Some Fitness Goals

The week of February 16, I had two goals. I didn't make a big deal about them. But I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd blog about it.

1. Hit 10,000 steps every day of the week.
2. Do yoga in the morning before work.

I hit both goals and wanted to talk about each.

The first goal wasn't easy, actually. A lot of the activities I do in my workouts don't show up as "steps." For example, if I get on the recumbent bike, do sit-ups, pull-ups, or push-ups, it won't show up. So I ended up spending lots of minutes in the evening "marching" in place. I wanted to meet my goal, so it was fine. But in trying to meet a measure of numbers, I don't really got a lot out of it. Marching in place isn't the same as walking or running. It was cool to meet this goal just to know it was possible; we always feel some pride in meeting a goal, right?

For the second goal, I used this DVD.

I liked this because each day was under 30 minutes, mostly around 15-20 minutes. I enjoyed it because I didn't have to be extremely motivated to get up and basically do some guided stretching. If I had to get up and run or do something higher impact, I'd probably have had a harder time waking up.

The benefits of doing yoga first thing in the morning were these:

1. It helped me to center myself and focus on good energy. 
2. Because of number 1, it helped me have a better day.
3. It got rid of my soreness from sleeping. (I wake up every day with pain in my neck and back).
4. It helped me feel I had already accomplished something early in the day.
5. It helped me wake up, so by the time I got dressed and did my hair and makeup, I didn't feel tired. More energy, basically. 

I actually continued my second goal the following week. I didn't use the same DVD though. I used parts of videos on Amazon Prime. I did this every morning the second week except Thursday, when I did it after work instead. 

Of the two goals I set, I think the second was definitely more worthwhile, and worth my energy and commitment. If you're looking for a good place to start, a new, doable goal, something to do in the morning, or an introduction to yoga, I recommend trying this, and using the DVD above. It really has made a difference for me in the past couple of weeks.