5 Ways For Mothers To Exercise With Confidence

If you have just had a child or have not worked out in a while, you may want to start working out on a regular basis to improve your own fitness. However, if you have put on a little weight you didn’t previously have before the pregnancy or haven’t exercised much in recent months, you may not have the confidence to go out to wear the type of clothing some women traditionally wear when working out.

No matter who you are, working out in a public area where a lot of people can see what you are doing can be a pretty daunting experience. It could be that you don’t like the idea of people watching you do specific exercises or you don’t like wearing the sort of outfits some women wear when working out, revealing more of your body than you may want to.

However, there are a number of ways for you to increase your own self-confidence and your fitness, without having to put yourself in social situations that you would rather not be in.

Exercise from home

While working out at home may limit the types of exercises you are able to do, it allows you to work out in comfort and most importantly, in private, allowing you to build up confidence in yourself until you are ready to travel to the gym or exercise in public.

The exercises you can try at home can range from running around your living room, running up and down your stairs or doing a range of situps, pushups and other body strengthening exercises either with or without weights.

Exercise with friends

If you don’t like the idea of working out in public on your own, travelling to the gym or going for a run with friends is the best way to solve that and build up your confidence. If you work out on your own you feel much more vulnerable, like people are watching you. However, if you are exercising with friends then you are straightaway much less self-conscious, paying much less attention to what other people may think and simply having a good time with the people closest to you.

Wear baggier clothing

Alot of womens exercise clothing is very tight fitting, showing off your midriff and other areas of your body. If you aren’t in the shape and mindset where you want people to see these parts of your body, it may put you off going to the gym altogether.

Wearing workout clothing that is much less revealing such as running t-shirts, a tracksuit or sports hoodies is the perfect way to cover those areas you may not want you to expose, allowing you to work out in the comfort of knowing you aren’t revealing more of yourself than you want to. Just make sure that you don’t get too warm with all those layers on.

Exercise at off-peak times

Depending on how your daily schedule works out, going to the gym at off-peak times will help you with your confidence levels as the gym won’t be as busy. Generally, most gyms will be at their busiest either first thing on a morning or later in an evening as people try to fit in their workout schedules around their jobs. Going to the gym outside of these times will allow you to work out with less people in the gym.

However, during the weekend, there isn’t really a time when it is less busy than others. As most people are free over this period, they tend to just go whenever they have the spare time.

Join a class

There are a number of classes run by a whole host of gyms that are aimed at specific groups of people. It could be a group for women, a group for mothers or a group of people wanting to try a specific exercise. Either way you are going to be able to exercise in the comfort of knowing that there you are with a group of people who are essentially all in the same boat as you. They are looking to get in shape and have fun.  Not only will it allow you to increase your fitness levels and improve your confidence, but you will also be able to socialise and make more friends, something which you may not necessarily have the chance to do if you are working as a full-time mum.

For more information on the range of sports apparel you can wear during workouts click here.

This article was written by John Johnston. John is part of the marketing team for Workwear Express, a leading workwear andprinted t-shirt supplier.

Image credit: jo-h on Flickr