walking

I recently joined a local choir. I have been a singer for a pretty hefty portion of my life, even majoring in vocal performance in college, but as soon as I graduated, I needed to get away from it. After taking two years off from singing in pretty much any capacity, I was itching to get back into it. But I knew I didn’t want to go in as intensely as I had before. So, I went back to my roots. I joined a local church choir that meets only a couple of blocks from my house. I am by far and away the youngest person there by a good thirty or forty years. When I first set out to join, I was nervous. I hadn’t sung in awhile and I wasn’t sure if I would like singing in that setting, but I couldn’t be happier that I joined. As I was sitting listening to those around me, I couldn’t help thinking about how this paralleled so perfectly with starting a workout regimen.

We all start at different levels. Some have a natural talent for running at the drop or a hat or just being able to lift heavier than the person next to them, but to get better, they have to train. You can’t expect to get fit by just wishing it. You can’t expect to be a good singer if you never sing. Everyone starts somewhere. Even if you are the worst singer in the world, as long as you dive in and try, who cares. The same can be said for working out. Maybe you can’t even run one mile. If you start working for it, eventually you will get there. You just have to break past that comfort zone and just try it. Just start. You could be the worst singer, runner, pretty much anything in the world, but as long as you’re trying at it, it doesn’t matter.

Here’s a little fall full-body workout for you to try that you can either do one time through for a quick 15 minute workout or twice through for a bigger challenge. Either way, it’s a great one whether today is your first day hitting the gym or not. As long as you’re getting out there and pushing yourself out of that comfort zone, you should be proud. And at the end of the day, that’s all that counts.

-sj

I have been loving adding more weights into my workouts these days, but I’m not the type of person who can just sit at a squat rack for a half and hour and be happy with my workout. Some can, it’s just not me. I need to get my blood moving and my heart pumping while still getting in that resistance that strength training provides.

I have been doing workouts for the past couple of months that involve 2 7 minute circuits done twice for a total of 28 minutes (not including breaks between circuits). I loved this style of workout when I first started, but recently, they I haven’t been as motivated to bang them out and found myself counting down the seconds until the timer rang out to me that I was finished. So, when I was creating my workout today, I wanted it to be something a little different. I didn’t go for time, but just focused on getting everything completed with proper form and, let me tell you, my muscles are really feeling it right now.

Up & Down Pyramid Workout

For this workout, you’re going to do a squat and press (using 5-10lb weights) and a box jump. If you can’t do box jumps, a weighted step-up is fine, but each step only counts as a half rep. The pyramid goes like this:

15 squat & press, 1 box jump
14 squat & press, 2 box jumps
13 squat & press, 3 box jumps
12 squat & press, 4 box jumps
11 squat & press, 5 box jumps
10 squat & press, 6 box jumps
9 squat & press, 7 box jumps
8 squat & press, 8 box jumps
7 squat & press, 9 box jumps
6 squat & press, 10 box jumps
5 squat & press, 11 box jumps
4 squat & press, 12 box jumps
3 squat & press, 13 box jumps
2 squat & press, 14 box jumps
1 squat & press, 15 box jumps

This is such a killer and your arms and legs will be burning at the end of it. Seriously, I was struggling walking this afternoon taking Boo out. It was so fun to switch it up a little bit and play around. Plus, it never hurts to just jam out to some tunes while jumping on and off a box like a little kid. Fun Fact: I used to do box jumps on the steps outside my last apartment because I could never find a small enough box at my gym. Keep an eye out, you’ll be surprised how many weird little places to workout there are as soon as you start looking.

-sj

Love & Lunge

getting out of that comfort zone.

pyramid workout goodness