Listening to My Body

Happy Sunday again, friends! Wow, this week flew by, and the weekend even faster! An interesting week for me, as I had to cut down my workouts (more on that later), but I did pretty darn good on the calorie/nutrition front! I had Shakeology Mon-Fri, for breakfast, even though it's soooo hard for me to drink it when it's cold outside! I just turned on my seat heaters and sucked it down. :)

Last week I posted a pretty ambitious workout schedule for the week, but things started to change after Monday... I have been having some trouble sleeping, and the past week or two, it got much worse. I was waking up in the night and not able to fall back to sleep. My legs and arms were constantly aching, and I was feeling pretty irritable. I started doing a little research and am wondering now if I haven't been overtraining. I decided to back off, take a step back, and stop beating up my poor body. :)  Here's what I did:

Monday was Turbo Kick, per usual. We still pushed to the max, with Turbo's after every section, making for one heck of a HIIT workout! It was really hard today, so we really had to push!We are a small class (usually 3-6 of us), but we sure do have fun working out together! :)

Tuesday is when I decided I have to stop doing so much. I had planned to do INSANITY Pure Cardio in the morning, but I was up for hours in the night, so I did not get up, and also decided to eliminate INSANITY from my routine for now. So, I did PiYo only at Refinery on Tuesday evening. It felt good!

 I wore my charcoal gray Groove pants from Lululemon, and my Pretty Pink No Limits Tank. This is one of my fave outfits. So cute, and so functional! 

Wednesday I just did PiYo again. I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night (again), so I didn't do any cardio. I found I was able to push myself even harder since I gave my body a break Tuesday!

Thursday morning I felt soooo much better. I slept on Wednesday night, so I got up at 5:15 on Thursday and did TurboFire HIIT 20. I loooove these workouts, and always look forward to them. I am going to incorporate more of TurboFire into my routine. I also love having it done early, as I then had my Thursday night free to spend with Rowan! :)

Friday was a rest day. :)

Saturday I taught PiYo 2 times. My core was SUPER sore today b/c of this, as well as my hamstrings and booty! LOVE IT! Both classes were well-attended and both classes worked their butts off! I can't tell you how much I love sharing this amazing workout with others. It makes me feel so strong and lean, and I love for my members to have that feeling. :)

I also got my hair done Saturday!

I always get the same thing-- highlights and trim, but she got it extra-blonde this time. LOVE!


Today I was feeling LAZY, and had lots of errands to run this afternoon, but I decided last minute to MAKE myself workout. I dragged myself kicking and screaming to the gym and did a R.I.P.P.E.D. class. So glad i did! It is a treat for me to take a class once in awhile and focus just on ME and my workout! Loved it!

 I wore my Blush Quartz Run:Speed Shorts, and my black and white striped racerback from Gap. (I know, I totally cheated on Lululemon! Don't tell!)

My new workout plan is to be more flexible. I am not going to do INSANITY for awhile, but instead will teach my classes, adding in some TurboFire, and some running when I can. I love INSANITY, but my body is trying to tell me I need a break from the intensity. Part of my issue, was that I was considering PiYo to be a "recovery" workout, and while it is low impact, it is not low intensity, so I'm going to "count" it as a workout.

Here's my plan for next week!

Monday: TurboKick at Evolve. Lots of Turbo's, lots of jumping. (Will need to leave room in my calorie budget for some Results and Recovery Formula after this.)
Tuesday: PiYo at Refinery.
Wednesday: Run 3 miles, and PiYo at the Y. Again, gonna need R&R.
Thursday: TurboFire HIIT 30.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: PiYo x2! (My fave workout day) :)
Sunday: TBD. I will either run, go to R.I.P.P.E.D., go to BodyPump, do some TurboFire, or some combination of these things. :)

I know I made the right decision to mix up my routine because I am actually looking FORWARD to next week's workouts! I didn't realize it, but I had started to dread my INSANITY workouts! In my book, that means time to mix it up! I need to feel good about my workouts to really work hard and feel my best as the holidays approach!

Here are our dinner plans for this week:

~ Baked herb free-range chicken with baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli
~ Chinese-style stir-fry with Quorn "chik'n," cabbage, broccoli and plain Ramen noodles
~ Breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs with chives and reduced-fat Monterrey cheese, baked hashbrowns, and toast)
~ Either Mexican or Thai delivery
~ Fridays we always go out, and weekends are always TBD. :)

 On that note, my advice to you for the coming week is to look at your routine, listen to your body, and make adjustments if need be! Do you look forward to your workouts, or do you dread them? We all have "I don't wanna" days, but it shouldn't be every day, every workout. If you're doing a workout you enjoy, you'll work harder, you'll work safer, and you'll see better results. Period.

Thanks again for reading! Have a wonderful week, friends!

Cheers!
Julie