mom's guide to exercise

or ... a clueless mom's guide to exercise with little kids underfoot.

that's sort of better.

Oh, I know I've already written about my favorite workout DVDs and to be honest I just got very winded bringing a smallish load of laundry up one flight of stairs so you might be thinking I have no business soliciting ANYMORE exercise advice but! Bombas {post sponsor!} kindly asked if we'd like to team up and after reading about their company and mission ... I said I was game. And if I toss in one more sports reference ... that will be three strikes and you're allowed to click out.

Since we've (sadly!) outgrown the days of wogging around the neighborhood with the triple jogger and all four kids are still at home most days of the week, I refuse to use afternoon nap time to work out, and I have a tendency to gain three pounds by just thinking about chocolate when I'm pregnant ... I've had to be disciplined and creative this winter with the caloric burn situation. Here are a few things that have helped me sort of succeed ...

The matching socks? intentional.
The matching shoes? totally unintentional. someone stage an intervention!

1. keep your standards low - this is actually my motherhood mantra as it applies to virtually every situation one might encounter as a mom. I'm actually quite pleased with myself if I make it through a 27 minute DVD with fewer than five hits of the pause button. 10 minutes? Great! It's so much better than nothing and I've found exercise to be (sort of - SORT OF) addicting so if I only do 10 minutes one day odds are good I'll bump it up to 20 the next. In this same vein - I have no problem with putting PBS kids on for the older kids if "monster" just isn't cutting the entertainment mustard.

2. be consistent - it took Phoebe a week or two to understand that I was going to be selfish and look ridiculous while following the poised instructors' leads on the screen and she would constantly whine or try to scale my leg but she eventually gave up and is now happy to crawl around the basement and unwittingly play "monster" while the kids act scared of her. I try really hard to work out when she's taking her morning nap but sometimes I want to get the breakfast dishes/disaster cleaned up instead.

not pictured: my bonbons, chaise lounge, champagne and would a mother's helper be pushing it?

oh! she came and whisked them all away ;)
(side note: Sebastian saw this photo and asked if I was dead)

focus, Grace

3. eat first - if I don't time will run away from me and I'm kind of a hangry monster and soon every little kid squabble is exacerbated tenfold and I'll give up after the 3 minute warmup.  And everyone is different but I have to have protein in the morning or else I'll eat junk the rest of the day but my self-discipline is deplorable ... I'm sure you're different.

4. shoes + socks - I blogged about this over a year ago but one of the very first things I do when I wake up is put on my socks and tennis shoes in the morning because I know it sounds silly but it significantly ups my odds of sneaking some exercise in.

This is where Bombas socks comes in! Similar to the concept of Toms and Warby Parker - for every pair purchased, Bombas donates a pair to someone in need which is genius because socks are the number one clothing request at homeless shelters. I was telling Simon about Bombas and I know I've mentioned it before but he volunteered for a year in between college and med school at a shower facility for the homeless down in Puerto Rico ...

... where he kept his haircut real high and tight.

Anyway, he emphatically agreed as he would often get men suited up for interviews and socks (understandably) just weren't something that are donated as often other articles of clothing. Bombas has donated over 300,000 pairs since their inception in October in 2013.

I always thought socks were socks were socks but Bombas has tested over 133 different tensions to get the right feel and to ensure that they'd stay up. And they do. Their ankle socks do not fall down thanks to a special blister tab and I may or may not have deemed them my house socks because they don't slip or have that weird and annoying toe line hem situation like every other pair I own. Sebastian has an impressive collection of rejected and discarded socks under his pillow (?!) but refuses to take these off and I won't tell you how many consecutive days he's been wearing them ...

Simon wore pair of the calf socks the other night ...

... and said he was the TALK of church basketball. He also wants everyone to know that he is not flexing in this photo.

Back to the post subject at hand!

5. switch up the routine - I get into bad ruts and just do the same DVD over and over again but have recently found a whole wealth of awesome and quick routines on Pinterest. It helps immensely if I can stay standing for the majority of the workout because otherwise it's just a very obvious invitation for kids to crawl ALL over me and #5.

Helpful? I hope a tiny bit.

If you're curious and would like to at least try a pair or three of the Bombas socks .... feel free to use the code: CAMPPATTON20 for 20% off your first order of any size.

It's rare that I use my own discount codes but this will be an exception because my expectations were so exceeded and it's rare that Simon says more than one positive sentence about any article of clothing he wears.

Thanks for reading and happy weekend!