Working Out in a Home Gym

My name is Kelly and I blog at Cupcake Kelly’s. I live just outside of Boston, MA with my husband Nick and our almost 12 month old baby, who we nickname B. I started my blog to document my baking and cooking experiments. Then I found out I was pregnant, so I started blogging about a variety of topics. I still write about my baking and cooking, but I also blog about my family, travel, fitness and races. I like to blog about life’s little moments and I hope you enjoy reading about them.

B was born on July 9, 2011 and life has never been the same. He has been an absolute joy and I love being able to stay at home with him every day.

When I first found out I was pregnant I tried to work out, but with a 90 minute round trip commute to work and some serious all day nausea for the first 5 months, working out was a rare occurrence. Once I started feeling better, I was unable to do a lot of working out for medical reasons, because of all this I decided to cancel my gym membership.

Once B arrived, I really scrambled to figure out what to do. Gyms with childcare are not really my thing, especially the gyms near me. So the next best thing was to create an at home gym that I could succeed in.

I already had 4 different resistance bands: light, medium, heavy and very heavy and a yoga mat. I was very luck that my mother-in-law bought my husband and I a treadmill for our birthdays that year. I then purchased a bosu ball and 2 sets of hand weights, 10 pounds and 15 pounds.

Training for a half-marathon, I have a pretty rigorous schedule, and since it is my first I want to make sure I am prepared.

Wednesday & Fridays are my cross training days, below is an example.

Warm-up: 15 squats and 15 pushups, 3 times each.

Set 1: (Repeat all sets 3X)

• 15 squats either holding a set of weights or standing on a resistance band
• Turn the bosu upside down, 10 side to sides with a push-up in between.
• 15 situps – either on the floor or on the bosu

Set 2:

• 12 one armed rows with the hand weights, both sides
• 15 lunges each leg, front leg on the bosu
• Squat and press, while standing on the bosu

Set 3:

• 15 Bicep Curls with the resistance band
• 15 Chest presses with resistance band

Set 4: (Core)

• 3 – 1 minute planks, 30 seconds of rest in between each plank
• I add in at leas 2 or 3 different core exercise every time!

The after workout face

I am also able to usually get my runs in during naptime or at night after my husband gets home. Being a stay at home mom, you can definitely get in to a rut with your workouts, I am certainly guilty of that. But with a few tools and even if you wanted to buy some workout dvd’s to do for 20 minutes a day, it is certainly better than sitting on the couch during nap time.

Please note I do not have an official training, certifications or degrees in fitness. All views are based on what works for me and should never be taken as medical advice. Always consult with your doctor or trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan!

I hope you enjoyed this post! You can read more about my life and B at Cupcake Kelly’s, and feel free to follow me on Twitter and Facebook!

What is one item you would love to have in your home gym? For me it would most certainly be a TRX!