Losing Weight #3
You've all heard how much I hate working out! :D Running is awful. My knees hurt. My lungs hurt. I can't breathe right because the rhythm of running messes me up. My nose is too small to get enough air through it. Sweat is dripping in my eyes. It's a thing I only do if a carnivorous dinosaur is chasing me.
I don't care much for weight lifting. The motion and resistance feel good, but I'm a girl! I don't want man muscles. If all you do is lift weights, you will eventually put on muscle...and I look like a man when I do this. :P It also gets dull. You're always doing the same motions for the same muscles. It's a bit too repetitive.
So what else is there? Calisthenics, Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, Boot Camp, etc? Everything that requires a group. I am extremely shy with working out, and I am more likely to eat Brussle Sprouts and Black Eyed Peas than work out in a group.
Does anyone else relate to any of these? Maybe all of them? I don't have the discipline, drive, or energy for most of it. Enter Little Bug, and I finally have the drive/motivation/desire. Discipline and energy are still very lacking. Maybe accountability is needed...Pete. Someone to write the workout, and check-in to see that I did it.
Despite having a degree in Kinesiology (the study of the movement of the human body), I learned a new style of workout. You heard of Circuit Training? This takes circuits and made them both easier and harder! HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training uses so many different things to get your heart rate up, keep it up, and tone your muscles.
I still hate working out, but doing HIIT workouts, along with 1 day of yoga and 1 day of cardio (walking/rowing), keep me motivated and not bored.
We have a weights cage (see image), that was gifted to my husband a few years back. Then there's the workouts Pete writes. They do everything. Squats and lunges, lat pulls and rows, crunches and leg lifts, not to mention the different stuff like iron cross and chair steps. I am doing all kinds of different things. Some times he focuses on arms. Other times he pushes legs. Mostly its a bit of everything.
Each week he writes a new one. He has a workout selected for each day. Mondays are my "day off" because, well, Monday. Tuesday he goes back to an older workout. Wednesday is usually the new workout. Thursday is yoga. Friday and Saturday are old workouts again. Sunday is something cardio, usually walking. Little Bug likes Sunday walks.
We have over 30 workouts already. I have my favorites, and the ones I hope fall on a late working day. ;D He always seems to put those on my bad weeks. If you're like me, and working out is just not your thing, but you know you've got to do it, here are my suggestions:
- Figure out what motives you to be HEALTHIER!!! Looking better, feeling better, those things are almost never enough. You've got to want to be healthier. For me, it was my desire to be a good mom, a good example for little bug. That was my push to be healtheir.
- Give yourself ways to remember that motivation all day every day. Right before my workout isn't enough for me. I need it all day. Every choice I make with food, with physical effort, and with drinking water requires this motivation. I need it to make me feel good all day about what I am doing.
- Find that person that can get you there. I needed someone I could hate in the moment. Someone that could push me, make me mad, and it wouldn't hurt our relationship. If you haven't already had the motivation to get up and do it, you're unlikely to find it without that person.
- Do HIIT! A few days of HIIT along with a couple of days of lower level activity (walking, yoga) will keep you interested and motivated without burning you out. It's not cardio, and it's not weight lifting. It's natural body movements that feel good and change things up.
I hope you find what you need for that healtheir you!