Two years ago, I never dreamt I would be in love with working out again. A little background story. I grew up always being involved in sports and lived a very active lifestyle for most of my life (on and off of course). I played softball, basketball, volleyball, was a cheerleader, you name it- I did it from elementary school up into high school. I can’t even imagine how overweight I would have been, had I been sedentary. As I kid, I enjoyed being active. Finding activities that I enjoyed made it seem like I wasn’t even working out or burning calories at all. To this day, I believe that if you enjoy the things you are doing to be active you truly will not even have the feeling of dread or the “man, I have to go workout” mentality.
Running
For me, my all time favorite way to workout is running. Do people think I am crazy? Most of the time, yes. But that is okay. I love a good challenge and have always been someone who just loves the good ole runners high. But, don’t get me wrong it did not start off that way. I began running when I started my undergraduate classes in nursing school. I needed a positive way to relieve stress in nursing school and running was much better other things I could have been doing!! I used this app, called Running Trainer. It is only available for people with Apple/iOS devices, but there are many others like it out there for Android users. I started very slow, but as they say slow and steady wins the race!
hiit
For people who dislike running, there are so many other ways to workout other than jogging/running. High intensity interval training (HIIT) is another that I have tried and really enjoyed. It works by doing very fasts bursts of cardio for short periods of time, giving it all you got for 20-30 seconds followed by short breaks (10-15 seconds). This is great for people who only have 20 minutes to devote to cardio. This is also to do one to two days a week along with some weight training. I love mixing things up. So on my days at the gym, I may do some HIIT and some weights and the next day run a few miles outside. Then my next day off work I may run a few miles outside. As my own rule of thumb, I never work out on days that I work 12 hour shifts (oh yea, I am a nurse and work crazy hours).
yoga
One thing I have never tried is yoga. I hear really good things about it and would really love to try it!! I always think of yoga as super relaxing but I know that it is very challenging and I hear that you completely sweat like crazy and that it can be extremely hard. If anyone is interested in going to a beginner class with me, let me know. I would love it. There are a couple local places in Canton/Akron area that offer free trial classes and/or free entire first weeks for new people so that would be awesome.
weights
I have always been so bored with lifting weights until about a year ago. I started working with a personal trainer (more on that in a bit), and I fell in love with what weights can do physically and mentally. My arms have always been something I have been sooooo self conscious of until I learned what I can do with free weights and a small amount of machines at the gym. The number one thing I love about weights is how you can totally make your own routine and pace. With running, you are constantly trying to beat your previous pace and get faster and faster. With weights, most of the time you may add a little more weight but you are getting stronger and stronger. I was also very shocked to see how quickly my physical appearance changed because of weights!!!! I had never stuck with them long enough to see a drastic enough transformation but let me tell you, weights is where it’s at!!!
personal training
This is something that may not be an option for everyone, but if it is- jump on it! I am fortunate enough to have an amazing personal trainer. I met her about 6 years ago at a gym I used to go to and reached out to her about a year after I had gastric bypass. She began training me and the results began showing IMMEDIATELY. The most important thing is finding a trainer that you trust. It is so important to be able to be open and honest with them if you are not comfortable doing something or if something hurts when you are doing it. You and your trainer are a team. Amy can look at me when we are training and tell by the look on my face if I am comfortable doing something or not. That is the way it should be.
No matter what workout you decide to go with or try out, the most important thing is that you enjoy it. Try to mix it up and find a variety of things so that you do not get bored when you are exercising. On days when you are unable to get a workout in, try and park further from the entrance at the grocery store or walk a few laps around your building at work. Movement throughout the day really adds up.
