I have never been happy with my weight and have always been happy to try a new workout but never committed to my fitness. I used to have all the excuses. I’m too tired, I don’t have enough time, I can’t afford to join a gym, I have an injury, I’m not motivated. Over the past year I have made the transition from couch potato to active living.
Looking back it feels like it was an easy transition. But I know it wasn’t. I used to try to work out three times a week and if I had skipped a workout and knew I wouldn’t be able to make it up then I would just throw in the towel for the week. It was all or nothing. Which has a lot to do with my personality – I am all about planning and order.
What helped me the most was having a goal. An event to train for. Last year I wanted to participate in so many fun runs but I hated running and couldn’t run for more than a minute. Once I downloaded the couch to 5km (c25k) app that all changed. And with runkeeper as my tracking app I was able to compete with friends on the leader board to help me stay motivated. And it was these running buddies that convinced me to sign up for the Perth Half Marathon which I completed in 2:13:41 and that was all thanks to the myasics app that gave me a training plan based on my running fitness.
I am proud of my running achievements but I was glad to hang up my running shoes and focus on the Maxine’s Challenge. I could now focus on lifting weights which I enjoy much more than cardio. And I learnt about high intensity training (hiit) where you could workout harder for less time. That made a difference to the weight coming off. All the training I had been doing for the half marathon was low intensity which I eventually learned and understood meant that my body was used to the training and wasn’t burning fat for energy.
I enjoyed trying different hiit workouts like intervals on the treadmill, tabata workouts, kettle bells and circuit training. But weights was still my favourite and I loved pushing harder, seeing my muscles grow and feeling my strength improve. And then I discovered bikram yoga. I signed up for a 30 day period and went three times a week. I loved the mind body connection and the way it balanced out all the intense cardio and heavy lifting I was doing. But then my intro offer finished and I couldn’t afford to keep going. I have signed up to a free month with myyogaworks.com using offer code ‘yogabody’ so I can finally learn how to do ‘normal’ yoga.
I had always wanted to try yoga but never put in the effort and when I finally did I found that I love it. I hated running but I set myself a goal and finally admitted that I am a runner. I love lifting weights but there are still some days that I don’t want to workout but I go to the gym anyway and find that within 10 minutes those awesome endorphins are going and I end up having a great workout. Find what works for you and use that to keep you motivated but never be afraid of trying something new because you could surprise yourself.
findingNQ 