I'm going to begin (as I so often do) with a confession: I shot these pictures and loaded this post into my Drafts back in January. January! Oh, remember how I was going to talk about being open to healthy living? As it turns out, the only thing I've been open to in 2012 so far is distraction. Bless it.
Anyway, I'm reviving the this is where series primarily to re-motivate myself. I have fallen way off the healthy living wagon. I sorta rationalized it with just doing what I had to do to get through the stress of finishing the book and all the stuff of getting it released.
But yay! We survived! And now I need to get back to taking care of myself, both with diet and exercise.
After we began our low-carb approach to eating, Kyle and I began to pursue some workout programs that would help us build on how much better we were feeling internally. Kyle got right on board with P90X; I was more hesitant to do weight training. More on that in a bit.
We cleared out our upstairs bedroom/storage room and made space for getting in shape.
I wish I had before pictures of this space because ohmygosh. It was AWFUL. You couldn't walk through it without stepping on clothes or suitcases or toys. Awful. But once we set our minds to tackling it, it only took one afternoon to tidy up!
We knew we would need a TV/DVD, so we pulled together some miscellaneous components for that part of the space. Kyle shopped Craigslist like a champ, and we slowly added free weights and other kinds of equipment to make a little makeshift home gym area.
We have no central heat or air in our upstairs, so we have to rely heavily on fans in the summer and a space heater in the winter.
So, as many women are, I was hesitant to try weight training. I did not want to bulk up. However, remember a few years ago when I trained to run that 10K? Well, throughout all of the running I did to train for that, would you believe I did not lose one single pound? That helped to convince me that I have finally reached that age in life when cardio training on its own is no longer effective for weight loss.
Kyle helped me research and I eventually decided to try a workout program also by Beachbody (the company that does P90X) called ChaLEAN Extreme.
I LOVE this workout program! I use free weights with it, but you could use excerise bands if you don't have space for free weights. I love that you can start where you are (yes, I started many of the exercises with five pound weights!) and gradually build your strength.
Chalene emphasizes again and again that our metabolism doesn't slow down simply because we are getting older, it slows down because as we age, we lose muscle. Muscle burns fat, and so we as we lose that muscle, we lose our ability to burn fat efficiently.
I also love that ChaLEAN Extreme workouts are a lot shorter than the P90X. I couldn't commit to hour long (or more) workouts every single day, but 35 minutes, 5 days a week? I can do that.
Our home gym isn't picture perfect. We have a few baby things stashed in there that we can't quite turn loose of yet. There are often toys that have migrated in there from the playroom. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's cold. There are empty glasses of water and stinky socks on the floor.
It's not pretty, but it works for us. And I reeeeeeally need to get back up there and make use of it. It feels good to push myself, to make myself do hard things, to remind myself that I am strong.
It's not fancy, but this is where we work out.
