Finding My Motivation

My health really took a big hit this summer. It was 100% completely my fault. Between traveling (Nevada City, San Diego, Texas, Thailand) and making the final push to get everything in order for the mission trip, I had very little time to myself. I had little time at home, little time to rest and little time to make an effort to take care of me. One of the goals I set for myself was that once I was back from Thailand I would start saying no to more things and become diligent in taking care of me once more. This includes: exercise, healthy diet, adequate rest, doing things I enjoy and taking care of my house. Honestly, after we got back from Thailand, I slept for about four days straight. I am still not completely back on PST,  but I am close. But, this week (1.5 weeks removed) has been wonderful in terms of taking back my life.

One thing I am using to help me do this is Twitter. Twitter? I know, it sounds weird. However, I got the idea from my "Health" magazine. It recommended following certain sites/people like "Harvard Health" to find daily motivation. I made an account, followed their recommended people and also followed my two favorite health magazines: "Health" and "Shape." It has been so great. I just jump onto Twitter and it is loaded with quotes, tips, workouts, MOTIVATION. Love it!

It sounds stupid, but Twitter really got me excited for my workout this morning. Between Babe Ruth quotes and workout ideas... I was pumped up!

Usually I walk hills in the mornings for about 45 minutes. This summer, I rarely did this and it was very apparent. :) This week I started walking again and it felt great. I had bought a watch to use in Thailand and now that I am back I have been using it to time myself and motivate myself to go faster on my walks. I felt really fabulous after today's workout and so I wanted to blog about it because a) I want to remember how accomplished and great I feel today and b) maybe it will inspire you to get up off the couch and start working out too.

Friday is usually what my walking partner and I call "the short walk." She has limited time on Fridays to walk so we cut our walk by about 15 minutes. Today we were really moving and after I dropped her off at her house only 14 minutes had passed. Usually it is another 10 minutes to my house. For some reason (probably Twitter) I felt so motivated to start running home instead of walking. Well, there are some pretty big hills so run/walk. Anyway, I got home in 7 minutes instead of 10! Woot woot!

This put me at just over a 20 minute workout and I wanted to keep it going so I logged on to my Twitter and pulled up this post from Shape magazine. If you check it out, I went with the jump roping. I did 10 reps which took five minutes. A five minute workout? Sign me up! It was great because it kept my heart rate up, allowed for a rest period and didn't take a long time to complete. It was the perfect thing to tack on to the end of my walk. Plus, I had the added bonus of being able to watch "The Amazing Race" while I was doing it.

Then, because I really want to focus on building arm strength, I decided to end my workout with a little yoga. I pulled this article out of my "Health" magazine and it is so awesome. However, I will never post a picture on here of me doing it because.... well I don't look anything like the picture. I look more like a whale trying to do ballet. Anyway, check out the photo below to get the full workout. Basically, you just do each pose for five breaths and then repeat 5-8 times. I'm working up to it. :D

So there it is. My 30 minute, Friday workout. What motivates you to workout?

Next week is Salad Week on my blog! I am partnering with a couple of other bloggers to bring you delicious, easy salads all week long. I'll have fresh easy ideas all week long starting on Monday!