Feel That Burn!

These days I have a love/love relationship with working out. But, I didn't used to. I used to look at it as a chore. I used to dread it. Why? Because I exercised excessively and often times not in the way my body wanted or really even needed to get results. I used to put so much emphasis on cardio and much less on stretching, relaxation techniques (which as a high strung, anxious individual at the time I really needed) and strength. I worked my body till exhaustion. Sometimes, I would do cardio twice a day. Yikes! This in the end, proved to be nothing but harmful to my body and overall health. If you remember, at this time I became extremely underweight and lost my menstrual cycle and ended up quite sick.

These days I can happily report that I have discovered a way of working out that I love and that gives me great results without overtaxing my body. I do not workout every day anymore. In fact, I only workout three times during the week and I always practice yoga on Saturday mornings. Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays I do absolutely nothing except chasing my kids and cleaning my house. I feel great and I have better results mentally and physically then I ever had when I was pushing myself to workout every day. Less, really is more in some cases and if you ask me when it comes to exercise, less really more. Now, when I workout I don't dally around. I do work really hard but I work out smarter than I used to and I give my body time to recover. I really hope you will do the same! Here is how my fitness routine fits into my week:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill at 3.3 mph and 15 % incline followed by bicep curls, shoulder presses, side extensions, pushups and lateral raises followed by 100 bicycle crunches, 30 hip drops on each side, 30 side steps with resistance bands, 30 sumo squats, 20 Pilates leg circles each direction followed by 20 up and down pulses ending with about five minutes of muscle rolling.

Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday: DAY OFF

Saturday: Yoga sequence by "Boho Beautiful" on YouTube

...and that's it! Occasionally on a really crazy, busy day I will not have the time for my full workout so I do a 15 minute full body HITT workout by Pamela Reif on YouTube. Now these are the workouts that I personally do and love but I will remind you that you are a unique individual and you may need or desire to workout in a complete different way and that's fine! The important thing is that you stay active and make sure to include rest days as well! Try and look at exercise as a way to love on your body instead of a way to punish your body. If you play your cards right, you may just learn to love it and look forward to as I now do!