Renewed Gym Membership

At 22 pounds, Oliver is like one large, wiggly free weight and if I have any muscle tone left in my body after giving birth to him, it's the result of the heavy-lifting I do on a daily basis - the hoisting of baby onto the changing table and in and out of a car seat, balancing baby on my hip while trying to do a myriad of household tasks one-handed, or throwing baby up in the air to elicit smiles. I was clearly not out of shape, but 15 months after Oliver was born, I hardly felt in shape. So a week before Christmas, I finally caved and rejoined the gym.

I had been a near-daily runner, with a smattering of other sports thrown into my weekly activity mix, mainly soccer and cross-country skiing, depending upon the season, when Chris and I joined the gym together. I thought I would be intimidated by the body builders, but after some pointers from Chris and a trainer, I found my own routine in the weight room and discovered I liked weight-lifting.

Even when I became pregnant, I kept going to the gym through the end of my second trimester. But then summer was well underway and I preferred being outdoors, and by that point, well, I was big and uncomfortable. We were moving anyway. So I let my membership lapse.

Like any other new mom, I wanted to get back in shape. Through good diet and a commitment to physical fitness, I had worked my way to the best shape of my life before getting pregnant - without a gym membership - and I was determined to do it all over again. I would work with what I had or could manage, which really was just a few free weights, a mat and a stroller to take the baby with me walking. Besides everyone was telling me that chasing after your kid is forced exercise in itself.

So why did I end up joining the gym (and declining the childcare option)? I had been fairly active with Oliver by putting lots of miles on the stroller, but frankly, exercising with a baby is pretty limiting (especially during winter in Minnesota). And it was unsatisfying. You can't get a runner's high from walking. We were given a hand-me-down jogging stroller, but I have yet to use it, (and neither has Chris, for the record) because running while pushing a stroller sounds 100% unappealing. Running was a stress-reliever for me and getting a baby ready, getting a stroller out, hoping the baby doesn't get hungry or soil his diaper en route, stopping to check on baby and pushing all that extra weight and having your gait thrown off by running with one hand attached to a bar was not my idea of a stress-reliever. Nor were classes like stroller strides or baby yoga, or any other gimmicky "exercise" class designed to do with your baby. I wanted uninterrupted, kid-free exercise I could do at my pace.

I had been reluctant to rejoin the gym because a membership felt like an extravagance when there were other ways to get exercise (even if I discovered that many of my exercise plans for post-pregnancy were impractical) and I didn't think I would get my money's worth given how seldom I would be able to go. But while most of what I do at the gym could be replicated elsewhere, I finally accepted that getting myself out of the house for some solo uninterrupted exercise time was good for both my physical and mental health.

Most days my only form of cardiovascular exercise is still walking with the stroller (and more often at the mall than I ever thought would happen) and I'm thankful for that time to be active. I still think it's important to get outside and "exercise" with your kids, because it's modeling a healthy, active lifestyle and in most cases, gets them outdoors. But I've learned that your exercise routine isn't all about you - it's got to be geared towards your kids. They'll only want to spend so long strapped in a stroller or pulk sled before they want to do something else - eat, run around, go inside where it's warm. So even though I consider it a good week if I have time to go to the gym twice, those are two nights I come back home feeling a tad bit more fit and remarkably more relaxed.