Shake It Up

I’ll admit it. I’ve been slacking the last week or two. Yep, even coaches can slip up. But that’s OK. I needed the rest. Today my husband and I tried a new class at a CrossFit style gym in our area. It is a hike for us to get there, but we did it together. It has been several years (since we’ve left Baltimore) that I joined a class like that, and my hubs was a first-timer. We both LOVED it. I went in there with the mind set that I’d lost most of my fitness over the last few weeks, but I would just keep up. That was my only personal expectation.

Guess what?

Not only did I merely keep up, but I pushed harder than I thought I could. Even from when I last did a HIIT circuit like that (3+ years ago). Now, I have maintained a regular exercise routine in the last 3 years, but I wasn’t working out like this!

I don’t believe that CrossFit or this style of HIIT workout is appropriate for everyone, BUT I do love the way The CrossFit Journal answers this question: What is Fitness? (SOURCE)

WORLD CLASS FITNESS IN 100 WORDS

• Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
• Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
• Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense.
• Regularly learn and play new sports.

The article is worth reading if these 4 bullet points resonate with you. Even if you don’t want to participate in a CrossFit style class. This article is a great approach to fitness, keeping it fresh and invigorating, but it is still so SIMPLE. Simplicity helps make the habit sustainable. If you read between the lines here, we could apply these principles to other areas of our lives…

THE TAKEAWAY

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