Exercise is something I really don’t feel like writing about, much less doing right now. So, that probably means it needs a reset in a major way. I always feel better when I exercise, even though I hate doing it. Yes, I know I’m complicated! Did you know physical activity is one of the top treatments for ADHD symptoms? Since 4 out of the 5 people in my household struggle with symptoms from time to time, it would be pretty foolish to ignore the value of exercise in our life. That’s one of the many reasons we incorporate sports into our kids’ lives regularly. Furthermore, healthy movement just makes everything work better. You sleep better. Your brain works better. Your mood is better. Circulation improves. Strengthens bones and muscles. It’s just really important to a healthy mind and body.

I know all this and I suspect you do too, but it is so incredibly easy to neglect exercise when we get busy or tired or stressed or…just about any reason. This summer I focused on coping better with stress. One of the big things I did was to incorporate yoga as a main source of exercise. Mr. Butler did it with me, which made it even better. I do much better with an accountability partner. Since the fall semester started back up, it has been hard to sync up our schedules and I’ve just been busy. Not an excuse, but it is real life. So, we’ll walk a few miles when we are both home in the day, but I have not been diligent with myself in any way. All hopes for a healthy exercise routine isn’t lost just because the vitamin D potential starts to decrease. I know it can feel that way, but that just means my body needs the immune boost even more this time of year.

Maybe you have a gym membership and don’t use it like me because of logistics. We have a Y membership, but I never want to bother getting the kids out. Since they are all old enough and trustworthy to put in the child watch/older kid hangout, maybe I should pick one day a week to at least switch it up? I know that I’m going to try to utilize my bicycle and stationary bike more, get back to yoga regularly and walk with Randy as much as I can. I’ve just not had any reason to follow through. I know that sounds silly, but my ADHD friends will understand. Since I’m writing about it and telling the universe to look at what I’m doing so to speak, well I’ll carry around some guilt if I don’t follow through! And I certainly don’t need anymore of that.

Getting exercise in every day is one of those all or nothing temptations for me. If I intended to do a particular activity at a particular time and then something messed that up? Well, just forget it. The day is lost. That’s the wrong approach of course, but it is sooo tempting to my brain that craves order and over reacts in the most rigid of ways. For this exercise reset, I’m striving to include movement - even if it isn’t what I intended when I woke up that day - every day. Tomorrow I’m going to use my watch that’s been dead for a month and haven’t bothered to find the charger until tonight. I’m hoping I’ll have an easy 10,000 steps without too much work, but I haven’t been tracking for a while so I’m not sure. Either way, having a minimum goal and then trying to improve upon that will hopefully jumpstart my motivation.

More than anything, a reset is intended to help us focus on what’s important and valuable rather than what is convenient and thoughtless. Finishing a meal and then sitting for another hour until bedtime is thoughtless and convenient, but it isn’t necessarily important or valuable. Playing soccer as a family for 20 minutes or walking to the pond or doing some yoga not only feeds the health of your physical body, but it can connect you to those around you, get you outside in many cases and bring joy into you’re life too! Do you have a good workout routine? Are you recommitting to one this week? It would encourage me to hear about it so let me know how it’s going!

DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THIS COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

Among the many lessons we have learned over the past two years, the importance of healthy habits is certainly one of the more important ones. The choices we make on a daily basis create or destroy health and teaching our children this fact is an important part of our jobs as parents. The messages they receive from society are mixed at best and almost always biased. How to care for their bodies and health has to start at home. American Coaching Academy works to equip educators, coaches and parents with some versatile tools to make daily choices become habits and those habits fun to keep track of. My review today is of Healthy Habit Trackers from American Coaching Academy.

What We Received:

We received Healthy Habit Trackers, a digital file of 12 different 30 day healthy challenges and a file of empty habit trackers that allow you to enter in the tracked tasks.

How It Works:

When you purchase this product you receive two files, one has the tasks already set for you to keep track of and the other allows you to fill in tasks of your own choosing. The files are essentially the same except one is lacking all habit designations. The pre-made tasks consist of things like exercises, water drinking, fruit and vegetable consumption, good hygiene, sleep, and kindness. Many of them include movement and exercise in timed elements. For example, there might be a minute of running in place or jumping jacks. The trackers are not in any particular order so there is no plan or value to use them in a particular way. The pre-made trackers certainly give you good ideas if you aren’t sure where to starts. On each of them there is some way to colorfully or plainly keep track of habits. The different designs, especially once filled out, can be quite motivating all by themselves depending on the age of the students.. Using different colored markers or pens.

What We Thought:

Since there were 12 different pre-made options, it was a little overwhelming to decide which one to go with. I let my kids pick what they wanted at first, but they needed help narrowing their options down. Making your own in some ways seemed a little more desirable just because it can accommodate a number of habits into one sheet. The concept of coloring in boxes or shapes daily, especially with different colors is a lot of fun to my 8 (almost 9) year old daughter. My boys (5 and 11) went along just fine, but coloring didn’t seem nearly as motivating. There is no reason that an adult can’t use these, especially the blank ones and from an ADHD perspective, their novelty could be highly motivating for a while.

Making regular healthy choices is not an easy conviction to have or change to make. These fun habit trackers encourage personal responsibility and good level of independence that is always needing in growing families. And as a digital file, you can use them again and again! When you’re looking ahead towards the next school year, Healthy Habit Trackers are a great option for commitment and creative organization!

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How did this product work in other families? Check out the Crew’s reviews through the link below: