...on her own...

....I had a GREAT workout tonight. Worthy of note for the following reasons...

Most of my weight loss journey - with the exception of my running outdoors or on a treadmill, has been conducted in a classroom with the instructor yelling "Jump" and me trying to gasp out "HOw High?!?" My reasoning is that these fine instructors already know what they are doing, my job is just to move like them and get my heart rate up.

The 2nd thing being easier than the first thing.

But now my life is changing and morning workout classes are not as easy to get to as they used to be and soon I might be employed normal daytime hours so that means either trying to catch a class at night (doable) or ...

.....maybe figure out how to do a good work out on my own? With weights?

I understand the following to be true....today. Tomorrow might be different, but today these are widely believed to be true...

1. It is better to vary the workout from day to day, or at least workout to workout. The body is sneaky and can get used to a certain exercise and when that happens, that exercise loses it's efficiency...

2. In order to run properly, you need to have strong muscles. This means incorporating weight lifting into the mix.

3. You run faster if you don't have as much weight on the body, so cardio needs to be a priority as well.

4. If my legs wobble going down the stairs after a workout, and I have to clutch the handrail - it was a good workout.

5. Good upbeat music greatly assists the workout, inspires the athlete and makes it a more enjoyable experience. 

I attempted a workout tonight at the Y with the following changes to my usual attempts.

-I uploaded new music to my mp3 player - which meant I finally figured out how to do on my own. Point of pride!

-I had a small notebook to write down what I wanted to do, exercise by exercise and gave myself permission to write down what really happened.

- Stretched for 10 mins first.
-20 mins of weights, mostly upperbody but managed a set of squats as well.
-15 mins on the treadmill in which I reached a top speed of 4.5 mph for 10 mins (new goal to get up to 5mps so MFP can log my runs correctly)

I was doing sets! I remembered to take breaks in between sets! I alternated between exercises one set. The music was good and kept me revved! I almost looked like I knew what I was doing. Hope!!!

And when I walked down the steps, I wobbled all the way clutching the rail.