So, Feel the Burn Thursday! What workouts have you done this week? What workouts do you have planned for the rest of the week?
I want to hear what your "internal dialogue" is when you're about to work out or while you're working out. Is there something that you tell yourself to get you motivated to exercises? To get your booty out the door? Is there something you tell yourself or think about while you're exercising to push it to just a little bit harder or just a little bit further?

I was talking to a friend about this last night, someone who's a treadmill newswatcher at 5 am:) When she's running and feels like she's ready to call it quits, she looks at the timer on the treadmill and tells herself, "ok, just two more minutes, you can do it." Then when two more minutes hit, she knows that because she just hit two minutes when she didn't feel like it, she knows that she can push it for two more minutes. Then bit by bit she gets through the end of her workout and is proud. Horray :)
For me, I'm so OCD about organization in life that I workout regularly and best when I schedule it in. I know....da da da da da....looney....but it helps me and my routine development. I'm training for my first ever marathon (Oct 10th Whistlestop Marathon) and I have this marathon training schedule on my fridge. I get a joy out of checking off a day's run. I am so proud that in the last 6 weeks or so, I've only missed one workout! I do a short run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, a medium run on Thursdays, rest on Fridays, a long run on Saturdays, casually walk on Sundays w/ the fam to recover, and rest on Mondays. When I'm not feeling like getting my run in, I tell myself, "Look, you can't break the rhythm you've got going on!" Ha, and I have to say, seeing calories blasted away on My Fitness Pal is pretty sweet feeling! When I'm running, I let my mind wander and I relax. I think about my day, things going on in my life, meditate a little about whatever. Then I glance down at my GPS and am shocked b/c it didn't feel like I had been running that long or that far. By thinking about other things, the time flies I can thus go further and push myself more than I could if I was laser-focused on the timer on a treadmill. So I guess being OCD & a space cadet is working for me :)
What's working for you? What do you tell yourself to get your sweat on? Or are you a git-er-done-no-questions-asked kinda person?






























Making this new goal of a half-marathon has given me a more definite plan as to what I need to do daily in the exercise department, so that's good!!!! I have to admit that getting out the door to exercise isn't my problem, it's the scheduling of WHEN I can go. I LOVE to go exercise! While I enjoy getting healthier, it's really more about a break for me from my kids right now! :) I can't tell you how I love that alone time with my thoughts. We really do need that every day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So my internal dialogue going out the door and exercising is, "Yeah, I get to be alone for a while!!!!!" I also enjoy exercising with friends and my family. It feels good having my kids being a part of our exercising and staying active. I hope it sticks with them. (I guess that's up to me and my hubby.) :) Thanks Sarah for PUSHING me into the half-marathon! Ha ha just kidding! :)
ReplyDeleteHey, there was no physical force involved whatsoever....you secretly wanted to ;)
ReplyDeleteThis week I've decided to do morning workouts. So what works for me is, as soon as the alarm goes off I throw the covers off of me, sit up, then immediately get out of bed. Otherwise I'll just go back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteI love running and biking outside and looking around: that's a big drift of snow, the tulips are coming up, kids riding their bikes, the leaves are changing, etc. When I'm less motivated, I use my iPod shuffle; sometimes I listen to upbeat dance music, for jogging I love the rhythm and stamina of Coldplay songs (has a slow and steady Keep Going feeling and an epic I'm-doing-something-great sound). And if I really need to get through a workout, I load up an NPR podcast like "Wait, Wait! Don't Tell Me" and distract myself (lose track of time) listening to the stories and laughing at the jokes.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's better to just throw in a DVD of Taebo or yoga and not think. I also like doing the Zumba videos on youtube (the choreography by Adriana Martinez/Fresh Shapes is my fav!).
I went to my regular Wednesday night class at the gym and I have got to tell you...it was the best workout I have had in a L O N G time. Reason? I was really frustrated with something that happened at work, I took that frustration and pushed myself harder...it felt wonderful after my endorphins kicked in. So my tips this week...when frustrated, go work out and push yourself!
ReplyDeleteLinds & Jessie- I came accross something from a friend (Miyoshi for those of you that know her :)) that I thought would be perfect for you since you're looking to tone up and not really lose weight. I plan on doing this after I get my last 10 lbs off in about a month and a half. It's a free online training guide/schedule for making us be able to eventually do 100 consecutive pushups or 200 situps at the end of the 6 weeks! Crazy! I'll just be honest, I plan on doing the MODIFIED girly pushups from my knees :) Check it out, though! Free & simple are appealing to me :)
ReplyDeletehttp://hundredpushups.com/index.html
http://www.twohundredsitups.com/
Oh, and for you iPhone users, each of those has an app in the appstore for you, but it costs $1.99 each. Has a neat timer to time your rests between sets & monitors your progress :) I'll prob check it out this fall...
I've found my favorite workout . . . mowing the lawn! Push mowing my hilly lawn for 2 hours is a strenuous workout! I like to do exercise in a way that I feel like I'm doing something else and exercising without knowing it. (make any sense?) For example: washing my van inside and out - did that yesterday; walking the dog; shoveling snow in the winter; hard core cleaning the house; biking to the library in town - did that for the first time Wed. Exercise like this helps me feel more distracted during and more productive when I'm done. Weird, I know.
ReplyDeleteSarah F., I LOVE Zumba! You girls should all look up a workout on you tube of this Latin dance music aerobics- lots of booty shaking :) and hip twirling. Great workout. Megan, that's awesome about getting a lot done WHILE working out- double whammy of good feelings :) Jessie, I am going to try morning runs this week, so we'll see if I can do it! It'll be a big challenge for me! Nicki- I would love to hangout with your kiddos any evening for an hour while you workout or jog :) Just let me me know when!
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