Hello ladies!! These days have been so stressful, lots of work to do and the weather is not helping at all. Here it's so damn hot and there's plenty of mosquitos. Anyways today I'm talking about fitness and health, in particular I'll be explaining you what I normally do to keep myself fit and healthy.
First of all I just say that I've always been quite active and I've always practiced different sports since I was 5. I've got more into fitness and gym three years ago. That's exactly when I became vegan as well. I would say I wanted to
freshen up my life and give it a new start. I started going to the gym and since then I have never stopped, instead I have become quite addicted to it. And I have never been happier, healthier and never felt so good in my own skin.
My workout routine is based on different activities such as cardio, weights, yoga, pilates... I train 5 days a week from Monday to Friday and sometimes twice a day depending on time and which kind of trainings. For example a day I could do weights in the morning and yoga or pilates in the evening. While if I do cardio I usually tend to do only that since it's very challenging and it requires a lot of effort.
I don't have a fixed schedule for everyday because that would not be good for your body. If you do the same fixed things you're body gets used to it and your workouts won't give you results in the long term. So you have to make sure to switch things up and mix workouts frequently. I'm going to tell you what kind of workouts I usually do and how many times I do them.
First type of training is yoga. I usually do yoga 2 or 3 times a week and this helps me to relax and to stop thinking about everything. Yoga is good for flexibility, it helps to strengthen your muscles and it also burns fat if done frequently. There are a lot of types of yoga, every type focuses on a specific area of the body or a specific function. You can start from the basis and then improve with time, but keep in mind that you have to be consistent with it.
Next kind of workout is weights and this is the typical gym workout. I use different weight machines and I do various exercises too. Each machine trains a specific muscle and obviously you are able to decide how many kilos you want to train with. When I do weights I have a program that my trainer gives me and I have to follow it. It is usually divided in 2 or 3 days and every day focuses on different parts of the body. I can have legs day, upper body day, abs day and so on. This program is monthly so it gets changed every month. The days I do weights I also do yoga or pilates as a second workout for the day. That is because after training with weights and stressing your muscles out, you have to relax the muscles and yoga is perfect for that.
Another training is cardio but the word itself can include different types of workouts. I mean that cardio can include running, jogging, cycling, swimming ... I obviously don't do all that stuff. As for cardio I do 3 different trainings. The first one is always in the gym by using the treadmill, the
bicycle, the step machine or the elliptical machine. I have another program for this as well that shows the times for every machine. As for the effort level I tend to start lower and then increase it or alternate it to keep my heart rate up. The other type of cardio is a cardio class held by my trainer and it consists of 30 minutes of step and 30 minutes of joy training. I think everyone knows how it is step, you have a step which is use to do exercises and movements in a kind of "choreography". While joy is a very hard but fun training. It's a treadmill that works only with your effort so you have to keep moving. Plus it's sloping and that requires even more strength and resistance. During this training we alternate running, to walking or jogging based on the rhythm of the music. It is my favorite cardio workout
because it increases your stamina and resistance a lot and you can see the results in a short time. Last cardio training is Zumba which I love.
My other favorite workout is HIIT. That is the famous High Intensity Interval Training that alternates short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. This kind of workout has become a lot more famous in the last years thanks to its effects and results. HIIT training are usually 30 minutes long, but they're very intense. Moreover it helps a lot with stamina but also it speeds up your metabolism that burns way more fat and it can keep that level up to 24 hours after the training.
Pilates is very good for your body in general, to improve
with muscle strength, muscle control. In fact it is based on control, concentration, flow but what's really important is breathing. You have to keep breathing throughout the whole workout because your body needs oxygen. Pilates usually involves your abdominal muscles more than any other workout.
I have just started out pump training which is amazing for the results you get but it literally kills your muscles. And I want to try spinning and crossfit.
What I want to underline and I want you to keep in mind is that I train a lot because I have been doing it for years and my body is used to it. It is well-trained. But if you want to
get into fitness and start going to the gym you definitely cannot train 5 days a week and do lots of workouts. You have to start slowly and few times a week, the more you go and the most consistent you are the more your body will improve. You will start seeing results with time and dedication, everything requires time and patience and you cannot speed it up. Overtraining would only have bad effects on you so keep it in mind.
Last thing I want to say is that I usually alternate a day with weights plus yoga/pilates with a day of cardio. This way my muscles have the time to recover.
I hope you enjoyed reading my fitness journey and routine, most of all I hope that this inspires you to start making a change in your life. Stop thinking you're not capable of something, and start doing it. Turn that I wish in I can. You just need patience, determination and consistency. Let me know if you workout what you usually do or what you would do. Just tell me something about you and your relationship with fitness below in the comments. Have a great day and see you tomorrow,
xoxo, Sofia
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