What’s Your Nudge? Gentle or Insanely Aggressive?

First off, let me apologize for my absence the last couple of weeks.  I had the perfect storm consisting of one of the busiest travel/speaking months combined with a lingering cold that spanked me left, right and center.  Both of these things took up a tremendous amount of my energy, so I had to be very strategic about what would and would not get my attention.  My family is my number one priority followed by my job, so what energy I did have, I gave to these two things.  I'm feeling better and my energy levels are increasing by the day, so here I am!

Here in Minnesota there is still snow on the ground and it's the time of year where I go INSANE.  I like being outside, but cold temps keep me and my family inside (yes, I'm a total wimp when it comes to winter) and around March I start getting really itchy (you can also add a "b" in front of the itchy).

Anyhoo, our ten year old daughter would sit all day reading, playing games on the computer, or messing around with her iTouch if you let her.  I mean ALL.  DAY.  We call it mashing her butt flat.  She's on spring break and today we played a "game" we used to play when she was younger but haven't done for a while.  The "game" is interval training with body weight exercises.  FUN!  Right?  ....Right?

We cranked up the Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Nicki Minaj and Michael Jackson and got to work.  I set the interval timer for 30 seconds and we alternated 2 different multi-movement exercises 3 times, and did 5 different rounds with new exercises each time, for a total workout "game" of 15 minutes.

We had a blast.  Laughing, joking, being dorks.  Here's what Bella had to say about our game (I put it through the "like" filter and took out all times she said the word "like" - you can thank me later) :  "You have to turn up the music really loud so you can barely hear yourself struggling and you can't think about how much you want to stop.  You just like the music so much you get carried away and you keep going."  (Research studies bear this out:  music can enhance your workouts.  Oops, I mean games.)

I asked her how it made her feel and here's what she said:  "It feels good - there was a lot of ab and leg work.  You feel good afterwards and you like the results."  I was wondering what type of results she was talking about - I mean what "results" do you get as a 10 year old?  "You just feel better, healthier.  It seems like working out gives you more energy."  That's my girl.

She's now dancing around and is off the couch.  She needs a gentle to insanely aggressive nudge to get up and move around more some times.  How about you guys?  How's your energy and commitment to staying healthy this time of year?  What about your family?  What do you do about it?

The first 4 people to answer these questions will get a free Hit the Deck shipped to their door!