Saturday, January 26, 2013

What Motivates You to Workout?

My legs are stiff today from my workout which makes me happy. I added lunges to my routine. My bf thinks I'm weird but I do lunges when I walk my dog. Actually, it weirds my dog out too haha. I also added weights to my squats. I hold 5lbs in each hand and hold the weights by my head while I do the squats. Good times good times.

So what motivates you to workout?

I thought about this today. Exercising is not natural to me. When I was a kid, I loathed gym class. Even now, anything that requires physical activity does not interest me. But now, I am feeling that push to exercise. Here are a few reasons why...

1. To look good. I know I know. So superficial. I realized that people who I think have amazing bodies, workout! Gotta work hard to get it.

2. To compensate for the crap I eat. Lately, I've been eating a ton of tacos from Taco Time. I HATE the term clean eating (although I guess it's the same as healthy eating) and associate it with deprivation. Although sometimes I end up doing things like eating a whole bag of crunchy Cheetos in one to two days. So... Exercise kinda compensates.

A portabello provolone veggie burger from White Spot and a salad. Although I just looked up the nutrition count and there's a ton of unhealthy crap in this burger! 50g of fat, 1332.3mg of sodium?? What the-. I chose it because I kinda don't like meat burgers. It tasted good though.

3. Pictures of people working out. Gotta love Pinterest for that. Also, reading about people being fit and healthy.

4. Health. Of course. I'm getting old. Your basal metabolic rate decreases with each decade (true story). Public Health Agency of Canada recommends 2 1/2 hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity every week. I'm sure my body will thank me in the long run.

5. To tone up and get stronger. I struggled a lot in the hospital with boosting patients. I'm super weak. I really wanted to add strength. I'm also soft. It's probably a combination of a chubby childhood and my unhealthy eating habits. I did a plank in front of the mirror for the first time. I was shocked to see my abdomen fat. It looked like I put three blocks of butter in a pouch and it was hanging off my abdomen. However, my back end has the opposite problem. I'm doing squats and leg exercises to increase my muscle and hopefully gain some cushion. Currently, I have my yoga mat (good investment), exercise mat, and a folded blanket that I use for my abdominal exercises. Sitting on my floor hurts my bones... a lot. I can hold the boat pose with my abdomen strength but it's a pain in my bum (no pun intended). Am I the only one who has this problem?

I was watching Biggest Loser the other day. It's my first time watching it and I love it. I think the trainers are SO motivating. In this episode, the group who lost had to stay in a junk food room for 4 hrs/day for a week. The food wasn't an issue as much as they were sedentary being stuck in that room while the other teams were in the gym. I'm watching it thinking, just because you don't have equipment, doesn't mean you can't work out! Planks, pushups, jumping jacks, etc. I myself was doing wall squats while watching the show! Use your own body to your advantage! On the last day, their trainer reminded them of this concept and got them to workout in the room.

What moves you?

Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Lazy Girl Workout (3/365)

So my 365 days of blogging will overflow into this one.

Sadly, my hopes to exercise has been futile. I went for my first run on Jan 1. It's the only run I've done. I did some moderate cardio with Tony's 10 minute workouts but found I got bored.

However, I have started getting into strength training and do it everyday. I rotate between arms, legs, and core days. Here is what I currently do when the motivation hits me (which seems to be after midnight unfortunately). I call it lazy because these aren't a full out sweat workout and the exercises last as long as my attention.

My tools of choice right now are weights, resistance bands, and yoga mat. I'm starting out with 5lb weights. I rotate my exercises in sets. I got my weights from Walmart and resistant bands from Fitness Town. I like doing planks/pushups (well I hate them) because they're the most bang for your buck. Tones your whole body in one go. I keep the tv on to keep my attention span.



Here are my ghetto drawings of my workouts. Probably googling/youtubing them would be better.

Arms
1) bicep curls (either with weights or resistance bands)- keeping my arm at 90 degrees then curling my arms up
2) arm raises- hold the weight at my head then raise up to ceiling
3) outstretched raises- Hold the weight at my hip then raise weight parallel to the floor
4) standing tricep extensions- Hold weight behind head with elbow close to head, raise to the ceiling
5) pushups- real ones!
6) various resistance band exercises- My bf got a door anchor from Fitness Depot for only $3. It provides an anchor so I can do the resistance band exercises from 4:00-5:30.



Legs
-squats
-side lying leg lifts- lie on my side and raise leg up 40-90 degrees (I don't think I'm flexible enough to do 90 degrees haha)
-wall squats
-arrowhead leg workout- Too hard to describe but I found a youtube video with butt exercises where the 2nd exercises (1:38) is it.

Core
-Abdominal leg raises
-alternating scissor crunches- Lie on back, raise legs to 30 degree angle, bend left knee to right elbow, alternate back and forth with opposite limbs
-planks
-Sadienardini 20 minute fat burning yoga

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Harder Better Faster Stronger

Happy New Year!

As usual, I have my intentions of incorporating exercise into my lifestyle. I also really want to change my diet and eat a lot better. I have no intentions of cutting my favourite foods out BUT I definitely need to moderate. I am at the end of my mid 20's. I can't live like I'm a teenager anymore!

My bf bought some equipment to workout in.




We're going to try working out together! This should be interesting as I tend to be a lone ranger.

I have a fair amount of exercise stuff that have accumulated over the years. It gives me variety to play with.

-Insanity
-P90x
-Pilates and yoga DVDs
-10 minute trainer
-yoga ball
-weights
-elliptical machine
-resistant bands
-chin up bar
-gravity bar
-forearm roller

I also have the great outdoors to go running in.

My hopes/goals for this year are:

1. Run 5km without stopping
2. Replace some fat with muscle and gain 5lbs
3. Actually exercise for the whole year

I will dust off my ol' Exercise Inspiration Pinterest board and start posting more too.

What are your fitness goals?