Do cardio exercices every 2 days

I’ve been good with this goal so far, usually it’s either every 2 or 3 days.

• cardio’s much easier than weights to do on a regular basis. Weights takes a lot of energy out of you, whereas cardio gives you a boost of energy afterwards. I find cardio fits better with the kind of lifestyle I’m having (not eating too much, working a lot, etc).
• it seems better to do cardio in the morning rather than at night, which is the contrary than with weights (probably for the reason mentionned above). If I do cardio too late, I feel too energized at night to go to sleep, hence I don’t sleep well or have a hard time finding sleep. So now I’m doing it in the morning rather than at night.
• I get a much better workout if I alternate exercices rather than do 1 hour of the same thing. Plus it’s less boring. Jogging is a bit hard to do for over 20-30 minutes. My knees used to get soar a bit when I was doing only jogging, now I feel perfectly fine the morning after even after exercising for like an hour.
• Usually I do 20-30 minutes of jogging, 10-15 minutes of step, then 10 minutes of rowing, 5 minutes of walk / relaxation.

I’m very glad of this, I’ve never felt better! Plus exercise has become a high point in my day rather than just another chore.

One drawback is my lack of sleeping discipline, I feel more tired in the morning than I used to. The good thing is I also feel more tired at night, so it’s giving me an extra incentive to go to sleep earlier. That’s my next main goal to tackle!

Ok so I’ve talked about jogging earlier this year. I jogged regularly for about 2 months (may-june), then not-so-regularly during summer. I’ve found that the high temperatures in summer make it hard to do cardio seriously outside. Doesn’t feel that good… So by early august I signed up at the gym compensate.

I started running again every 2-3 days, then in september got huge allergies (hayfever, was often sick) so I kinda quit on it for maybe 3 weeks. Since late september I started again every 2-3 days, this time outside. Feels good to run when the temperature is comfortable, so I’ll be doing this till it’s too cold then I’ll go to the gym again. I’m getting much better at running and it’s becoming more and more fun since it doesn’t feel as painful afterwards anymore but rather it just feels good. I get some kind of high too which I like :)

Other than that one of my other goals is to dance more often. So what I do is put on some good music and just move for about 20-30 minutes (those days when I’m not jogging mostly), either while doing something else (cleaning up or whatever) or not. I put the music really loud so it’s also a great purgatory against the daily frustrations of my job lol. If only I’d have a punching bag with my boss’ face on…

Best of all is that it finally seems like I’m losing weight. It takes a friggin load of patience (I didn’t lose that much this summer when I thought I would finally be slim) but it’s slooooowly getting there. I figure about 6 more months at this rate and I’ll be slim again. It already feels much better though I’ll have to get new pants soon lol.

I live in Canada, and as we’re getting into spring now temperatures outside are getting reasonable (winters are cold here) so I started jogging.

I’ve wanted to do some cardio for a while now, for many reasons. First off I need to lose a bit of weight. Not much, but that extra I’m starting to pile on because of my sedentary lifestyle. Second, I’ve never trained in endurance ever in my life, I was rather a ‘weightlifting’ kind of guy… Third I want to go often outside to breath in some fresh air. Fourth I want to have more energy and stamina since I often feel lazy, especially after work. So this is the perfect exercice since it combines a few of my goals.

So I’ve started about a week ago and been running 4 times so far, about an hour in average. Last friday I went to buy some new sneakers because I was hurting a bit with my old ones and thought that it was important to get the right gear to make sure I don’t hurt myself and also to enjoy the sport more.

So far I’ve been doing much better than I thought I would. I pick up a real slow pace to start (I probably look like I’m walking fast instead of running lol) and I really focus on lasting as long as I can. Also instead of pushing too much and taking big breaks I’ll slow down and walk for like 30 secs if I feel tired and try to start again right after. Last year (this last autumn) I’ve been running a few times but it seemed so much more tougher back then… I think it is a side-effect of having stopped smoking since a while now (1 year roughly), my lungs probably have recovered some capacity. Also the new shoes are great, some of the hurting I had in my legs / feet instantly went away with these so it’s definitely a must.

I also like the fact that I don’t have to train in a gym and can go to a park instead. Sure you still see some people, but I find it much less intimidating than at the gym where I don’t feel as comfortable doing cardio as much (sweating, odor, etc…).

Finally, I like to go either early in morning or later in the evening since the temperature is cooler.

Anyways, I’m having lots of fun, and I will definitely do this the whole summer. I’m thinking I might start swimming this summer though when the temperatures get too hot. But that’s another story (I’m not a good swimmer / hate water a bit ;-P).

But lets say realisticly, I’d like to do 3 periods per week. Like two during the week and one longer during the week end.

For an everyday exercice walking is perfect. Especially since I got my portable mp3 player, walking is fun now. I put on it my new albums so it gives it that extra purpose that I’ll discover some new music while enjoying the scenery. And it feels great afterwards.

Other than that, I need an exercice to get in shape. Not because I want to look a certain way, but I want to feel good in my body. I’m thinking of taking some Capoeira classes (brazilian martial art, you know that thing that looks more like a dance) or perhaps some boxing lessons. I want to work out cardio and flexibility rather than muscles which is what I used to be doing in the past.