Burning It Off

These days, I’d describe my fitness routine in two words – balanced and fun. Balanced because I try to do a mix of strength and cardio activities and fun because I like to switch up my routine and do a variety of different activities that I find enjoyable.

I try to avoid being too hardcore about it all. I’m not an athlete; I do this because it’s fun, good for my health and helps me maintain my weight and a positive self image. As such, I don’t get too caught up in the latest fitness fads or research saying what I should and shouldn’t be doing at the gym; I’ve figured out what works for me and that’s the most important thing. At the end of the day, the most effective workout is the one you’re able to stick to.

I’ve been physically active for just over three years now. On any given week, my routine includes 4-5 workouts made up of 2-3 strength training workouts and 2-3 cardio workouts.

Strength Workouts

BodyPump – this is my absolute favourite way to strength train. I went through a phase where I tried lifting really heavy free weights because that’s what the Internetz says to do to build muscle. I hated it though so I went back to BodyPump and I’m happy with my results.

Yoga – I used to think yoga was pointless but once I started taking it seriously, I realized it not only has amazing mental health benefits, it can be very challenging physically. I prefer hot power yoga classes for a strength workout and non-heated hatha style classes for relaxation and recovery.

Bouldering – I recently took this up with my boyfriend and it’s one of the best strength workouts I’ve ever done since you have to support and move your own body weight to move up the wall. It’s also a highly social activity and there’s quite a lot of strategy involved, which makes it both fun and mentally engaging.

Cardio

I kind of hate cardio so I trick myself into thinking it’s fun by doing 2-3 different Les Mills classes each week. I cycle between Body Step, Body Combat, RPM and Body Attack and occasionally Body Jam and SH’BAM. I sometimes go for runs but only when it’s nice outside. If I’m feeling really lazy and don’t want to leave my house, I’ll search on YouTube for a quick at-home HIIT workout.

And if I get bored of all of the above, I’ll look around for some local fitness Groupons.

To sum all of that up, you’ll basically never find me on a treadmill.