Fitness resolutions past and present

It is that time of year, where we spend time with our loved ones and indulge in copious amounts of food and alcohol, whilst sitting on our bottoms in a nice warm house and I don't know about you, exercise and generally being healthy are quite low on the list of priorities.

Generally speaking, I eat quite well and do a bit of exercise.  Running around after four children is exercise enough for me most days and if you saw the state of me by about eight thirty in the evening most days, you would probably agree.  Having said that, I would love to do some exercise and get fitter and in years gone by, this is the time of year when I start to think about it.  I know that I am going to eat too much and I always have to have one bottle of Baileys between Christmas and New Year which adds oodles of calories to my already chocolate and cake laden days.  So usually I decide that my one and only New Years Resolution, is to get fit.

Having reflected on this, it has been quite an entertaining journey over the years.  I have often succumbed to the bombardment of celebrity videos/DVD's that arrive with the Easter Eggs in the supermarkets at the end of December.  Let's face it there have been a fair few and I take my hat off to some of these people who have lost so much weight, but the reality is that they have time and money for a personal trainer and they didn't lose weight by prancing around their living rooms in an old pair of track suit bottoms, tripping over toddlers, toys and embedding bits of Lego in their feet.

Our garage is a testament to my years of 'trying' to keep fit: old videos, DVD's, exercise bike, fold up running machine, hula hoop, cross trainer, the list goes on and my husband often has a good laugh on the subject at my expense.  So anyway, these are my five favourites from years gone by:

1.  Last year's resolution was hill-walking.  Yes, hill-walking.  My two younger boys go to a village school which sits at the bottom of a rather large hill.  A group of mums have been doing hill walks for years and I had watched them saunter off in their walking shoes most mornings and they are all really skinny.  When they asked me if I would like to join in, I couldn't wait.  At the time A was only just over a year, so I bought a very snazzy back carrier from eBay and off I went.  Well, as I said they had been doing these walks for some time and I had been sitting on my bottom eating biscuits, so as they sauntered up the hill, chatting, I was crawling up about a mile behind them, too out of breath to speak and with a red sweaty face.  It was not pretty I can tell you.  They all smiled at me and said politely that they didn't mind that I was slowing them down and tried to make me feel better by saying that it was much more difficult for me as I was carrying A on my back.  I did try to keep going with the hill walking, but it only lasted a few weeks and the lovely back carrier is gathering dust under the stairs!

2.  Three years ago, I invested in a Wii and Wii Fit.  Now I know that lots of people swear by this and it is a fantastic concept.  It was a good investment at the time and I got quite into it.  Luckily, our living room is on the first floor, so nobody can see me looking a complete ninny, trying to hula or jogging around a very small space.  Some of the exercises are quite good and I did try and do half an hour a day, although doing strange yoga poses with small children hanging off your toe-nails was interesting to say the least.  Then I got pregnant, which has always signalled the end of doing any sort of exercise and a good excuse to sit and eat more biscuits. The children play on the Wii a lot, but as for the fate of the Wii fit board?  It hasn't made it to the fitness graveyard in the garage, but it is underneath the TV cabinet covered in an inch of dust.

3.  Before that, came a Strictly Come Dancing fitness DVD.  This was very short-lived. I played the first part once and that was it.  My god, how you were supposed to keep up with that one I don't know.  I have never been blessed with the ability to dance or do aerobic activity that involves co-ordination, rhythm or poise.  I just can't do it, I flail around doing the exact opposite to everyone else and if in company, completely embarrass myself by tripping, falling or knocking other people over.  So this DVD was a big no-no from the outset.

4.  Ministry of Sound DVD.  Not even sure if this one even came out of its wrapper.  I am a sucker for reviews and that year, this was proclaimed as the best one and as I quite like dance music, I thought it might inspire me to shake my booty.  I suspect the scantily clad ladies with very small booties on the cover were enough to put me off before I even started!

5.  The Hotpants work out/ Tae Bo video.  Now these two were a relative success.  The Hotpants workout video was ironic as I have never nor will ever wear a pair of hotpants.  God forbid, it would not be a pretty sight. But the video was recommended to me and I quite enjoyed it.  There were some bits that my unco-ordinated body couldn't quite cope with, but on the whole I managed and I felt that it worked quite well.  Tae-bo was hilarious.  It made me laugh so much that I enjoyed it.  If you have never experienced Tae bo, you have never lived.  It was the brainchild of a man called Billy Blanks and it was a cross between boxing and aerobics.  It is hard not to be motivated by the enthusiastic Blanks with his 'jabs' and 'undercuts'.  It was a good work-out and again one I did regularly for several months.

So that is a history of fitness resolutions past.  So, what next I hear you cry.  Well, to be honest, I haven't yet decided.  I do think that there is something about resolutions that puts a huge pressure on you to fail before you even start.  So after the indulgences of Christmas, I intend to try and improve things by getting out and about more with the children and for my birthday, the children bought me Just Dance 3 for the Wii, which is really good fun and great exercise too.  I have eyed up the Zumba game too, but I may be a little old for shaking my booty and everything else in such a dramatic way, so who knows?  What will you be doing?