One of the really great things about having moved my porch gym into the living room for the winter is that getting a workout in no longer requires as much preparatory work.  Any parent with a gym membership can attest to the fact that it can be a lot of work to get yourself and your kid dressed, diapered, fed, lunch packed, and out the door to the gym. Today I felt pretty depleted from a high stress week (my husband broke his kneecap in a bicycle accident, and my kiddo was sick). I was feeling pretty grumpy and tired this morning, and I probably wouldn’t have gotten us out the door to go to the gym, even though I had a workout planned. I was considering skipping it.

But, since the gym is now my living room, I simply got dressed in my workout clothes, in case I decided to lift. Then we ate breakfast, and I put on a movie for my kid because I was way too grumpy and stressed to mentally engage….and then decided to put on my shoes and warm up.

Then, I told myself I would do the first snatch of my workout and see how I felt. Even if I do nothing else, one snatch felt manageable.

So, the rest of the workout got done, just like that. Little decisions, not huge tasks like getting a three year old ready to leave the house.  The workout took me longer than usual to complete because I took extra rest between sets. I was still feeling the stress and the extra rest felt like the right thing to do today. So, I still did the same amount of work; I just adjusted the pace according to how I felt.

If I’m honest,this is the second or third time this month that workouts have happened like this, starting with small decisions like “I think I’ll put on my shoes,” and “I think I’ll do one snatch.”

I’m also really appreciating that my gym is at home now, because I don’t have to change my routine when my kiddo is sick and my husband is injured.