how i have been working out

NOTE: This blog post is being written in unprecedented times and there are a lot of messages out there about what you should or shouldn’t be doing right now. Your weight or fitness level at the end of this time doesn’t matter. I have good days and bad days and while for the most part I have enjoyed working out and getting active, there are days where I barely leave the bed (except to head to the couch) and watch more episodes of Netflix than I would like to admit.

For the past eight months (pre-Coronavirus) I really enjoyed going to the gym. I had my weekly yoga class with my favourite teacher, I was working my way through Lizzie McGuire while on the elliptical or treadmill, and enjoyed feeling myself getting a bit stronger on the weight machine. Then the community centres and gyms closed and we were all left with taking our workouts home, something I hadn’t really been doing since headed to the gym.

On the bright side I have a lot of time on my side right now to workout (though I am not hard on myself if I don’t) and there are so many great free options out there currently so that however I want to move I have the option.

I also don’t own much in the way of equipment. I have a yoga mat, a few resistance bands, and 2 and 3 pound weights so I mainly focus what I can do on my own without any materials at all.

Outside

Since the weather is getting better I have enjoyed going outside for long walks around the neighbourhood. Sometimes this is together with my husband, and sometimes this has been alone with a good podcasts and no specific destination in mind. I am exploring the trails and streets and really enjoy looking at everyones houses.

I also enjoy getting outside to garden. Getting down in the dirt for an hour or two is a pretty low impact form of exercise, but it is getting my body moving in a different way. The sunshine is also great for my soul.

Yoga

I really enjoyed my weekly yoga class and the time that I spent just stretching and listening to my body. I knew that I wanted to continue to stretch in this time as stress makes me tense up and I just feel better when my body moves a little. Before the shut down I took out a book from the library with a ton of yoga poses and routines (with pictures for each one) that I have been working my way through.

I also enjoy going through yoga routines on Youtube. One of my favourite channels is Yoga with Adriene who has tons of routines of all different lengths and difficulty. She recently did a 30 day series called Home which I will try to work through this month doing a routine every day.

Other Youtubers

There are tons of fitness Youtubers out there with free online workouts. One person that I have been following for years is Casey from Blogilates. She has lots of pilates style workouts, many of them under 10 minutes and using nothing more than your body and a mat.

I have recently been doing some workouts from other people as well including Maddie from MadFit. I have been loving her videos lately, especially her song workouts. You move continually for the length of one song which seems easy, but it gets you in quite a sweat. She has longer videos as well and I have really been enjoying them.

Zanna van Dijk doesn’t only have workout videos on her channel, but I have also been enjoying her videos when looking for another video. She has many 10 minute videos which I think is a great length.

Usually when I am working out I try and do a combination of a few videos or self-exercises for about 30-40 minutes. I also currently like working out in the morning before getting started on the rest of my day.

Have you been working out lately? What have you enjoyed doing lately?