Please HELP me to get started with exercise again. Feeling glum.

[whatatanker]

I've got three small children. One is at school, two at home. DH works very long hours. I'm a SAHM.

Youngest is still breastfed and there's no one I can leave her with.

We live rurally so I don't want to go out in the pitch black.

I just want to be able to go for a run once a day, but I can't! Oh how I wish I could just get up early and go running. However, DH refuses to wake up early to keep an eye on the children while I go. Is my best bet to buy a treadmill so that I can go during the day.

I think you should have that conversation......you are dead right that your health is worth investing in, and I would go for it - whatever will work best for you.

On a more practical note, I second the Les Mills recommendation. They do a free trial, and it is brilliant value with loads of classes. I used it throughout the lockdowns. They have bike classes, dance, combat, core, lots of hiit, barre, balance, pump...many needing no kit.....so if you wanted to go for a cheaper bike you could use it with the LM app instead. I've got friends who love their peleton too though!

It sounds like you need to post about your dh on the relationships board.

Your 'd'h won't get up early 3 times a week so you can run, won't pay for gym or crèche, and makes unpleasant comments about fat women on TV?

I know one way to get rid of a load of unnecessary weight....

In the meantime, I got a second hand out'n'about nipper 360 and used to drop my eldest at school and then go to the park and let my middle child zoom around the paths on his scooter while j jogged after with the buggy. Not a long run and sometimes a bit stop start but better than nothing, and on a really keen day I might do things like squats holding my baby if he stopped to look at an interesting branch. Once he was a bit older and at nursery I did a proper jog with the buggy before coming back home or going to a playgroup etc. On rainy days I'd put on the GoNoodle website and we'd learn dances or do running activities together.

Was fitter on my maternity leaves than I have been since going back to work, unfortunately!

If you really used to love running, I'd try and run, even if that have means going out in the dark. I've got a treadmill, and a peloton bike, and its better than nothing, but honestly, its not running. I also never really get uninterrupted sessions at home, someone invariably wakes up for water/a snack/had a nightmare etc. Physically leaving the building is the only thing that gets me uninterrupted time.

I live in a really rural area, no footpaths at all, and I think I'm actually safer in the dark as I can see cars coming a long way off around the windy roads, and with my flashing lights they can see me more easily too.

I also surprised myself by really enjoying running with a headtorch on, its somehow more meditative than daylight running. The first time I tried it for about 200 metres I thought, i'm not sure I'm going to be able to do this, and then promptly forgot and had a really enjoyable run!

I'd get a Petzl headtorch with a core rechargeable battery (worth spending money on this), a high viz vest and one of those elasticated bibs with front and back flashing lights, and have a go. Because I'm in the arse end of nowhere I also always take my phone, a whistle, a foil blanket and a spare cheapie aldi headtorch in a little pack in my pocket, just in case. I've never needed them but I figure the one day I forget them I'd rue the day)