Opening to new possibilities

We've all had a moment when we realize how stuck in a rut we've gotten, right? It is our tendancy as humans to find routine pleasant and treat it like a security blanket. This applies to workouts, too.

I know you are now sitting there saying; "wait, you're always saying to find something you like and sticking with it."

Good point.

To get into a regular routine of working out, to get yourself started on the route to fitness you need to find something you can stick with long-term. However, your body will get stuck in a rut just as much as your mind tends to. Before you start to lose interest and notice that you've hit a plateau - change it up!

This may not be as much of an issue for some of you, but others - like me - tend to repeat the same workout (video, written out, gym) over and over again until our body can move through it without thinking. NOT a good habit for improving your fitness. So, here are some suggestions for changing it up:

For the Runner:

*add some weights

*go on a mountain run (or make it a brisk mountain hike)

*Snow hike

*Take a yoga class

*Try bodyrock.tv or workouts from online websites like womenshealthmag.com or mensheath.com

*try out the weight room or resistance bands.

For the weightlifter:

*go on a run

*take a long walk (any terrain)

*jump rope

*grab your bicycle and hit the hills

*take in a ZUMBA class

*go to a yoga class

For the Yogi:

*hit the trails - walk, run, jog, unicycle (ok, just joking), bicycle

*hit the gym - try out something new like an elliptical, treadmill, or rowing machine

*try a class - spin class, zumba, aerobics, dance trance, etc

*check out a workout video

*try some bodyweight (alla bodyrock.tv)

For everyone:

*go for a swim

*go for a hike

*try a new class (at the gym, community center, yoga studio)

*go for a fast walk

*try a new workout from a website.

*hit the skating rink (ice or roller)

*join a sports team

*check out something you've always wanted to do - Gymnastics, trapeze, dance classes,

*grab your bike and hit the hills (or the flats)

Some questions for the day:

What is your favorite workout?

What is your favorite way to change up your workout?

and here is a non-religion specific prayer to send you on your way today:

Reminding Myself of Myself

I have been taking it at a really good pregnancy level for my workouts - low key, but I've been feeling pretty good about them. Lots of Yoga lately, my favorite has been Prenatal Flow. It's SUCH a good workout, I'm usually a tiny bit sore the next day, but leave the class feeling worked and energized. :) Then, on Tuesday I decided to step it up a notch and rocked my own modified 'bodyrock.tv' workout:

Gymboss set for 10 seconds rest: 1 minute work x 24

1) side to side squats

2) side walks and kicks

3) side lunges, alt.

4) down dog to Plank flow

5) girl pushups

6) lunge pulses, Right Leg

7) lunge pulses, Left Leg

8) bicep curls

9) bent over Rows, Right Arm

10) bent over Rows, Left Arm

11) low squats

12) tricep dips

Unlike typical bodyrock workouts, I didn't push full out, rested when I needed to, and didn't count reps, so no scores!

End result, though, is that I'm going on 2 days of being SORE!!! My legs have been on fire! This would rock your world, pregnant or not!

Goal now is to find moderation - somewhere between Tuesday's workout and daily yoga!

P.S. We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and ITS A BOY!!! Dinosaur (my hubby) is understandably excited!

~Katie

Working past the winter 'blahs'

Now that Winter has finally hit northern California (hooray!) I thought this would be a good time to talk about making a change in your fitness for the new year and how to keep it going past the first 2 months!

So - first things first- Come up with realistic answers to these questions:

1) What am I hoping to achieve?

2) what are my goals for this week? this month? this year?

3) What am I willing to change?

4) HOW am I willing to change?

5) what is going to keep me motivated?

6) WHY and WHAT am I trying to change?

Answering these questions (and maybe you have more, that I didn't mention?) allows you to get an idea of what your serious goals are (what recurs?) and start your journey!

1) What you're hoping to achieve - I could get on my high horse here and tell you it should be something like "a strong and healthy heart" or "a better sense of health" or "be fit enough to have energy for the day", but we all know No.1 on most of our goals is to look better and feel better about how we look. Eventually, this may segue to the others, but for now... for a start - it'll do.

2) what are your goals for this week, month, year - this will give you practice making goals (hopefully realistic) that will help guide your progress. It also will help you connect to the rest of the questions in a realistic, achievable way.

3) What are you willing to change - This is important! What you are willing to change will determine (in a big way) what your progress will be and how you will progress. Are you willing to change your eating habits? Sleeping habits? Time use habits (c'mon people, I'm as addicted to facebook as you are!) Only you know the REALISTIC answer to this question. For example, I keep telling myself I'm going to stop eating sugar and that I won't eat artificial sweeteners (which I don't anyway - gross!), but I know that realistically, I'm not going to be able to cut sugar out of my diet completely. I'm not fully willing to change that part of my diet!

4) HOW are you willing to change - are you willing to change how you think about yourself? how you think/feel about exercise? about food? How can you make changes that will help your journey - only you can answer this!

5) what is going to keep you motivated - do you need someone else to keep you accountable? can you do it yourself? Maybe you need a picture to remind you of goals (or where you were that you don't want to go back to). Motivation - a serious, long term motivation - is what will keep you going when you most want to stop.

6) WHY and WHAT are you trying to change - Hah! this sounds familiar (see question 1). "I want to have slimmer thighs because I want to feel sexy in my jeans." sound familiar? :-D But seriously, think about why you want to change what you want to change. It will bring everything around.

Next up - workout options to keep you going in the new year!

- Katie