I went quickly through school. I started college at 17, graduated in four years with two degrees, started grad school at 21 and finished by 23. When I started my first full-time job last October I had never had a dedicated exercise regimen. I would alternate pretty steadily between treadmill and elliptical, do a ridiculous amount of crunches and occasionally fiddle with some of the weight machines.
I work on a college campus, and one of the amazing thing about college campuses is that they have gyms. Big gyms kind of freak me out. I went to UCSD and SDSU, and as very large, public universities, they have very large, intimidating gyms. I never went to these gyms at school. I worked at a YMCA, and I worked out at a YMCA. It was comforting being somewhere small and, well, comfortable.
The college I work at now is a small, liberal arts college. Small college equals small, comfortable gym. So from October to May I worked out after work in our tiny exercise room. It was lovely. I even started lifting weights in addition to my cardio routine. I did arms and shoulders on Monday and Thursday and back and chest on Tuesday and Friday. I was getting stronger and feeling awesome.Then in May, the gym closed for remodel—until August 2014.
My immediate thought was "What now?"
Luckily for me, my parents have all of the weightlifting equipment you could ever need. So, in June I started exclusively lifting. I was pushing myself harder and lifting heavier, and honestly in better shape than I had ever been.
Monotony reared its ugly head in late August, and I was honestly just looking for a change of pace to keep my body engaged. Luckily Lisa-Marie over at bodyrock.tv was starting a 30-day challenge in October. Bodyrock and Daily HIIT are websites dedicated to free high intensity interval training videos. They are honestly a godsend. I first came upon bodyrock about two years ago. I did one 30-day challenge, and loved it. Then I would wander over occasionally for a new video.
These fine people post videos every day. Free videos with interval workouts you can complete in as little as twelve minutes. I truly believe that Lisa, Shawn and Freddy are changing lives.
But off my soap box. I am currently at the tail end of Lisa's 30-day challenge. It's seriously amazing. If you need a place to start, start here: Clicky.
So for the past 24 days, I have been rocking out with Lisa for 45-75 minutes a day. It's a mix of cardio and strength training, and really lets me push myself. I love that.
Once the challenge is over, I'm going to start New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'm excited to get back to lifting heavy again. This month has been much needed. And since NROL is only three days a week, I'll likely supplement with some interval exercises at the Daily HIIT.
I'm excited to share that experience with everyone here, and I'll be posting daily to keep you updated. In addition to NROL, I was encouraged to sign up for a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. In the spirit of competition, I threw myself into Couch to 5k (c25k) week 5, so that I can run my 5k as fast as possible.
It will be a very busy November, but I'm so excited to get it going.
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