My at-home "gym"

I know this may come as a surprise, but raising a baby in 800 sq feet comes with it's challenges. There are a lot of perks living in a city... ample living space is not one of them. But I like to exercise at home in addition to the gym, so I have to be creative with my at-home workouts. I obviously don't have room for big equipment, but I can still get a good workout with a few key pieces. Here's what I use:

• Hand weights ~ I mainly use 8 lb & 5 lb weights to do exercises for biceps, triceps, shoulders and back. I also have 3 lb and 2 lb weights, but don't really use them.
• Resistance band ~ I use this to work out the same muscles as above, but I like that it works the muscles differently. It's all about variety.
• DVDs ~ I mainly do yoga for my DVD workouts. Each has a different focus, such as abs, total body (broken out into upper body, lower body and abs... for those days you only want to target a specific area), and cardio yoga (this one's a killer on my legs).
• Push-up bars ~ I'm horrible at push-ups, and they usually kill my wrists. But these help make push-ups a little more bearable. (with that said, I'm still lucky if I can do 12 in a row.)
• Pilates & yoga mat ~ The mat has that gripping surface so I'm not sliding all over... every little bit helps.
• Pilates "Magic Circle" ~ This enhances a lot of the pilates moves, forcing you to focus even more on proper form.
  
• Foam roller ~ This is a new addition to my mini gym. Although I don't "workout" with it, it's been a lifesaver as a muscle massager after runs.
• Little H ~ Carrying him up and down the stairs of a 3rd floor walk-up counts as a workout to me :)
• Jogging stroller (obviously not pictured) ~ Even though this technically isn't used "at home", I still consider it part of my non-gym repertoire. Truth be told....I haven't actually used it yet. I just picked it up yesterday and, unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to try it out for a couple more days. With all this torrential rain, it was a struggle just to motivate myself to make the 5-minute trek to the gym this morning, especially with a wiggly little 18 lb person strapped to the front of me. But I made it there, and managed to run 4 miles in anticipation of using the new stroller... hopefully on Thursday!
  

Besides the DVDs, which I store in the entertainment center, all of the other equipment is stored under the bed or in our bedroom closet. If not, we'd be tripping over it everyday. In 800 sq feet, we can only keep out what's absolutely necessary for daily life. And, yes, a 3 ft wide baby jumperoo sitting on our living room floor is a necessity. If you have kids, no explanation needed. 20 straight minutes of a happy entertained baby is a dream :)