I can’t believe we’re on our fourth week! Just a few more days and Shirley will once again step on the scale to see how she has improved in terms of weight and fat percentage.
Week 3 focused a lot on interval workouts that got her heart rate up and the same time worked several major muscle groups. To complement her regular Interval training, Shirley also attends Zumba and Yoga classes at Beyond Yoga Bonifacio High Street.
To change things up, we scheduled a free trial session at 360 Plus under Coach Allan. I was there with her, doing a different workout and watching as this girl nailed each exercise. She made it seem so easy! We were there with Nic, and Helen, one of our closest friends, bonding over sweat on a Sunday.
Some days we would work out in the park, taking advantage of the benches, the playground and the huge space. That gave us a lot of playtime too.
Many people ask how we find time to sweat and work out. It’s simple, really. We don’t find the time, WE MAKE TIME FOR IT. If you give it a hundred percent, 15 minutes is more than enough to get an awesome workout. That’s probably the amount of time we often spend debating with ourselves whether or not we should go to the gym.
PLANNING YOUR WORKOUT CALENDAR
It helps to block off your calendar for workouts the way you do for important business meetings. Catch a group class at the gym or at the studio so you’re required to adjust your schedule based on that class. If you’re having trouble getting out of work, do it before going to the office. Nothing beats the endorphins from an early morning run.
Consider it your “me-time” rather than a chore you need to get over with. When you find an activity you enjoy doing, the workout stops being a workout and turns into something you’d want to do every day.
Shirley works at the Sales Department of a petroleum company. Her job requires her to travel a lot and to be on call all the time. She makes time for workouts by planning her schedule at least a day ahead and completing all the urgent tasks before she leaves for her group class or for personal training with me.
It’s best to exercise 6 times a week and leave one day for complete rest and recovery. Don’t overdo it though, it’s good to keep coming back every day for about an hour or so than to go less frequently and overtrain by working out for four hours. Find a steady pace so your workouts become a regular part of your routine and you find yourself looking forward to time you can spend for yourself.
Shirley and I agreed on a workout schedule that looks like this
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Personal Training and Yoga Class | Zumba Class/Yoga Class | Power Yoga Class | Personal Training and Zumba Class | Recovery | Personal Training and Zumba Class or Yoga Class | Recovery / Gentle Yoga Class |
Because she has been attending Zumba and strong Yoga classes even before we started with the 100 days, doing back-to-back workouts has become enjoyable for her. She likes the challenge in our training sessions but you can’t take out the benefits one gets from constant yoga practice.
WHY SCHEDULE A DAY FOR RECOVERY
Come on, who doesn’t want an excuse NOT to go to the gym? But seriously, recovery days are there for you to well…recover.
Each time you go for a workout and find yourself feeling sore the next day, it means you’ve caused tiny tears in the muscles. This doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t work out the following day but ideally, you focus on another set of muscles to give the ones that are sore a bit of time to recover. If you’re into keeping things REALLY organized, plot your entire calendar ahead for a month and indicate which days are leg, arm, back or core days! Recovery day/s allow the entire body to rest and for muscles to heal. Each time tissues are restored, they become tougher and muscles grow stronger. So without time to recover, all you’re doing is causing more and more tiny tears that will eventually build up and most likely lead to over fatigue or injury.
Recovery is as important to the body as exercise is. So be lazy some days so you could get up the next day and HUSTLE.
“WHEREVER YOU ARE, BE ALL THERE”
Take it from Jim Elliot. The best way to achieve your long term goals, whether for health or for any aspect of life, is to take it one day at a time. There’s nothing wrong with planning ahead as long as you’re living in the present. In our case, there’s no rush to achieve Shirley’s target weight of 120LBS, each day we’re focused solely on transforming habits in order to reach measurable goals. Remember that weight loss should not be your primary objective, it’s just a pit stop on your way towards bigger, more important things.
Watch out for Shirley’s first weigh-in since she joined the Healthier in 100 movement. How much has she lost and what has she gained? To be posted at the end of this week!
Beyond Yoga is located at the 3rd Floor, C2 Building Bonifacio High Street Central, 7th Ave, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Visit www.igobeyondyoga.com for more details.
360 Fitness Plus is located at the 3rd Floor of the Active Fun Building, 9th cor. 28th Ave, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Visit www.completethecircuit.com for more details.
Photo of the ceramic meditation clock on the featured image from Etsy.com –and I want one!
