Exercise

Last night, the strangest thing happened to me . . . I had done yoga with my mom (hooray for Skype!) a few hours before, and while I was laying in bed, waiting for sleep, I suddenly realised that I liked exercising. Not only that, but if I had not been so tired, I would have gotten up and exercised again.

Who the hell am I?! I don't think things like this. No, exercise has always been an evil thing that makes me sore, sweaty, tired, and totally uncomfortable. So how is it that I am suddenly feeling good after a work out, suddenly not so sore, nor so tired... and dare I say it again : enjoying it ?!

I've heard tales told about in-shape exercisesy people getting a rush of endorphins after exercising. . . could it be that this has just happened to me? Well, whatever the cause, I'm glad of it, even if it is a totally alien feeling -- lol !


So, a lot of people have been asking me what kind of exercises I'm doing. Well, I'm doing a combination of exercises, mostly from these three DVDs:

"Fitness Stretch" and "Lean Muscle Mass" by Susan Powter (from the Lifestyle Ex-change series) and "Easy Beginners Workout" by Wai Lana (traditional yoga).

I've also added abdominal crunches, 2 kinds of pilate-style leg lifts, and some stretches of my own (for neck and back).


My daily workout routine:

To begin, I put on some energizing music, take a few deep abdominal breaths, and dance around the living room like a dork (haha!) This gets my heart pumping, my muscles moving, and my body connected with my mind.

After a song or two, I begin the structured workout:

I start with stepping from side to side, quickly, for about 2 or 3 minutes, then I stand straight and do deep breathing while stretching my arms and core, then stretching my back and neck, followed by a couple of yoga poses for working my core/waist.

Next, squats via a yoga pose, and then I'm on the floor to stretch my legs and back. I do three sets of hamstring stretches and inner thigh stretches, then one set of upper trunk and back stretches.

Next, abdominal crunches (I'm up to 70 now! o.m.g.) and then 2 sets each of the pilate leg lifts. I take a moment to do some deep abdominal breaths after I finish the pilates, because I have just done a lot of abdominal work and I find that I'm not sore afterwards if I take a pause to just breathe (about 10 or 15 deep breaths).

For the last bit of the workout, I'm up on my feet again to lift some weights (6 different movements) and finally, I do the deep breathing and arm/core/back stretches that I started with. If I'm still feeling charged up, I might dance around for another couple songs, too.


Time is of the essence :

Typically, my workouts are 45 - 50 minutes long, but I have gone up to 60 a couple of times. Every few days, I leave out the weights (so as not to over-strain my muscles, which is exactly what happened the first time I tried to do all of the moves along with Susan Powter, in the Lean Muscle DVD, using the 2 kilo weights... yeah, that was really painful, and I couldn't lift my right arm for a little over a week. doh!) On the days that I leave out the weights and I only dance to 1 or 2 songs, my workout tends to be 30 - 35 minutes.

When I, you, anybody moves for 30 minutes in oxygen, the metabolism and other hormones kick in and the body starts to burn fat. If you exercise for just 15 or 20 minutes, you'll be stretching and toning muscle, but you won't be flipping the internal switch to burn off fat.

Ideally, I try to start my exercises between 10 and 11 AM so that I can take advantage of my breakfast calories and give my metabolism an extra boost before lunch. However, it doesn't always happen that way (like today) so if I don't get workout done in the morning, I try for early evening, between 4 and 5 PM. When I've done a yoga session with my mom, it has to be around 8 - 9 PM for me, because of the 9 hour time difference. I avoid doing cardio-intense workouts and weight lifting at night, and when I do exercise in the late evenings, I do yoga and pilate leg movements, so as not to spike up my adrenaline too much, nor force my muscles to work too hard at the end of a long day.


Just breathe :

In oxygen, aerobic, meaning: being able to breathe and speak. If you are totally out of breath, gasping or panting, fighting for air, and unable to speak, you are starving your muscles and not fully benefiting from the movements you are doing. To build more muscle and burn more fat, you need to BREATHE. I take very deep breaths, from the abdomen, and exhale strongly (as if quickly and forcefully blowing out a cake full of candles) -- it sounds silly when you're doing it, but it feels amazing! Sometimes I sing along with the music while I'm working out (this is not only using up more calories, but it's also a good way to keep my breath in check.)

When I do my ab crunches, I find it difficult to breathe deeply, I suppose because I am crunching and squashing my diaphragm and other ab muscles. So, to avoid starving my body of air, I take a small breathing break between 5 or 10 crunches, and I breathe in and out a few times, sucking my belly button down towards my spine with each strong exhale, and then I continue with another set of 5 or 10 crunches, repeating this cycle until I've done all 70.


I'm still coming to terms with this "new me" who actually likes exercising; it's a bit like finding myself in the Twylight Zone . . . doo doo dooo doo, doo doo dooo doo . . . who knows, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find that I enjoy dusting too! Hah. Ok, I won't push my luck.

<3