As I write this, it’s December 2nd. Where did November go?? For some reason, time just feels like it’s flying by! Although November came and went, there was a challenge in there. The November Three-way Challenge of Awesomeness. To recall, friends Dan, Beth and I, after realizing that we were quite lazy throughout the month of October, decided we would do some kind of activity every day in November. We would be accountable to our goals by tracking the activities on a shared spreadsheet. We enjoy challenges, yes, but the main purpose of this undertaking was to motivate each other to schedule fitness activities into our day-to-day lives, especially when things get quite busy or that lazy feeling sets in. In the end, we all increased the amount of time doing something each day in November (on average) compared to October, whether that was running, biking, cardio, stretching, etc. In that regard, the challenge was a complete success and we all won. Yay!
For me, life these days is certainly not like the life I lived 2 years ago when I was able to do a 90 day P90X plan without missing a day or workout. Now, it’s a challenge to incorporate something every day, although as I write that, I hear myself screaming “Excuses!” The November Three-way Challenge of Awesomeness went well in that I managed to do something every day. Sometimes it was 90 minutes of Bikram yoga. Occasionally, there were wintery activities, such as skiing or snowboarding. And when time was seemingly nowhere to be found, I would target my abdominal muscles for 10 to 20 minutes. Of course, sometimes I was enthusiastic for the workouts; other times, I worked out begrudgingly. For posterity, here are my activities for the month:
Since I like metrics, that works out to be 1,351 minutes of activity over a 30 day period, or 45.03 minutes/day on average. I’m quite happy with those numbers. I did a bit of googling and came across the Public Health Agency of Canada’s site on physical activity. We all know that living a healthy lifestyle that incorporates physical activity can: prevent chronic diseases, like heart disease and diabetes; make us stronger; decrease stress; combat obesity; improve mental health and morale; and give us more energy. According to the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP), an adult between the ages of 18 and 64 should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week. That physical activity should include some strength resistance activities at least 2 days a week. I like the slogan that the CSEP uses in their guideline pdfs: “Pick a time. Pick a place. Make a plan and move more!”
Even though I’m quite pleased about surpassing 150 minutes per week, and integrating strength training and cardio throughout the month of November, I have learned and realized a few things:
- I want to step it up. Big time.
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To do so, I need to eat better and start trying to get more sleep. (I make no promises on the sleep part!)
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In order to complete everything I want to complete, I need to work on a schedule. This is super important in order to fit in the workouts.
My plan, once again, is to start a round of P90X in the new year. Hopefully I’m not plagued with the same injuries as this year, but since I’m still recovering, anything is possible. But I’m not going to get too tied up with this. As long as I continue living a healthy lifestyle, watching what I eat, and exercising safely, I will be very content :). With that said, I have taken a few days off to relax. Apparently relaxing once in a while is also important for a healthy lifestyle….
HIKES & HAMSTRINGS 