As I stated in my last article, I have begun the 75 hard challenge. As my life is right now, I’m only doing the diet and exercise portion of the challenge. However, I hope to do this again sometime with the reading portion when my life is a little less hectic. However, I do plan on adding a mini daily writing challenge in these 75 days that I will talk about another time (so stay tuned).
I’ve been having fun so far and as a former athlete whose favorite subject was PE and after school sports, I forgot how much I love being active. I’ve always had some form of activity in my life. However, I think at some point in my adulthood my main fitness default became the gym.
So, when I decided to start being more consistent in my fitness journey, I had to be honest and realize I’m not a gym rat.
I enjoy the gym, but it isn’t my favorite form of fitness. I like jump roping, hula hooping, running, dancing, roller skating, sports and just having fun.
So through this 75 hard, I hope to get that joy for physical activities back again. Not just something I fit into my day but something I look forward to. Think of trying to restore recess for my adult self.
Day 1
Since it had been a month since working out, I decided to ease myself back into intentional movement. What better way than to do one of my favorite activities: Jump roping!
Since getting back into this childhood favorite, I’ve been enjoying learning new tricks.
As of right now, I’m trying to get the basic tricks down along with a few dance moves I’ve been playing with. I need to record myself more, but when you’re having fun, the last thing I’m thinking about is my camera.
For my second workout, I went back to the gym for a nice reintroduction. If you read my previous article, you know one of my new passions is to add a pinch of pretty to everything in my life. The gym is no exception, and I felt so cute in my bow. I don’t know if it motivated me to lift heavier, but I always perform better when I feel pretty.
Besides, I have significant muscle soreness as evidence that the power of the bow is real.
Day 2
I planned on going to the gym in the morning, but I couldn’t find my keys. After looking for around 20 minutes, I was no longer as enthusiastic about heading to the gym. Instead, I did a 3 mile jog by making laps around my neighborhood.
I’m not a runner and I never have been. I liked sprinting, but long distance running and anything longer than a quick burst of adrenaline never appealed to me. I’m still waiting to experience that “runner’s high” folks keep talking about.
Regardless, I do enjoy jogging when I need to get some energy out or wake myself up. This morning, it was a great wake-me-up.
Later that day, I went to the gym. I need to do a better job of recording my days because I don’t remember what I worked on. All I know is I finished and that’s what matters.
Day 3
Some days I feel like a jump rope master. Today was not one of those days. I ended up tripping over my feet multiple times and I was not very happy with how my session was going. I recorded myself and saw that one of my hands was unintentionally lower than the other so I think that may be what’s messing me up. Hopefully I can figure out how to improve that.
I still had 30 min of my hour workout to complete. Since my workout wasn’t…working out (pun fully intended), I switched my strategy to going on a jog outside.
Later in the day, I went to the gym for a mildly intense lower body session.
Day 4
My dad was able to go to the gym earlier in the day, so I decided to go with him and my sister. Since I had gone pretty hard the last couple of days at the gym, I opted for a lighter session. With the help of a few dumbbells, ab machines, and bike machine (I don’t know what it’s formally called, and I don’t feel like looking it up), I was able to have a pretty decent workout.
Later that day, I went out to meet my friend since I hadn’t seen her since coming back in town. Unfortunately, we ended later than predicted and I had to figure out an activity I could do for an hour at 10 pm. As lame as it sounds, I jogged in my room for 45 minutes.
Was it weird? Probably.
Did it get the job done? Yes indeed.
Day 5
This was my active recovery day. The week’s workouts had been a bit much for me. Since there aren’t any breaks in 75 hard, I walked around my neighborhood before church. Since it was early morning, it was cooler and calming. I took honey with me, but that poor baby could only push through one lap. Obviously, she has lost her conditioning since I’ve left.
That’s okay! We’re going to get it back soon.
Later that day, I did another round of jogging in my room, just to get it out of the way. I wish I had an elliptical or treadmill in my home so I could do better, less intense workouts for days like today.
Overall, it’s been a great first 5 days. By the time this gets out, I’ll probably be on day 7 or 8 so don’t be surprised if you get an earlier update. Thank you all for coming with me on this journey, and I hope to see you at the end!
Words of encouragement and positivity are always loved on this page! Comment below if you enjoyed the article and/or want to speak with our Road Writer community. Every comment is appreciated, and I am so grateful for your engagement on this little corner of the internet.
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