Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Exercise Edition

 A couple months ago I responded to a reader’s request and wrote about what I eat in a typical day. Clients had a lot of feedback, as they always do. Some were happy to hear my day was “as clean” as their food plan and others weren’t as positive. One client even told me “I found what you eat unappealing” which is fine, as long as she doesn’t feel that way about her own food! On the blog, one of the comments included the following question:
This was great. Would you share a week in the life of Lauren--exercise edition? Would love to know what you do for exercise.

Before I share my exercise diary, I will say I think people fall into one of 2 camps with exercise. There are some people who hate exercise (or think they hate it) this either prevents them from doing anything or they do their exercise “because they have to” possibly enjoying the satisfaction of completing a workout though nothing else. Others love exercise or sports. They would exercise every day if they could usually limited only by time. I fall into this group. I realize exercise-lovers are pretty much Martians to exercise-haters and that it is difficult to switch groups.

I am training for the Chicago Marathon in October. My training schedule has me running 4 days a week. One of these runs is longer which right now is about 12 miles. The other runs are shorter. I have written about yoga before and it’s rather new for me. I started at the end of 2009 and was convinced I wouldn’t like it and didn’t like it at first. I now look forward to it and feel it has helped my running enormously. Nothing hurts! The tennis is a summer thing. I split a lesson with a friend once a week. If you’ve read this blog you’ll realize I am a guinea pig and my exercise routine reflects this. For 2 years I was addicted to core fusion, have worked with amazing personal trainers and if you check back who knows? Maybe my next craze will be Zumba, not likely but we’ll see. So here it goes:

Monday: Hot Yoga and Run

Tuesday: OFF

Wednesday: Run 4-6 miles

Thursday: Tennis and Yoga for Runners

Friday: Long Run 10+ miles

Saturday: Yoga

Sunday:run 4-6 miles
So perhaps I work out more than you do or if you’re one of my tri clients you may think I have it easy. Regardless, there are a few things I think are important with an exercise routine:
• Schedule your exercise- whether you are an exercise hater or lover. Most of you have busy days, the exercise cannot be fit in after everything else. If you’re not exercising, start with 2-3 days and attempt to keep those days consistent each week.
•If you want to change your body, change your workouts. Even if walking is your preferred form of exercise choose 1 day as your longer walk, maybe another day as a faster, shorter walk.
• It’s very hard to generalize recommendations but most people need 150 minutes of “sweaty” cardio (or more) weekly to get results.
• And finally (and I would hate myself if I read this on my screen) attempt to make it fun. If you hate the gym, maybe Wii fit will be better. Did you like to hula hoop or ride your bike as a child? Maybe that’s your answer. There is only so much time in life one should spend on the elliptical machine.

I promise, that’s it for writing about exercise for a while. My next post will be about the new wave of Aloe drinks or competitive eating or perhaps answering one of your questions. And to my honest client, I hope this wasn’t “unappealing.”
What do you do each week for exercise? Any current exercise or fitness goals? Type of workout you want to try? And are you a “lover” or a “hater”?

7 comments:

  1. I think I'm in between...

    I love yoga but don't love cardio. I have to psyche myself up to do it but then I really enjoy it. I do enjoy the eliptical.

    ReplyDelete
  2. if i had the time i would run 6 miles or do yoga everyday. instead, i do a 6-mile run on the weekend (usually) and am a fan of the 30-day shred as i can handle 20 minutes. i read that hula hooping for 10 minutes is equivalent to running an 8-minute mile!!?? some teachers at my school do zumba...i keep teasing my secretary that she should try it. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. On the days you do Yoga + Cardio do you do yoga in the morning and then cardio in the afternoon type of thing or is it one right after the next?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would die without it (or become a nothing but a shell of a human being). I get cranky, can't sleep, can't think and get very frustrated if my workouts get sidebarred. I suspect borderline addiction, though I am cool with that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm such a member of the Hate Exercise camp. Hate it, hate it so much. And I rarely stick with it long enough to get that endorphin high everyone talks about. I just get hot and sweaty and tired. I admire people who love to work out, I just can't relate.

    But I've found that 2 things work for me. First, peer pressure. My husband works out w/ the Wii every morning (EASportsActive.com, and it's legitimately challenging) and watching him work out while I sit is enough pressure to get me to work out. Second, finding a great pilates instructor for private lessons will get me off the sofa.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love it. Exercise - discovered it in high school playing sports and never looked back. I find I need both kinds of exercise - and i think there are two kinds - the group kind like a "class" - which for me needs to be really challenging, or the loner exercise like running which i also need - mentally clears out my head. I don't like to run in groups though...except for marathons and racing. Also agree that yoga has helped my overall endurance and cocentration in life.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Lauren,
    I've copied your exercise diary and am going to try to stick to it (except for the tennis), as running & yoga are usually in my routine. But I've been really slack lately...Thanks for the inspiration! I have my first half marathon in December so need to start getting ready for that :)
    In response to your questions on my blog: I've been living in HK for the last 3 years - came here on a modelling contract & never left! I start my masters in Holistic Nutrition later this year though...
    Thanks for popping by :)
    xxx

    ReplyDelete