Wellness Wednesday

Today marks Day 45 of P90X. I'm halfway there!

Here are a few thoughts/tips from my personal experience:

• Schedule your workouts. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same time every day (although it is for me), but you will have much more success if you know when you will be working out each day instead of just trying to fit it in. The only time of day that works for me is first thing in the morning. Do I love getting up at 5:15? No. But I know if I don't I won't get it in, and it's worth it to me. That means I try to go to be by 9:15, which means I had to cut out virtually all TV and I have a very short evening. I had to make a values call about what was more important to me.

• Keep pushing play. This week I've been pretty tired and unmotivated. I'm a little sleep deprived right now and so getting up in the morning has been a pure act of the will. I haven't felt like working out and the work outs have felt tougher since I'm tired. BUT, I keep pushing play. I may not be performing at my peak condition this week, but I'm hanging in there and doing what I can because I know I'm still getting stronger even when I don't feel 100%. I'll get it back. I am forever quoting to myself Tony Horton's line, "How do you feel that day? Do what you can." 

• Weights, not just cardio. After doing P90X on two different occasions, I am now a BIG believer that strength training changes the way that your body looks more than just doing cardio. I know that every time I get motivated to get in shape, I just want to do cardio all the time because that is where you burn the most calories. But I see such better results when I make myself do regular, hard workouts with weights. I'm no expert, but I would say half of your workout time per week should be invested in weight training. 

• Find your balance and jump back in. If you want a good laugh you should see me do YogaX. Balance and gracefulness has never been my thing, but I'm working on it. During the balance postures Tony Horton always says, "If you fall out, ain't no big thing. Just jump back in." Same is true for physical fitness. Life gets crazy sometimes. You go on vacation. You've got a sick child. You have a deadline at work. You welcome a new child into your family. And, unless you are some type of Superhero, you are going to lose your rhythm for a while and workouts will be the first thing to go. At least they are for me. Ain't no big thing. Just jump back in. Fight to find your balance again. 

• Nutrition matters. For all of you who, like me, would like to think you can eat whatever you want as long as you work out, wrong! In Bob Harper's book, The Skinny Rules, "That four-mile walk you take every morning? It burns about 350 calories- not even a small bag of fries at McDonald's. That hour of Pilates or yoga? Ditto- not even equal to a large chai latte at Starbucks." Ouch. Don't go knocking my chai lattes! The point is: exercise alone without focusing on nutrition won't cut it. 

It's not easy. But most things worth anything aren't. I'd say your health is worth it!