Exercise High

My first week is complete! I think I did a pretty good job with eating healthy and working out. I've been making sure I ate clean, or at least more clean than I ate before, and getting my vegetables in! I'd much rather eat fruit than vegetables, I just get sick of them so quickly. I basically never ate vegetables before, so my body is probably thanking me. I've been sticking to chicken or shrimp with vegetables, seasoned with Mrs.Dash. I'm very proud of myself for pushing through, even on the days I didn't want to do anything. I did take one rest day, but it was planned. I've already noticed a teeny tiny difference, and my flexibility is getting better! Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be able to do the splits, I'm almost there!

My boyfriend always talks about having a pump and feeling like your muscles are full and just engorged with blood. I never understood what that feeling felt like until Friday when I worked my arms. I superset with a band working my biceps, shoulders, and triceps doing 3 reps of 20 each. Holy, did my muscles ever feel swollen. I've never felt anything like it, but I loved it. I instantly went to the bathroom when I was done and shamelessly flexed haha. Yesterday my boyfriend and I ran stairs and worked our abs. I find it so much better working out with him because he pushes me to go harder. I don't think I've trained my brain to push as hard as he pushes me. After our workout I felt that swollen feeling in my abs again, excited, I ran into the bathroom to see the damage. My stomach looked more toned and it motivated me to continue in this journey so those abs will stay! Especially without flexing haha.

I'm on such a high right now, I'm so happy, so proud, so motivated, and I can't wait until May 1st to see what 30 days worth of healthy eating and exercising can do. I have a history of giving up after the first week and a half or second week, but I just can't this time. I have to push through!

Why I haven't run outside. It's -6 now and has been snowing the past couple of days.

After my ab workout, there is still lots to improve on.

Arm day!

The weakest part of my body are my arms! I hate lifting weights and I avoid working my arms at any cost. I enjoy the burn in my legs, but I can't stand it in my arms for whatever reason. Despite my hatred, I worked on my arms/shoulders this morning and went for a run. The first official run outside this season!

Today, I didn't use the medicine ball because my upper body is so weak; I'll need to get back into things before adding it into my arm workout.

April 2nd:

3 x 20 Tricep Dips
3 x 15 Push Ups
3 x 26 Shoulder Stabilization
2.30 KM Run

Now, I'm not a fitness expert at all. I literally just Google workouts pertaining to the area I'd like to work on that day. I'm not sure if the "Shoulder Stabilization" is a legitimate thing, but it burned so I'm hoping it is! If you know the actual name for this, if that's not it, let me know. It's when you lay flat on your stomach, with your arms straight in front of your head and palms together. The site I found it on said to make the letters "I, Y, O, W", but I just decided to do the alphabet. I find it easier to keep track of how many reps you do.

I'm painfully sore from yesterday, but still pushed myself to go for a run. My calves, thighs, butt and lower back are causing me to awkwardly waddle around the house like a penguin. For my first run, I didnt want to go too far, I wanted to get my mind and body back in love running. I ran 19 blocks, while weaving in and out of puddles and running on the road to avoid mud and ice patches. I use the Nike+ app on my phone and it logged me at 2.30KM's.

Day 1 - Phew!

Happy Monday/April Fools!

Today marks the official start of my journey. If you noticed the time stamp on my last post, you can assume I stayed up late last night. I actually didn't go to bed until around 3:00AM. Yikes. I prefer to work out early in the morning, especially if I'm going out for a run, but that was not happening today.

I think I did pretty well my first day back in action after a six month winter break, besides dance classes. The weather outside is nice, but I decided to stay indoors and run the stairs in my building. It was pretty tough getting out of bed, so leaving my building would be even harder. 

I'm hoping for more tone and definition. I'll take a progress picture on the 1st of every month. This was taken this morning on an empty stomach before my workout.

The only weight I have available is my boyfriends 3kg medicine ball. So when possible, I will be using that in my exercises. I'll only be doing cardio and body weight exercises.

April 1st:

4 x 20 Lunge Jumps

4 x 20 Squats 

1 Min. per Leg Quadruped Leg Lift 

4 x 12 Stair Cases 

When I run stairs I do it different every time I finish a full set of stairs. The first time going up I touch every stair, the second time I skip every other stair, then I two foot hop (like a bunny), and finally end with running as fast as I can, however I can, which usually ends up with me skipping every other step. Once I'm done a round of 12 stair cases, I wait at the bottom and allow my heart rate to slow down a bit and go again.