Waking Up Accountable

Like most of us, I want it all - I want to be accomplished and support myself, I want a fun and fulfilling social life, I want to be healthy and in shape at all times, and I want time for myself to re-boot. Dang though... that's a lot to squeeze in, and as my weeks seem to be getting busier and busier, I just don't have time for it all.

So, about a week ago I decided that I needed to focus on one aspect of my overwhelming schedule and go from there. For me, the exercise aspect seemed to be a good one to address since it fuels and affects so many other things. I'll go into the week with a solid idea of 3-5 evenings I can go to the gym, attend a great class or go on a nice run... but things always seem come up: meetings, social events, working later than expected, being more mentally and/or physically exhausted than anticipated, and so on. Regardless of my calendar though, a regular and consistent  exercise routine is so critical! When that part of my week falls to the wayside, I feel more tired, I have less motivation and drive, I don't eat as well, I have more restless energy, I have trouble sleeping, I feel gross, and I have a really hard time getting back into a more regular workout routine afterwards.

My solution? 

Creating a Monday through Friday AM workout plan as an exercise fail-safe! 

Working in 10-15 minutes of exercise on weekday mornings seemed like a great way to be realistic (since I fail miserably every time I attempt a full 30-45 minute workout in the morning), wake up accountable, get my exercise in even if my evenings fill up, and go into each day feeling great. To my delight, my good friends Hanna Azboy and Emily Adams were feeling the same way. So, we joined forces and created an AM-LDA Plan (AM-Long Distance Accountability) for this week that just came to a end. Yes, there were some snags, understandably, but overall I'd say it was a total success! Each night, we agreed on our workout routine for the next morning (usually via text message or phone call) and each morning/day we confirmed our status of completion (usually via a text message saying "I DID IT!! YEAHHHH!!!").

You wanna play?

Great! Since I like you guys, I decided I'd share what my week of AM workouts looked like....

MONDAY

50 jumping jacks

10 burpees

20 crunches

20 squats

20 bridges

Repeat cycle 2 more times

End with 100 jumping jacks

TUESDAY

50 (phantom) jump rope

10 mountain climbers

12 bicep curls

12 tricep kickbacks

12 hammer curls

12 tricep extensions

Repeat cycle 2 more times

End with 50 (phantom) jump rope & 20 mountain climbers

WEDNESDAY

50 jumping jacks

10 butt kicks

12 bicycle crunches

12 dumbbell sumo squats

12 reverse crunches

12 lunges (each leg)

Repeat cycle 2 more times

End with 50 (phantom) jumping jacks & 20 butt kicks

THURSDAY

50 (phantom) jump rope

10 high knees

12 lateral raises

12 calf raises

12 dumbbell shoulder press/military press

12 plies with calf raises

Repeat cycle 2 more times

End with 50 (phantom) jump rope & 20 high knees

FRIDAY

3 sets of plank - holding for 30-45 seconds

3 sets of bridge - 20 reps per set

3-5 minutes of shadow boxing and/or high energy dance mix

5-10 minutes stretching and/or yoga poses