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8 essential health and fitness tips for busy moms
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It's often difficult for moms to find time to take care of themselves. However, health and fitness are critical needs to keep everything going, including yourself. Here are 8 tips to squeeze wellness into your daily routine. - photo by Amy Rothermel
Moms are always super busy. Whether its carpooling, laundry, work, or driving the kids to the soccer game, the list of things to do can be endless. With all this going on, it can feel overwhelming to add a workout to the list.

But it doesnt have to be as you can easily squeeze one or more of these tips into your routine. Whats great is that itll have a positive impact on your health and happiness in a short space of time.

1. Schedule your workouts

When youre juggling multiple responsibilities, planning will be essential. To make sure that you have enough time allotted for your workout, pencil it in on a calendar.

If youre going to wait for the perfect moment to start, it will never happen. So, plan ahead and make health and fitness a part of your lifestyle.

2. Indulge your muscles

If you get hurt, it can result in chaos for the family. So, make sure that you pamper your muscles before and after every workout.

You can start each workout by doing stretches to get your muscles ready. After a workout, you can take a nice relaxing bath to help your muscles cool down and relax.

3. Bathroom exercises

Doing some exercises in the bathroom may sound silly, but it can be a great opportunity to do a set number of exercises when you use the bathroom.

You can break them down like 20 calf raises on the first trip, 10 squats on the next, then maybe 30 jumping jacks, and so on.

If you follow this pattern each time you go to the bathroom, you will definitely start seeing results over a short period of time.

4. Mow the lawn

If you have a yard, someone will have to mow it. It might as well be you as pushing and pulling a mower for an hour can do more for your thighs than some exercises.

By the end of your workout, youll also have a beautiful lawn.

5. Exercise at the playground

If youre already spending a lot of time at the playground, you can quickly get through a ton of exercises while your kids are busy having fun.

It can be as simple as walking the parameter of the playground, or taking an opportunity to work with a light set of dumbbells while youre watching the kids.

6. Workout while you sit

Lets face it, driving the kids around or being stuck behind a desk at work involves a lot of sitting. But that doesnt mean you cant get some exercise in.

During this time, you can do some squeeze and hold exercises to tighten your muscles.

7. Pack your lunch

Making your own food will go a long way to keeping you healthy. Youre already feeding your kids healthy food, so what about you?

When youre packing a healthy lunch for your kids, make sure that you do the same for yourself.

8. Supplement your diet

As you start packing your own lunch, try to supplement your diet with amino acids, proteins, minerals and vitamins.

Seek out vitamins that have been specifically designed for women in your age group. If you dont have time, there are plenty of healthy shakes, supplemental pills and nutrition bars as well.

Exercising and eating healthy is a great way to enhance your overall health.

If you incorporate some of these tips into your busy life, you will certainly start to feel the difference in a few weeks.
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Have You Seen This? Street musician slays with clarinet
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Better than almost every face-melting guitar or drum solo. - photo by Facebook video screenshot

THE BIG EASY — Yeah, yeah, we all know that New Orleans is stuffed to the gills will incredible musicians.

But knowing that fact and then hearing that fact are two different things. You can step into any number of jazz clubs on any given night on Bourbon Street, and you’ll probably be impressed with virtually every act. Or you can sit at home on your comfy couch and watch this featured video.

In the video, you’ll see a woman who is in the groove. She is swinging hard, and wailing on her clarinet with a practiced expertise that makes it sounds so easy.

From note one you’ll be drawn in; your appreciation will grow with every second, and then your face will melt off when you realize how incredible she really is.

If you’ve never played a woodwind or a brass, you may not know everything that comes with a performance like this. Lung capacity and breath control are huge factors in keeping your notes clear and loud, and hitting those high notes is especially difficult.

So when this woman hits that high note and holds it for several seconds, you know you’re dealing with an exceptional musician. It means she has worked hard for years to develop skill on top of her natural talent, and we get to benefit.

It kinda makes you wonder how we let people get away with mumble rap and autotune when talent like this exists in the world.

I wish this video were longer, and I wish I had more information about this woman, but as it is, we’ll just have to appreciate the little flavor of New Orleans jazz posted by the Facebook group Clarinet Life.

Street musician killing it on clarinet

She must have lungs of iron! Its inspiring hearing the upper registers being played so well.

Posted by Clarinet Life on Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Martha Ostergar is a writer who delights in the ridiculous that internet serves up, which means she's more than grateful that she gets to cruise the web for amazing videos to highlight for your viewing pleasure.
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