This morning I read an article about the obesity level among nurses: 55%. Ridiculous for those who are in charge of the health of others. And a good reminder of why it’s important to do something. I can certainly see where a nurse, working long shifts on their feet, would find it difficult to eat nutritious food, eat proper portions, find time to exercise, and find time to get a solid night of sleep. On the other hand, I would think that caring for others in poor health would be a huge motivator to take control of the factors that you can (i.e. eating right, exercising, sleeping). My job is not long hours (40 per week… I choose to work 9 hr days Mon-Thurs and 4 hours on Fri). My job is not on my feet (I spend much of my time on the computer, sitting on a balance ball). My job does not place me directly with people who are sick or ailing. I do have difficulty managing the factors I can regarding a healthy life style. But I’m relatively healthy and I would like to maintain that. I don’t like paying co-pays to the doctor. I know from the past that the fitter I am the more energy I have. It’s important to me to be able to lift, carry, and play with my children. These are the things that motivate me.
It was a hard weekend to stay motivated, as weekends tend to be.
Friday I found myself asleep on the couch when my husband came home from work. But, he woke me, put in the Yoga DVD, pushed play and pushed pause. So I got up, changed clothes, and we worked out. I don’t know that I’ve ever wanted to do yoga less than I did on Friday. During the first stretch my body was crazy stiff. By the end my body felt all stretched out and happy. And that reminded me why it’s important to do the things you really don’t want to. Finishing was an accomplishment, but starting was the hard part.
Saturday my husband did his workout during the kids’ naptime and I did mine when they went to bed. As much as I used to love working out at night I’m now finding that the morning is better for me. Never thought that would be the case. At least it wasn’t as late as Friday night. I’m getting much better at the balance moves though my right side is still more of a challenge. Love seeing progress. I’ve come a long way in the past three weeks. Saturday officially ended week 3 and I decided I’m going to move on to Phase 2. I can always go back to Phase 1 if I decide more work is needed. Or there’s the recovery week option if Phase 2 leaves me too sore.
Sunday I was really happy to have a rest day. My daughter had a horrible night (teething) that had us up from 9-11:30 (wonderful hubby let me go to bed at 10) and 1:30-4 (I took this shift by myself since aforementioned hubby had to get up for a makeup workout in the morning). So glad there only ended up being one night of this! Despite being tired, Sunday was a nice rest day. I weighed myself and found that I’ve lost nearly 10 lbs in the past 3 weeks! But I was more excited about fitting into a dress that I previously could not; the last time I tried the dress I got the zipper about halfway up. On Sunday the dress was almost a little loose in some areas. Love seeing results!
Monday morning I awoke at 4:30 to start Phase 2. What may be the most challenging for me is that Ab Ripper X2 is done 3 times per week. That will make those workouts about an hour fifteen and I generally don’t have that kind of time in the morning; so I’ll be making myself do the 15 minute Ab Ripper in the evenings. I think once I get into this habit it won’t be a big deal. Once the kids are in bed 15 minutes isn’t that much. It’ll almost take me longer to get ready. Course, I can probably do Ab Ripper in my pjs on the kids’ play mat. Anyhow, the first workout in Phase 2 was Chest + Back + Balance. The chest moves are all also balance moves; once I get the balance down I think the chest will feel the moves more. Today I spent a lot of my time figuring out how to balance on 4 medicine balls or one stability ball and 2 medicine balls. There was a fair amount of falling today. It won’t take much to start seeing progress. The back moves were pull up/chin up type moves. Since (A) we don’t have a pull up bar in the living room and (B) I can’t really do a pull up without assistance I used the bands. Compared to the P90X One on One series, it was nice to have a band example for all the moves. I knew that the modifications I was doing were the proper ones to work the right muscle groups. I think I’ll like this workout a whole lot more when I get the form down. And a bonus is that plain ole pushups are going to seem really easy after this!
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