My Gut Tells Me
  • Blog
  • Food
  • Motivation
  • Video
  • Links
  • About
  • Contact
  • Megathon

Variety is the Spice of Life. What's Your Fit?

1/15/2014

 
Picture
With the 55 Days Challenge under way, I get to see the wide variety in how people get active. Shovelling snow. Walking dogs. Swimming. Skating with children. Zumba. Treadmills. Yoga. A lot of dancing in the kitchen! Home workouts with DVD's (thank you Jillian Michaels). Classes at gyms. It really runs the gamut.

I've made vague allusions to "what I do" so I thought I'd actually write out what a typical week looks like for me. At least, on paper it does. It's what I aim for, so that when life happens or schedules change or illness hits, I may miss a day but it's easier to get back on track. If I miss more than 2 days in a row, I know I'm toast, because it is so so soooooo much harder to get the motivation back. I feel even LESS like working out after a few days off than I do on any given day!

My week:
  • Monday - spin class (45 min) + Group Core class (30 min)
  • Tuesday - Group Core class (30 min) + TRX Flexibility (30 min) + the occasional elliptical cardio before or after
  • Wednesday - personal training (60 min) + sometimes a spin class (60 min)
  • Thursday - varies the most; sometimes spin class (45 min), sometimes cardio (elliptical/lane swim - whatever combo I feel like doing), sometimes yoga (60 min), sometimes ... it's my rest day
  • Friday - Group Core class (30 min) + some form of cardio on my own (machine, HIIT, swimming) OR personal training (60 min)
  • Saturday - personal training (60 min) on days I don't work; when I work, it's lane swim at night (50 min) or whatever I can get in, cardio-wise (HIIT at home, or elliptical/treadmill at gym)
  • Sunday - yoga (75 min), or hiking with friends, or a rest day

In the summer I did an Outdoor Fitness Challenge boot camp, which involved flipping tires, doing battle ropes and fire hoses, using a sand bag, and a lot of squats and pushups, so people often refer to that as the "crazy" stuff I do. In personal training, I do whatever my Fitness Coach makes me do. He plans the program. Sometimes I get to release my aggression and punch him with the boxing gloves, and slam medicine balls. Sometimes he makes me balance on things that are wobbly. Sometimes we do the kind of weights that make me understand the Cross Fit appeal, just a little bit. (Two words: Bad. Ass.) Sometimes we do high intensity interval training, circuit-style, so that I huff and puff and get red in the face.

So, I have variety. Not just in activity, but in type. As one friend often jokes, I "have my finger in every piece of the Y pie." There's cardio, strength, and flexibility. That's the ultimate trifecta, but it took me awhile to get there. For quite awhile all I did was swimming. It worked while it needed to. And that's the best thing I can say about the 55 day challenge. Everyone is doing SOMETHING and finding a way to make it work for them. Once we get to our own personal threshold of comfort, we find a way of pushing past it. I'm at the point where I have to keep changing things up, or I will continue to plateau.

The only thing I have tried and really not enjoyed was Zumba. I get the appeal and why lots of people do it, *IF* you enjoy dancing. I don't enjoy dancing when I'm drunk, I'm certainly not going to enjoy it sober! So, I gave the class one shot early on, and that was it. Two left feet, here.

But at least I tried.

Ultimately, that's the point. Nobody's going to love everything, or be able to do every activity.
The point is to keep looking until you find your fit.
Pun intended.

LCP
1/16/2014 12:39:33 am

Did you catch Jian Ghomeshi's interview today on Q with the subject, and author, of What Makes Olga Run? If not, listen to it online. Olga is an incredible 94 year-old masters track and field athlete. Talk about inspiring!! I think it would be a worthwhile read for those of us who use the excuse of age to avoid exertion.


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Whose blog, now?

    From the gut, about the gut, trying to listen to what my gut tells me.

    I'm just a girl, fighting the same weight battle as much of the population. Lost 100 lbs, working on the rest, trying to find balance between health, fitness, and vanity. I'm also a librarian who wants to share credible information and reliable resources, in addition to my own musings and reflections, what I call "my writing from the gut."

    Categories

    All
    Activism
    Balance
    Binge Eating
    Body Image
    Book Review
    Dieting
    Eating
    Exercise
    Faqs
    Fat Shame
    Goals
    Habit
    Health At Every Size
    Hiit
    Maintaining
    Mat
    Megathon
    Mind
    Motivation
    Music
    My Story
    My Story
    Outdoor Fitness Challenge
    Personal Training
    Personal Training
    Science
    Sleep
    Stress
    Stretching
    Supplements
    Tools
    Weight Lifting

    Archives

    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed


Proudly powered by Weebly