30 days of 29, day 8: Try a new form of exercise.

It turns out that having a baby kind of does a number on your body. Gosh! It also turns out that having a tiny person whose entire existence is solely dependent on you is a wee bit time-consuming and house-bounding. This all makes for a tricky combination when you're attempting to not too closely resemble a potato on legs.
So, when it was suggested that I try a new form of exercise for this project, I had to find something I could do at home and during one of Espen's naps. A workout video seemed liked the obvious answer, but I'd already done those, and I needed something new to try.
"Of course," I cried, snapping my fingers, "I'll do a dance workout video! That will be exercisy, dancy, out of my comfort zone and scary all in one!"

So I did. My options on Netflix were not exactly many and varied, so I went with Crunch Cardio Salsa, and let me tell you: I was so out of my comfort zone within the first 15 seconds of the video that I almost turned it off and curled up in a ball on the couch.

This little video clip might give you an idea why:



Oh my.

But I persevered, and stumbled, sweated and giggled myself through a very uncoordinated half-hour. Latin hips do not come naturally to someone who has practically been genetically engineered for awkwardness and a lack of skillz on the dance floor. I pretty sure that there is an angel in heaven specifically assigned to making all the Norwegian babies check their hip flexibility at the door before being sent down to earth. Now add all of the smooth dance moves of the English to the mix, and you get me. I would have made an excellent Puritan.

Anyway, it was one part fun, one part humiliation, and one part torture. And the perfectionist in me wants to try it again to see if I can do better next time.

We will see.


This was suggested by both Ari and Amanda in GA, who would both have been all kinds of amused to see my booty shaking antics.