Old Friends.

Earlier this month, I decided to reunite with an old friend: 24 Hour Fitness. I was just having gym withdrawals, what can I say? I was keeping up with workouts at home just fine, but getting out of the house and sweating elsewhere just keeps me a bit more sane. Plus, I missed the elliptical, stair master, row machine and spin bikes. I was still able to use my employer discount and returned to the 24.99/month rate. It's just too good to pass up!

I think the new fitness variety has helped with my weight goals too; I'm now over 10 pounds down in my 20 pound goal! Prior to returning to the gym, my loss stalled because I was basically gaining and losing the same 3 pounds for w-e-e-k-s. Said stall was primarily due to poor weekend food choices, but I think re-joining 24 boosted my overall motivation. Feeling really great this week.

My new cardio routine has been a 20 min. cross-training program on the elliptical followed by 30-40 minutes of spinning. The result? Serious muscle confusion! The elliptical routine calls for intervals of back-pedaling, which I've never really done. As for the spinning, I've been going to the cycle room when there's not a class and just do my own custom routine, mostly based on whatever songs come up on my playlist. Tough, but really fun! Lots of speed intervals and hill climbs. Spinning seems to paint a better picture of what level of shape I'm in. Let's just say I now know I've got some work to do, haha.

For strength and resistance training, I stay at home and either do a Nike Women NTC workout, some good ol' Jari Love DVDs or Jillian's new Ripped in 30. I've only done the Week 1 workout and can't really do a full review, but I will say that if you loved 30 Day Shred and classic Jillian moves, you NEED to have this in your rotation.

Additional NTC love: I unlocked all of the badges! Now I'm moving on to the Advanced workouts. Did a 30 minute Get Strong routine the other day and it was no joke. Best. Free. Fitness App. Ever!

Still plugging along in my Personal Trainer studies. Some chapters make my eyes glaze over, but others are just so damn fascinating! I'm regularly reminded that I'm definitely pursuing the right career.

Life is pretty peachy right now. No real complaints. Other than running. Buh. Yeah, definitely on a downswing with that. So much so that I'm considering bailing on the 5K I signed up for on April 16th. Obviously my attitude toward running was on an upswing when I registered for the race, but these days? Not so much. But, I still have another couple of weeks, so maybe things will change for the better by then. It just sucks because every time I do practice runs, I instantly start worrying about speed and it just makes for a grueling workout. Oh well.

I suppose that's enough of a fitness update for now. I think I'll leave you with some of the songs that came up while I was spinning today. I really should think about becoming an instructor; my music kicks so much more ass than the usual stuff they play...









Yeah, that would be the best spin class ever.