iWorkout @ Home

I feel like I've talked a lot about food here at A&M, but not a lot about exercise.  That's because my exercise regimen was pretty much nothing in 2010.  And I still haven't really established a "routine", but I do want to keep a schedule of working out at least every other day. 

The only time I've ever had a consistent workout routine (other than softball) was pre-D.  My college sophomore roommate and I liked to do these walking videos first thing in the morning.  We liked doing the 2-mile workout, which was 30 minutes of walking, kicking, and shuffling while carrying weights.  It was the perfect workout to do for two busy college students.  But after we moved out of that dorm room, so went the workout regimen (even though I was the holder of the tapes, meh). 

I've always liked working out at home for several reasons: 

• I can wear whatever I want!  Including my My Little Pony pajama pants and my ratty softball jersey.  No need to buy a whole wardrobe of workout clothing to wear at the gym.  I can go straight from waking up to working out. 
• No gym membership costs.  Yes, you have to buy the initial home equipment or videos, but I can stay on one video or game for several months before I get bored with it.  So I'm spending roughly $20 every 6 months rather than $30-$50/month at a gym. (See also:  Holly is cheap.) 
• Low blood sugar treaters close at hand.  This is strictly a diabetes thing, but I like working out at home because I know exactly where my juice boxes or glucose tabs are located.  If I go to a gym, it's like packing for a vacation.  I have to make sure I have extra juice or glucose tabs, syringes, meter, etc. 

I'm sure for every pro that I come up with for working out at home, there is a con.  "You'll be held more accountable to working out if you're paying for it."  "A gym trainer can help you figure out why you're not losing weight."  "Workout clothes are soooooooo cute!"  All I can say is that I feel more comfortable working out at home, trying to do the tree pose by myself, awkwardly, in my own living room.  Oh yeah, another pro, no embarrassing moments of frustration by comparing yourself to the perfect physique next to you.

Enter Wii Fit Plus!  I had the Wii Fit for 2 years and worked out with it, opening all the advanced games and routines.  I was getting bored with it, especially the aerobic routines, so I upgraded to Wii Fit Plus.  It has the same workouts as the regular Wii Fit, but with more games and a feature where you can set up your own routines.  I love the My Wii Fit feature because you can select what areas you want to workout in (i.e. arms & shoulders, legs, posture, aerobic, etc.) and it automatically goes through selected workouts in those areas!  No need to go back and forth between the yoga, strength training, or aerobic "rooms".  You keep selecting areas and it tells you about how much time your workout will take.  I love things that do the "thinking" for me! 

Also, the Wii Fit Plus keeps up with roughly how many calories you burn with each workout.  This feature is great for me since I'm using MyFitnessPal to keep up with how many calories I eat/burn per day.  (It's also great to see how much I have to workout to "earn" that beer with dinner.)  And since I'm a small person, it takes a long time for me to burn the calories I need to keep up a "lose weight" metabolism. 

On the diabetes front, the workouts have never been strenuous enough that I've needed to disconnect the pump.  And I like that I can pause at any time to check my blood sugar, if need be.  That would be a little awkward to do in a gym class, not to mention I'd miss some exercise time doing the test (ding:  another pro!). 

So there it is, my workout regimen at home.  I'm definitely not anti-gym.  In fact, I've signed up to use the gym for free at work, but that's strictly for breaking up the routine a little bit.  And for when I get tired of trying to do sit-ups while the dogs are licking my face each time I come up (OK, working out at home con).  I still feel self-conscious and awkward in a typical gym setting.  Everybody is different, and every PWD's diabetes is different.  My exercise regimen is what works for me, and some people are lifetime gym rats.  Whatever gets us moving for better diabetes management is the ultimate goal anyway! 

(Note:  Neither Nintendo nor the Wii Fit people asked me to write this blog post.  I simply love the Wii Fit and have no problem talking about a good product if I believe in it.)