Finding joy: Challenging myself to get fitter

With Dad pre-foam run last year

I'm proud that I'm back on the fitness horse, if you will.  I've been trying to get to the gym on a more regular basis and it's been a great way to relief all the work-related stress.  I'm a fitness magazine junkie (and an on- and off-subscriber to three or four of them) and have my own fitness binder that I use for ideas, tons of fitness equipment, and a big stack of workout DVDs.  I even have my own step for step aerobics!  I was a pretty active little kid (soccer + track) and trained year-round through high school for the sports I loved, but it's harder to keep up the routine once real life smacks you in the face.   Sometimes, though, I get too caught up in work and I forget to engage myself physically, so this summer I want to grow my good healthy habits.

I'm really excited to spend more time this summer getting fit -- and here's what I've put together on my list as my want-to-dos:

1. Give my Jillian Michaels DVDs some good playtime.  I am really scared of this woman simply because she puts together some kick-ass playlists, and anyone who can pick good, intense music probably has a good idea of how to get in shape :)

2. Get more confident with bouldering.  I went bouldering for the first time this week and it was an overwhelming experience.  I've been afraid of heights for a long time, and I've been trying to beat it with ziplining and challenge courses, so this is the next one for me.  My hands and forearms still hurt like hell, but my back muscles are rippling.  I hope to go again soon when it is less busy, which I know will boost my confidence.  But I'm already doing V2s.  Supposedly I am a natural.  Of course I am.

3. Spend more quality time with my Bosu and my kettlebells.  I think that these are the two pieces of equipment I have at home that are the most neglected but are the most useful and toughest.  There are some great, simple routines for the Bosu, and I like it because it challenges a lot of my smaller muscles, those pesky balance ones.  Kettlebells aren't that different than dumbbells, really, but there are a lot of good exercise with swinging and motion that also hit the core.

4. Go running in the cemetery twice a week.  Yes, I actually run in a cemetery.  There is one just down the road from my house, and it's paved, traffic-free, and generally quiet.  It's also a contempletive sort of place to run -- a good time to be thankful for those who are now gone but who have shaped my life, and a reminder to make the most of every day.  There's also a high school with a nice track nearby, so I can run there too.  And it's a little less morbid.

5. Find time to balance cardio with yoga.  I am a cardiophile.  There is a class at work called Simple Strength which my officemate attends regularly, and sometimes he encourages me to go, at which point I remind him that I am not interested in simple strength, only complicated cardio.  But when I make the time for it, I find yoga to be highly enjoyable too.  My Rodney Yee yoga DVD is super-neglected, but since I won't have a real gym to go to (other than work, and I want to try and limit myself there!), it will be important to make my living room my yoga studio.

6. Hike.  I had a mini-meltdown about a month ago on my stairs at home.  I had just put on my new hiking shoes (pink) and hiking socks and they made my calves look like cankles.  Okay, so to be fair, it had been a rough week and this might have been the straw that took me over the edge.  It's not that I'm anti-hiking.  I like walking, especially in the woods.  But when you take away nice, clean restroom facilities,  add bugs, and suggest I wear the ugliest clothes known to mankind (ie; almost anything sold in REI), I flip.  I don't camp -- I won't.  And hiking is just one step away from camping, really.

But, in the spirit of challenging myself, I bought real hiking shoes (not boots -- there is a difference) that are pink and cute, and a fantastic pink hiking backpack.  I put the shoes to good use in Sedona a few weeks ago -- on three hikes, believe it or not!  I found it to be more fun that I thought -- the trails were nice, I only saw one snake (but a few birds in the bushes caused me to curse and run ahead on the trail), and the red rock scenery was breathtaking.  That being said, if I never had to use a pit toilet again, it'd be far too soon.  There has to be a better way.

I don't know that I'll ever be hiking girl.  No hike camping.  No ugly shorts.  The thing of it is this -- if I'm going to do an activity, I'm going to do it my way and on my terms.  So watch out, hiking.  Sarah is coming and she's going to kick your ass.

7. Windsurf again! I tried windsurfing for the first time several years ago in Maui, and I've only been three times overall, but I LOVE it.  This is pretty remarkable because I'm not a very good swimmer and am generally intimidated by water and oceans (thanks, I think, to the fact that one does not swim in the ocean in Washington or Oregon... or my parents wouldn't ever let my brother and I do it).  Windsurfing in Maui means nice warm, clear water and most of the instruction groups are pretty small (3-5 people).  If anyone has ideas for good beginner windsurfing on the mainland, I'd love to know.  But it's on my list for November when I'm back in Maui for a special birthday trip :)

8. Stay committed to cardio kickboxing.  This is my favorite workout activity of the moment -- we have a Monday class at work -- and I love it so much I'll probably come back in on Mondays when I'm in town and free. The instructor is fantastic, the classmates are great, and I am killer with my roundhouse.  I won't always be able to make it in, though, so I'm going to rely on your friend and mine, Billy Blanks, and his ultimate tae bo workout, 80 minutes of pure pain, to help me get through.  At some point I might switch to regular kickboxing and join a gym (there's one down the street from work), but for now I'll keep donning the pink gloves and rocking out to the cardio variety.

9. Develop more of my circuits.  A few years ago there was a really straightforward circuit training class at work and I loved it.  There would be 5-7 exercises and you'd spend a minute at each, then do a second set.  When you string four sets together, it was a perfect 30-minute class that involved a bit of cardio and engaging all of your muscle groups.  The class was canceled, but I decided to pick it up myself and create circuits, so twice a week Sergio and I do a few at the gym.  It's been fun to learn how to put together good circuits -- I have a huge notebook filled with pages and pages from fitness magazines.  I have 52 features pages, each with a playing card attached.  When I'm bored, I just draw a card out of a deck and go to that page and do the workout.  It keeps things fresh, but some of the exercises aren't as effective as others, so the circuits are the mega-fun ones that are tried and tested.

10. Get good at boy pushups. I hate doing back exercise more than anything else, thus my pushups are weak sauce. I know what I need to do.  I just can't give up after five boy pushups.  I need to nail them!

11. Get some new workout tunes. My current lists are a little bit overplayed so I need to go out into the cloud and pull out some great new workout music.  I prefer really up-tempo songs, either metal, hip-hop, dance, or trance, and I'm getting excited just thinking of it.  If you have any good workout tunes, let me know!

12. Connect with others through fitness.  But my favorite part of fitness is spending time with friends or family or meeting new people.  It's much more fun to reach your goals along with someone else than to do it alone, and so even though a lot of my summer workouts will be solo, I want to make the time to hit the gym with others too :)

Here's to three months of buffness!

xo
Sarah