Fitness – Page 3 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

My 30-Day Yoga and Stretch Challenge

One of the items on my list for quite some time has been to complete a 30-day yoga challenge. I always assumed that I would join a yoga studio and dedicate myself to 30 days of Bikram or Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in the company of other yogis where I, too, would be wearing my yoga gear and drinking coconut water. But alas, yoga is expensive. I’m not saying it’s not worth it, but it’s very pricey. And since I let my Bikram yoga passes expire *gasp*, I figured it would be best that I didn’t purchase another block of classes.

With that said, I realize that I am most committed when I have a fitness routine going at home. Ever since I discovered P90X, at-home workouts have kept me on track, and my living room has been the venue of choice. So why should my 30-day yoga and stretch challenge be any different? I’m equipped with an arsenal of fitness videos: P90X yoga, P90X stretch, Jillian Michaels’ Yoga Meltdown, and Focus T25 Stretch. And there are also many online yoga instructional videos if need be. So yesterday was Day 1 of my newest challenge, and I already know that it’s going to make a difference to my fitness once it’s all done.

Focus T25 Complete!

Yesterday was a good day. After starting Beachbody’s and Shaun T’s Focus T25 program several months ago, I finally completed the last week of the Beta phase. To sum up: the program was awesome!

Looking back at my calendar, I began the program on July 15th, and ended on November 10th. The 10 week program took much longer than I had hoped, but I’m okay with this. Hiking was my priority activity throughout the summer, and with visitors and trips, I had to space out the Alpha workouts. Beta began on September 30th, and minus the one week of being sick that I took off, I had a very consistent Beta phase.

Twenty-five minutes a day. That’s all it really took. As the months went on, I noticed my cardio health improving. I was able to do more push-ups. I could stretch out my muscles more and more. And I never became bored. What I loved about the program was how enjoyable I found it (except for Rip’t Circuit, which did not keep me as engaged as some of the other workouts). My favourites: Speed 2.0 and Core Speed. These non-stop heart-pumping workouts always flew by, which makes sense when you’re moving and sweating like crazy for 25 minutes straight. I definitely feel healthier after the program, but admittedly, I don’t see as many physical results as I had hoped. With that said, I did manage to lose some of the post-Ireland pounds that I gained :).

I can’t say I was the best at keeping track of measurements, but I did manage to follow a decent nutrition schedule. My hopes for the next round of fitness: drink more water, get more sleep, increase my caloric intake, and learn to incorporate more variety into my meal preps.You know… same ol’ same ol’ :). And even though the program is over, I’ll continue with the Focus T25 workouts (Gamma phase is most likely next). When there’s a busy schedule, you just can’t beat 25 minutes a day!

Prepping for Focus T25 Beta Week 4

I just took the past week off of Focus T25. Nooooo! All my gains are now lost! Just kidding- I don’t get all flustered when I miss a few days here and there. The most important thing is to listen to your body, especially when cold and flu season is in full swing. That was the case this past Monday, when I awoke feeling a bit off. By the end of the day, body chills had hit me and I was dealing with quite the headache. Since I was going strong for quite some time, I realized that it was my body’s way of saying “slow down!”. It felt good to take a bit of a breather. I had a day and half off of work and basically slept.

But enough! Now that I’m all better, it’s time to get into the right mind set for the 4th week of T25’s Beta phase. And every successful fitness week begins with meal prep. I figured this week I would go simple: bake a bunch of chicken, steam some rice and mixed beans, have a few roasted potatoes, and of course, finish with some raw veggies. 5 lunch boxes; 5 days of the week. It’s time to bring it and get back on schedule :).

Random Thoughts

I’m sitting in Canadian Tire writing this post on my phone. There is no subject to this post; I’m just writing something to kill time. Part of me knows that I’m writing this because it will count toward my 2013 goal of 100 posts, even though it may not be a post of substance. Alas, I digress. My car- it’s having winter tires put on right now. Since I never bought rims, it’s costing me about $140 to get all 4 changed over. Twice a year, that’s $280 just to change tires. Add to that insurance and gas and maintenance fees and it becomes clear that owning a car is draining my money! I’ve always thought it would be a little difficult in Calgary to not own a car, but with car-2-go, transit, and living so close to work, would it really be that bad? I know a couple of people who decided to be done with their cars, and though things may take a bit more planning now, it doesn’t appear to be a huge hindrance of any sort. My main concern would be the mountains. Would it be as easy to get to the mountains every week? I do know people who would go just as often, and car rentals are quite easy to organize. So maybe it’s in the cards for me one day. A life without a car. Sounds like a dream. Change of topic- I like the song Brave by Sara Bareilles, which was just playing on the radio. Another thought- my right arm hurts. I’ve been dealing with a mild case of tendinitis in my right elbow. I had IMS done to it once before and that was quite effective. It’s been flaring up a lot lately, to the point that it just hurts randomly, even when I’m not working out. Compound that with a lower back pain on my right side and an IT band issue in my right leg and a neck issue on the right side, and I’d say I feel quite broken these days. Hopefully physiotherapy, massage and yoga can help me out. There’s much training to be done, including a round of Beachbody’s Body Beast, and a training schedule for next year’s half marathon and triathlon. All doable, no? Other random thoughts- I saw this comic on The Oatmeal (http://theoatmeal.com/blog/justdoitlater).So funny! That is all.

Focus T25: Beta Week 3

It’s not easy getting back into the swing of things after Thanksgiving, but it sure feels great. After eating two huge meals this weekend, I still managed to get Speed 2.0 in yesterday, and I just completed Upper Focus today. I’m really enjoying the program so far- it’s always a challenging 25 minutes. I think starting next week, I’m going to work in some of the gamma workouts. But as well as things are going, it’s a lot of cardio (maybe too much?), and I think I’ll switch focus to more weight training soon. Body Beast is just around the corner… as long as my right elbow holds up. Curse that tendonitis!