My goal is to finally get back to a regular fitness routine. I am ready to feel strong, healthy and sexy in this body of mine. While I would be lying if I didn’t say I am also hoping to lose some LBs what I really want is to feel strong and confident and happy with this body of mine right here and right now.
To help myself along I have scoured YouTube for fitness videos that I am going to try this month. Most are beginner and the length range from 5 minutes to 40 minutes which means there is no excuse not to fit at least one workout into my days. To keep things interesting I have included a variety of videos from HIIT to barre3 to yoga to ones focusing on various areas of the body.
So who wants to join me this month in trying out these workout videos? Which video are you most excited to try?
In January I joined the gym at Neil’s work. While not the most convenient gym for me to go to the facilities are top of the line and the cost for me to join was less than my monthly coffee habit. So I joined and I have been fairly dedicated to making it to the gym at least twice per week while supplementing with at home workouts.
The thing is I am only able to go gym when Neil gets out of work or on the weekends. For months we have been making it work but I’m going to be honest it’s not without it’s struggles. My gym time is right when I would normally be preparing our dinner so by the time I am done at the gym it is dinner time for our early birds. This means I either have to prepare a meal that can easily be eaten at the gym or we end up going out to dinner.
Sleep has also become a bit of an issue. Edith who is nearly four only naps [maybe] once per week and not for a lack of tiredness but for pure strong will that she doesn’t want to nap. That being saidcome 4pm I usually find her asleep in carseat on our way to the gym or both littles fall asleep on the way home from the gym which means bedtime is a struggle. Late bedtime means that often Neil and I have little time for each other and little time to work at night.
This weekend I was finally at my breaking point because we have been so behind on dishes, our organizing projects and oh the never ending laundry. To top things off because it’s a work gym most of the workout classes are during the day or just at a time that doesn’t work with our schedule so I haven’t been able to take advantage of them.
Since workout classes were a ‘no go’ for me I bought a personal training package assuming that I would be able to find a trainer that worked for my availability and not one was available. So since I usually just spend my time doing cardio while catching up on Pretty Little Liars I figured it was time to take the summer off from my gym membership. I can spend my time outside on walks and hikes with my family this summer and who knows maybe I’ll actually take up running again.
That all being said the decision to quit the gym was one that I was very conflicted about because I have fallen in love with routine and making that time for me. Unfortunately I just hate everything that comes along with it.
I thought about joining a gym closer to our house but it would still be a lot of the similar issues that I had with the work gym. I felt a bit at a loss but then I thought about ClassPass*. I had given it a try last May and while I loved the classes and the concept where we were living at the time just wasn’t ideal for me to keep with the pass after my trial month, but right now it seems perfect so I signed up. I have decided to go with the 5 classes for $45 option so I can see how much I will really use it. If I find that I am using it enough to get the the most out of the unlimited package I will bump it up.
With ClassPass* I can go to barre3, The Bar Method, a ton of yoga studios that I have had my eye on and a meditation studio that I am so excited to try. So my new workout plans include regular barre3 online at home, hikes and walks with my family [maybe some running?] and at least one workout class per week. It sounds pretty perfect, at least to me.
Where do you do most of your workout classes (home, classes, gym, etc)? Have you tried ClassPass*? If you are local to Portland or are traveling through Portland and want to attend a fitness or meditation class together let me know! I love to go to classes with others – especially new-to-me classes!
Doing: Lately I have been spending most of my time trying to get life back on track. We had guests visit us for two weeks which is a really long time to have your routine thrown off when you have two little ones. To top it all off just as we were getting ourselves back to our normal routine Neil had a co-worker who was nice enough to bring the flu to work so that he could bring it home to all of us. Flu hit all of us one after another and it seems that all household chores and non-essential work went right out the window. I tell you people if you’re sick don’t go to work! So here we are about a week later and as it goes life still goes on so we are trying to catch up on work and house work (like the piles of dishes and mountains of laundry) and honestly I just haven’t had time to sit down and really write like I would like to (hence two weeks with no post).
In other news I have been diving into the world on essential oils (for a number of months now actually) and I have become basically obsessed (need evidence go here) so I have been spending a lot of time studying and reading up on them. I also have been focusing on my workouts and I am working on something new and exciting (for me) that I’ll share soon.
Thinking about: Another thing to hit me this week [probably because #PMS] is the fact that we aren’t pregnant [yet] and how if we hadn’t lost our most recent pregnancy I would be 21ish weeks right now. I don’t know why but it has hit me super hard this week and I’m just emotionally drained. Side note if you want to see what I am diffusing to help with the PMS head on over here. Also if you are interested in a TTC post let me know in the comments and if there is enough interest I will share over on Naturally Family.
Watching: Since I have been spending a ton of time on the couch cuddling sick babies and being sick myself I have been working my way through Netflix. I just finished Madam Secretary and I am dying for season 2 to get put on Netflix right away. I also bought myself the most recent season of Pretty Little Liars to watch [ONLY] when I do cardio at the gym. What have you been watching?
Looking forward to: Date night! Neil and I have a date night this weekend and it’s more than necessary. With all the sickness and chaos at home we haven’t really had time to connect so we are making time this weekend.
Reading: Basically if it’s about essential oils I’m reading it.
Loving: Regular workouts. Not being sick. Iced tea. A drop of lime essential oil in my water.
What are you currently doing, thinking about, watching, looking forward to, reading and/or loving?
Remember a few weeks ago I posted about my project to get off the couch well things have been going really well. I have done a ton of walking, have gotten out for a few runs (!!!!) and have been spending more time on my feet when I am home. It still is a bit of a challenge like this past Saturday when E nursed pretty much from 1pm-7pm with only a few breaks, but I am happy to say that day I did get out for a short walk with the Hubz and E.
Now to really get myself back in the workout mode I am participating round 3 of Best Body Boot Camp! I am do excited to get started and get back in shape. Every two weeks we are given a workout plan of five workouts for each week. The workouts are about an hour long and consist of three strength days and two cardio days. Tina also includes suggestions for limited training time which is great for me because as much as I’d love and hour to workout every day and it is what I strive for most days are limited to 30-45minutes.
Tuesday I started with workout A and holy crap was it killer, especially for me since I have been doing a lot of walking, some running and very little strength training. I made it through all three sets of the workout though with E hanging out on her playmat grabbing and batting at the birds. I have to say I altered a few of the moves such as scorpion with ball (husband tried it with the ball and had a hard time because our balls are about 50% bigger than the one in the video).
Instead I did this version of scorpion which was still killer.
[image source]
Overall things are going really well with being more active and on my feet during the day. I know it’s early but I am really loving BBB and love how motivating it is; who else is participating?
On the agenda for today is Workout B which will involve a little alteration because I don’t have access to a bosu ball but I guarantee it will still be a challenge.
