Well I guess it's officially time to put the shorts away.. I had to go out in pants and two long sleeved shirts for a run yesterday morning. It made me want to write about motivation and the colder weather. Because I know how much more difficult it is to get out there and run or do whatever movement your body might like to do. Not all of us can afford to or are interested in joining a gym in the colder months, and so I'm going to throw out some ideas for keeping a good exercise regimen during these times.
I'm going to attempt to run as often as I can in the cold weather, though I can certainly expect it at times to slow down a bit. So when that happens, I'm going to have a nice playlist of my favorite videos on YouTube queued up for me.
As it is now, on days where it rains, I don't prefer to run in the rain so I do some videos to get my exercise in. I really enjoy doing 15 minute high intensity interval training (HIIT) - like this one - if I can't run, I try to do this video 2-3 times a week. I don't go insane with the HIIT though, I don't personally want to do it every day and I think a couple times a week is fine. I'm also looking into getting a trampoline to do some rebounding, but I think I'll wait to get a job first before I make that purchase ;-).
Another great set of videos that I do three times a week are the 8 minute exercises, as I mentioned in the last post. There are several sets of them, I do all except the legs, which I'm not a big fan of, I feel like I get enough of a workout with the 8 minute buns and all the running I do. I really wanted to incorporate more strength training, as I think it is really important to have a well-balanced exercise regimen. I was focusing on cardio for a long time and just running, and essentially no strength training or stretching, and I don't think that was working for me.
On the days where I don't do the 8 minute exercises, I like to do a 30 minute vinyasa yoga video after my run/cardio session. Ever since taking a few really amazing yoga classes at the Woodstock Fruit Festival, I really wanted to find a way to regularly incorporate that into my exercise routine. I wanted to find the most cost-effective way to get a well-balanced exercise regimen, so I went in search of a good video, and I really really like this one a lot! You can certainly find longer, higher intensity sessions for sure, but this is the perfect amount of time and work out that I need, so I really like it.
Finally, also on non-8 minute exercises days, I like to add in 100 squats to my running and yoga routines. 100 squats can be intense, but they are a really great work out, depending on the speed and depth of your squats. For tips on good form and for motivation, I recommend checking out http://www.100squatsaday.com.
Well, so far that is my regimen, 5 days a week of running, yoga, squats, and strength training - and some HIIT here and there. I've been doing this for the past ~three weeks and I really feel a difference already. All I really need to devote is about an hour a day for these exercises, depending on how long I go running, but an hour is the average. That's really not that bad, even though my schedule is wide open at the moment, I think I could probably make this work with a busier schedule. I also prefer to start in the morning with my workouts, because if I wait until later in the day, I almost never want to do them! So we'll see how it goes and if I can still make it work when and if my schedule changes. I'm all about trying to keep it realistic and I totally get how impossible it can feel to fit exercise into our busy lives - for nearly 6 months I was working/commuting for 11 hours a day, so I definitely know how it is!!
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