A Return to the Living Room

Although I have it on my "Things To Do" list, I haven't yet called the good folks at Oregon Athletic Club to find out about their memberships (Mr. Kawaii was a doll last week and got me an "in" with one of the staff there for a tour and a spin on the treadmill).  I'm hoping to get to it later today, but I just never know what I'm actually going to accomplish in a given day.

I was up and raring to go this morning though, and so I decided to pop in the trusty old Denise Austin Fat Blasting Yoga DVD and give it a whirl.  I haven't visited Digital Denise in months, and haven't been practicing much yoga at all recently and it showed within the first several seconds of the workout.  I hadn't realized how tight my body had gotten until the first downward facing dog when I realized I had to really work to touch my toes!

I pulled through the end of the DVD, barely managing to bend myself into some of the poses, and decided that I need to bring yoga back into my workout focus at least a couple times a month to keep things limber.  I'm probably also not stretching enough before or after my other workouts, so I'm going to work on focusing on that as well.  Hopefully I'll be able to bend into a pretzel by Christmas!

Custom Workouts To Shake Things Up!

One of the many reasons I have difficulty going to the gym on a regular basis, or any basis at all, is that I bore with exercise easily.  If you haven't noticed this far in the blog, I try to do something different every day to keep myself interested.  When I'm bored, it's far too easy to just plop down in front of a movie or spend the day cruising the internet instead of getting myself moving.

Today, plagued again with rain, I tuned into Exercise TV On Demand and realized that they have deleted several of the 30 minute workouts I had yet to try (this is when I start talking myself into believing the universe is against me) and none of the 20 minute workouts seemed interesting.  I tried a 20 minute workout with Kim Kardashian called "Fit in Your Jeans by Friday", but about three minutes into trying to follow Kim as she step-touched her way over and around an aerobics stair in a distracting catsuit... I just couldn't do it.  I found myself spending more focus on making jokes about her outfit... Hey, looks like Kim is one set of ears away from a Catwoman revival!... which Pooch didn't find as funny as I did.  So I did something I rarely do once I get going; I stopped the workout and tried to find something else.  Sorry, Kim!

Surprisingly, the magic of On Demand saved me from myself once again.  Cruising on over to the 10 minute workouts, there was plenty to do.  And in a moment of clarity, inspiration and addition-type skills, I realized that I could do 4 of the mini-workouts and they would equal one big workout.  Brilliant!

The first area I targeted this morning was my butt and thighs.  Like many women, getting pants to fit around all these curves AND fit around the waist is like trying to fit a parachute over a jumbo jet.  You might be able to figure out a way to do it, but it sure won't be pretty.  10 Min. Buns & Thighs by Cindy Whitmarsh fit the bill perfectly, and I was happy that as adorable as Cindy is she was able to keep my attention without being annoying or bossy.

My next problem area is my abs, or rather, what SHOULD be my abs but is more of a giant marshmallow encased in a layer of Jello tapioca pudding.  Amy Dixon's Abs & Back Workout (sorry, the link just goes to a clip of the workout - I couldn't find the full version online but it looks like you can purchase the full version from Exercise TV if you decide you like it.  Give it a shot On Demand first.) took some pretty basic moves I'm already familiar with and added a few twists and turns that really made my abs feel like they were working!

I decided to round things out by throwing in some Arms With Attitude by Kathy Kaehler (Wha? No link for this one that I could find, but it's still available On Demand) to change the fabulous flab stuffing up my shirt-sleeves into what will one day be toned shoulders and arms.  Kathy uses dumbells and a yoga ball in the exercise but I used neither, opting to do the ball exercises either standing or on the floor and doing the dumbell exercises sans weights.

Finally, wanting to make sure that I really got my heart rate going I added Give Me 10 Blast by Amy Dixon (again, available free On Demand).  This workout really gets your heart rate going as you use ice skating and basketball inspired moves to work out from head to toe.

In the end, I got a custom workout that hit all the places I wanted to with several 1-2 minute breaks between each segment (for browsing and loading the new videos) and ended up moving and sweating for over 40 minutes.  Not bored, not annoyed, just pleased with myself and the way my body handled all the diversity.

10 Pound Slim Down Workout: Yoga

Well, it's the second day of the blog and for some reason this morning I woke up feeling like a bump on a log.  Not sick enough to call myself "sick", but definitely didn't wake up ready to face the day either.  It was one of those days when I mentally told myself it would be OK to bag the whole fitness thing for the day, sit down with a new book and lose myself in a bag of beef jerky.

But then I remembered. I started this whole "Blog" thing.  I said I'd try to post my activities daily and I couldn't bring myself to post that I'd spent the day on the couch for day 2 of my project.  Bummer.

So, still in my pajamas and curled up with the dog I contemplated what to do.  The weather here has been pretty hit or miss and today it looks like it could start pouring at any second, so Pooch and I decided that a walk was definitely out.  We're too soft and delicate for any of that "rain" business.

In true lazy form, I picked up the remote and started scanning to see if any of the "good" daytime workout programs were on.  Darn, it looks like I missed the dance one that I liked so much.  And the last time I tried to work out with Gilad I almost passed out when he suggested doing lunges with weights and then continued bouncing around the screen like some cross between Billie Blanks and Russel Simmons.  Darn, struck out again.

Pooch reminded me (in a not so subtle telepathic dog expression) that there are plenty of exercises saved On Demand.  And they're free.  Damn the dog for knowing these things and for making me feel guilty for trying to skip out on my exercise.

The great thing about the On Demand exercise programs is that there are a really wide variety of them.  Want to catch a 5 minute workout before heading out the door?  They've got that.  An hour-long full body toning exercise?  They've got that.  Want to focus on your shoulders / thighs / abs / left ankle / right toe?  Got that too.  Whether you're on the run, or have an afternoon to kill, you can find something to get your body moving.

Since I was feeling low and slow, I settled on a 20 minute yoga exercise called 10 Pound Slimdown with Chris Freytag.  It turns out that Chris has an entire workout program (including days off for rest) focused around helping you get over the 10 pound hump.  All of the workouts are roughly 20 minutes long, which makes them non-intimidating.  Hell, it takes almost 20 minutes to make macaroni and cheese on the stove.  I could do that.

And I did.  I love yoga because it seems like it's going to be super easy to follow and won't give you a heart attack.  You don't realize how hard your body is working to hold the poses until you're half way through and you fall over into a dresser or you realize you've sweated through your underwear.  (Always do your home-exercises away from the furniture!!)  By the end of the workout you can feel every muscle burning, the sweat rolling down the small of your back, and you feel... relaxed.  Refreshed.  So much better than a bump on a log.

And so thanks to Pooch and Chris Freytag, I got my workout done today.  It only took 20 minutes, I now have to wash my stinky pajamas (probably a good thing anyway), and I feel far more energized than I did at 6:30 this morning.  All I had to do was stop giving myself an "out" and get it over with.

In the end, it's more work to find reasons NOT to exercise than it is to just do it and stop worrying about it.