After the shock of all the fallout of Covid began to set in and the realization of the life we were all thrust into with stay at home orders took hold, many people began to consider how to spend their time they wouldn’t normally have had. With the stay at home orders also came the shift in school to distance learning, so I instantly became a homeschool mom to my four children. In reality, I didn’t have the oodles of time that time at home sounded like in the beginning. My husband was also working in an essential position with his job, so it was just me at home with the kiddos. One of my main concerns in taking on schooling my children was keeping them active and fit without them spending time at school in PE and recess and the cancellation of rec sports. My boys are at ages where they are very much into their game systems, tablets and computers so I knew if I wasn’t intentional about physical activity and exercise it would result in my kids nose-diving into being couch potatoes. Thankfully my oldest is a very active 14-year old who plays football and is self motivated to stay fit so I didn’t really have to worry about him. My younger three definitely needed the extra push to be active. So I tasked myself with figuring out how to take on my kids needing to move! We already had implemented a daily 30 minute walk and some trampoline time, but I knew we needed more in order to stay healthy!
Years ago my kids and I took part in a fitness study with the Kinesiology Department through Auburn University. As a part of the requirements we had to take part in HIIT (high-intensity interval training) type workouts. I had never done these type of workouts before and I really enjoyed the workouts and they worked well for me. They were simple exercises like burpees and jumping jacks usually not requiring any equipment so you could get started easily. I thought something containing these elements would work.
So, I wanted to find a video type workout like what I had done through the University. I asked on Facebook for recommendations for something that might work for my boys and I to stay active. A couple of folks recommended looking into PE with Joe Wick. And I am so thankful for having been pointed his direction! I immediately went to his Youtube channel and the boys and I did one of his videos and was hooked!
Joe Wick, The BodyCoach as he is known on YouTube, is from London, England. During Covid he started a live YouTube workout session for families who were stuck at home. Everyday Monday through Friday at 9 am London time he hosts a full body, no equipment needed workout. He is now scaling back to doing live workouts a few days a week now. Live videos are accessible anytime afterwards and he has so much great content to choose from. He mixes up the workouts each day with different exercises and gimmicks to keep it interesting. Every Friday he would do the workouts in some sort of costume from Harry Potter to a panda suit.
His workouts were hard in a good way. They challenged me and pushed me and allowed me to work on me. This also gave me an opportunity to bond with my kids, especially with my 13 year old who has Autism. My other kids eventually moved on to other means of exercise, but Titus has stuck it out with me. And with his Autism it can be especially challenging to find ways to get him moving with his tendency to engage in his computer games making him be more sedentary in general. Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday (the days we landed on for us to workout) in the evenings Titus and I get YouTube going and with “PE Joe” coaching us, complete an amazing workout! I invested in a nice Yoga mat that we share and make sure our water bottles are filled with ice-cold water! We have lots of laughs as momma struggles to do a side plank or we bump into each other doing Spiderman lunges! Since starting our workouts I have felt stronger and have had more energy.
Working out has also helped me see myself in a different light. It helped me see that I can do hard things! I gained a new sense of confidence I had not had before. I can push through and stay determined when my body is telling me otherwise! With other challenges I encountered over quarantine I would remind myself that if I can push through those workouts I can get through whatever hard thing I had to do! I am so grateful that during this past season of staying at home I found a sweet silver lining in gaining a new found love for exercise! With life turned upside down, the new stresses of navigating life during a pandemic, I was able to focus on being healthier physically and that has carried over to other aspects of my overall health as well!
