Feel the Burn

I have become something of an exercise aficionado. About a year or so after Sawyer was born, I made a concerted effort to start taking better care of myself and that included getting up early at least five days a week to work out in our basement. Most of you know that for well over a year, I used the SAME video every day--it's a wonder I didn't go insane. But the truth is, I still like the video (one of Jane Fonda's step aerobics videos--can you believe I've forgotten the name???). The only problem is that ever since I took a tumble down a mountain while attempting to ski (back in my junior high/high school days), I have had a bum knee. It has gotten progressively worse and is now to the point where it hurts pretty much all the time. Sometimes I try to be tough--you know, play through the pain--but honestly, at 6:00 a.m. after lying prone for seven hours or so (if I'm lucky!), my knee is really stiff and a lot of exercises disagree with it.

Over the last month or so, I have been trying out different videos from the library and actually got sucked into the Leslie Sansone "Walk Away the Pounds" craze a little bit. Leslie Sansone . . . I imagine people either love her or hate her. Sometimes I think she should drive me crazy, but I just can't help but admire her ebullience and the way she talks through her laughter. I'm not certain that I will ever lose any weight with her plan--even though she claims "we're walking at that nice, brisk, fat-burning pace," it still seems pretty slow to me--but at least my knee doesn't hurt. And the kids love to do it, so that's gravy. (Um, that's probably not the best analogy I could have chosen.)

Then there's the video I got from Prevention that claims to be a "walking workout" but that term is used VERY loosely. It is a HIGH energy, HIGH sweat, HIGH calorie- and fat-burning routine. I love it! There are a couple of exercises in it that call heavily on the knee that I always regret doing (lunges are murder) but it's really fun.

And now I'm giving the 'ol "bouncy ball" a try. You know those big exercise balls that have become all the rage with new moms? I never heard of such when my babies were small, but nowadays you can't find a first-time mom who doesn't bounce her baby to sleep on an exercise ball. I am hopeful that by mixing up all of these exercises (cross-training, so to speak) I will lose the five or so pounds I put on when I so faithfully used the T-Tapp workout system for three months at the end of 2006. If you're reading this and contemplating investing in a new exercise program, do NOT be duped by the T-Tapp program!!! What a crock! Yeah, it'll reshape your body all right . . . and you'll wish it hadn't! Yes, I'm bitter.

Anyway, I tried out a new video this morning using the exercise ball, and there were a couple of really cool exercises that I wanted to show the kids. Sawyer was priceless: When I demonstrated a particular exercise, he watched with big, round eyes and when I was finished he said, "That was FANTASTIC!" How's that for motivation?!