My Sleepy Morning Workouts

I am not a big fan of morning workouts. But circumstances can bring  you to a place where the only option is to workout in the morning. Yup this has happened to me. I have been working out for over 6 years now and most of it has been in the evening . Took up a new job recently  and the timings are such that morning are my only option:(.

Any kind of change is difficult. So here I am Sunday evening packing my gym bag for the next day as I  need to be out of my house by 6:30am:( Well you may ask why 6:30am; that is because my gym is half an hour away from my home, 5 min walk to the bus stop10-15min wait at the bus stop for the dreaded PMPML bus. So i will start my workout only by 7:30...

As i start packing my bag i realise that it aint gonna be easy stuffin in  my gym clothes ,work clothes, a towel, sports shoes, toiletries, breakfast, lunch, fruits, water and the list goes on....Be committed to working out does not come easy..It was crazy the first day as my sister and I get out of the house on a cold winter morning.We enter the gym sleepy eyed and totally not motivated to workout. But as a few days went by i could see the difference in my mornings. My time is used well, I am fresh the whole day and i can relax in the evening as the most important work of the day is done.

I know that the pros are more compared to the cons as regards working out in the morning. But I do miss my evening workouts with my friends.

Comfort Food

Last week I had gone to Goa to spend some time with my friends. I had decided that I will not workout those days and nor am I gonna be on a diet. This was the time to relax and have fun. And so i did:) It was such a blessing not to think what I am eating, or is this too high in calories. I just ate..

After all that junk food, I was sure that I had gained weight and was skeptical to get on to the weighing machine once I got home. To my surprise I had not gained much weight at all. Maybe just a kilo or so, which I knew I would be able to burn it out soon. I remember talking to a friend of mine some time back(who is trainer) that the goal of working out should be that we remain fit and be able to enjoy the pleasures of life. I remember she had told me that, workout regularly and let your metabolic rate be high, so that even if I do tend to eat some high caloric food, it will be automatically burned.

I am glad that all the "sweet" pain of working out is finally paying off. Trust me it really hurts when you do all those squats and lunges and full push ups, but trust me its worth it :)

My Goal...Pull Ups...finally achieved:)

I know this might sound silly to a lot of people, but I have always wanted to be able to do full ups, without supporting weight.I have been working out for almost 6 years now. I never thought it wud take me that long to do it.Well I did have a shoulder injury in between which restricted me in doing a lot of upper body workouts. But I am  glad I am back on track :) 

I remember trying to do full pull ups once and I failed. And it kinda disappointed me.The reason being, at that point of time in my life I was at the peak of my workouts. My weight training was going really well and my upper body strength had increased too. This was prior to my shoulder injury. After my injury I had to work a lot on my mind. I would give up really soon, doubt my own strength or be easily demotivated.The injury happened while I was  working out, so the fear was even more as to what if i go wrong somewhere again.

This time when I decided to give a shot at pull ups, I was a lot stronger in my mind than my shoulders. I knew that i had been getting better at my upper body strength, post the injury and that I had given enough time for it to heal (2 years c'mon now that's  long enough;) Fortunately I could lift myself for a good 5 counts, the next three i needed some help from the trainer:) All in all I am very grateful to God to bring me back to my fitness level as before (in fact better than before:)

Variation in Workouts

When it comes to workouts our body tends to get used to familiarity really soon. So it is very essential to have a variation in your workout. Changing your workout every month or at least once in two months does benefit the body. Variation in your workout can be bought by making it either cardio, weight training or a mix of both.

For the past two months I was following a Drop set workout where the weights are lighter and there ain't any rest between the sets. I took two muscle groups a day and did my cardio routine on the other days. I alternated with cardio and weights during the week. I did see a significant change in my body as i was concentrating more on fat loss by an *aerobic workout.

For the coming month I will be concentrating more on strength training and muscle building. Will do complete upper body workout  on one day and lower body on the other day. So one week will have 2 days of complete upper body and one day of lower body  and the next week it will be vice versa. This is more of an *anaerobic workout where your body is burning the fat till the next 24 hrs after your workout. The weights taken are the maximum that you  can lift and rest between the sets is 1-2 mins. As there is wear and tear in the muscles it uses up the energy from the body for it repair.

Thus by constantly changing your workout you help your body not to go into the plateau stage and therefore you also enjoy the change.

*Aerobic exercise: 

Any physical exercise that requires additional effort by the heart and lungs to meet the striated muscles' increased demand for oxygen. Aerobic exercise increases the breathing rate and ultimately raises heart and lung efficiency. Prolonged aerobic exercise (at least 20 minutes three times a week) is recommended for the maintenance of a healthy cardiovascular system. Examples of aerobic exercise include running, jogging, swimming, and vigorous dancing or cycling. 

*Anaerobic Exercise:

Exercise of much higher intensity than aerobic work, which uses up oxygen more quickly than the body can replenish it in the working muscles. Anaerobic exercise eventually builds up a significant oxygen debt that forces an athlete to terminate the exercise session rather quickly. Anaerobic exercise (the kind of exercise to which bodybuilding training belongs) burns up glycogen (muscle sugar) to supply its energy needs. Fast sprinting is a typical anaerobic form of exercise.