Workout Attention Span: New Plans

Hello again!

So far this has been a strictly cooking blog, but I since fitness is a huge part of my life, and a huge part in keeping our bodies a temple, I thought I'd share these thoughts on fitness with you...

First of all, I am a former Group Fitness Instructor. I worked at ISU's Student Fitness Center for almost 3 years and taught yoga, cycle, group strength, boxing body sculpt, water aerobics, and pilates. I also worked for Gold's Gym for a short time and taught an H20 Challenge class for strength conditioning in water (I must admit I added a little Aqua Zumba in there sometimes too!).


Now that I do not have a job that conveniently allows me to work out and get paid, my working routine is going through a lot of.... transitions.

At the end of my student teaching I had suddenly had a lot of free time on my hands before starting my job with STEP-UP, and so I decided I would do the P90X Challenge. (Tony Horton is actually not too obnoxious) I had my schedule all set and I knew exactly which muscles I was going to work on which days. It was perfect. Just get up, look on the calendar, and do the work.

Only then I got a nannying job that I had to take due to financial reasons, and I was up to my eyeballs in screaming children for a week. My workouts didn't happen... and then STEP-UP started, and as did my frantic job-hunt and interview process. Then we went on our anniversary vacation, then on to a family trip to Colorado, then I got my job, and we house-hunted for about three very hectic days, then BAM! pack, move, get ready to start teaching!

It all happened so fast and we were constantly moving around and going different directions that I couldn't follow any schedule whatsoever- not even a sleep schedule!

So then I started my job and a week later we went on strike. Things just got crazier from there.

Anyway, my point in all of this is I had a hard time finding a solid work-out routine that works for my lifestyle and schedule. I often stay up late to work on projects and I live in a neighborhood where it's not exactly safe to go outside running in the dark (early morning or late evening). Truth be told, I have never been one of those people who can do the same yoga tape everyday and run the same course everyday (cough*mymother*cough). I have to change it up and make things interesting, other wise, I totally loose motivation.

I started off on a great track working with Jillian Michaels on her Ripped in 30 video, which was pretty cool for a 20 minuet workout! But to be honest, Jillian kind of gets on my nerves sometimes: she acts tougher than she is and I'm all like "You know Jill, you really don't need to put on a show, I just wanna sweat and listen to the music". So I got board of her quick. Her 3-2-1 workout intervals get old...

Then I got on this kick of running in the morning, despite the craziness of my neighborhood. I did that for a while, but then it got super cold, and I'm sort of a wimp when it comes to the cold. And there was a shooting at around 5:30am not too long ago that sort of scared me....

Quite honestly, I wanted to go to a gym. I don't workout as well at home. I don't have a lot of equipment and I like actually carving out the time and going someplace else. And to be even more honest, I really really really (like really) wanted to go to a Cross-Fit Gym. I love the concept of fitness classes (since I was an instructor for 3 years), and I love Cross-Fit's philosophy on personal training, camaraderie and pushing yourself past what limits you think exist.

But let's face it: I don't have $180 a month to spend on a gym membership, no matter how insanely ripped I get from it. So I found some resources for doing a Cross-Fit-style workout at home! This has been going well for me. It only takes about 15 minuets a day, and I time myself and record my weights each time I do a set. (Not gunna lie, it took me a while to do 100 pushups...).

But I've run into a problem... I'm bored of it. Also I've been sleeping in late... well, till 6am. In order to workout and have my Bible time, I usually need to get up right at 5, but staying up late grading papers and working on student data (or writing blogs...) will make that difficult.

So I just got this dvd by Jari Love called "Slim and Lean", which is part of her "Get Ripped!" series. Quite honestly, when it came in the mail, I was kind of hesitant. I didn't think I would like it. But I do!

Jari is just the kind of Fitness Instructor I was: clam, simple, intense, but still friendly. A lot of my co-workers were those happy, cheesy, peppy types like Denise Austin or Richard Simmons. But Jari is encouraging, but not over-talkative like Rich. She's tough, but not putting on a show like Jillian. And she's no-nonsense; she doesn't smile incessantly like Denise.

Anyway, I just did this workout and it's exactly like a strength and conditioning class that I might take at the Rec. Jari counts your reps by sets of 8 just like Group Fitness Instructors do in Fitness Classes. It's kind of like taking a fitness class in your home!

My workout attention span seems to be extremely short... but currently I am loving this dvd. I hope it lasts...

What I'm thinking is that I just need to do a different dvd/Cross-Fit workout/yoga routine/running route everyday so as not to get board. So, over the next few days, I'm going to be designing my own at-home workout schedule consisting of Cross-Fit, P90X, running (yes, in the cold), group fitness-style classes, Jillian's 3-2-1 series, power yoga, Pilates, and something I found a few weeks ago called Blogilates.

So. My thought is this: I will design this workout plan for myself, then post it (for accountability's sake and incase you all want to join me in this experiment). Sound good?

Good.

Oh, and please comment if you have any tips for keeping your workout routine fun and interesting. I'm sure we all could use a little of that :-)