Hi Guys! Happy Monday:)
We got our first snow of 2017 over the weekend, which means I spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday indoors. I did some cooking (delicious healthy recipe coming your way soon), tried some dulce de leche white chocolate cocoa from World Market (so good!), and continued to chip away at the beast that is my dissertation (eek!). All in all it was a good one. I also ended up getting hooked on the show “This is Us” on USA. I turned there expecting to find a NCIS or SVU marathon, and found a marathon of that instead. I left it on the channel just to have some background noise, and somewhere between episode 2 and 5 they got me. Damn it! I have a small roster of tv dramas that I’m currently watching (The Blacklist, Empire, Scandal, and Lethal Weapon), and I wasn’t prepared to add a new one. Oh well. I really like it. In the series they take you back and forth from past to present. I’ve noticed a lot of my favorite tv dramas do this. It’s like a game of connect the dots.
Now, on to the business of fitness. This month marks my four-year “fit-versary.” Yes, that’s a thing. Since the beginning of January 2013 I have committed to regularly and consistently working out. Three cheers for exercise!
So how have I done it?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’ve been able to stick to my fitness regimen for this length of time because in the beginning I was hellbent on prioritizing convenience. I recognized early on that it would be a lot easier to talk myself out of a workout than into one. Consequently, I focused on making exercise a habitual practice by removing any and all barriers that might cause me to skip a workout (primarily cost and location).
To do this I invested in some at home workout equipment so that I could workout from home (e.g. dumbbells, stair stepper and risers, resistance bands, ankle weights, and fitness DVDs). It worked. In the past four years, I have rarely ever skipped a workout unless I felt that I was physically unable to.
But now that I’ve been at it for a while, working out has become a part of my life. No matter what happens, I know that I will get my sweat session in for the day. Because of this, I don’t have to work so hard to make the hurdle to completing my workouts so low. I can raise the bar a bit, which is precisely what I’m planning to do for 2017.
This will be the year that I push myself to go outside of my comfort zone (i.e. my apartment), and do more workouts that push my limits. Don’t worry, I’m not completely switching teams! I still love my home and gym-free workouts, but I’m working on finding a better balance.
Goal #1: Try a new workout each month.
With fitness, much like food, things should be kept fresh. Usually when I get bored with my work outs, I’ll buy more fitness DVDs to switch things up, but I want to take a different approach in 2017.
Action Steps: Sign up for a new workout class, make use of my apartment’s gym, or workout outside.
Goal #2: Workout with others.
Working out from home is great, but I know that I’m missing out on the more social and fun side of exercising. I’d love to connect with more fit-minded people. I also think working out with others can foster a little healthy competition (I’m naturally competitive), which will help me push my limits even farther.
Action Steps: Identify places where I can sign up for classes rather than commit to a monthly gym membership. I’ve already found a couple yoga studios like this. I’ll also look into bootcamps as these tend to be another great and more flexible option for working out in a group setting.
Goal #3: Lift more weights.
I took a weight-lifting class back in college and I loved it. I saw some incredible changes taking place in my body, especially considering the class was only twice a week. I really want to get back into more weight-lifting and see how my body responds.
Action Steps: To help me achieve this goal, I plan to sign up for weight lifting classes, look into getting a personal trainer, and make use of my apartment’s gym.
Goal #4: Increase my flexibility.
While I feel like I’m pretty limber in some ways, I’m definitely not in others. For example, I can bring my chest to my knees in a standing stretch, and I can put my foot behind my head, but if I showed you how far I can get into a split position, you would laugh at me. It’s pathetic.
Action Steps: I think yoga will help increase my flexibility, as well as incorporating stretching sequences into my rest days.
So those are my fitness goals. I’m going to be checking in with you guys regularly throughout the year to update you on how things are going, and the progress I’m making on these various goals. Do you have any fitness goals for 2017? Do tell. Let’s keep each other motivated!
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