Anywhere Abs
D2 Rest
D3 Mermaid (Cardio)
D4 The final girl (Strength, with EC)
D5 Rest
D6 Combat Light (with EC)
D7 Casual training focused on Abs (2 min workout + Standing Abs throughout the day)

I don't think I'll be posting daily, but I'll try to report on a weekly basis.

Are there any other moms or dads struggling with the same issue? I invite you to share your story, your struggles and your tips to making time for yourselves :yas:

Cheers to everyone!
Belén.
 

Tileenah

Well-known member
Warrior from France
Posts: 1,961
:hi: I'm a mother of 2 daughters (5 and 2 and a half). For my first child the first 3 years were really challenging, as my daughter ran away often and demanded attention all the time, and I couldn't reason with her. It was really hard to cut some time for myself even if I was working part-time. It got better as she grew though. For the early years, what worked better for me was tiny exercises throughout the day (ten knee-planks here, ten squats there, ten glute bridges with baby on thighs...) and doing everything I could by bike (commuting, grocery shopping and such). Then running became my go-to sport because I needed no time to prepare (just put my shoes on and 20 to 30 minutes after I'd have had a good workout). But I think there are as many different ways as there are different parents and children!
Good luck on your amazon journey! :cool:
 

Belen

New member
Amazon from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Posts: 4
"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!


:hi: I'm a mother of 2 daughters (5 and 2 and a half). For my first child the first 3 years were really challenging, as my daughter ran away often and demanded attention all the time, and I couldn't reason with her. It was really hard to cut some time for myself even if I was working part-time. It got better as she grew though. For the early years, what worked better for me was tiny exercises throughout the day (ten knee-planks here, ten squats there, ten glute bridges with baby on thighs...) and doing everything I could by bike (commuting, grocery shopping and such). Then running became my go-to sport because I needed no time to prepare (just put my shoes on and 20 to 30 minutes after I'd have had a good workout). But I think there are as many different ways as there are different parents and children!
Good luck on your amazon journey! :cool:
Yes, I'm hoping that once he grows into some moments of independent play, it will be a bit easier. I'd love to use my bike more but it's not possible for now because everywhere I go I have to take baby with me and he's still too small for riding with me. And running... just not my thing :)
For now I'm working out once the baby goes to sleep and while my husband is cooking dinner, but since I'm already tired it's a really tough game between what I'd like to do (and know I should) and what my body feels like doing. But every time I workout I feel great afterwards, so it's just a mind game!
And, as you said: every family must find their own routine. It's comforting to see that others struggle in the same ways, though.

Cheers :)
 

Belen

New member
Amazon from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Posts: 4
"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."
Hi all!

Hope you are doing well.

I've had some bumps this week, so I had to tweak some of the proposed days in the training plan. The good news is that I managed to keep the main workouts!
I've used the 2-minute Warmup and kept the Full Body Stretch.

Week 2
D1
Day One (Strength, at level II, EC)
D2 Casual training focused on abs: Abs&Core desk edition + Silver (HIIT, throughout the day).
D3 Rest
D4 Cardio light (at level II, EC) + Beginner Abs
D5 20 min Grounding Yoga Practice (Yoga With Adriene) -- I count yoga as a strength workout (depending on the video, of course).
D6 Rest
D7 Sucker Punch (Combat, difficulty 2, EC)

I have also completed the first week of the Posture Challenge.

Baby is helping because he is sleeping great almost trough the night, so I'm resting well and I'm feeling with more energy during the day :)

Cheers everyone!
 

Belen

New member
Amazon from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Posts: 4
"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."
Hi again :)

This past few days were complete chaos because my kid was having trouble getting to sleep and I ended up exhausted both physically and mentally... it's a tough mind game to stay calm and loving when your kid just won't fall asleep. I skipped yesterday's workout not only because I was tired, but also because my right arm was numb from the rocking of a 15 kg toddler for what was too many minutes XD.

I'll leave the log here and hope the sleep thing solves on its own soon(*) so I can get back on track today.

Week 3
D1
25 min Yoga for Digestive Flow (Yoga with Adriene, strength).
D2 Rest
D3 2 min warmup + Cardio Grind (difficulty 1, EC) + full body stretch
D4 Rest
D5 2 min warmup + Health Potion (strength, 1, I, EC) + 5 min yoga full body stretch (Yoga With Adriene)
D6 Rest
D7 Rest (missed workout)
I also keep going with the Posture Challenge.

(*) It's amazing to see the development of kids through the physiological processes they go through and the changes in their behavior. For those of you with kids, which "developmental milestone" surprised you the most?
To me it was when around 15mo, all of a sudden he took actions to answer a question I made: where is your cup? I really couldn't find it and he actually went straight for it and brought it to me. Complete mind-blown.

Hope you are all doing great.

Cheers!
 

Tileenah

Well-known member
Warrior from France
Posts: 1,961
My most mind-blowing moment with my eldest daughter was her first sentence. She was 25 m.o. and had had trouble eating because of a tooth problem. I was telling my husband that I would phone the dentist for an appointment and she said (in perfect french) "I don't really want to go to the dentist. I'm afraid it might hurt." She'd only been saying two or three words together before that... I told my husband I would really have to watch what I was saying in front of her from now on 😂
 
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