Fitness Friday: Why I Work Out

source/via Pinterest

 

 

I wasn't sure what to caption this post.  I think 'Why I Work Out' makes me sound like a huge meat head but it's the best I could come up with!

 

I think anyone who exercises has gone through phases where their reasons for doing so have changed.  If you work out, your motives may have included some or all of the following in the past:

• To lose weight
• To look good in a bikini/for a wedding/major life event
• To make an ex jealous (Ha!)
• To work off that ice cream/cupcake/[insert treat of choice here]

 

The problem with motives like these is that they come from a place of guilt or thinking there's something 'wrong' with ourselves.  Starting from a place of lack is usually not a recipe for success.  In order to succeed or stick with anything long term, you have to believe you are worthy in the first place.  This doesn't just apply to exercise but to anything in life.  If you go in thinking you're a failure, you just might prove yourself right.

 

I'm certainly not above this line of thinking.  Working out in high school and college was definitely motivated more by superficial reasons than reasons of health and well being.  But there's definitely a wisdom that comes with age. 

 

The reasons I work out now include:

• For health
• For longevity
• For "me time"
• To challenge myself
• To maintain fitness
• To relieve stress
• Because it's FUN!

All of these reasons can be summed up in two words: Self care.  There comes a point in your life when you realize that no one is responsible for your health and happiness but you.  As someone who works as a caregiver for others and lives alone, this is even more important for me.  I spend 8-10 hours a day focusing solely on the needs of others.  When I finally get home, there's no one there to ask how my day was, or rub my feet, or just give me a hug.  I've gotten used to this, but it's also made me realize that alone or partnered, you are still the only one responsible for your care.  Sure, others can help and offer support (and it'd be nice to have someone like that around someday!), but you are the CEO of your own mind, body and spirit.

 

So when I lace up and head out for a run or go to the gym after work, I'm taking care of myself. Sure, some days that care may include plopping down in front of the TV and eating a sleeve of Thin Mints (vegan!), but I'm old enough to know that too much of that is actually more self-sabotage than self-care.  No one is going to tell me to brush my teeth, eat my vegetables, and get up off the couch.  If I want to be a healthy adult, that's all up to me.

 

As much as we humans have evolved, our minds and spirits still inhabit a physical body.  A body that requires movement and nourishment to be healthy.  We are still (some more than others!) animals.  We were born to move.  And if you've read the book, some also believe, Born to Run, but that's fodder for another post. 

 

Children LOVE to run and play.  It's innate and instinctual.  Have you ever watched a young child run?  Their entire face lights up and they smile the second their feet take flight.  It's actually amazing to watch.  At some point, we grow up and societal influences suppress these instincts. We're forced to sit in chairs under fluorescent lights for hours on end.  And we're conditioned to believe this is 'natural'.  Newsflash: It's not!  We need to tap back into the creatures we really are, who we knew we were as children, and get outside and MOVE! 

 

One of the many reasons I enjoy running as a form of exercise is because I love being outside.  Nature is restorative and is after all our 'natural' state!  For me, exercise is a way to not only take care of my body, but a way to restore my mind and soul and remind me of who I really am.

 

source/via Pinterest

 

 

Why do you work out?



Fitness Friday: City Fit Girls Ambassador and StrideBox Review!

It's another Fitness Friday over here.  Yippee!!

First order of business this morning is to announce my new Ambassadorship with City Fit Girls! 

"City Fit Girls is a network of women who inspire, uplift, encourage and motivate others to live healthy lifestyles at home, school, workplace or social settings."  Yes, yes, yes.  All about that.  I'm excited to work with them and connect with others to spread the word that fitness is FUN!

Alright, also on the agenda today is a review of StrideBox!  I'm sure many of you have heard of StrideBox before, but for those who have not, it's a monthly subscription box targeted to runners. 

Another advantage of my sister currently being pregnant is that she is passing down her monthly StrideBoxes to me lately, which were a gift from her husband, so I should be thanking my brother-in-law here too.  So, not only do I get another nephew in a few months (!), but I've been getting all her great running stuff lately too!  Thanks Laura :)

So far, I've received 4 boxes from her and they are full of all kinds of goodies.  Each box comes with about 8 samples and/or full size products, plus coupons and a sheet that provides information on each product in the box.  About 2/3 of each box was filled with food products (most of which were full size!), but they've also contained other interesting little tidbits like lip balm, blinking shoe lights, a reflective arm band and iPhone compatible gloves.

What I love about these boxes is they allow you the opportunity to try out new products before committing to purchasing a whole box/case of something, and to discover new running accessories you may not otherwise be exposed to.  (I've been wanting to try Picky Bars forever and they were in one of the boxes - Score!)

 

These days there is pretty much a box out there for any interest (beauty, crafting, kids, pets, alien enthusiasts, j/k I have no idea about the last one) and most of them are usually pretty affordable. I checked out StrideBox's pricing and they charge $15 month/$0 shipping, which isn't bad.  Currently, I'm on a tight budget and don't have much in the way of disposable income so I probably wouldn't be able to purchase a subscription myself, but I think that price is probably affordable for many people. 

I've only ever subscribed to one monthly box service before and that was years ago.  I did Birchbox for awhile, which is a box of beauty samples.  It was only $10/month (this is how I justified it!) but I honestly rarely used any of the products!  I'm just not a beauty junkie, I rarely wear makeup, and I use very few products on a daily basis (think hair gel and Suave lotion).  Plus the samples in Birchbox were tiny.  Like I mentioned above, most of the products in StrideBox were full size bars/gels/food. 

 

Even more than purchasing these boxes for yourself, I really like the idea of doing what my brother-in-law did and GIFTING a subscription to someone! Who doesn't love receiving surprises in the mail, and this would be a gift that keeps on giving.  You can do as few or many months as you want and for people who wouldn't necessarily buy this for themselves (like me!), I think it would be a great little treat for the recipient to receive every month.  I'm always looking for new running nutrition and snack bars and loved having the opportunity to try to so many out here. 

I want to thank my sister again for sponsoring this post!

And with that, I'm off to see the wizard. 

Have a great weekend everyone :)


*This post was not sponsored in any way by StrideBox.



Do you subscribe to any monthly boxes?

Ever try StrideBox?

What's up for the weekend?!

Fitness Friday: Favorite Pinterest Workouts

Hello and Happy Friday!  I am taking a trip back home this weekend to celebrate a few very special people.  My best friend just gave birth to a baby girl on Wednesday and I can't wait to meet her!  And, another friend of mine is currently pregnant with twins and I'll be attending her baby shower!  Babies, babies everywhere.

Now onto some business...

I wanted to thank everyone who provided feedback on my Fitness post last Friday. There were a lot of good ideas and concerns in there and I'm going to do my best to address them.  In an attempt to give myself some consistency and structure, I'm going to try to devote Fridays to Fitness posts.  This may be every Friday, or every other Friday, and I plan on addressing everything from stretching to workout recaps to beginning a running program.  Please feel free to contact me via comments or email (Jillyruns@yahoo.com) with any topics you'd like me to cover on Fridays, and I will respond!

My main point of that post was that I believe we need to start shifting the mindset in America that thinks fitness is a completely separate entity from good health and health care.  As we saw, by the very definition of the word, fitness is an indicator of good health, and I don't believe you can be truly healthy if you do not have a baseline level of fitness.  As far as 'baseline level', I'm still not sure how to quantify that, but I'm going to do some research and see if I can come up with something amalgamated from a variety of professional resources. 

I think the hardest part for everyone is getting started, followed by sticking with it (when they don't see immediate results).  I think many people feel that perhaps they are just not inherently athletic and so fitness is just something they'll never be 'good' at.  But I don't think 'fitness' and 'athleticism' are interchangeable terms.  You don't have to excel at sports or be born with natural gifts to be able to go for a walk or do simple exercises in the comfort of your own home.  I don't think I'm particularly athletically gifted but I just love moving, playing, and trying new things.  [This is probably the reason I love hanging out with kids so much; we are kindred spirits.]  I like to run, but I am not particularly fast.  I am a solid middle-of-the-pack runner and will never win any big races, but that doesn't stop me!  I also mentioned that I played a lot of sports growing up and that's true, but what I didn't tell you is that I completely STUNK at a lot of them!  Perhaps one day I'll do a post on a list of the sports I've tried over the years and the ones I've completely failed at! Haha Maybe that will give you some courage to get out there and Just Do It :)

Also, as I previously mentioned, you do not need a gym membership or fancy equipment to work out.  Case in point: Calisthenics.  Calisthenics are great for improving endurance and strength, and if you perform them in High Intensity Intervals, great for burning fat.  They are also great cross-training/strength-training exercises for runners.  I get a lot of my at-home workouts from Pinterest, and I'm going to share some of my favorites with you today (these were created by other Pinners, not me). 

Most of them are short (15-30 mins) and can be easily modified to suit your needs.  Just decrease the number of reps suggested or do modified moves (ie. pushups on your knees instead of standard pushups).  For beginners who are unsure what some of the moves may be, I wish I could post photos of myself modeling them, but alas, I have no one to take pictures of me!  There are mirrors at my gym, so maybe one day I'll just go in and selfie a bunch of moves so I have personal stock photos for you?!  In the meantime, you'll have to Google/Youtube them, or just ask me. 

Without further ado, here are a few of my favorite go-to workouts (all of these can be found on my Pinterest "I Work Out" board):

Source/via Pinterest

 

 

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Source/via Pinterest

*Be careful - This one is more advanced*

 

 

If you're snowed in this weekend, or staying indoors because of the insane polar vortex, why not pick one of these and give it a try!

 

Also, I'd recommend you check out the FREE 7 Minute Workout app that I blogged about last year.  A couple of years ago, the American College of Sports Medicine came out with a study stating the benefits of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and published the specific 12 moves in this program to be a scientifically excellent workout. 

 

It is a Tabata style workout, in that you are performing moves at a high intensity for 30 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest (true Tabata is 20 secs on/10 secs off), and it is pretty intense and comprehensive.  I usually run through the circuit 3 times for a total of 21 mins of work and that's plenty, but you can start out just doing it once and it will be worth your time!  [There are a few of them in the App Store, but this is the one I use by Bytesize]

 



 

Well, that should be enough to keep you busy for the weekend!  I hope you all have a great one!

 



*Disclaimer:  I am not a personal trainer or medical professional; these are simply exercises I enjoy and recommend.  If you have medical or health concerns, please consult a professional before beginning any exercise program.*

 

 

Do you work out at home?

Ever done the 7 minute workout?

What are your weekend plans?!

What is "Fitness"?

What exactly is "fitness"? 

Well, I took that very question to Merriam-Webster for an answer.  According to the dictionary, fitness is:

"the quality or state of being fit"

(Um, isn't the first rule of defining a word to not use that word in the definition?!)

Needing further clarification, I headed back to Merriam-Webster for more info.  'Fit' is then defined as:

"physically healthy and strong"; "sound physically and mentally"; "healthy"

 



Fitness, then, is a key component and indicator of good health, and not a separate entity.

I think there are a few different aspects that make up complete personal fitness including mental and emotional health, but today I want to focus on physical fitness.

 

Source/via Pinterest

 

Do you remember taking the President's physical fitness assessments in school back in the day?!  I actually used to look forward to taking the tests in gym class every year!  I wasn't sure if kids still did these in school so I Googled and it's still a thing.  According to the website, the PYFP (Presidential Youth Fitness Program) fitness standards encompass 4 main areas:  Aerobic Fitness; Muscular Strength and Endurance; Flexibility and Body Composition.  Personally, I remember getting assessed in these areas in both the beginning and end of the school year by doing the following activities:

 

Endurance - Running a mile (timed)

Strength - How many pull-ups on the bar you could perform; How many sit-ups you could do in a minute

Flexibility - The sitting stretch-and-reach with the ruler!

[*Body Composition - Caliper measurement - I only remember having this done one year]

 

I think those 4 areas give a pretty well-rounded definition of fitness, and I wonder why we only administer fitness assessments on children?  Ultimately, I think physical fitness is a huge part of being healthy and it would make sense to carry fitness assessments into adulthood.  I think it would be ideal to incorporate something like this at yearly medical check-ups to give adults some kind of benchmark or guidance.  Not to get too political here, but I think Western medicine generally deals with health as a 'put out the fire' type deal, treating patients when they are ill, and rarely focuses on preventing and maintaining health throughout one's life. 

 

Children are by nature very active and fit creatures.  They have boundless energy and their little bodies crave movement and play.  It's often societal influences that end up hindering or stifling a children's desire to move as they age (ie. video games/electronics, too much sitting in school, not enough play time).  This downhill creep in fitness levels only continues as we age.  For many adults, the average day includes anywhere from 8-12 hours of sitting (or more)!  Not only is this unnatural (the human body was designed to move!) but it's also detrimental to our health.  Cue the new sound bite, 'Sitting is the new smoking'. 

 

I've always loved to move and have been active consistently since I was a child.  I never stopped enjoying exercising my body or seeing what it could do.  I guess I never viewed exercise as a chore.  My mom, dad and grandparents all go to the gym on a regular basis, and they are in their 50s, 60s and 90s (!) so I guess it runs in the family! 

I spent my childhood playing outdoors and participated in sports throughout school.  In college, I worked out in the campus gym or went running.  After college, I didn't have a gym membership for a few years, so I ran, biked, swam, and used my dad's weights in our basement!  When I moved out on my own, I joined a gym and continued running, as well as participated in club sports. Sure I take days off here and there, sometimes even a week or two from 'formal' exercise, but that doesn't mean I'm sitting at home on the couch motionless.  Even if I'm on vacation, I'll make time for family walks, swimming, a run here and there.  My body does not feel well if it's been inactive too long.  I want to be fit because I want to be healthy for a long, long time.  I want to be running around with my kids and grand kids. I want to be able to lift heavy things, spend hours walking around new cities, and swim in the ocean til the day I die! 

 

I think where many adults go wrong when it comes to fitness is they have this 'all or nothing' mentality.  Thus, the influx of 'resolutioners' at the gym every January.  They go balls to the wall for a month or two, working out every day, restricting their diets like crazy, and then crash and burn. The thing most people don't realize is that you don't need a gym membership or fancy equipment to get and maintain fitness.  Your body has everything built right in, and there are unlimited resources available online these days. Fitness should be a lifelong process and goal.  In this culture of immediate gratification, people are looking for instant results, but it doesn't work that way.  You certainly didn't get out of shape by sitting on the couch for a day, or eating 1 doughnut did you?!

 

I think of fitness the way I think about maintaining a car.  It requires year round upkeep to continue running at its best.  Regular oil changes, car washes, changing the wiper blades and headlights are all small little steps that keep your car in tip top shape.  If you move your body at least a little each day, you will become fit and maintain your fitness for life.  The key for most Americans I believe, is seeing fitness as an essential element to their health and incorporating it into their daily lives.  I don't believe that the majority of adults in America believe this or make fitness a priority.

Sure some days may get away from you, but if you are exercising on a consistent basis you will never have to 'catch up'.  You won't go through cycles of being out of shape, then in shape.  Your weight won't cycle up and down, up and down.  Diabetes, heart disease and a host of other illnesses will decrease in this country as well!  I also think fitness begets healthier eating.  You really can't eat greasy processed crap and be able to walk or run a few miles.  There are more and more cities and pockets in America that are becoming health and fitness focused, and hopefully their reach continues to spread throughout the country.  Fitness for life people!

 

You really can't argue with that

Source/via Pinterest

 

 

This is a fitness blog, and I realized recently that I haven't talked fitness in awhile.  I guess because I'm not training for a race right now (that's about to change!), I haven't felt the need to track my workouts or training progress.  But fitness is extremely important to me and a cause that's near and dear to my heart.  Please let me know if there's any fitness related content you'd like to see from me, or if you'd like me to share my workouts with you.  I'm working on ideas for how to incorporate more fitness posts into the rotation, instead of just using this space constantly as a (public) diary for my random thoughts about life (although that will certainly continue!).  I am not a certified personal trainer but I love fitness and have been active my whole life, and love helping and inspiring others to get to the same place!  And, maybe one day I will stop saying I'll pursue my CPT and actually get it :)

 

 

 

What is your definition of fitness?

Do you think a national adult fitness assessment would be helpful?