As some of you may know I took a local kickboxing class for about 3 and 1/2 years. Sometimes I’d throw in a run or do a DVD workout on TV, but 95% of my workout life for the past few years was all about kicking the crap out of a bag. I loved it because it was an awesome workout and I made a lot of friends.
Sadly, the class is no longer being offered and I suddenly had to figure out what I wanted to do to take its place. I don’t like change and honestly I was upset about having to change the routine that I loved and was comfortable with. That’s life though.
My answer was to join a gym. After two months of being a member I can say that I’m loving this change. With my former kickboxing classes I could go a maximum of 4 times a week (when the classes were actually offered) and those 4 classes were at specific scheduled times. Attending a gym means that I can go as often as I want. I go 4 to 6 times a week and I can go any time that’s good for me (as long as the gym is open, but my gym has very flexible hours).
I liked following an instructor at the kickboxing classes so making up my workouts at the gym seemed scary at first. I’m certainly not a fitness guru so how the heck am I going to know what to do? Well, I’ve been a member at gyms before and I’ve followed a ton (and I mean a ton) of various workouts at home on DVD. I just needed to have faith in myself that I could figure this out. And that’s just what I did.
I like to switch up my routines every day, but basically I do 30 – 45 minutes of cardio and 15 – 30 minutes of toning or strength training. For the cardio part I do some portion of time on the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike. For the toning part, I focus on one or two body parts a day and then do something different each day of the week.
I get a lot of awesome sample workout routines from the three blogs below. They also offer great health tips and workout attire suggestions. I highly recommend checking them out. I’m on their blogs a few times a week.
Last week I flexed my arms for my husband as a joke during a conversation about the gym and when I looked down at them I actually surprised myself. I was already showing real live muscles and managed to impress even myself, which is almost impossible to do because I’m extremely hard on myself. The moral of the story is that I must be doing something right with my new workouts. 🙂 I’ve also noticed that my calves are more toned too. It’s all a work in progress but I feel confident that I’m moving in the right direction of getting my body to a place that I want it to be.
A few weeks ago I shared with you my first experience at a spin class at the gym (try not to be confused, it was just me talking about spin class on a recipe post for Pesto Caprese Zucchini Noodle Salad). It started rocky but I’ve gone back three times and it’s starting to grow on me. I’m not a fan, per say, yet, but I’ll definitely say it’s a great workout and it’s a fun departure from my normal routine. I also tried a yoga class last week. While I haven’t decided how often I want to work that into my routine it was fun and I’ll definitely do it again. My gym offers a bunch of other classes and I’ll be sure to update you with what I try and if I find something else that I’m really into.
Here are my outfit details for the items in the photo above:
Ciao for now!
