Family *Workout*: Leesylvania State Park

As hectic and life-changing Ryan and I find parenting to sometimes be, we both realize there are luxuries we have…courtesy of the live-in grandmother we have at our house. One such luxury– on Sundays, my mother watches the little boy and Ryan and I get to go to the gym and workout together. I rather fancy weight-lifting with my spouse, particularly when he executes his shoulder press sets, so it is an outing I typically look forward to.

A few Sundays ago, however, we had a great deal of home improvement tasks and as afternoon turned to late afternoon, it was clear we weren’t going to make the gym. Instead, we decided to take our son out to Woodbridge, Virginia’s Leesylvania State Park for some outdoor fun.

Now, I always look forward to being outside, but there was definitely part of me that was disappointed I was going to miss my gym date. Little did I know, there is something better than working out with your spouse– Working out with your spouse AND your son!

We parked, we started our way on the Bushey Pointe Trail and lo and behold we discovered it was one of those fitness trails where they have different stations set up for you to try out different exercises. We all, Sagan included, had fun experimenting at stations and then jogging to the next one.

Ryan Does Push Ups at a Station

Sagan Jogs Between Stations

Modifications
Just as some exercises have to be modified for pregnancy, Sagan had to modify some of the stations for toddlerhood.

Sagan Finds Another Use for the “Toe Lifts” Station

When we let Sagan do some assisted pullups, Ryan noted that Sagan was holding his own bodyweight. Yet, we were still surprised a few stations later when Sagan grabbed onto a tricep dip bar and started having the time of his life doing leg lifts.

Sagan Does Leg Lifts

Future Personal Trainer?
We also found Sagan to show signs of being an effective personal trainer. At one point, he was watching Ryan doing reverse push-ups.

I guess Sagan decided that exercise wasn’t challenging enough for Ryan. So he decided to add a little more resistance to the mix.

Hmm… Daddy Doesn’t Look Like He is Working Hard Enough

Ah…. Much Better!

Or there was the time when Ryan just finished up the last of his Bar Jump sets when Sagan, supervising from one of the bars, ordered, “ONE MORE!”. : )

Sagan Supervises Ryan Doing Bar Jumps

Sagan wasn’t singling poor Ryan out. Later, when Sagan was trying to do his own version of bar jumps, he showed the self motivation to do “one more” of his own.

Followup Hike
And when we all finished our stations, we had the beautiful Potomac to take in as we continued to the hike the Bushey Pointe Trail and the Powell Trails. By the end of the outing, missing out on the gym with my husband was just a distant memory. : )

Post Workout Hike – Sagan and Ryan Take in the Potomac River

More pictures of our trip on the Bushey Pointe Trail in Leesylvania State Park can be found on my Flickr site.

Bushey Pointe Trail in Leesylvania State Park 2001 Daniel K. Ludwig Dr. Woodbridge, VA 22191-4504 Length: 1-2 miles Elevation Gain:Neglible Fees Weekdays $4, Weekends $5 Directions from Occoquan, VA Take I-95 South roughly 4 miles. Take Exit 156 (Rippon Landing) Merge onto Dale Blvd. Turn Right on U.S. 1. Jefferson Davis Highway Turn left onto Neabsco Rd. (Route 610) Park Entrance Will Be In About 2 miles