Are you tired of hearing that? Because I am tired of saying it.
Gone are the days of crying because I feel fat and eating to push down the pain. I can truly say that these days, I am just over my clothes not fitting. I have a closet full of cute shirts and dresses that I can't wear. I even have some vintage dresses that I bought from My Girl Thursday that I haven't even worn once. Boo.
Our apartment complex has a fitness center in it, and what it lacks in variety it makes up for in quality. The above-pictured Precor elliptical has been my first foray into the world of ellipticals, and I think I might be in love. We owned a treadmill for awhile; I loved it and used it as often as I could, but I am not going to lie:
It hurt.
The elliptical doesn't have the constant pounding that treadmill running has, and it also provides a bit of an arm workout. I know that ellipticals don't provide the calorie burn of a good treadmill workout. I also know that after not working out for months, I was able to work out so hard and so long on the elliptical that my face was candied apple red for an hour afterward.
What I am trying to tell you is that I am trying something new.
What is your go-to workout?
Are you a fan of a particular piece of equipment that you're dying for me to try?
This is what I did in China, land of no appropriate gym facilities:
ReplyDeleteStep 1: Buy (or download, or borrow) a wide variety of workout dvds. I say wide variety because the single biggest problem I have with exercising is getting bored.
Step 2: Do the videos from the comfort of your own living room.
Step 3: For me, once I've done a video a couple of times and gotten comfortable with it, I can move to the stage where I mute the actual video, set it under the TV or something, and watch TV while following along on the video.
Video recs for a video newbie: Hip Hop Abs, or Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred or 30 Day Burn. Next step might include Jillian Michael's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and No More Trouble Zones, or P90X if you want to get more serious. If you want to get most serious of all, there's Insanity.
So after about a year of being on this bandwagon, my collection contains probs about 60 possible video workout routines, all of which are livingroom-able with a small assortment of equipment (1 or 2 sets of hand weights, a yoga mat or just use carpet, and an elastic band thing if you want to get fancy with P90X), most of which I feel are better workouts than "phoning it in" on a piece of equipment might be (Jillian uses this expression), and most of which I can do while watching TV. Hope this helps!
I hate working out because cardio either makes me sick or I end up in the hospital for asthma-related complications. Also, I'm lazy.
ReplyDeleteDuring those times though when I was particularly health-concious, I worked out to a great pilates DVD that I found at Costco. Pilates and yoga are basically the only type of exercise that I sort of enjoy. If you like, I can bring by my DVDs this weekend. My pregnant ass is way too lazy to use them these days.