Alright, y'all...here's a general, simple FITNESS post! Who goes to the gym? Yes? No? If your answer is no... JOIN ONE. NOW. and Do. Not. Get. On. The. Treadmill. (unless you plan on doing sprints) Here's the thing. You join a gym. You get overwhelmed. You walk up to the treadmill. You walk. You get off. You may or may not stretch. Maybe do a couple crunches. You leave. Ok, nothing wrong with that, better than sitting on the couch, but its time to step up your game!! Now that you've got the clean eating down and you're changing your lifestyle to turn into the beautiful, sexy beast you know you are, here's a little advice for the gym.
1. Take the classes. Try them all. They are free, included in your membership, and simply amazing. We moved to San Francisco, immediately joined a gym, and even though I know what I am doing on the floor... I tried EVERY. SINGLE. CLASS. You have an instructor who is professionally trained and lots of other people who are right there with ya. Most of which have no idea what they are doing. Don't be fooled--90% of the people in a spin class and other classes are not in tip top shape. I do spin class once per week (sweaty, good music, heart rate soaring, black lights, adrenaline rush, break from my kids?! I think so!) and a couple full body conditioning classes. There were a few classes I never went back to because they weren't for me...But guess what? I tried them all and decided which ones I liked and which ones fit into my schedule. Guess what else? I met so many amazing friends in the last 3 months! Women and mothers I never would have met if I wouldn't have tried out these classes.
2. Childcare. Join a gym with childcare. Most gyms offer 2 hours per day, every day of the week. My girls think this is the most amazing place in the world, they play with their friends, (yes, the kids of the women in my classes and others) get to get out of the house, interact, and spend time away from me. And, oh yeah, I get time away from them too. This is super important to me. I get some "me" time. I take a class or lift, I shower, rock out to some Lumineers Pandora on my iPhone and get ready for the day in the locker room. Alone. Enough said.
3. Now that your kids are safe in the childcare center and you've got a couple classes you like for the week, lets talk about cardio. My cardio for the week is one spin class and getting my heart rate up with lifting and one of my classes I take that we run around and do some plyos and sprints sometimes. Keeping your heart healthy is so important! Get that heart rate up! Walking on the treadmill or hanging out on the elliptical doesn't count. Sorry.
4. Now lets talk about lifting. I like to pick up heavy things. This excites me a lot. I like to see how much weight I can dead lift and squat. I like to see what my body is capable of. The first time I tried to see how much weight I could squat..I squatted 135 pounds. I was hooked. Oh my gosh, what a rush! I can do that?! My little tiny 110 pound body can get in that squat rack and put the big 45's on the bar and squat it!? How BADASS!
I promise you... you will not get big lifting weights. Women often believe this misconception and myth and apparently hardly ever believe me..I don't know how many times I've been told that THEY will get big even tho I am not big because I am naturally small. WHAT? No. Just... No.
Getting your form right is the top priority here. Don't go out there not knowing what you're doing and try to pick up a bunch of weight. But don't you dare pick up the 2 pound dumbbells...Come on, your diaper bag weighs at least 15 pounds and you lug that sucker around all day!
There are plenty of places you can watch videos online for how to perform exercises. YouTube, Crossfit.com has about every lift ever on video, etc. And your classes!! Does your gym offer bodypump? Your instructor can help. And I bet your gym gave you a free personal training session when you signed up! USE IT! Ask questions! Get that info! Ask the personal trainers in the gym. Even if you aren't in a session with them, ask them to show you how to perform an exercise correctly or how to use a machine. That's what they're there for. Talk to them. They rock.
Now..your workout is over. Time to stretch. Take a stretching class or look it up online. This will keep you from getting too sore the next day and help elongate your muscles. Look up stretching online or take a class. Foam roll. Oh man...get on that foam roller. Its like a massage. Gyms have them. Mobility and stretching are a necessity. I will post blogs soon with information on this.
My workouts change regularly and I plan my workouts in a little notebook on Sunday night for the week. You don't want to overwork a certain muscle group and you want to give your muscles time to recover. Here is a basic look at what my workouts look like right now. (This is different for everyone and just what works for me--don't just try to follow my schedule. This is a schedule based on my body and class times at my gym around our other activities.)
Sunday: Rest day. I will be fresh for anything tomorrow!
Monday: I start by working on weaknesses. I want to do pullups like a beast. I work on my shoulder mobility and warm up, and see how many pull ups I can do. Then I do some assisted pull ups. I work on pistol squats and anything else I want to work on.
I then do some bench press and push ups for chest and hit shoulders.
Tuesday: Foam rolling, stretching, spin class!
Weds: Back, biceps, triceps. (I also use the row machine between some sets--get my heart rate up and still work my whole body)
Thursday: I take a class where we use weights and do a lot of shoulders, chest, and ab/core work. Notice, I hit shoulders and chest on Monday so they are fresh for this class today! This class is more heart rate up, lower weights. Monday's I use heavier weights and don't try to get my heart rate up as much.
Friday: Ultimate conditioning class. We never know what to expect. Wall balls, sprints, lunges, jump squats, box jumps, planks, push ups, thrusters, BURPEES for days. Amazingness. My favorite day of the week!
Saturday: Legs!! As long as we didn't completely kill our legs on Friday, I do heavy leg day on Saturdays. Leg press, deadlifts, back squats, front squats, Bulgarian split squats, pistol squats, sumo squats, goblet squats, (Are you noticing a pattern? Yeah, drop it like a squat..)
I hope this helps! Next up, blogs I love and supplements.
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