Exercise Roundup, Week of 20 June 2011

Hit five days of exercise this week! Woot! I've also started doing pushups and tricep dips on days when I don't do strength training workouts (after bike rides, for instance), to try to improve my abysmal upper body strength. I'll keep you posted on that.

Monday: Sweated through a 20-minute workout with Jillian. My upper body strength is sooo pathetic! In the evening, I played tennis on the Wii at my sister's, and beat her and my brother-in-law at Wii bowling. As a side note, I've never bowled that well in real life.

Tuesday: I was planning on going for a bike ride after work but the steamy weather made the pool a much more inviting option! I tread water in the deep end for about 30 minutes, which was quite refreshing. I focused on really working and keeping my heart rate up the whole time. Did you know you can do ab exercises while you're treading water?

Wednesday: Fifty minutes of steep up-hill climbing on the treadmill.

Thursday: Traveling for work; didn't exercise.

Friday: My friend Angie thoughtfully sent me some new exercise DVDs for my birthday! Two are yoga workouts with Bob Harper, from The Biggest Loser, and one is all about getting killer abs, with Jillian Michaels (also of TBL, of course). I did Bob's Yoga for Weightloss workout this morning, which was both more intense and more manageable than I had expected. I've tried yoga once or twice in the past but never really latched onto it because I'm so uncoordinated and inflexible that I didn't get much out of it. Bob's yoga routines thankfully didn't require a lot of coordination, but he was extending his limbs to degrees and in ways that I just don't think are possible for my body. Ever. Lots of core work and strength training in the 50-minute workout, and my muscles were a little sore the next day, so it must have been effective!

Saturday: I went for a FABULOUS long bike ride early in the morning! I rode the entire Mt. Vernon trail, down and back, for a total of 35 miles in just under three hours. I should be able to do it faster, in about 2.5 hours, which will be my focus/goal going forward. After a ride like that, I feel AWESOME!

Sunday: Day of rest.