Move Nourish Believe- Week 1

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Exercise

This month I’m participating on Lorna Jane’s Move Nourish Believe Challenge through Sweat Pink! Since February is a month that tends to drag along a bit, I thought it would be fun to mix it up and add some challenges into the month. Everyday we were given an activity, and I thought I’d share the first 5 days:

Monday: “Sweat-it-out! -Show us your favorite way to sweat!” For this day I focused on biking, specifically using my bike trainer! It’s a great way to avoid excuses and get up and move, no matter what the weather is outside.

Tuesday: “Change it up! – Sweat a new way! Select a workout from movenourishbelieve.com/category/move and show us your post-sweat session selfie.” I tried this yoga sequence after running, and will definitely be incorporating some of these stretches regularly.

Solid stretch- I need to do this one more often.

Wednesday: “Let’s get planking! – Plank for at least five minutes today! You can split the planks up.” I’ve never done 5 minutes of planks in an entire day before, but didn’t find it too difficult to complete. On Thursday my arms and obliques definitely felt it!

Thursday: “Buddy up! – Workout with a friend today!” My workout today was teaching pilates class, because a friend from grad school is in my class! It’s the best I could do with a long day of teaching and my job counseling.

Friday: “Fave Friday! – Show us your five fitness favorites! Exercises, people, whatever gets you moving and motivated!”

Clockwise from Top L: My bike (LOVE IT), Brooks Adrenalines, the gear I drag to races with me, my Runkeeper App, and Pilates equipment!

Week one of this challenge (“move”) is complete, and it was great! I like having something to specifically think about throughout the day. The best parts for me was trying that stretching video (especially the stretch I posted above) and trying the 5 minutes of planks. I tend to do 2:30-3 minutes max of planks in a day, but I think I’m going to try to increase my time again because I think my body has grown accustomed to what I’ve been doing.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one of your favorite stretches? Did you have a favorite “move” from the week?

 

Journey to Running

Tags

Exercise, Running

Since my very first post on this blog I’ve said that I need to do a series of posts on my journey to running. In a nutshell, I loathed running. I was not a fan. At all. As part of a recent sweat pink ambassador blog swap, I met Lindsay (her guest post on excuses is here) and wrote a blog post for her. I decided to jump in and start to write about my journey to running. As part of my post, I also included some “dos” and “don’ts” for starting to run. I’m not going to put the whole post here (you need to check her blog out to see the rest of it!), but I thought I’d give a sneak peek here to increase your interest:)

“I would rather swim a mile than run a mile any day. That’s how much I loathe running!”

I said this over and over again for a good decade of my life. I truly didn’t like running. Every two years or so I would get a little urge to run, head out for a mile or two, and would hate it. Yes, running was not for me. Then I joined twitter and became part of this crazy fitness and healthy living community online. I started reading blogs, and some of those posts included training for races and race recaps. I guess the concept of running worked its way into my head, because one night I had a dream that I went out on a run…

Make sure to head over to Lindsay’s blog and read the rest of it and give her a little comment love! Then head back here and tell me how getting into running (or your current fitness routine) went for you!

The Book Of Excuses

Tags

Exercise

One of the things that I love about being a Sweat Pink Ambassador is getting to meet so many great people who also love fitness and healthy living! Today a number of us are participating in a blog swap, and I’m excited to share a post by Lindsay from Sweets ‘N’ Sweat! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

A book of excuses. Could you write one? Let’s narrow it down a little. A book of excuses to not workout and take care of yourself. I bet if we got a few of us together we could come up with a big one. Here are a few that have come across my mind:

• I just don’t have that kind of time.
• I’m so busy.
• I don’t like working out.
• I’m tired.
• I don’t deserve it.
• Working out is boring.
• I don’t get time away from my kid(s).

Do any of these sound familiar to you? I bet at least a couple do. Let’s look at these a little closer and come up with some solutions.

I just don’t have the time and I’m so busy. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was just a few more hours in the day? Think about how much more we could get done. Would we really? When people tell me they don’t have the time, the first thing that comes to my mind is they just don’t want to make the time and the second thing that I think about is they need to manage their time better. We are all busy. Whether you are as busy as you think and say you are. Yeah, you know who I’m talking to. I’m pretty sure that you can squeeze a half hour to an hour of physical activity in every day. If you still aren’t following me, how about writing down your typical day on a piece of paper. See a couple things that you can do without or do you see where you are wasting some time? Sitting on the phone or computer too long every day? Watching too much TV? I know what you can replace that with…ehem. Still haven’t found the time? Well, you’re just going to have to get up a bit earlier and get it done then. Sound harsh? Not the answer you were hoping for? Too bad. Once you make this a habit, you WILL be thanking me for how good you feel. You brush your teeth every day right? Make working out just as important to your daily routine.

I don’t like working out. I wouldn’t work out every day if I hated it either. You know what you have to do. Find something you like! There’s something out there for everyone. I just know it. Write down a few things you wouldn’t mind doing. Do you like to dance? Kickboxing? Running? Yoga? There are SO many ways to get in shape. This is no longer a valid excuse.

I’m tired. I really think that we’re all tired. And when people say how tired they are, the other person tries to compete with just how tired they are. I don’t think alot of people wake up in the morning and want to get up right then. Face it, everyone would love a nap. If you choose the right workout program, you manage your time well, and you make working out a routine. You will find that being tired just isn’t an option anymore. You just need to find something that motivates you to get your workout in for the day, whether it’s in the morning, afternoon, or evening.

I don’t deserve it. It’s hard to start up something new if you feel like you just keep failing. When you stop trying, bad things happen. Always know that you are worth it. You are beautiful inside and out. This is not just about looking good. It’s about feeling good and taking care of yourself. Your health is so important. You can’t buy it anywhere. It’s all up to you. Get healthy for your family. It’s the best gift you can give to yourself. You deserve this gift. Tell yourself that everyday and don’t you dare forget it.

Working out is boring. No it isn’t! You still haven’t found the right one! I’ve done a couple mindless workouts and when I was finished I crinkled up my face and thought to myself, “what the heck was that?” I got over it and moved on to try something new. Keep it interesting. Please don’t do the same thing every single day. You will go insane. Make a weekly or monthly schedule full of different workouts with different time lengths. One day have a 20 and the next have a 45-60 minute workout. Give yourself variety. Be your own personal trainer. You’re not boring!

 I don’t get time away from my kids. This is a big one for us mommies. It’s hard when you have kiddos. When my little guy was one I was up every morning at 4:30 doing TurboFire like a crazy woman while everyone slept. Now that he’s older and he isn’t at risk of getting hit or hurt (he just plays off to the side and copies what I do when it looks interesting enough) I work out “with” him all of the time. Plus, by working out with your kids when they are older you are showing them how important it is to incorporate fitness into your daily routines. They are creatures of habit. If you sit around all day and watch TV, so will they. Workout with your kids. They love to be with you. Mom’s don’t feel bad for taking an hour out of your day to take care of yourself. Working out is therapy. Physical and mental.

Are you ready to stop making excuses?

 

 

If you would like some motivation from yours truly:

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Email: sweetsnsweat@gmail.com

Thanks so much Lindsay for sharing some great tips on combating some of the common excuses that many of us use!

Now it’s your turn to share! What excuses do you use to avoid working out? 

 

Sweat Pink!

A few months ago I noticed a new hashtag on twitter- #sweatpink. After doing some research, I found out about these awesome group of people on their website, FitApproach! Sweat Pink is a healthy living community, and highlights the idea that we can be girly and at the same time still be strong, healthy people! Just because I love throwing on a great pair of heels and a pearl necklace doesn’t mean that I also can’t love my tennis shoes and kick it hard on the race course! It’s been a journey to balance my girly girl and fitness girl selves, and I think I’m doing it pretty well!

I think that being part of a community of people is a critical step to being a healthy individual, and we can all use a bit of support on our journey. That’s what I love about Sweat Pink! This is a great group of people supporting one another and learning from one another on our fitness and healthy living journeys!

I’m happy to announce that I was asked to become a Sweat Pink Ambassador, and I’m really excited! I’m happy to be a part of a healthy living organization, and the fact that it includes the color pink doesn’t hurt at all!

About to cross the line of my first triathlon!

For those of you who are knew to my blog and coming from the Sweat Pink hashtag or website: Welcome! It’s great to meet you! Here’s a bit about myself:

• Here’s a bit About Me!
• I’m not a huge fan of working out in the morning, but I do try to do it once every week or two to keep my body used to running in the morning- this helps me prepare for race day. Here are some of my tips for making it easier to work out in the morning!
• I believe that fighting against the voice in your head that says you can’t do something is important!
• I ran my first half marathon in May!
• I got to be a fitness model this summer, and I had a blast doing it!
• I announced that I was training for my first triathlon in June!
• After over 10 years of being off my bike, I finally got back on my bike and conquered my fears: Part 1 and Part 2 of my story of biking here!
• I love history and spent this summer typing up my grandpa’s autobiography and the letters he wrote home during World War II!
• I finished my first triathlon and I had a blast!
• I announced that I am now training for my 2nd half marathon.
• I have POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). Most people know nothing of this medical condition, and it very much affects my training. I’m out to prove that POTS doesn’t have to mean you can’t be healthy and work out!
• I’m lactose intolerant so I try to share lactose free recipes on the blog from time to time!

And that’s a bit about me! Please say hi and share a bit about yourself! I’d love to connect with some of the other Ambassadors out there:)