Shrinking Daisy

Make Like a Fish and Swim!

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 | Exercise | 1 Comment

Every summer I’m sad that I work in an office.  I look through the sea of beige cubes at the very far away windows and remember what summer was like when I was a kid, all parks and camps and especially swimming!!! Although I am at least a runner up for most uncoordinated person in the western hemisphere, swimming was always a sport that I loved, and excelled at!

This year I decided to fight my extreme cheapness, and pony up for a summer membership to my local pool.  When I have to pay each time I go to the pool, I usually err on the side of not paying the entrance fee and skip it, but with a summer membership, there’s no excuse!

When I bought the membership, I discovered something great, not only can I cool off at the pool after work, but they have an early morning lap swim as well.  What a great way to get exercise.  So I’ve been shaking up the routine, swimming laps in the morning, and using muscles I’d forgotten I had! Swimming is so invigorating, you get cardio and resistance workout at the same time, you utilize your entire body, and….. you feel like a kid again!!! (the best part)

So… if you haven’t gone out to the pool yet, give it a try, it just may be the fun workout you’ve been looking for!

Tags: pool, swimming

Zumba

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Exercise | 2 Comments

So.. I mentioned drop in classes at the community center.. but I didn’t tell you about the love of my exercising life (if there could be such a thing) ZUMBA! What is this? Basically a Latin dance party disguised as a workout, it is amazing! I must admit that on my own sweating and jumping around doesn’t seem so appealing, but suddenly in a class full of people with a high energy motivating instructor making you dance around… it’s fun!  I’ve even started dropping in on extra classes at a local dance studio, I just feel energized afterwards!

In truth, I am a total exercise class avoider, I laughed at my mother for dancing around in spandex when I was a kid… but well, I guess we all come full circle because here I am rhumba-ing my nights away and loving it.  Do you know what I love about it the most? Everybody can do it.  The class I go to is full of all kinds of people, and they aren’t worrying about whether or not they jiggle the most or if they can do the steps right, we’re all jiggling, and everybody messes up! (This is good news for the coordination challenged among us) I can’t take credit for the idea, it’s another suggestion from my always inspiring weight watchers meeting, a recommendation from a member, well…. Thanks! It’s been awesome!

So… get over to the Zumba website they have a nifty class finder and you can Zumba too!

www.zumba.com

Tags: Exercise, zumba

Bleary-Eyed Exercising Excitement!

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 | Exercise, Thoughts | No Comments

So… here’s a confession: If I don’t work out the moment I wake up in the morning, there’s only about a 50% chance that I will… If I make it past noon, it’s around 15%.  People say they can’t get up, but to each his own.  For me I can’t argue with myself at 5:30am, I’m too foggy.  I just get up and do it, like brushing your teeth.

Lately though, the old routine had gotten stale, the elliptical, while I love it, just wasn’t vaulting me out of bed every morning, it was a cardio rut.  Lucky me, I have an awesome weight watcher group, and a couple of weeks ago, they came up with a lot of great ideas, which I’ve since stolen and seriously pumped up the volume on my AM workout:

• Netflix: Did you know that Netflix has tons of exercise DVDs, and many of them on demand to be watched at the drop of a hat??? I didn’t, but now I’m dancercising, kickboxing, and doing pilates whenever I feel the bug, how fun is that?
• Drop in Classes: My local community center has FREE drop in classes so you can try before you buy! This is great for super cheapos like me who dread buyers remorse! I’ve signed up for an early AM extreme spinning class after LOVING the first one, YAY!
• Alternative Sports: Why do I always think that just because I can’t catch a ball or figure out how to play a team sport that I can’t participate in any sport??? I’ve been inspired to get in some sporty fun by tuning up my bike for some team rides and signing up for a rowing seminar!

Ok, are you exhausted yet? Seriously folks you think there couldn’t be any more but there is! A challenge, something to strive for, I’m signing up for the local Susan G Komen race for the cure in August.  The area weight watcher leaders and members are forming a team, and I think it will be a wonderful experience for everyone!

Tags: Exercise, weightwatchers