August Accountability - Fitness Challenge

August ended up being a tough month. But which month isn't, right?

 

I did work out throughout the month, although one we took my stepson to college, my workouts really fell off for a week afterwards. I worked out once while we were out of town and then one we came back, went back to a busy schedule and then my birthday the following weekend. As we were also down to one car for part of that week, I ended up falling off the wagon for a week, but eventually got back to working out the following week.

The running challenge has not yet taken flight. I did Day 1 of Week 1 of Couch to 5K, and that went ok, but I haven't felt the urge to do it again. Part of it is after I did the first workout, I started experiencing low back pressure, which I'd previously not suffered from. Nothing too serious, but I have found that yoga, pilates and stretching have helped. It makes sense to experience some of this pain since I sit in a cubicle all day and barely leave my desk, but I seem to be associating the low back pain with running and haven't wanted to try it since. Maybe I will get over it, we'll see.

 

I find that after 2-3 weeks of continuous work outs, I get bored and not have any motivation to go to the gym. I'm still exploring trying other workouts, getting Groupons for other gyms, just to try some different exercise modalities. I really like the idea of boutique gyms that offer class packs, for 5 or 10 classes and you can stop in as time permits to workout, but don't have to take on a different gym membership. I've been buying class packs for yoga, which has been very helpful.

 

Surprisingly to me, I've found that I am enjoying yoga much more this time, than in previous history. I'm still not a huge fan of vinyasa yoga, but I have tried Forrest Yoga (super hard core yoga), Yin Yoga (lots of long stretches), and a Candlelight Vinyasa Flow, which was not as fast-paced as regular vinyasa flow classes. I still want to try Anusara Yoga, just because and also Hatha Yoga. There's a yoga studio very close to my house that offers several classes in hatha and some yin yoga, and that will probably be my next yoga class pack purchase. Also YogaCycle or spin/yoga fusion classes are also awesome. I love getting cardio in and then stretching.

 

Swimming  has been very hit or miss. I have gone to the outdoor pool with my neighbor twice, but otherwise, haven't been too motivated to get in the pool. I figure I will swim on occasion, because I know how, but it hasn't become a must do exercise every week. I don't know if I just wanted to learn because I couldn't do it or if I will feel the need to swim more.

 

I never made my workout challenge goal of working out 5 days a week. I'm going to step down the goal this month to working out 4 days a week. I can usually get in 3 workouts a week, so this month we'll try for 4x/week. I'll keep you posted.