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Friday 18 September 2015

Working Out? Yes Duh!

Picture by Abdullah Nasser under CC BY 2.0

I stopped playing tennis a sport which I love when I stated uni. In the past months, my sister kept on telling me to start working out again. My sister is one of these people who give great piece of advices even thought they rarely follow them themselves. Proof in case, she is allergic to any kind of physical activities although she preaches their benefits to whoever is listening. 

For months, I pretended I couldn’t hear her because LAZINESS! You know what, I actually love playing sport but regular, monotonous work out in front of my laptop or at the gym? Forget it!  This requires self-discipline, a concept my mind does not seem to want to grasp. I did try to make it understand, but nope, didn't work. My mind has a mind on his own (it's mind-boggling O_O). I remember back in July I did make an attempt at working out. I learned two important things about myself: 1st) I was badly out of shape and 2nd) I'm the laziest koala in the world. I did that one workout and then proceeded to forget such a word existed for the rest of the summer.

That was until three weeks ago. Perhaps, I had drunk too much diet coke or perhaps I had finally realized that this year I had turned 21 and not 6, whatever the reason, the ending is the same. Three weeks ago, I decided to stop acting like a baby for once and get the sweat going. It turned out that (yet again) my sister was right, including sport in my life again was one of the best things I did in a while.

Because I love to chatter about the things love or think are important. I'm going to give you not one, not two, but FIVE reasons why you might consider adding some workout sessions into your life. You'll thank me for this someday. Maybe. 




*clear throat* Anyway:

1) More energy

I didn't believe it but what people say is true. Doing sport does give more energy or at least make you feel like you have more. I've done some tough cardio workout in the past couple of weeks. I did the Insanity ones with Shaun T which are truly insane. If you’ve never heard of them, you can look some of them up on this channel. Strangely, at the end of the session—no I couldn't muster the courage to do another Insanity workout on the same day—what I gained though, is that my overall level of wellness (I feel so spiritual saying this) was higher. In less flowery terms, I felt good, almost as good as if I’ve had 9 hours of sleep the night before. Furthermore, I've noticed that lately, even though I’m still up and about way past midnight, I'm less tired.


2) Self discipline 

As I so abundantly explained at the beginning of this post, I do struggle with self-discipline. However, when I started working out, I realized that I could fix this flaw (there is hope yet for me!). I would be lying if I said that every single day when I wake up I have the desire to work out. I don't. But I still push myself to do it because I know it’s good for me. That is a form of discipline but that isn't all. I found the videos of the Insanity program on Youtube. At any moment, while working out, I could have said "scr*w that", press stop and go stroll on Twitter. However, I didn't, no matter how hard the exercises we were doing were, I always kept at it. “If you didn't give up on these, why prevent you doing equally challenging things in other areas of your life?” That's what I asked myself once after a session. The answer was "nothing". Between then and now, I've become much more serious. Aside from this whole self discipline thingy, completing tough workout make you feel like you’ve accomplished something.  At least, that does the trick for me.


3) Ward off the calories

There was a box of four donuts in your house. You had planned to eat only one, but then during the first mouthful, you realized how good these donuts truly were. You can’t settle for having tasted so little of this godsent treat, this is why you're adding one more donut to your counter. Then you reason, "I've already eaten two, at this point another doesn't matter" and before we know it, two turned to three! Sooo, one last donut standing—not for long. You end up gobbling it down because, so good! For exactly 120 seconds, you're blissfully wafting in this state of self denial in which having maxed out on the calories doesn’t matter...until reality sinks in. Houston, WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM! You could rationalize that because today you've walked from the train station to your work place/ university in heeled boots it isn't so bad OOOOOOOOR you could do an hour long cardio workout video from Youtube. From experience, I can tell you that the second option is far more effective.

For those of you, who are careful about calories not only for damage control purpose but also because you need to lose weight, doing sport will make it much easier to slim down. It can also allow to play more with food. For example, you could go from a diet that would make a rabbit happy to one consisting of things more exciting than vegetables.  


4) Be part of that healthy livin' club

You know these people who can talk yoga and Pilate the same way other chat House of Cards or Scandal. You would be one of them! You would be that person at dinner table to whom people say: "Oh I wish I could be as dedicated as you" or "What would you recommend to lose my potbelly?" How cool is that?


5) Admire the fruit of your hard work

It's always pleasing to realize that the video that almost sent you to the grave in a not so distant past can now be easily completed. Now, sprinting isn’t the equivalent to running a marathon and your muscles are quicker, sharper and stronger than they've ever been. But you know what?  This isn’t even the cherry on the cake! The greatest satisfaction of them all is when one fine Sunday morning as you're undressing in front of the mirror before taking a shower, you notice that your once flabby butt has become tight and round, that now you can actually see your abs (before they were buried under a layer of fat) or that your legs have gone from stubby and short to long and lean! 



For my part, my main problem area was my derriere. After only three weeks of regular butt shaping exercises, I can definitely see an improvement, so do people around me. My sister is constantly telling me how much better my bum looks. My effort weren't in vain *fist pump*.

Of course now that you've finished reading all these reasons why you should work out, you just want to grab your sweatpants and burn some mean calories. I know you want to, don't even try to deny! However, you got no idea where to start or you're afraid that in a few days from now you're working out effort will go MIA? No worry because I’m there!

If you want (and have the money to spare), you could pay for a membership at a gym club. Generally, on top of being able to use the gym, you have access to the pool, sauna and the classes they offer (yoga, zumba, dance...etc). Of course, the activities offered often depend on how much one is willing to pay…

There’s another option called Youtube where loads and loads of workout videos can be found and it’s free.  There are so many videos available that you'll easily find one that suits your level and needs.

For those who aren’t fond of sport, Youtube might be best for the simple fact that you won’t have to spend a penny (Yay!). The downside of the gym is that it’s easy NOT to attend it and then eventually forget that you ever paid for a membership card. Gyms can turn into a waste of money in a blink of an eye.

That being said, you might be one of these people who can't manage to get motivated to work out unless they go to a real gym. If you're like that, discard my advice and go get yourself that membership!

Now, about motivation. Here, we're entering a tricky territory. Succeeding in making myself work out regularly makes me happy. Besides, I improved my fitness condition and physical appearance. I don't want to lose what I achieved through sweating my butt off (literally). Remembering both of these facts keeps me going. I don't know if it's silly, but so far, it works for me. Everybody is different. Therefore, what is good for me might not be for you but I hope my little input helped you anyway.

Oh and one last thing, when you start working out, it’s better to start slow. For example, you could do 10 or 20 min of exercises during your first sessions and then increase little by little the length and the intensity of your work out. That way, burn out and injuries will be kept at bay.


I'm including links to some videos I really like. You might want to check them out and why not even try them!

Cardio

Insanity Cardio Challenge Day 1 - Very tough cardio workout. But when you finish it, you really feel like you've worked!

Fat-Burning Cardio: Befit in 90 - That's a simple 10 min workout. Excellent for those who're just starting out. You'll get sweaty in a couple of seconds, lol!


The Butt Workouts (My Favorites!)

30 Days Fat Burn: Legs and Butt Shaper - I loooove this one. I did it almost everyday for three weeks and saw a great improvement.

Ballet Beautiful: Lean Legs and Butt Shaper Workout - I won't lie, this one is tough! The first time I did it, I didn't even finish it. I didn't expect this level of difficulty. However, it's really effective. You can tell your bottom half is working.


Yoga and Stretching

Day 1 Ease Into It - Adrienne is an amazing yoga instructor. She gives a lot of explanation, so even if you're a beginner (like me), you'll never feel lost. 

Full Body Stretch Part 2: Lower Body - Psyche Truth is a great channel if you're looking for stretching or even yoga videos. They've also got some nice videos to learn how to do the splits (middle and side).

For yoga, I also like Sara Beth




So, do you guys workout? What are you favorite exercices? How do you keep yourself motivated? Or is reading a good book/watching TV your kind of workout? Did my post made you feel like getting the sweat going?

5 comments:

  1. You had me at "more energy". Lately, I've been feeling so lethargic, and I think it's because of my lack of endorphin. I think I will start with a simple workout, maybe something fun, like dancing. I love to dance. :) Thanks for the tips!

    Dre @ Sporadic Reads

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    1. You're welcome! Oh yeah you could start with dancing you would have fun while burning calories, lol. I stay clear from any dancing workout because I suck at it, lol. You'll be full of energy in no time! Thanks for commenting!

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  2. I absolutely love work outs! I work out with my team when I have basketball training, but when I don't do it, I do yoga every single morning and my own hour long workouts with a youtube channel called fitness blender. It's wonderful!

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    1. I didn't know you were so sporty. I follow fitness blender as well! I love this channel! They have so much choice. And I think they always give good explanations of their exercices.

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  3. First of all, because its been a while - your blog looks great!! =D This was a good post. I needed something to boost me up to exercise more O_O I go through phases of high and low motivation. I can start with something but then I'll probably drop off quite quickly. I went to a gym for a while and that was cool but I got bored of it.

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