Day 5 - Winsor Pilates

Today is day 5 and I have to say it was the easiest day yet. I woke up a minute before my alarm, ready and willing to get up and workout. My kids stayed asleep until 6:15, which felt like a HUGE blessing!

Although I felt awesome yesterday morning, I was SO tired and sluggish in the afternoon. There are few things I dislike more than the feeling of being tired. I am a total wimp when it comes to this, which is why I haven't made exercising first thing in the morning a habit in the past. I guard my sleep so much that it's sort of a joke amongst my friends. The payoff of more time usually isn't worth the cost of being tired all day. But is that really true? Or are there just growing pains involved with adopting this behavior, and my body will adjust?

If you really want something, you need to be willing to try everything in your power to make it work. For me, that means getting my butt out of bed every day even if I'm tired later - and tweaking little things here and there until it's comfortable.

I did this when I started running years ago and it got me thru a marathon. If something bugged me while running, instead of quitting, I challenged myself to fix the complaint on my next run, until I had nothing left to complain about. For instance, I'd run and get sweat in my eyes so the next run I brought a wet paper towel with me. If my bra rubbed, I'd buy a new one. If my sunblock bugged me, I'd switch it, etc. After a few runs, I realized I couldn't think of anything to change.

I believe in pushing yourself to grow as a person.

With regards to this new challenge, tweak #1 was going to bed earlier. Tweak #2 is to try taking B vitamins in the afternoon.

I have also decided to set some detailed expectations for myself, with regard to this home workout challenge. Here is my new plan:

* I will use home exercise videos as my main source of exercise, M-F at 6am - until I reach 100 workouts, without skipping any weekdays. The duration of the workout doesn't matter. Some workouts are 20 minutes, others are 90. I don't want to limit myself by saying it has to be X number of minutes. And my real challenge is getting up and workout out, so as long as I do that, I've been successful!

Todays workout:
Winsor Pilates: 20 minute workout

What I liked:
1. The instructor (Mari Winsor) taught the class while walking around, instead of actually doing the exercises. This allowed her to focus on cueing and checking everyone's form. I found her instructions very clear and I loved that she offered modifications for different things like a sore neck or a bad back.
2. The moves were clean and simple
3. I chose this workout because my back was sore when I woke up. After doing this workout, my back feels 100% again and my whole body feels stretched and ready for the day.

What I didn't like:
1. Ummm. Not much really. My only complaint is really entirely my fault, and that is that I didn't get any cardio in this morning.

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (german writer and polymath)