WHAT AM I DOING: EXERCISE EDITION

I have been getting so many questions about what I am doing to lose the weight. I can easily leave it at exercise and diet but I feel like that such generic answer. Of course we all know I am working out, that’s what has to happen. I used to get so mad when I would read that generic answer. I get it, sometimes we don’t know were to start and just want a little guidance. I want to share with you what I am currently doing but I have to preface it with this. Please do not start any program without first consulting professionals. I mean doctors, trainers, anyone that has experience in the field. I know so many people that swear by the “no gym needed” motto and I commend them for that BUT I do know how important proper form and technic is not only to effectively lose weight and gain strength but also to prevent injury. Even if its just spending time on youtube watching videos on proper form…just make sure that you are properly cleared and educated before you jump in. Secondly, this is what has been working for me so far. This journey is not cookie cutter and what works for me might not work for the next person. As I move forward on my journey my routine will most likely change. I am keeping my goals strong and my methods flexible.

Ok, now that the boring stuff is out of the way lets talk about where I am training. I will be 100% honest, I am not yet responsible enough when it comes to my workouts to train on my own at home.That is really sad too because I pretty much own everything I need, with the exception of maybe a battle rope and tire, to do functional fitness training at home. Because I know this about myself I opt to train at the dojo.The Dojo is the martial arts school that my children attend. I used to take a workout class there several years ago and really enjoyed it. I am doing personal training with one other woman 6 days a week. My trainer is a Sifu (instructor) at the dojo named Terrance, we call him Sifu T or just T. We work together Monday through Saturday for 45 minutes.

The best way I can explain the type of workouts he has me doing is to classify it as functional fitness. Functional fitness is when you train multiple muscle groups at the same time using movements that are common in daily life or sports. For instance squats, walking carrying weights (farmer carry), walking, and step ups. Functional fitness also focuses on core stability. So any exercise that we are doing he is consistently telling me to tighten my abs and straighten my back. There are days when the focus is more strength related, meaning that we focus on the amount of weights that I am working with. Then there are days that we focus more on cardio or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). When we do HITT the focus switches from heavier weights to short periods of intense exercise with less-intense short rest periods. I never know what we are doing from day to day. He is constantly switching the workout up to keep my body confused which helps build strength and keeps me from hitting a plateau. Every day we start with a 5 minute warm-up, that usually consists of walking and some other cardio activity and a good stretch out. Some days he will focus more on one area than another for instance leg day, arm and back day, core day. Even with this we still work total body in some way. I like to say “every day is leg day” because he never gives our legs a break. One day out of the week he stretches us for the entire 45 minutes. Because I am still pretty limited in my movement he modifies my workouts to fit my ability and keep me safe.

So far I am feeling good. I am constantly sore but I am getting use to it and actually kind of look forward to it. The first week or two were rough because it had been so long since I had been active and everything was difficult. I am really looking forward to the day that I can come in full of energy and leave feeling worked but refreshed.

We have made the decision to start filming clips of my modified workouts to share with everyone. If there is anything that you have been wanting to do but feel you cannot do it in the traditional form please email me and let me know. We will do our best to film a modified version of it for you.