Simple September = Slackerville?

I feel like such a slacker for only doing one workout. Isn't that ridiculous? I think so. But, since I am making sure to keep September simple, I'm trying to avert my eyes from my inner over-achiever's (and my outer over-achiever's, too) temper tantrum and pretend like its no big whoop.

I stumbled into the two-a-day workout routine by accident, I promise! I always do my morning workout, rain or shine no matter what because the alternative is unacceptable to me, but lately I've also been popping the baby into my Kelty Kids hiking backpack and going for a hike for a few miles. When I looked up to see how many calories that burned, I was shocked: over 300 calories for an hour of walking! So that was a nice little boon to my day.

And before I knew it, two workouts a day became the norm. The morning weights/plyo/run or elliptical routine, and then the 2 or 3 mile hike with a 25 lb pack. And I started getting tiiiiiired.

Plus the baby's not sleeping AT ALL so that doesn't help. Grrr.

Anyway, this morning I didn't hike because we were doing other stuff. I felt kind of like a slacker. So I told myself we would walk later. But we haven't done it yet. Then I realized how ridiculous it was that I was feeling bad about not working out twice a day.

Hey, isn't September supposed to be simple? In honor of that idea, I am declaring it okay to not work out twice a day, and its okay to not feel guilty about it too. I love my two-a-days. I love how I feel when I am really active, and I enjoy the extra calories I get to eat as a result. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it!

It's okay to not feel bad about only exercising one time today.
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Get out there and get healthy. Even if you only workout once a day. :)

HH

Intentional Health: Exercise with a Purpose!

It's been said that successful people don't wait for things to happen to them, they happen to things.  I like to think of this as good old fashioned doing things on purpose.  Specifically, doing things on purpose to benefit YOU!  In case you haven't caught on, I'm talking about getting healthy. :P  This week is about intentional health.

Intention is something I talk about a lot around the holidays because it is one of the four tools in my healthy toolchest.  Unless you're doing something intentionally every day to achieve your wellness goal, you're only going to experience a mediocre level of achievement. Since we're all busy and need to get the biggest bang for our healthy minute, I don't see any purpose in not giving each one of them the full effort.

Today we'll focus on intentional exercise: choosing a workout that is going to be the best fit for what you want to do in life. Exercising for function is just smart, and it makes exercise a lot more rewarding because you're not only working towards getting healthier overall, but you're preparing your body for something else you want to do.  For example, if you have a hiking trip coming up and don't want to be winded, you should intentionally do exercise that mimics that activity. Walk outside or on a treadmill on varying inclines and terrains, do step-ups to strengthen your legs and mimic climbing a hill or over a ledge, and gradually increase your distance and intensity over time. As a result, your lungs, legs, and cardiovascular system will be ready for your trip and you'll be healthier overall.  Exercise with a purpose. Intentional health.

For me, one of the hardest parts of living in my pregnant body is letting go of my beautiful, sculpted arms. I knew my midsection would go, of course, and my legs and bum as well.  It just goes with the territory of storing fat for the little one. But my arms too?  Really?  I've worked so hard on them, it would be nice if I could keep the guns looking lean and mean a little bit longer! I've turned to intentional exercise: I'm swimming three times a week, doing compound upper body exercises in the gym, and purposely looking for ways I can challenge my arms without lifting too much weight.

A good way to find out if your workout is intentional is to channel the curiosity of a four-year-old child and start asking why. Even little kids know that even the most mundane chores are more fun (and bearable) when there is a purpose. If you're not sure what exercise would be the most intentional for your life goals, inquire with a certified personal trainer (like mio).

Health is more fun when you do it on purpose. Now get out there and be healthy!

The Accidental Workout



My husband pointed out to me how
this time-honored trail sign kinda looks
like two hikers giving us the finger.
Thanks, babe. Now that's all I see.

I love it when fitness sneaks up on me. 
This past weekend my delightful husband and I were lucky enough to get my mom and sister (and my beautiful nieces) to stay with our kiddo so we could get away for a couple of days.  We headed without delay to our favorite state park, where we could read, relax, and sleep in to our heart's content, all the way until 7:30, which is as long as I can sleep.

To be honest, as much as I was looking forward to the break and time with my hub, I was sad that I'd be missing my Saturday morning running group.  I had done a really great 10 mile run Friday morning and was craving a good bike-run-bike workout to go along with it.  But, I'm pretty sure that in the grand scheme of the world, marriage comes before workouts so I kept my grumblings to myself and left my running stuff at home.

Luckily, the exercise gods smiled on me anyway!  We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, took a little walk, and then settled in with our respective extra-curricular activities: some vampire fiction reading for me and some circuit-board-drawing for him.  It's his thing, whatever.

And then my beloved said to me, "why don't we take a little walk on the trail?"

This would be a good time for me to point out that my family is a little bit famous for our "walks."  Anyone who has vacationed with us can attest to hearing about a family "walk" that took them over the continental divide, through ravines, up the side of a mountain, and back again over the span of a day.  So I chuckled a bit to myself when he suggested a "walk."  Little did I know.

15 minutes later we were at the trailhead looking at little sign letting us know the walk was 6 miles. No sweat. We took off smiling, chatting, solving the world's problems as usual.  We saw an otter at the 2-mile mark.  Cool!  On we went, even as the trail became less-traveled-by and more rugged.  The 3-mile mark was at a bridge over a little creek that you could see straight to the bottom of.  How lucky we were to be enjoying all of this beautiful nature!  The shady, wooded trail gave way to tall grasses, and while this wasn't our favorite hiking locale, we happily stomped past the 4-mile mark, pausing briefly to debate which fork in the trail to take.  Around mile 5 we discovered our first tick, as well as some fallen trees that had to be climbed over and under.  My husband's inner outdoorsman began to fade, but I rallied him with cheers that we had just one mile left!  Think of the great cardio we were getting! 

We came to mile marker 6, only to see vast wilderness, not the end of the trail as we had expected.  Hm. Interesting.  My husband's inner outdoorsman began to use some language he picked up in the Navy.  I tried to stay upbeat, and pointed out that we had surely burned off our breakfast by now! He didn't care.

To be frank, we were kinda done with the hike at this point.  We were hot and thirsty.  We hadn't brought any water or food, or even a watch.  We weren't sure how much further we had to go, and now we had two big ticks.   But what were we gonna do?  We kept walking.

About a half mile later, we found ourselves back at the fork in the trail.  We had made a loop.  We knew exactly where we were: 3 1/2 miles from the trailhead.  All I could do was laugh.  I was grateful for the workout and happy that I had managed to get some exercise on a day when I didn't expect it.  9 1/2 miles hiked, we found ourselves back in the air-conditioned lobby of the lodge, pulling ticks out from our ankles with duct tape and laughing about our Murphy's Law brand of marriage. 

We made reservations for next year as we checked out, and now that the Truth of the Trail has been revealed I am sure we'll stay inside the lodge and read all day.  But I'm grateful for my accidental workout.  The fitness gods took care of me this weekend! 

Oh, and by the way, we examined the trailhead sign when we finally got back to see how we could have misunderstood the length of the trail.  And sure enough, clear as day, the words "one way" were carved right under "6 miles." 

I guess we see what the fitness gods want us to see. :)

Backpacking in your Own Backyard

A friend of mine has an adorable little baby girl, who is so precious and sweet and cuddly and adorable, and so effective at thwarting any hopes for a workout once she wakes up at the crack of dawn.  As you can imagine, her mom is getting pretty frustrated at not having a reliable time when she can get her butt outside and work up a sweat and shed that pregnancy weight.  I've been there, and today I remembered what I did when my son was a little over a year and I needed to increase the intensity of our daily hour-long walks:

I strapped the little booger to me and used him as resistance training.

No, not in a sling or a front carrier, in a Kelty Wanderer hiking backpack.  We had intially bought it for a Blue Ridge hiking trip, but also used it to haul our kiddo across New York City, Chicago, and anywhere else that was not stroller-friendly.  And besides, who wants to sit in a stroller and look at people's knees and butts all day?  Not me, and surely not someone at the mind-is-a-sponge stage of life.  At the rate kids learn at that age, I am motivated to give him something more interesting to look at than the bottom of some lady's purse.

But even when we weren't traveling, I shoved his little legs into that seat, lathered him up in sunscreen, and we took off on an adventure in our own neighborhood each morning.  The heavier he got, the better it was for me, because the added weight of a 30-lb baby+backpack was a great workout for not only my heart but my calves and glutes as well.  It wasn't exactly 900-calorie-an-hour cardio, but it was better than pushing a stroller and more satisfying for him as well.

Now my kiddo is too big to fit in his backpack, and wants to wear one of his own.  But if you're ready to kick it up and have a kid who would appreciate living the high life, give it a shot!

Good day!