Fitness Around the House (Part One)

I was chatting with my friend Frannie, an inspiration of a woman who is on her own fitness journey. Her trainer Lauren was talking about little extras she does to burn off excess energy and get in mini-workouts wherever she is. She mentioned reverse lunges while pumping gas (love it!). I told them about the Sumo Squat with Heel Raise I do while brushing my teeth (a Hesper move). So that got me thinking of all my favorite weirdo workout-y things to do around the house. Here's part one:

Lower Body Around The House Exercises:

Kiddo Squats - Variation #1: On the shoulders. Great way to add a little more difficulty to an air squat. Also a good progressive exercise: as your kiddo grows, you get stronger! I'm up to a 48 lb. 4-year old here!


Kiddo Squats - Variation #2: Piggy back style. I think this is harder than on the shoulders, and a great indoor technique for gearing up for hiking/backpacking season.


Kiddo Walking Lunges: I love lunges. Excellent strength/power and shaping exercise. As you can see, my helper loves them too--because she gets to be really tall!


Sumo Squat Raise with Alternating Heel Raise: The video of this just looked a bit too--um--suggestive, especially when I actually brushed my teeth for demonstration purposes. Hubby exercised his veto power, so I'll add still pics asap. In the meantime, here's a description: hold a static Sumo Squat for two minutes, alternately raising one heel every 30 seconds (the SonicCare beeping will guide you). Do not raise out of squat when switching heels.


It turns out that nothing in the world makes you hold your core in while performing an exercise more than the knowledge that you are being filmed in a sport bra.