Tag: exercise

Weekend workout: Aqua jogging

Aynaria 2 Comments

Fitness-comic.07.17.10.jpgSitting in the sauna gives me a great view of those in pool. I see all ages, sizes, and colors congregate in and around the pool area. After a vigorous, or in some cases, relaxed workout, you’ll see a few move over to the whirlpool or migrate to my area (sauna) before heading for the showers.

Before today, you wouldn’t see me in the pool. I tend to avoid public pools, since I’m skeptical about whose doing what in them. Yeah, yeah, I know they add chemicals to the water to deal with the people who decide that the pool is a perfect place to use the bathroom, but it still grosses me out. Additionally, the chemicals tend to leave a burning sensation on my skin.

I’ve successfully avoided using Bally’s pool until today. The clamoring of my daughter with, Mommy, please take me to your gym, so I can go into the pool finally won. This morning I added her swimming gear to my workout bag and away we went.

My daughter was having a great time splashing about in the pool, getting comfortable with the water. I on the other hand, am showing my daughter where she can and cannot place her hands on Mommy in the water. Placing hands on the my waist, arms, or shoulders are good. Latching onto the boob area with a death grip, not so good. Although that part seemed to amuse another mommy there with her young daughter. It’s not as though I have an overabundance of boobage but whatever… We had a blast; to make things a little more entertaining for her I did some aqua jogging.

Aqua jogging isn’t just for elderly or overweight people. I’ve seen numerous fit folks engage in this activity at my gym. I just wasn’t one of them until today. Sure, it looks weird if you are on the outside looking in, but it’s a gentle way to workout too. This low impact exercise routine, is a nice change from my intense workouts, and the best part of it is I got to hang out with my daughter. I incorporate her into a lot of fun workouts I do around our house, so it’s nice to include her in some fun activities at the gym too. My daughter didn’t see it as exercise. She held on; squealing as I ran laps in the pool. She was having a great time! She shouted, mommy, do more! Do more!

My daughter is sold on pool-time. I knew she would be, so it looks as if she’ll be tagging along with me to my gym at least twice weekly. Here’s an informative article for those interested in learning more about aqua jogging and other pool exercises.

Cooking news…

Today, I didn’t make those grilled bean burgers with my soaked beans for lunch. I had every intention of making them. However, my daughter was hungry after our pooltime adventures, so I quickly made a dish with black beans & dark leafy greens. I’m not sure what I want to call it yet? It surely was colorful and flavorful. It’s loaded with veggies; collards, sweet bell pepper, swiss chard, fennel, garlic, and onion. Herbs and a few seasonings were tossed in the pot too. My daughter gobbled hers up, and is now sleeping. I did take pictures, so I’ll be sure to upload a photo soon.

Re: Bean burgers

The good news is I set aside plenty of cooked blacked beans. Remember I said I prepare a batch of ingredients when I know I’m going to be busy? Well, I did that with the beans. Now normally after preparing what I need for one dish, I’ll store the remaining cooked beans in the freezer. Today, I set aside more beans for our upcoming bean burgers. I’ve already whipped up the ingredients for bean burgers. They’re in patty form too, so the only thing left is to cook them. Perfect meal for the days when I’m too busy to actually cook, and since I pre-made them. I know what we’re eating is healthy. You can’t beat that, right?

What’s my daughter doing? She’s currently napping, it seems she’s had a busy day.

Question: How was your day? Was it busy or have you been taking it easy?

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Guilt-free gaming and children's day

Aynaria 5 Comments

Some of my favorite childhood memories are spending time with family. Yeah, yeah, I know… they can annoy the heck out of me at times. But, they were always there, and I knew that my parents really loved my brother and myself.

My family is extremely important to me. When it comes to down time, I really enjoy including my daughter in many of our activities. She’s a great kid; I love hanging out with her. So yes, at times what I enjoy is tweaked a bit to ensure she’s having a great time too. Now that I think about it, I imagine that’s one of the reasons why I simply cannot get too wrapped up in gaming, especially MMORPG’s, as much as I enjoy playing them. Gaming is one of my guilty pleasures, and it’s something you’ll occasionally see me doing when my daughter is sleeping or preoccupied.

That’s why I enjoy the shorter video games, like First Person Shooters. The story lines don’t last too long. MMORPG’s, can be a huge time sink (if you let it) and they have that social aspect going along with it. I’ve met so many great folks in the few games I’ve played, but it can get time-consuming. When I was playing World of Warcraft, I could have easily spent hours kicking some night elf or human butt in a Battleground, but I didn’t.

Now that I think about it, even if I were truly single, I wouldn’t be spending too much time in the gaming fantasy world, because I still would feel guilty. Crazy, I know. Why is that? As much as I hate to admit it, if I linger in a game too long, I feel guilty wasting my time in the gaming world.

At times I gently reprimand myself, thinking of the other ways I could better use my time to do something ‘constructive’.

  • I could be working out
  • I could be writing an article
  • I could be working on some designs
  • I could social networking for my business
  • I could be reading

Well, you get the idea, and if you have a guilty pleasure, perhaps you’ve done something similar? After a few hours you’ll find me (regretfully at times) looking to do something creative. Besides, when my daughter is awake and not occupied the last thing I want to be doing is escaping into some magical fantasy world. I want to be ‘here’ if she needs me.

I know a lot of the guilt has to do with how my brother and I were raised. My parents, when not working, spent a lot of time with us and that has left a major impact on the way I interact with my daughter. I really enjoyed knowing that my parents were ‘there’ whenever I needed them. They included us in there interests and actively encouraged our own.

This week, my daughter is bursting with excitement! I told her I’m bringing her to my gym. My daughter knows how important fitness is. It makes you feel good, it’s good for you, and it increases your energy level. She knows that exercise can be a lot of fun too. Our exercise usually involves games. It doesn’t feel like exercise to her, and it’s a lot of fun! There are some games we play inside; others are done outside. Regardless of the weather, we got our physical activities covered

Anyway, childrens’ day at my gym is set aside for Tuesday, Thursday, Saturdays. Although it isn’t all day, the hours are enough to play in the pool. Although she was at my gym when she was three, she really doesn’t remember too much about it, and so I’m sure our first trip will be a tour of some of the equipment mommy uses. My daughter is excited and has already changed her swimming outfit a few times. You want to know something, I’m sure it will change again before we head to the gym this Tuesday.

Finding a happy medium can be challenging; Work, family, personal time. etc., Sometimes it seems impossible to make it all fit, right? However, I think I’ve finally stumbled upon what works for my daughter and myself. A few hours a week you can find me escaping into the gaming world, it’s simply one of the ways I spend my personal time.

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