Staying Active During the School Year

I do a fairly good job every summer of working out consistently. Then school starts and I am entirely too exhausted to do anything when I get home and then I lose my momentum from summer and... I could list all the excuses I have for not being active, but I am not letting myself use those excuses this year.

My goal this year is to work out 3 times a week and to be active any day that I don't work out-either a walk or playing outside with my kids.

Usually my goal for working out is to lose weight. While that would be a nice side effect, it is not my main goal. Any one else feel the effects of aging? I feel like I am still young at 32, but...I am so tired at the end of the day and I wake up with sore muscles. I realize that taking care of myself now is important for my health in the long run. I also want to set an example for my children.

Here is how I will stay active this school year.

1. Remember my WHY? (See above)
2. Make a plan for the week. Look at my and my husband's schedules and plan which will be work out days. 
3. Change into my workout clothes as soon as I get home. 
4. Do something that I don't hate doing. (See below)
5. Repeat

Now, sometimes I really hate working out so if I force myself to do something I hate, it won't last long. I don't have a gym membership and I have two small children at home. I also hate running.  I also cannot wake up early in the morning. I have found a few things that work for me.

• Blogilates
• Cassey puts out a new short work out video every week and she has a huge library on her YouTube Channel. She has a lot of other resources that I haven't used yet. What I like most is the song challenges. These are 3-4 minute videos (the length of a song) where she focuses on one exercise. I can convince myself to do 4-5 videos. I always say I'll just do 3, but then what's one more?
• These are some of my favorite ones. Shape of your Thighs, Sore-y Not Sorry Abs, Inner Thighs Workout, Ab Climber. 
• She also has workout plans for the month. I love that she puts a video out every week because it is usually what convinced me to work out on Mondays. 
• Jillian Michaels (Amazon Affiliates Links Used Here)
• I had some old work out DVDs that I found while I was decluttering this summer. I like the Shed and Shred and Ripped in 30,  and Killer Buns and Thighs. These workouts are hard, but she has modified version of some of the moves and I always feel like I did a good workout afterwards. You may need weights for this; I only have 5 pound weights. 
• Yoga
• This is something I just started. This will be for the days when I can fee like I am too exhausted to get a workout in, but I still want to try something. I am not good at yoga yet and I am not flexible. I downloaded a few apps on my phone that go through a program. Daily Yoga, and Yoga Studio. 
• I did this on the first day of school last week. I had spent the day running around the school and I was exhausted. Also, my kids expected dinner! So I was laying on the couch and decided my body needed something. I downloaded the Daily Yoga App and did 15 minutes of the Stiff Joint routine. 

There it is. My workout plan. Next thing I need to get down is eating better. I will not do supplements or any multilevel marketing thing. My problem is eating too much, but that's for another day.

How do you stay active during the school year?