All I can do is laugh at the last post… it’s very typical of my stick-to-it-ness for any project I attempt to take on. I’m all about the planning and brainstorming and preparing, but when it comes to the day-to-day maintenance… well that’s something I’m working on (and have been since day 1). Which directly relates to me and my approach to fitness!
I love planning out my new, amazing fitness regimes. I get a sick pleasure out of creating torturous workouts for myself. Of course, since I’m my own personal trainer, it’s easy to slack off or make up excuses for why I need to stay in bed, but many painful exercise routines exist with me in mind. I just lack the follow through.
A few weeks ago I decided to try something new. I plotted and planned, did research. And then I did something amazing… I followed through with the plan. The plan was pretty genius, if I do say so myself: do something fun for exercise. Amazing right?!
I have been wanting to try out a trapeze class for a long time now, and finally took the plunge and headed to a local gym to check their class out. When I arrived there were a bunch of kids running around, swinging on the trapeze and silks (the ribbons those amazing circus people twist themselves up, down, and all around in). Immediately I was worried that I would be a giant among tiny trapeze artists. Of course I couldn’t compete with a class full of people whose fat-to-muscle ratios are miniscule. I’ve got heft to carry up those silks with me.
Once class started I realized I had no reason to worry. Well, little reason, there was one kid joining the class while she waited, but other than her it was me and two other (also containing heft) adults. We started class with some stretching (thank goodness for yoga classes maintaining some semblance of flexibility in my ex-gymnast body) and then started our warm-up exercises. Warm-up in an aerial fitness class means climbing up those silks, from floor to ceiling.
Somehow my arms retained some muscle memory of climbing ropes and I made it all the way to the top, and then back down to the floor without dropping into a huddled mess on the floor. Yes, my arms were shaking when I finished. Yes, my hands were shaking when I let go of the silks. Yes, even my fingers were shaking. But I made it. And then I got to swing around on the silks and start learning how to get up on a trapeze. Just like those Cirque du Soleil folks.
And it was amazing. Best “exercise” class I’ve ever taken. Even though my arms were in more pain than after any torturous workout I created for myself. Actually working towards learning a(n awesome) skill will work wonders for your stick-to-it-ness.
So the Ex-Gymnast Body has been re-born!
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Tags: aerial, cirque du soleil, exercise, fitness, trapeze
I’m Baaaaack!
Pardon the lag time between posts recently, I needed to just take a break from everything so that I could figure some life things (read: figure out what the hell I’m going to do with my life and how am I going to support myself) out. I think it was exactly what I needed because I now feel equipped with an excellent plan and am ready to go!
I’m staying a little cryptic for now until I get everything set up and on its way, but finally I feel like there is a future in what I have been doing and it’s a not-too-shabby future at that.
I am getting excited for what I plan on making happen this year, finally!
As for this fitness project, and the reason for this blog … surprisingly enough during this break I’ve been exercising more than ever! Who knows, maybe that contributed to my mental clarity lately. It definitely has kept me sane while I muddle through some work-related issues.
I started this running program that I found on the Women’s Health Magazine website and I feel fantastic. It’s more of a walk-run thing to build up to being able to go 30 minutes or so without stopping. I’ve never really been much for jogging along for long periods of time, in gymnastics we did millions of sprints but never really any endurance running (30 minutes probably doesn’t even count as “endurance” with all those Iron Man competitions out there, but whatever). But it feels really good to get outside in the morning and do my walk/run thing, I’ve found that it makes it a lot more bearable to sit in the office all day long.
The other thing about this workout is that it comes with a few toning routines to do on the days you don’t do the running. When I first started I thought, “Psh, a measly 7 moves from some girly magazine isn’t going to do much.” Ayyyeee was I wrong there, they make me sore every week. Try it yourself and tell me if I’m just being a baby or what.
Here’s the link to the 6 week plan, I highly recommend it. They have one for beginning runners, like me, and another for people who can already run along easy-peasy. Tell me what you think!
Have you started any new exercise routines?
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Tags: career, exercise, fitness, jogging, running, stress relief, women's health, women's health magazine
Last week was another one where I just couldn’t get my head focused on exercising. Or on anything actually. My writing projects got thrown out of the window, work stuff I scraped by with many to-do lists so I wouldn’t forget anything, and don’t even talk to me about taking care of myself in any manner people would call “healthy.” I had cheese for dinner just about every night, accompanied with a glass (or two) of wine, of course. I skipped my vitamin in favor of bagels most mornings. Exercise was definitely pushed off the list of things to do to make room for watching crappy TV shows and the aforementioned cheese eating. In short, it was not pretty.
I guess it happens. Life gets in the way. I had extra responsibilities at work, and those oh-so-lovely hormones taking over, and a house-sitting gig, and that all adds up to not taking care of myself. Ironic, isn’t it? The one week where I definitely needed to do all those healthy things to keep me sane under extra pressure, and that’s the week that I decide to be about as unhealthy as I can be.
Friday night I drank way too much and ended up feeling like death warmed over on Saturday. And there is nothing like lying in bed feeling like if you moved even an inch to the right you would just puke over the side of the bed to make you swear over and over to yourself that you are going to take care of yourself from now on. Nothing will get in the way! Pfft to alcohol and junk food, pfft to sitting on the couch feeling your butt expanding, pfft to every single bad habit you have!
I’m sure you all know how that goes. Unfortunately, well-meaning intentions and even plain old will-power won’t take us all the way. It takes finding pleasure in all those healthy activities, and not finding pleasure in the bad ones, to really make a change. I have to say, waking up this morning to the sun shining down and clear, blue skies, taking a hike through the gorgeous scenery of the Arroyo, actually including some vegetables in my lunch… all that just feels good. Now let’s see if it will last me through til next Friday…
What are some habits that you keep swearing you’ll get rid of? What do you do when you feel like you’ve indulged too much in not-so-good-for-you things?
Filed under: Mind | 2 Comments
Tags: exercise, fitness, health, vitamins, women's health
Mix It Up
The thing about fitness projects is that all of a sudden time flies by and you’re already down one month out of three. Yesterday I woke up thinking “Crap! I only have two months left to get in the best shape of my life!” Um, so yeah, I am not as far a long as I thought I would be, but I guess that’s the way with any project — it always takes longer than you think it will.
I’m nowhere near my goal of being able to do up to two hours of exercise in one day, four times a week. However, I have gotten a lot more consistent with my physical activity, and that feels really good. The excuses have gotten fewer and further between. It seems I am actually starting to connect the dots between exercise and feeling good. Except for that one bad week, I have managed to do my morning yoga routine (which I will talk about very soon because it’s awesome) at least five days a week, and since starting my push-ups/squats dealio I have only missed a couple of days.
Starting this month, Phase Two of the Gymnast Body project, I want to start exploring new exercise methods. As effective as Jillian Michaels is, I can only do the 30 Day Shred so many times before I want to reach through the TV screen and yank Jillian to the ground by her ponytail. I want to fit some kickboxing classes in, and I really want to check out this aerial fitness class at the local gym to really put my gymnastics body to the test. Let’s see if muscles really do retain memory from days gone by.
What new things are you going to try this month?
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Tags: 30 day shred, aerial fitness, exercise, fitness, jillian michaels, kickboxing, yoga
The thing about exercise is that it can be so boring. Run on the treadmill, row your arms to oblivion, step your booty off on the stairmaster… it’s all a whole lot of working, working, working and going nowhere. I’ve belonged to gyms before and it takes about two weeks of fighting for a cardio machine and trying to dart between the too-buff hulks of muscle marking their territory in the weights room before I am done with the gym.
I am just not one to enjoy running in the same spot for an hour at a time, hell, let’s be honest, I’m not a fan of running in more than one spot unless something’s chasing me. Lifting weights… ehhh, I can handle it a little better, at least I can feel things happening there. But! it still takes constant planning to change up the routine often enough that I don’t zone out from boredom and end up dropping a weight on my head.
I’m really much more of a skill-learning type of exerciser. I grew up doing gymnastics, none of those workouts even seemed like “exercise” to me, they were just practices to build up skills and try to perfect routines. In my mind it’s so much easier to be working towards a higher goal, such as learning a back flip, than to be saying “I’m doing this exercise so I can look hot.” Maybe easier isn’t the right word, because it’s never really easy. I guess what I mean is that it is so much more interesting to be working towards learning an actual skill.
What do you think? Would you rather be learning how to do new things as exercise, or just bust through a gym routine? What’s boring/exciting to you?
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Baby Steps, Baby Steps
Week 3 went much better than the week before, thank goodness. I’m still not getting it together as much as I would like, but I guess we can’t go from crawling to running a marathon in a couple of weeks! I have done some sort of physical activity every day this week, though, even if it was only for a few minutes, which is a good start.
I’ve started a little mini-project within this whole fitness thing: every day I have been doing a certain number of push-ups and squats. I started on Tuesday with ten of each and have been increasing a little each day. These are two of my favorite exercises, not in terms of “wow! I LOVE doing push-ups!” or anything, but in the fact that they are so effective. Push-ups, obviously, are amazing for your upper body but they are fantastic all-over body exercises too. Trust me, even my abs and back are feeling the work happening there. And then, of course, squats do wonders for your legs and butt, and who can say no to that?
So if you’re looking for a little extra oomph in your fitness regime I recommend you try a few push-ups and squats each day. Just see how many you can do (although really watch out with those squats, they can be deceiving. I once actually forgot how to walk, they made me so sore). I have added on one push-up each day and 2-5 squats depending on how I’m feeling.
The best thing about these push-ups and squats is that I’ve even been able to get my boyfriend off the couch to bust out a few. Now, this is a man who firmly believes that he gets enough physical activity at work (which, yes, I’m sure he gets quite a bit of movement going since he works on golf courses), so I’m feeling pretty proud of that small success. A little fitness peer pressure never did anyone any harm, right?
What do you do when you want to boost your activity a little during the week? Even better, what do you do when it’s been rainy and cold and you just want to snuggle up on the couch?!
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Tags: exercise, fitness, health, pushups, squats, women's health
Week 3 – A Re-Start
Okay. I’m just going to forget that last week even happened in terms of my fitness project. Or… well, I guess that’s not a good idea. How about — I am going to remember that last week was not the best in regards to fitness and that I didn’t feel good at all the entire time. That sounds a little better I think. I feel like it was such a waste of a week that I didn’t even want to do a recap. Basically, I pushed myself too hard on one day, and then did absolutely nothing the rest of the time except drink too much and sit on my butt complaining about how yucky I felt. Attractive image, no?
Week three has started off pretty well, however. I picked up a yoga DVD yesterday and managed to roll out of bed on this rainy morning and actually do a 45 minute yoga session. Score for Monday! Tomorrow I’ve got my usual yoga class scheduled, which is good because I know I’m not going to want to get up early after this long weekend. The rest of the days I’m just going to have to find some self-control from deep within.
Okay, let’s try the planning thing again:
Monday (a little late): yoga DVD
Tuesday: yoga class
Wednesday: 30 Day Shred or Pilates class
Thursday: 30 Day Shred or Yoga class
Friday: 30 Day Shred and yoga DVD
Saturday: Hike
Sunday: yoga at home/hike
Here’s to a new week and a new start!
What are you planning to do to stay active this week? Did you manage (unlike me) to keep up your fitness routine over the holiday weekend?
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Tags: 30 day shred, excuses, fitness, health, pilates, women's fitness, yoga
Hurdle #1
Okay, so far my goal of doing exercise every day this week has not been a success. It’s been one of those weeks where things get in the way, or rather I get in my own way. Instead of dealing with stress in a good way, like with ummm exercise perhaps?, I have given in to lying in bed until right before I have to go to work, or drinking too much at dinner (that’s probably the reason for staying in bed too long, hmmm…).
This morning I hit snooze every ten minutes, each time telling myself I should get up and at least do ten minutes of yoga if not my whole 30 Day Shred workout. And each time I just rolled over and buried deeper into the blankets.
I knew when I started this new program that I wouldn’t be perfect every single week, that there would be days when it would be difficult to make myself exercise, but I really didn’t think it would happen so soon. I guess I can’t just expect my entire mindset to change in one moment, but I wish that was possible.
I know that I feel better when I am active every day. I know I feel better when I don’t stuff my face with potato chips. I know I feel better when I don’t go back to the bar for another drink. And yet, I still find myself doing these things and then feeling guilty the next morning. Hello, will I never learn?!
What have been your hurdles this week? It feels great to get them off your chest!
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Tags: 30 day shred, exercise, fitness, health, yoga
Week 2 – Planning Ahead
Like I’ve said before, I’m really good at finding ways out of actually doing any exercise. Which is why this planning ahead thing is pretty much the only way I can at least get some exercise. I still manage to weasel my way out it sometimes, but with a schedule set for the week I can block out times in my head and then plan everything else I have to do around them.
This week my main goal is to just do something every day. I didn’t quite make it last week due to, ahem, ridiculous soreness and then jury duty. Hopefully my body will be more ready to work out this week!
Here’s what I’m planning (hoping!) for this week:
Monday – 30 Day Shred Level 1 in the AM
Tuesday – Yoga class in the PM
Wednesday – 30 Day Shred Level 1 in the AM
Thursday – Yoga class in the PM
Friday – Pilates in the AM
Saturday – hike in the AM
Sunday – rest day
What are you doing to stay fit this week?
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Tags: 30 day shred, exercise, fitness, health, pilates, women's fitness, yoga
Week 1 Re-Cap
Okay so it was a pretty good first week, I think. At least it made me extremely sore, so that’s gotta count for something, right? I had to switch up my original plan, I’m sure you know how life always manages to get in the way! Thursday I was walking a little funny from all the squats in Tuesday’s 30 Day Shred workout so I just stuck to a short walk and my morning yoga routine (I’ll talk about this routine in another post) as my exercise. Friday I got called in to jury duty (on the last day too! I thought I was in the free and clear, but noooope!) and had to walk up at ridiculous o’clock so I didn’t do anything except my ten minute yoga in the morning, which I surprised myself with because I’ll take any excuse to not exercise.
Here’s the rundown:
Monday – 10 minute yoga routine
Total = 10 minutes
Tuesday – 10 minute yoga routine, 30 minute 30 Day Shred workout (with warm-up and cool-down), 5 minutes stretching
Total = 45 minutes
Wednesday – (soooooore) 10 minute yoga routine, 60 minutes Pilates
Total = 70 minutes
Thursday – 10 minute yoga routine, 20 minute walk
Total = 30 minutes
Friday – 10 minute yoga routine
Total = 10 minutes
Saturday – 90 minute hike.
Total = 90 minutes
Total for the week = 4 1/4 hours
All in all, I think those are pretty good numbers for the first week. More importantly, I feel good! It doesn’t take long for those endorphins to kick in and boost my mood. Good motivation for week two!
What have you done for exercise this week? Did you manage to get back in to the swing of things after the holiday season?
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Tags: 30 day shred, fitness, health, hiking, jillian michaels, pilates, yoga
