Work It Out!

I said that I would let you all know what I've been up to as far as exercise...

I decided to follow Whole Family Strong's example and do a 2 days on/1 day off rotation. I've almost always done 5-6 days straight and then one day off. I've almost always gotten burnt out or really did not look forward to my workouts. I think that the new rotation, with 2 days exercise followed by 1 day of rest and repeat, is so much easier for many reasons. I no longer feel like I have to brace myself for a week's worth of workouts before I get a day off. I have more flexibility during the week to get things done and don't have to wait until the weekend for a day off. I am no longer forcing myself to do hour-long workouts each day for those 6 days. Sometimes I do an hour workout, but sometimes I do a 15 minute workout. It depends on how I'm feeling that day and what I have time for. I am working on just being active and not focusing on max calorie burn to make up for whatever I ate that day. And I can tell that I am much less stressed with this process.

So for the actual programs/workouts that I'm doing... 

I've been rotating between different things. I have got a collection of all different kinds of workouts from many different companies: Zumba, Zuzka Light, Insanity, P90x, Hip Hop Abs... and then I also do workouts online from Zuzka Light, Daily HIIT, and Fitness Blender. I do have to say that Fitness Blender is probably my favorite right now though. They've got a super easy web site where you can actually search for a workout based on what kind of exercise you want to do (cardio, strength, toning, etc.) or where you want to focus (back, legs, biceps, etc.) or how long you want to work out (15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.) or which level of difficulty you'd prefer (1 - 5) and then finally there is the option for calorie burn where you choose a calorie burn range. So it really is perfect for people with busy lives to go in,find what they want, then do it! You can also save your favorite workouts so you can just hop back on another time and find it easily. I love it! 

The first week on the Whole30 program I did two Zuzka workouts, 2 Fitness Blender workouts, and 1 Jillian Michaels yoga workout. So far this week I've done 2 Fitness Blender workouts and 1 Zuzka workout. I really love the variety and being able to choose what I want to do each day. It makes it seem much less rigid and seems more palatable when I think about doing this as a lifestyle choice.

Eventually I'd like to try the Fitness Blender 8-Week Challenge again ... just to see what I can do with it, but right now I'm working on forming habits instead of trying to make myself do things a certain way. So, I think it's important not to push for too much all at the beginning and gradually work my way up to certain things. I can't comment much on the progress I've made so far since we're only 12 days into the program, we're not allowed to weigh ourselves, and I've been wearing yoga pants and dresses every day so far! But I feel so much better, I have more flexibility, and I know I'm doing good things for my body. And that's good enough for me for now!