Nope not a veiled reference to a certain book of the 70's but the joy of exercise.
Not something I normally exeprience if I am honest. Most exercise bores me rigid. Not enthralled by the gym, running round the streets dodging the deposits left by bone idle dog owners isn't my bag either. Even HIIT that I'd spoken about in a previous post was enough, despite it being quick still brought out the procrastination in me. In a word I am lazy. Inherently lazy.
That is until around the Christmas period we took the pups to the park. I ended up playing chase with Pup1 and I briefly felt it. The joy of moving my body, feeling the blood pumping round. Not felt this way since.....well ever. Not quite sure why it suddenly struck me. Despite playing netball since Primary school I was always under the impression that I was allergic to exercise. That it was a chore to be avoided.
So imagine my delight when Christmas morning I opened I wonderful present from hubby. The Zumba DVD box set. I am afraid I have joined the legions of fans. I am well and truly hooked.
I must stress I am not affiliated with Zumba or indeed being sponsored for this post. Neither am I urging you to rush out and buy it. But I don't think I've ever willingly exercised four nights out of seven. Ever. In. My. Life.
The reason I love it? I love to dance. It's not unknown for me to stick some music on the iPod and dance around the kitchen like a loon. Now I never had myself down for a latin music lover but I really find this music a great motivator to dance to. Something I've always felt let down most exercise DVD's, the music was never motivating enough to make me move my body for more than one session. It was always such a bore. Not so with this DVD. I am delighted to see that you can even buy the cardio party music on iTunes.
So thank you Zumba. You have sparked an interest in me about moving my body. Not for weightloss but for the sheer joy of just shaking my ass.
And the best thing about the DVD? I am not squeezed into an overcrowded room with 50 other women (and men) flailing their arms about, struggling to see the instructor and the moves they are doing.
Feel the joy or don't feel the joy. It's all about finding what makes you feel good and what you enjoy. If slogging it at the gym is your thing, join one. If it's gardening, go get digging. If it's dancing, join a dance class or just stick on some music. If it isn't fun you will not want to keep doing it.
I'll leave you with one of my favourite of the Zumba songs <head off to go and dance in the kitchen>
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
The E Word, Part Deux
Have you ever read the poem by Jenny Joseph called Warning which mentions wearing more purple? Well I am embracing some of principles in the poem, wearing more purple is one of them. So imagine my delight when I whizzed up to my local sports shop to finally buy myself a pair of new trainers worthy of exercise.
Aren't they just beautiful :) No dull and boring pastel shades here. And in line with my MSE principles they were a bargain price of £75. Nooooooo only kidding they were originally £75 but I paid the princely sum of £18. Ahhhhhh that's better.
So there's no point having a pair of shoes if you're not going to use them. Remember I said I was going to write myself a schedule for my week and include exercise on there......well being the geek I am that's precisely what I did.
I know, I know, it's a teeny bit sad and does make my weeks appear to be something of a groundhog event BUT it's a guide. You can tell this because it's not written in stone ;)
I was finding if I didn't have a visual reminder then I was feeling unmotivated......you remember my Lists post? They are written for the same reason, if it's not in print it gets forgotten.
So as you can see I have my schedule for housework and it also includes referrences to HIIT and Yoga. I am pretty sure most of you are familar with what Yoga is but may be looking blankly at HIIT.
High Intensity Interval Training. Bloomin' hard work BUT the best part it takes 9-20 minutes. OK it's probably 9-20 minutes of sheer hell but I'll take that over slogging on a treadmill for hours anyday. With my small kids, craft projects, cooking, baking, general domestic goddess-ness I prefer exercise that I can shoe horn into my day. HIIT is the perfect tool for that. Only downside is you try skipping after having a couple of kids EEK!
So there's no point having a pair of shoes if you're not going to use them. Remember I said I was going to write myself a schedule for my week and include exercise on there......well being the geek I am that's precisely what I did.
I was finding if I didn't have a visual reminder then I was feeling unmotivated......you remember my Lists post? They are written for the same reason, if it's not in print it gets forgotten.
So as you can see I have my schedule for housework and it also includes referrences to HIIT and Yoga. I am pretty sure most of you are familar with what Yoga is but may be looking blankly at HIIT.
High Intensity Interval Training. Bloomin' hard work BUT the best part it takes 9-20 minutes. OK it's probably 9-20 minutes of sheer hell but I'll take that over slogging on a treadmill for hours anyday. With my small kids, craft projects, cooking, baking, general domestic goddess-ness I prefer exercise that I can shoe horn into my day. HIIT is the perfect tool for that. Only downside is you try skipping after having a couple of kids EEK!
Sunday, 10 July 2011
The E Word.
That dirty word. Exercise. I am acutely aware of how little exercise I do, 10,000 steps? No chance. I may be on my feet all day but much of that is within the confines of my own home or garden. The walk to Pup1's school is 5 minutes if we go really slow and Pup2's pre school is another slow 5 mins in the opposite direction. I do housework and lugging the vac around I suppose counts towards something but I don't much exercise that's soley devoted to.......well exercise. I have an adult tap class which I attend each week but it's not exactly a cardio work out unless you count the amount of talking we do, our tongues must be the fittest part of our anatomy ;)
Those of you that know me will understand my usual "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" approach to most things. I write lists for the small stuff but the big stuff I usually let fly. This has been my approach to looking after myself. Totally unorganised, just going with the flow and unsuprisingly it's not really working very well. So in line with my Frump to Frugal Diva thread a la MSE I need to start writing lists (of course) and planning my "me" time a little bit better than I have been.
Those of you that know me will understand my usual "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" approach to most things. I write lists for the small stuff but the big stuff I usually let fly. This has been my approach to looking after myself. Totally unorganised, just going with the flow and unsuprisingly it's not really working very well. So in line with my Frump to Frugal Diva thread a la MSE I need to start writing lists (of course) and planning my "me" time a little bit better than I have been.
This is a mind map I created about looking after number 1 (aka ME!) - I am certainly not going to win any awards for my mind map or indeed my appalling drawing but it's given me an idea of where I need to focus my attention. Exercise as you can see is listed on there along with a whole host of other items to take into account. So with the mind map in view it's time to start getting real about organising looking after me. It's totally unglamorous, not spontaneous but I need to try a different approach to see if that works. This is is where making myself a schedule is going to come in.
As anal as it's going to seem I think I need a bit of structure to my week, nothing set in stone of course but at least a visual guide to keep me on track. So this schedule will include housework each day; it's also going to include some exercise, just for the hell of it. If I make an appointment with myself to do it then I am likely to stick to it (well that's the theory anyway). So this morning will be spent writing up a schedule to help me regain some routine and thereby allow me to embrace exercise just for fun and as part of looking after number 1 rather than a chore and something I feel endlessly guilty about because I haven't actually done any. Pics of schedule in all it's glory will follow :)
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