One Fit Mommy: She takes the challenges the rest of us avoid!

Are you ready for another installment of “One Fit Mommy”?

Each week I scour the blogosphere to find other fit moms who inspire me to fitness. If you, (or someone you know), would like to be featured as “One Fit Mommy”, please send me an email and let me know!

Today’s fit mommy is Charlotte, queen of fitness experiments over at The Great Fitness Experiment. Her tag line is to “try it all so you don’t have to”.

She is amazing writer who also blogs here. Go and bookmark them both now.

Charlotte is definitely “One Fit Mommy” who professes a love for TurboKick along with yoga, monkey bars, and pretty much any other challenge that comes her way.

Here are some highlights of my “conversation” with Charlotte:

• she has 3 young boys and still manages to find time for fitness!
• always plan your day around your workout
• she is another mommy who believes that fitness and sanity go hand in hand!
• change up your workout often to keep it fun.
• mere mortals like myself can do the CrossFit workouts. (I am scared Charlotte, very scared!)

Read on for more….

Q: You are a busy mom to 3 young boys, how DO you find the time in your day to exercise?

Duct tape. Kidding! Actually it’s pretty simple – I’m a raving lunatic without exercise so everyone in the house is invested in getting me to the gym. I’m sure none of you will believe this but I’m very high strung and if I don’t work off some nervous energy every morning then the day does not go well. Since exercise is my release & hobby, I literally plan my day around it. It doesn’t hurt either that the YMCA where I work out has the best childcare ever!

Q: Have you always been fit? What influenced you to live the fit lifestyle?

Let me tell you a little story – it was the day of the presidential fitness exam in 9th grade. I had tried everything from faking menstrual cramps (didn’t even have my period yet) to doing a dance to the rain gods to get out of taking it. Nothing like getting a “0″ on the arm hang, which means essentially that I just fell, in front of all your peers. But the day came and I hadn’t been struck by the bolt of lightning I so earnestly prayed for all first period so I laced up and walked out to the track with everyone else. The whistle blew and I started off at a slow jog. The Gym Teacher From Hell (hereafter referred to as Satan) wasn’t satisfied. “MOVE IT HILTON” he screamed. I was moving it. Whiiiiiizzzzz! A football flew past my right ear. I turned around and was horrified to see Satan chasing me with an armful of footballs, all winging in my direction. A football glanced off my shoulder. I started to run. Wham! Right in the back of the head. Satan was literally right on my heels. I ran a 6:32 mile that day. And then I wet myself. Literally. Puddle on the track. I never ran again.

That said, I was a gymnast up through my sophomore year of college. I was on a competitive dance team in college. I rock climbed, hiked, backpacked, spelunked and otherwise led a very active life. I just never considered myself athletic because I wasn’t good at the traditional types of athletics.

As for what made me live the fit lifestyle I want to say it was the fun. But really I didn’t discover the fun of fitness until after I made myself do it for awhile. I originally started working out as a way to deal with the aftermath of a traumatic sexual assault & court case. I had terrible irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and PTSD. Yoga really helped all of that. And no, I’m not going to try and sell you acai berries;) And yes, I swear all my other answers will be short.

Q: What is your favorite exercise/workout and why?

I love experimenting! I change my workout ALL THE TIME. It’s my hallmark. Some people think I’m crazy. I think I’m insane. But in a good way. If you are interested in my current experiment, the Ballerina Workout, check out my blog. (It’s going really well! I feel like I have nails in each butt cheek!!)

Q: What advice do you have for those who are just starting out with an exercise program and feeling overwhelmed?

Have fun! I don’t care what you do, just try something for the fun. If you exercise purely out of a motivation to “get ready for bikini season” or, even worse, because you loathe the body you are in, it won’t last and you will learn to hate exercise. There is something out there for everybody. Join a kickball league. Take Salsa lessons. Check out the Monkey Bar Gym or CrossFit online – they’re free workouts and new everyday! Just try something. And if you hate it, try something else. Just pay attention to what works for you and what doesn’t. No point in repeating mistakes (not that I ever do that *ahem*).

Q: You experiment with different fitness ideas and workouts on your blog , what has been the most effective “experiment” you have done so far?

Can’t say yet! A lot of the workouts I’ve done have been awesome in different ways. The Monkey Bar Gym really upped my appreciation and tolerance for interval training. CrossFit really defined my upper body and made me feel powerful. Kickboxing gets out my violent impulses – oh yeah, head strike, baby! Hip Hop lets my inner adolescent out. Yoga calms me and helps me not poop every ten seconds when I’m stressed out. Ask me about what experiments DIDN’T work – that’s easier to answer;)

Q: My downfall is the chocolate brownie, what is your ‘must.eat.now’ food?

Ice cream or jelly beans. The day someone makes jelly bean ice cream, I’m hosed;)

Q: On days when you cannot make it to the gym, what do you do for fitness?

Well of course I check your site;) There are a lot of workouts that are easy to scale down for home. The Monkey Bar Gym is probably my fave since you really don’t need much equipment. I never do workout DVDs because I spend the whole time critiquing the people’s silly workout wear (studded belts!! Ouch!) or pondering the unanswerable (how can Rodney Yee do all that yoga in the sand and never have any stick to his butt?!? Do they rub him down between takes? Does he have an official butt brusher? If they roll him in oil will he look like Down Dog shake-n-bake?). You see my problem. I also try to get my kids involved. They love to wrestle and that is a better workout than you’d think.

Q: What is your weakest area when it comes to fitness? (for me, it’s upper body strength. My arms are like spaghetti and not whole wheat spaghetti!)

I don’t build muscle easily and I store all my fat in my hips and thighs (maybe that’s why my boobs are headed south – they’re trying to get in on the fatty goodness!!). I’m more of an endurance athlete so I’ve been really trying to build my power strength lately. You want to change your spaghetti into rigatoni (okay that analogy didn’t really work but you know what I mean) – try CrossFit. It’s amazing for upper body. And don’t forget killer too. You. Will. Hurt. But hey – no spaghetti!

Q: Random question: You are given a free trip anywhere in the world. Where would you go?

I love randomness! There are very few places I wouldn’t go if it were free! I would probably go to the UK because my fondest dream in life is to speak with a Scottish accent (I watched Brigadoon every time I stayed home sick from school). Although I hear anywhere near the equator is nice this time of year (that’s right, Minnesota! I’m talking to YOU! STOP SNOWING!!).

Thank you Charlotte for inspiring us all to fitness! I plan to check out the CrossFit and Monkey Bar workouts to add some excitement to my routine and work on my upper body fitness.

How about you gang–what has Charlotte inspired YOU to do?

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Tagged as: the great fitness experiment