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hubby fitness: first one down

by Heather

You would think the one in our house that doesn’t sleep well would be me. The mom. Waking up for a random middle of the feeding, getting up when little Hunter does and not getting to bed until he’a down for the count. But in reality, I sleep pretty great. I get about 8-9 hours a night, which is actually more than I used to pre-baby (I functioned well on 6-7 before). Yes I’ll still have bad nights when I can’t fall asleep or I wake up a bunch, but that is pretty rare.

Jacob’s the poor sleeper in our house. He does not feel rested or like he gets enough sleep, and wakes up a lot during the night. That’s just no fun and I love my hubby so I want him to feel good and energized.

I decided to take it upon myself to help him sleep better. Things that are easy for me but he needs a little encouragement with – exercise, drinking water, eating consistently, less caffeine in the afternoons/evenings.

Yesterday we started with exercise.

(Hunter questioning this exercise thing…)

The thing with making exercise stick is finding something you love to do. For Jacob that’s cycling. However, not cycling in the rain. That gets tricky right about now since it’s been pretty rainy.

He’s done (and I believe enjoyed) P90X, but it’s a big time commitment that just wouldn’t happen right now. So what kind of exercise do we need????

Something short and effective. Ah ha! Something like my 10 minute total body workout? I think so! The pressure of the clock keeps the intensity up. A wife sitting there channeling her fitness instructor-ness shouting words of encouragement to keep good form is one way not to slack either. 🙂

What was Jacob’s first workout? Here’s what I had him do.

First warm up for 5 minutes (jogging in place, running up and down the stairs, etc).

With the clock set for a 10 minute count down, he went through as many rounds as be could.

  • 20 high knees
  • 10 push ups
  • 5 single leg squats (each leg)

Repeat!

He almost made it through 9 rounds, finishing 8 + 20 high knees + 13 push ups (a few extra for the finish).

What’s better than that was the sweat at the end! He was definitely pushing it while Hunter and I cheered him on.

The big question… did he sleep better? Well I haven’t actually had the chance to ask him since he left for work really early, but he was asleep by 9pm which is a good sign!

Do you find that exercise helps you sleep better? Do you sleep well? About how much sleep do you get a night?

Heather

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Ashley @ My Food 'N' Fitness Diaries October 23, 2012 - 8:18 am

Exercise definitely helps me sleep better! I also make sure to cut out any caffeine after about 2-3 PM because it definitely affects my sleep if I have any after that.

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Suzanne October 23, 2012 - 2:01 pm

Definitely it makes me sleep better and makes me tired at night sooner. I have been in a bad habit of going to bed very late but I find on the days where I exercise (especially on my running days), I HAVE to go to bed earlier from just extreme tiredness!

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purelymichelle October 23, 2012 - 6:27 pm

I go through periods when I sleep well, but normally I am a horrible sleeper. I have find stress affects my sleep more than exercise.

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Jentry Nielsen October 24, 2012 - 11:58 am

oh definitely exercise always helps me to sleep better, I always sleep like such a baby when I got in a good workout that day! I hope it worked for him!
P.S. Perfect timing for you to mention your 10 minute workout, I have about 30 mins after I get off to slip in a workout and clean the house before we are having guests over, this will be perfect! 🙂 ha

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