About a month ago on my fitness tumblr account I posted my routine that I use to stay fit. It was a huge success and I've had some amazing feedback from it, so I thought I would do something unusual and post the same post here on this blog.
I've had a ton of requests to post my routine and what I do to stay fit. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write this post, I've been very busy this last week but here we go!
I want to start off by saying that I do not diet. I have cut some things out of my food choices but I have never been on any kind of diet plan before. I drink a ton of water. I’m talking 6 water bottles a day. I also like to drink powerade zero, mostly after runs. I do not drink soda, my cheat drink is a Starbucks tall skinny cinnamon dolce latte on Sundays and on special occasions, sweet tea. Other than that I stick to water and milk. As far as food goes I really try to focus on eating 5 small meals a day, my bigger meals at the beginning of the day and they get smaller until the smallest meal at dinner time. I don’t eat too many sweets like candy or cookies because after 6 months of not eating them, I really don’t have a craving anymore. There are a few things I avoid, I don’t eat fast food, if I do then I never ever get fries or soda. And the only time I do eat fast food is on road trips which aren’t that common. I also never eat white bread, I don’t like the taste. I hate cheese, which is kind of nice since it has a lot of fat, but I also drink about 2 cups of milk a day to make up for the lack of dairy. Other then those things I just focus on portion control. I eat small portions and eat very slowly to give my body time to recognize if I’m still hungry or not. A weird little tip is that I chew my food as tiny as I can. It helps you digest faster and can help your metabolism.
Now to my workouts. I try to run daily. Lately I have had serious knee problems so I have been making up for my lack of Cairo by riding my bike and climbing the stairs in my house. I get at least 20 minutes of cardio everyday. No off days. I don’t have a gym membership so every workout I do is mostly body weight workouts or with weights I have purchased. I have 5, 10 and 20 pound weights at my house. There are some workouts I do everyday, but the main thing I focus on when working out is switching up my routine as often as possible. When you do the same things every day, your body will get used to it and you won’t see progress. I switch up the reps, time and weights of these workouts every day. Below is a list of workout I use most often. Most if not all of these can be looked up on google or YouTube and there will be step-by-step instructions on how to do the exercise properly. Remember to try things out and if you don’t like them, try something else. There are so many ways to lose weight, stay fit and be healthy and everyone is different. Don’t be discouraged because you don’t see progress, no progress is better than taking steps backwards. Keep going.
Push-ups
Tricep dips
Crunches
Planks
Wall sit
Jumping jacks
Calf raises
Squats
Lunges
Oblique crunches
Superman
Leg kick backs
Shoulder press
Bicep curls
Pull ups
Russian twists
Ski jumps
Burpees
Bicycles
V sit
Glute bridge and single leg glute bridge
Single leg raises
Dead lift
Windshield wipers
Side plank
Those are all body weight or weight lifting exercises I do.
Now I wanted to talk about some workouts you can try while you run. I ran varsity cross country and track for two years, and these are some workouts we did during the season to get our mile times down and help our overall core strength.
Our week consisted if the following workouts:
Mondays - Hills
Tuesdays - Short Run
Wednesdays - Long Run
Thursdays - Intervals
Fridays - Timed run
Saturdays - Fun Day
Below are each of the days broken down into more detail
Hills:
Hills are the most painful and my personal favorite workout we did. Every Monday we went to this path that was a huge stretch of uphill. We started at the bottom and for 30 seconds we would run as hard and fast as we could up the hill. At the end if 30 seconds you mark your spot and then cool off by jogging back down the hill. Once at the bottom you start again, try to make it to that same spot that you marked before. We would do 5-10 of these. I loved doing this workout because you can see your progress each time you run up the hill, and after I few weeks you can see how much farther you get up the hill. It’s a great way to help your endurance and to see instant progress.
Short run:
Depending on where you are at physically a short run can mean 1 mile or 4 miles. A short run means we ran 10 minutes away from our school, and then turned around and came back. A short run doesn’t mean an easy run. For 20 minutes you run as hard and fast as you can at a consistent pace.
Long Run:
I enjoyed these a lot because long runs in our area means we get to run by the reservoir. A long run meant that we would run between 5 and 10 miles. We switched up the distance each week and got farther and farther as the season went on. The goal of these long runs was to try to keep a consistent pace. I usually tried to run a 9 min mile, toward the end of the season I was running at a 7.5 min mile pace.
Intervals:
We ran these on the track. This was all about timing and trying to beat your previous times. I’ll tell you all the times we had to run and you can adjust them to fit your pace. Keep in mind, this isn’t suppose to be easy, these should hurt. We ran one mile for 9 minutes, then walked one lap, then we stretch as a warm up.
400 meters (1 lap) @ 60 seconds
100m @ 60s
800m @ 150s
100m @ 60s
400m @ 50s
100m @ 60s
800m @ 120s
100m @ 60s
400m @ 45s
100m @ 60s
400m @ 40s
This totals to 4.5 miles in approx. 25 min. (Including the warm-up)
Timed run:
Fridays we would decide on a time, usually between 20 and 45 minutes and run for that time at a slow pace. A slow pace means around 10-12 minute miles depending on your fitness level.
Fun-Day:
For our fun days we would choose each week what to do. As a team we could run to a near by park and play flag football or ultimate frisbee. Or if you’re running as an individual you can go for a swim, run in a new area, ride a bike, or anything that keeps your heart rate up. We would play, run, swim or bike for a total of 1 hour then head home.
Remember that running is a sport that is hard on your body, to avoid injury make sure you have a high quality pair of running shoes. Ice anything that gets sore right after your run to avoid tears or strains. Anyone can run, you may not be fast at first and these times may seem completely out of your reach but it is possible if you stick with it. When I started cross country I ran a 5k (3.2 miles) in 35 minutes. At the end of my first season, a total of 6 months later, I was on the varsity team, running a 22 minute 5k. Stay dedicated and don’t forget to lift and use weights after your runs to get the rest of your body in shape. All of these workouts can be changed and adjusted for your ability, lower the miles, raise the times and you can start your own system and work your way up to this exact workout. Find a running team or some friends to keep you motivated and make sure to time yourself and keep track of your progress, I promise there will be progress.
Goodluck on your fitness journey and keep an eye out for more tips from me.
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