Hello World

I hope everyone is doing well this week.

I recently had a revamp of my exercise goals.  I found my previous goals were impacting my enjoyment, and it was time for a refresh. I am now focusing purely on the goals of boosting and maintaining intensity and keeping the exercise enjoyable.

I’ve added back in a few additional exercise types that had taken a back seat over recent months. I am still running and boxing, but these are now more generally mixed into my new training planning.

Exercise is good for our overall health – both physical and mental. It can give us a real boost in the short term too.  I just want you to think of the bigger picture when it comes to exercise.  I talk a lot about workouts, but this can include anything that moderately raises your heart rate, including many house or garden jobs.

I strongly dislike housework – not one of my strong points, so I try to tie some of the more energetic tasks into my workout schedule. Hoovering works well as a warmup for example.

We all take different approaches to exercise – like I always say there is no one size fits all approach, even though a personal trainer or gym fitness instructor may like to tell you so (this is me speaking as a fitness instructor who used to work in a gym).

I plan my own workouts in advance – but what I do not is put dates on them – I give myself planned work outs as a guide in a given week on what to do.  More importantly, I listen to my body.  It guides me through what exercise to choose from the plan for that day. I also listen to my heart – what exercise will I enjoy that day too.  Both of these factors inform what exercise I will do.

I currently have one full day of rest per week on a Friday.  I am not at all new to exercise, so have found the right balance for my full rest requirements.  I then use my exercise planning to have days where the exercise has a lower impact and intensity, which can allow for rest to occur for particular muscle groups too.

This week I kicked off my new goals into the planning.  I had three days of intensive cardio, mixed in with free weights and boxing.  I followed this with a day of lighter walking yesterday. As I write this, I am preparing for another workout which will have a medium intensity level – I’ll be doing some free weights and body weight exercise, finishing with spinning. 

I’ll conclude my week of exercise tomorrow, but it will depend how I am feeling based on the two factors above (body and heart).  The options include interval training, a short run or boxing. But I’ll see what Thursday brings me.  I have a plan, but I give myself flexibility. My plans are personal guidelines only – I am not in competition with anyone, and I am focused purely on finding my own awesome through all this.

I have previously been asked about step counts. I do use a Garmin smart watch, which includes my daily step count goal aim of 11,000 steps. Notice I crossed out goal? Yes, this is a guideline for me. I plan workouts including my walking, some days I hit the step count, some days I don’t. I know what exercise I’ve done – some exercises contribute to a step count, some do not.  The one thing I don’t do is beat myself up over this. Step counts to me are an aim and a motivator, not a mandatory requirement.

Its your life, and life is also short. Exercise the way you want to, and what is most important is also finding exercise you enjoy.  I used to do both platform diving and trampolining, which I enjoyed for over a decade.  Personal Trainers and Gym Fitness Instructors are great resources, but their view and method are guidance, not a rule.

Be your awesome self and do it your way.

You’ve got this, just like I do.