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The Busy Mom’s Ultimate Fitness Guide
by Cathy Moxley
Reviewed by Alana Morales

As a former personal trainer who has been (semi) forced into a more sedentary lifestyle by injuries and disabilities, I was very anxious to review The Busy Mom’s Ultimate Fitness Guide by Cathy Moxley.

When you look into a fitness book, you never know what to expect. Sometimes you will get a book that is just trying to jump on the latest fitness bandwagon (how many books do we really need about the South Beach diet?). Other times you get a book that tries to either guilt trip or scare you into making fitness changes.

I was very happy to see that this book was neither.

The Busy Mom’s Ultimate Fitness Guide is a book written for moms who think they are too busy to workout. Notice I say think – this book finds ways to prove that theory wrong. Moxley includes tons of anecdotes from other moms to illustrate her points about setting goals, evaluating your current fitness, and what other busy moms think as they are trying to make positive life changes.

The book begins with an entire section to help moms get in the right frame of mind. There are so many moms who subscribe to all or none thinking (Well, since I can’t get to the gym three times a week, I can’t exercise) and don’t think about how activity throughout the day can really add up. Moxley spends a lot of time explaining the benefits of even a little bit of activity and provides real mom examples to illustrate what other moms have thought during the different phases of beginning a program.

The second section is all about the different facets of fitness and is written on a level that even a mom with no workout experience can understand.

The third section includes the fitness plans. They include The Busy Mom’s Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and my personal favorite, "I’m Not Going to Change into Exercise Clothes Plan." The basic plan, aimed at moms who simply need to move more, is nice because instead of saying "You must work out at least three times a week" and on and on, it shows moms how to get more active in their regular daily lives. What a concept, huh?

The last section includes more real world examples of ways for moms to integrate Moxley’s tips into practice, including tips for work outside the home moms and stay-at-home moms. It also delves into two of the biggest factors for failure – fatigue and motivation.

There are many things I really liked about this book, but I think the best feature is that it never made me feel bad for being in the shape I am in now. There are so many fitness books that scold women and tell them "You should be doing this each week" or "You shouldn’t eat this" and this book never does that. Moxley makes suggestions, but knows that change is a gradual process. For example, when she mentions moms who were trying to make eating changes, she tells them that they need to make small changes, not overhaul their entire menu at once. This is what we need as moms, because if it is too much work, or it adds to what we already have to do, it won’t happen. I like that she gives permission to make small changes.

The first week after finishing the book, I saw an increase in my activity level. The nice thing about this was how painless it was. I didn’t fret about it, and I didn’t put any more stress on myself – I just made a few small changes on a few days that I could.

I highly recommend this book for any mom who is interested in improving her fitness level, whether she is a bona fide couch potato or a three times a week gym rat. This is a fitness book that both sides of the argument can benefit from.


Alana Morales, has a degree in Psychology and is a certified teacher. She taught high school English for six years before staying home with her two children and becoming a freelance writer. Her syndicated column Family Business, which is about being a WAHM, appears on over 13 online sites as well as her local newspaper. Her first book, Domestically Challenged, is due out in 2006 with Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc. You can read more of Alana’s work and get information about her book at AlanaMorales.com.