10 Minute Pilates? Yes, please!

You probably already know two things about me from following this blog:

1. I like to work out
2. I’m pretty lazy when it comes to working out…

Maybe this is you, too, but I know that if someone gives me an excuse, any excuse no matter how ridiculous it is (it’s dark outside, it’s late, the dog is snoring, there’s ice cream in the fridge), I will jump on it and say “Okay, tomorrow I’ll go to the gym!”… which may or may not happen.

That said, since I have a ton of free time until my job starts, and since I spend the majority of my time in the family room (to keep an eye on the puppy while she sleeps/chews on her toys), I decided I didn’t want to spend all my time just sitting on the couch reading/Facebook-stalking/Tweeting.

However, I also didn’t want to do anything crazy….

Enter: 10 Minute Pilates!

I grew to hate this lady about 25 minutes in...

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The concept behind 10 Minute Pilates is simple: you can do anything for ten minutes, so for ten minutes you will work on (1) butt/legs (2) arms (abs)… and maybe stretching, but I didn’t get that far (look at the commitment!)

Anyway, I did do the hard parts (the first three) and I would say I got a pretty decent workout. For the arms part, you will need either 1 lb., 2 lb., or 3 lb. weights. The video focused mostly on triceps, but also did a lot with shoulders and chest, which I liked (chest press, lifting your weights above your head to work on your shoulders, etc.)

My favorite part about the legs/butt exercise was working on my butt… of course. Not only for butt-toning reasons, but also because it was the easiest to understand of all the moves. I thought the video moved way too fast in between poses, and the camera didn’t focus enough on form so much as it did of the instructor herself… note to camera-people: I don’t care about seeing the instructor’s face, I want to see her form!

I probably could have paused, stop, and rewound the scenes I needed to see again, but it wasn’t worth it because the videos didn’t show or explain enough about the form for me to understand it anyway. Sooo… that was a bummer.

That said, I did enjoy the ’10 minute’ aspect of this video series (I think there’s also 10 Minute Yoga too). When the moves got hard or I got tired, I told myself anyone can do this for 10 minutes… you lazy bum!… which helped me finish out the set. I only did half an hour because I had somewhere to be (plus the dog was demanding to be played with, and you don’t say no to Molly…), but I think I’ll try out a yoga video next time (probably later today!)

I also saw some kickboxing/dance/’Biggest Loser’ workout videos, which intrigued me, so we’ll see. On days when I know I’m not going to the gym, I think I’ll be trying these videos out!

Couch to 5k and Mile a Day!

Short post today because I’m meeting my City of Phoenix “mentor” (he’s not really a mentor but he’s not a friend… yet… so I don’t know what to call him!) in an hour… hey, I said I’d be posting every day, but I didn’t commit to a length!

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all that I have re-started my commitment to running… my ‘commitment’ has been very hit or miss, depending on my mood. When I was in boot camp, I was super committed, mostly because we had to run a mile every day to warm up. However, I did notice a big change not only in my cardiovascular range, but also in my shape. I know they say the best way to lose weight and tone up is to lift weights, but honestly, I saw just as big a change when I was running as I did when I was lifting weights.

Then again, it had to be running. After bootcamp, I went back to doing the elliptical and all my hard work (especially my cardio!) went away. When I moved back to Phoenix, when I first went hiking with my boyfriend, I noticed immediately that I was much more out of shape and out of breath than ever before.

I’m now doing weight lifting (light, not anything crazy… just for toning, and because I’m too lazy to do anything harder) and Zumba classes (those are so much fun! And cardio! Woo!), but I’ve also decided to add in running again.

Enter: Couch to 5k. If you’re interested in reading more about the program, and reading it from the perspective of someone who is really dedicated and much further along on it than I, check out This is My Everest‘s blog posts!

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I was so psyched and pumped reading This is My Everest’s blog updates about C25K, and I was like, ‘hey, I have that app! I’m going to get back to doing it!’

Okay, so turns out I don’t exactly have the Couch to 5k app… I actually have the ‘Run 5k’ app:

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Oh well, it’s kind of the same thing, I guess. Don’t worry, I bought it from the App store a long while ago when it was cheaper (I think .99?) so I didn’t actually spend 4 bucks on it. I like it too because it has a little ‘music’ button on the bottom that lets you listen and access ANY music source on your iPhone– be it iTunes, the radio, or Pandora. I can skip around on my music and not interrupt it!

Also, it’s really easy to use and it tracks the dates you use it, so you never get confused as to where you are. In fact, it told me the last time I used it was in February, 2011. I am soooooooo motivated… not!

So in conjunction with my Run 5k app, I’m also taking part of the Twitter challenge from Carlyn from Just Keep Sweating to complete a mile a day, #mileaday on Twitter. So far I’m two days in, and I think I’m doing pretty well.. then again, it’s only been two days… :-/

Between these two motivators (well, and this blog!), I hope to get in at least a mile every single day, be that from walking around, hiking, or running on the treadmill. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted!