During this time, I have found myself between overworking out and other days not working out at all. With everything going on in the world right now and being isolated inside one’s house, I think it is essential to move your body. The quarantine workout you should try and the one I’ve been ABSOLUTELY LOVING is Melissa Wood Health.
Walking into any gym can be intimidating, especially if you have no clue what you are doing. Over the years, I have gotten over my fear of the gym by learned what style workout I like best. Whether it’s, you’re first time going to the gym, or you get nervous everytime you step foot in a workout facility… I got you covered.
When I first began going to the gym, I had ZERO CLUE what to do. I didn’t know if I should be doing cardio, using the weights, or what the heck each machine did. However, what I did do was get on a machine that I did know and knew how to use… which was the treadmill, LOL. I watched other people and what they were doing and how they were using the machines. OK, I know it sounds a little creepy, but I had to figure it out somehow. I do not advice copying peoples workouts in the gym, because you might hurt yourself if you don’t know what you are doing. However, watch and get an idea is what I am suggesting here. After my creepy watching phase, I moved onto watching youtube videos.
Ahhh, as legend has it, there is no avoiding the Freshmen 15 or is there! Before entering the college environment, I was so anxious. I was stressing out about what I was going to eat, the freshman 15 and how I was going to maintain a healthy lifestyle on dorm food. I will admit, it’s been a struggle being on a budget and working with dorm food. However, I want today’s post to focus on the positives and the simple things that can help you stay on track.
The first thing is not eating all the unhealthy food because it’s available. Many times this can be hard (all the time…in my case) when pizza and fries surround you. I am not saying don’t have those things, but it needs to be in moderation. I suggest having a fun treat or meal on a specific day or weekends only.
For me, that might mean eating a burrito, cookie(s), etc. on a Saturday night. If you find yourself eating pizza and fries every other night, well it’s going to add up and avoiding the freshman 15 is not going to happen. My most helpful tip when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle or doing anything in life is doing it CONSISTENTLY. That could mean, limiting fries and pizza to once a week and making healthy meal choices all other times. You need to find a balance and what works best for you.
I find workout recovery to be just as important as one’s actual workout. It’s essential we give our bodies recovery time. By following specific steps before and after workout(s), I’ve learned aids in my muscles recovery, plus it just makes me feel better!
Recovering from a workout can look different for everyone and mean different things. For me, workout recovery means taking care of my body and paying attention to how I feel after a workout. Sometimes my back hurts after a prior workout, instead of pushing myself to exercise again and hurting myself further, I will take a “recovery day.” Then there are times when recovery days are simply scheduled into my workout plan for the week. However, let’s back up…you may be wondering, “what/how does recovering after a workout” even look like?
Workout Motivation…something that at some point everyone struggles with. Motivation most certainly comes in waves. Sometimes I feel way more motivated than other days, or I get an extreme kick right before an upcoming event. However, that extra dose of motivation doesn’t last.
I have realized that if I do not love my workouts, then I don’t want to do them. I have to mix up my workouts and find something that I enjoy doing. For example, I don’t like spin; it’s not my thing! So, forcing myself to go to a spin class will only make me NOT want to workout. I love HITT workouts where I get extremely sweaty, and I feel like a total ninja in the gym. Other times, I love doing low-intensity pilate style workouts. Also to mix things up, I will ditch my gym session completely and go on a hike or on my recovery days, I will go for a super long walk.
Working out doesn’t have to mean that you are doing sit-ups and running on the treadmill! To find my workout motivation, I workout in a way that makes me happy. I am not saying I am always thrilled to go to the gym… in fact some days I dread it. Those are the days where I need to find a little extra sprinkle of motivation out of my morning cup of coffee.
Over the course of the past two years, I have had many different workout routine(s). When I first dove into working out, I was so confused with how I should workout. I found myself using machines and performing simple toning moves. My back always hurt because I wasn’t working out properly and thought that by doing tons of sit-ups I would have abs. I learned that my body did not thrive off that workout style.
I love to mix it up, and my primary goal is to be active. I realized that I see more results when I incorporate more cardiovascular workouts, HIIT, and use my body weight. However, I am not anti-weights, in fact, I use them in a lot of my workouts. I love to mix up my workouts and shock my body. Some days I do super intense high-intensity workouts, other days I focus on toning and stretching. I usually schedule what I want to work out at the beginning of the week, and it might change based off how sore I am from a previous workout.