Workin On My Fitness - Living Healthy & Fit » Exercises

Out and About!

Sue — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:10:41 +0000

I’ve been wanting to go to the park for a while now, and finally was able to go to the park and do a workout today. Glen hates running and the idea of running to me wasn’t too appealing to me today, so we initially planned to just jog and walk mostly. But as we were putting out shoes on I saw our rollerblades and suggested we go rollerblading at the park. The park we went to is huge! It’s right down the road from our place and there are so many types of things you can do there. We went rollerblading around the lake and even up a hill, which was pretty challenging. We probably rollerbladed for about 20 minutes and then stopped by the kayak/pedal boat rentals and got their rental prices. Next weekend I really want to do either kayaking or pedal boating.

I was telling Glen how exercise shouldn’t be something you have to do, but something you want to do. I think the park is great to do different things, and even though it’s starting to warm up, as long as we have water, there’s no excuse really not to go. When Glen gets a bicycle, we can go biking as well. I can’t wait. I think I have a new found love for the park!

Anyone ever go kayaking and pedal boating? Let me know your experiences.

My Knees! Ack.

Sue — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:57:09 +0000

So yesterday I didn’t get to go outside because it was raining. Boo. But I tried to work out indoors, but I realized how weak my knees are! A couple years ago, I was walking my dog and thinking he was doing his business, I wasn’t paying attention and all of a sudden, I found myself on the ground. He had surprised me and started bolting down the street making me fall down. So naturally, I fell on my knees and bruised them pretty bad. Now I don’t know if there is something wrong with them now because of that accident, but I know that they don’t feel the same as they did before that. So when I kneel down, it just doesn’t feel right. So when I popped in this Yoga DVD I had, I was struggling with the first few minutes. I had to turn it off and I was wondering if this knee condition is just all in my head.

So, feeling like working out still, but wanting to do something less intense, I decided to do some Wii Fit, and I felt bad because the last time I did Wii Fit was over 200+ days ago! I decided to reset my stats and start over. Wii Fit is fun, but it just doesn’t make me feel like I did a good workout. So I guess technically, I didn’t really do anything grand yesterday as far as working out goes.

I will be doing some kind of cardio today though! Since the temperature had gone down here a bit, I plan to go outside for some kind of light jog. Working out indoors is getting kind of boring!

Sore Muscles and Exercising

Sue — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:30:25 +0000

So I skipped another day of exercise yesterday because my body still felt sore! I debated whether or not I should have worked out anyway but I decided that there will be many workouts to come so it’s better to be full ready to really work out than feeling sore.

Soreness is pretty normal especially if you’re just starting out a routine of working out. Soreness also means that the muscles in your body are getting stronger. So don’t think just because you’re sore doesn’t mean that you’re out of shape, it’s totally normal. When you engage in exercise though, you should make sure that you warm up to get your body warm and ready. Your body being warm allows the blood in your body to flow and allow oxygen to circulate. Stretching is also very important and is usually overlooked! If you really don’t want to sit around doing nothing, you can even do some light exercise like walking or even swimming. I wasn’t able to go walking after I got home from work due to the rain that suddenly came my way, so that was a wash. But today, I should be okay to work out and I will be doing some cardio!

What do you do when your body feels sore? Do you take a rest day or light exercising?

Going Solo For Now

Sue — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:09:33 +0000

So there is a little setback… my fiance possibly broke his pinky toe. It was all by accident, a 2 lb weight fell on his foot. Don’t ask me why a 2 lb weight was on a shelf, but it was. So, I’m going solo in my workouts for now, until he’s fully healed. It really disappointed me but it made me realize that I can still exercise all by myself. I am constantly telling myself that I can do this, as much as it’s a challenge for me. I’ve done it before anyway.

Yesterday, I was able to do 27 minutes of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred Workout. I did Level 1 because I wanted to get back into it, even though in the past I was able to do Level 2. Level 1 really kicked my butt, so it made me realize how much I was out of shape. I think out of all the workouts I’ve done on DVD, this is one of my favorites. It constantly kicks my butt and I feel like I did a meaningful workout.

More on what I’m currently reading as far as my diet goes in my next post…

The Importance of Hand Eye Coordination

Sue — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:45:45 +0000

The last two exercise DVDs I did (reviews on that soon) involved some form of dancing and it made me realize that following it I was kind of slow. I’m not a dancer of any sort but it made me think about my hand eye coordination. Watching the instructor and following what she was doing wasn’t exactly the easiest thing. I wondered if it was due to bad hand eye coordination. I mean, I can catch a ball thrown to me no problem, but when it comes to following precise instructions such as dance moves it’s not so easy. Some people just can pick things up better than other people can. It has been said that good hand eye coordination is a core strength of good athletes, so does that mean I’m a bad athlete? There are some ways to improve your hand eye coordination if you continue reading…

Practice sports that require a ball… which is a lot of sports, but table tennis or tennis is a great one. You have to focus your eye on a small ball and be able to hit it with the racquet.
Play catch with a friend. I’ve read suggestions that you should write letters or numbers on the ball and as you are catching the ball call out a letter or number on the ball.
Adding more zinc to your diet is known to help improve hand eye coordination. This includes foods like almonds, pumpkin seeds, whole grains and beans.
Video games! Even better… playing Nintendo Wii, especially Wii Fit. You’re concentrating on certain Wii Fit activities and you’re not sitting down. A two in one bonus!