Fitness Check-In

By caitlinhtp | May 23rd, 2012 at 11:23 am

37 weeks and still swimming!

Exercise is hard enough on a normal basis, but it can get especially tricky when you’re pregnant.  But we all know how important it is to exercise while pregnant, health permitting, so this is your friendly reminder to keep at it!

I’m doing pretty good sticking to my goal, which is to exercise at least three times a week. Sometimes, all I can muster is a walk around the block with my dog. Other days, I go for a long swim. I’m really proud of myself for keeping up with swimming – I went swimming today, in fact, to celebrate Week 37!

How do I create accountability and motivate myself to stick to my goal?

I recently wrote a post on my personal blog (Reader Q&A: Creating Accountability Without Spending Dough) that details three easy ways to help motivate yourself to exercise. My suggestions included a blank training plan, a money-less piggy bank, and using social media to stay focused. The blank training plan has really been what works for me – basically, I strive to fill in three days’ worth of exercise ‘blanks’ on a chart every week. I  keep the chart on my fridge so everyone can see it.

My readers weighed in with their own advice on how to create accountability – here are some of my favorite ideas from readers:

• Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed: “That’s why I started a blog! I knew it would keep me accountable for my workouts if I blogged about them.”
• Maggie: “For runners, I highly recommend iMapMyRun. There’s a great (free) app that lets you track your progress, and you can share your workouts on Facebook for added accountability. There’s also a great website where you can find routes that people in your area have run. It’s a great way to keep track of your workouts!”
• Lauren @ SassyMolassy: “One tool that I use is fitness DVDs that I’ve rented from the library. There are so many great ones (Jillian Michaels, yoga, etc) that will give you a great workout, for free, in the comfort of your own home.”
• Kathleen: “My neighbors and I created a fitness club. Zumba at one neighbor’s, aqua aerobics at another, plus group walks and motivational text messaging to help everyone get excited about workouts.  So far, so good and very convenient and fun!”
• Shannon: “I created my own challenge: to run 100 miles in a month. I kept track of the miles on my calendar and worked up to some long runs. It kept me motivated because I told people about the challenge and they would check in on me later in the month.” (Psst – Shannon met her goal – amazing!)

So – are you keeping up with pregnancy exercise? How do you create accountability in your life?

Read more from Caitlin on Healthy Tipping Point and Operation Beautiful.  Follow all her Babble posts here!

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