30 Day Challenge

     Something about telling enough people that I plan to do something guilts me into doing it. So here it goes. I am going home for the first time in over a year in 32 days (yes, I know the exact number of days). I was just getting into working out everyday when 2 things happened. 1) I got sick...I tend to baby myself when I get sick. 2) I started school full time...with a full time job. Aka, lots of reasons to stop working out because I am too tired. So, now I am enrolling myself into my own special 30 day program.

     Basic tenets: I WILL work out at least 5 days a week, but my goal is 6. I will try to avoid treating myself with chips and sweets for going to the gym. I will continue to drink tons of water...not hard to do when you live in the dryness equivalent to the desert. I will do strength training, cardio and stretching. I will stretch every day.

Specifics:

Areas I want to work on: Butt (Goal: tone), thighs (Goal: tone), stomach (Goal: tone), arms (Goal: Build muscle and tone)

Arms:

“Determine the maximum weight you can lift for each exercise so you can build a workout routine around your maximum for each exercise. Your maximum is the amount of weight you can lift one time before failure. If you can do several reps with a weight, add more weight to determine your one-time max. Perform a warm-up set of an exercise, performing five reps of the exercise using 60 percent of your maximum weight. Take a 2- to 3-minute break, then repeat the set of five lifts using 80 percent of your max. Take another break, then perform three more sets of five reps using 100 percent of your max. Rest between each set. Perform all five sets of the same exercise before moving on to the next. Recheck max each week.” Livestrong

Everything else:

Use weight to perform eight to 10 repetitions of an exercise, using 40 to 70 percent of your maximum weight. Take only 1-minute breaks between sets. You can move from exercise to exercise each set. Repeat 3-4 times per exercise.

Cardio:

Exercise at a pace that I can maintain for 15 minutes (At this point, that is running at about 9 on the treadmill)

Each week, increase the time I run by 5 minutes.

Week 1: 15 minutes

Week 2: 20 minutes

Week 3: 25 minutes

Week 4: 30 minutes

During the end of my third week, start adding sprints. Sprint for 30-90 seconds and then take a 2 minute break.

Wish me luck! I will keep you updated on my progress! I know I have been a horrible blogger recently, but if your wondering why...check above. Work, school and now exercise!