Tag Archives: fitness

Health

One Year Gym-iversary

3 Comments

It’s hard to believe that one year ago I was heading to my first spinning class as I started my weekly morning gym routine. I honestly never thought that I could be a morning person, let alone a person who gets up early to work out. That was just not “me”.

(Sunrise in Zurich)

Now here I am on the other side of a whole year of waking up at 6:05-6:15am to get to the gym for 45minutes to an hour of exercise before showering and heading to work. I’m not going to say it was easy to do it everyday, but deciding to work exercising into my schedule with no excuse but to go every morning turned it from a question to a part of life.

It changed my lifestyle: When my muscles started slowly growing, I became excited to go to the gym and “work” on my goals. I also stopped staying out past midnight during the week not only because the trains stop running, but because I’d be feeling it at the gym the next day.Exercising every day forces me to prioritise sleep. I need my sleep if I’m going to do anything productive at the gym and it’s too depressing and painful to be at the gym while I’m tired, knowing that I don’t have enough energy to do much. I also won’t allow myself to slag off the gym if I had a late night because Kay will be getting up then anyway, so off I go. No excuses!

People told me it was too much, but for me, it feels just right. Because working out is a part of every workday, I cannot decide whether or not it’s worth skipping some days or not. An everyday schedule also gives me the opportunity to have a balanced mix of cardio and strength training with cycling, running, machines, lifting weights and stretching.

Also, I’m not going to lie, a year of solid gym work definitely makes a difference in body toning. Like… I have some muscles now. When we went to Australia, Kay pointed out that some lady was checking out my arms while we were waiting in immigration in Zurich. People at work notice them. They aren’t nonexistent anymore! 🙂

I’m looking forward to seeing how my body develops in the next year, from stretching to cardio and strength, it is definitely making changes slowly, but surely! And moreover, I feel like working out is improving my overall health.

Running for the train is a breeze and for the first time on our trip in Australia, I was keeping up with Kay on a moderate incline and he commented how he was impressed because usually he’s miles ahead of me. Even when we went cycling together, Kay felt like he noticed a difference in “new Katie” vs “old Katie”. Old Katie would have gotten off her bike and walked up certain hills. New Katie pushes through. 😉

Do you work out regularly? What’s your biggest motivation to get out there and do it?

Health

Fitness Friday: Balancing Act

Leave a comment

Kay joined the same gym as me awhile back and took advantage of the complementary wellness checkup. He came home and told me his balance was awful. My balance has always been OK, but while I was buying my official running shoes, the salesmen recommended that I think about buying some balance balls to strengthen my ankles and feet for running because they seemed a little weak after looking at the analysis scans.

Normally I don’t buy into extras like this. I actually went home and didn’t buy the balls for a couple weeks, but eventually I thought it would be a good idea for us to try them out. The balls came in a pack of two. They have a flat side to rest on the floor and spikes to stimulate the blood flow in the feet.

To use them, I stand with one foot on the ball while I brush my teeth. We have electric toothbrushes that buzz four times for the different sides of the mouth, and top and bottom, so after two buzzes I switch feet. The whole thing takes about a minute and a half and I only do it at night because the salesman said once a day should be enough.

I finally had my own wellness checkup this week where they tested my balance and I was pretty darn good! I was almost exactly in the middle of the “green zone” and the trainer said that most often, people are completely in the red zone and that he was really impressed.

Kay is still working on his balance, but he’s a little less consistent about doing it every night, although he did start doing it in the morning as well. Maybe at his next checkup, he’ll have improved a significant amount! It is a small way to improve stability.

Do you make any small efforts to improve your health or multitasking efforts to work exercise into your daily routine?

Health

2014 Exercise Goals

Leave a comment

Today is officially one month since the start of my gym membership!  After one month of waking up early and heading to the gym before coming in to work,  I thought that it’s appropriate to share my status and goals for this year.

Strengths: Waking up early to work out, walking, overnight mountain hikes, Via Ferrata
Intermediate: Climbing, Running, Elliptical
Weakness: Zumba, Lifting, Cycling, Yoga, Stair climbing, Inclines in general, Flexibility

Favorite workout programs: Spinning, because it pushes me so hard
Favorite Gear: My Adidas sports bra, all my dry fit shirts, heart rate monitor from Adidas
Favorite App: miCoach by Adidas

Pace: 11:15-12:30 min/mile depending on how long I run

Goals Working Toward:

  • Maintain a minimum of 210 Minutes of exercise a week (30 min a day) by working out mainly M-F mornings before work
  • Build endurance so I am not even fazed by stairs, let alone long hikes or runs
  • Strengthen back muscles for improved posture and lessen back pain,
  • Strengthen abdomen (lazy gut) for better digestion and boost my bikini self esteem
  • Strengthen lungs for improved general health and strengthening immune system
  • Strengthen legs specifically so I can manage stairs, inclines and hikes better
  • Lower my running pace eventually to under 10min a mile
  • Work on flexibility later on by introducing yoga and/or diet change
  • Finish a second climbing course and go more often in the summer to the mountains

Current schedule:
M: Spinning class – 55-60min
T: Weight Routine – 30 min, Elliptical 15 min
W: Running 6-7k – 45 min
R: Weight Routine – 30 min, Elliptical 15 min
F: Running 6-7k – 45min

It was just a fun survey to fill out, but I’d be interested in hearing your goals and progress too! I’m still really a total n00b at exercising and all of my strengths are loosely defined. They are just my “personal” strengths, but I aim to shift those in the next year!

Do you think it’s important to set goals for exercising? What are yours?

Health

Spinning

Leave a comment

Today I woke up early enough to catch the 6:30 train and get to the gym on time for the start of spinning class at 6:45am. I told Kay I was feeling pretty nervous because it was my first class and it would be all in Swiss German.

It definitely was kind of terrifying at times, because anything new in a foreign language always freaks me out a bit, no matter how long I’ve been here. And indeed half the time I was either too tired to really understand what the teacher was saying or I didn’t really get what his Swiss German meant exactly… but he was very nice and showed me how to set up my bike and gave me some tips during class to try and make sure I wasn’t making any incorrect movements.

I almost thought I wouldn’t make it at times and wondered in some moments if each “Nochmal uefe!” (Up again!) was some variation of never-ending hell, but I persevered. I sweated like I haven’t sweat in months and I made my muscles nice and sore.

Kay was proud I made it through the whole spinning class when I texted him later and that I even have the willpower to get myself to the gym that early in the morning. And I have to say, there is something really satisfying about going to work at 8:45am and knowing that I am the only one in the office who has worked out for an hour already that day. Huzzah!