My Fitness Routine – Improving Strength, Flexibility, and Balance

Since I’ve been cleared to resume exercising, I’ve been struggling to come up with a fitness routine that works for me. I want to return to some of the things I’ve enjoyed doing but I also want to avoid injuring myself. I’ve decided I need to work on core strength, flexibility, balance, and variety.

I’m hoping that working variety into my fitness routine will help me avoid injury and any kind of repetitive stress problems.

I’ve come up with a fitness routine that is working for me right now. Of course, it’s still winter in Ohio so I’m not getting outside very often. This routine might change once spring and summer arrive.

I also find that if I assign certain days to certain exercises, I’m likely to get it all done.

Fitness Routine

 

Sunday

Sunday is now my upper body strength day. I asked my boyfriend to work with me on regaining my upper body strength so we now hit the gym on Sunday and use the dumb bells and equipment. It’s a challenging workout, that’s for sure. Last week, we did a lot of chest presses, flies, triceps dips, and some ab work. I felt it the next day, that’s for sure.

Monday

Monday is now my yoga day. I found a class I like at a rec center at a nearby town so I bought the non-resident passes and try to go every Monday evening.

If I can’t make it because of a scheduling conflict, I try to work some cardio in its place. That might be running or using a bike at the gym.

Tuesday

I’m now attending a Pilates class on Tuesday mornings. I’ve just started back into Pilates reformer classes and it was quickly apparent that this is a good thing for me to do.

The instructor commented on how tight my ham strings and calves are. I knew that of course but rteally haven’t found a solution. Hopefully, Pilates will help.

Wednesday

I meet my trainer on Wednesday late afternoon. She tends to give me a full-body workout that challenges me. She focuses on strength, balance, and cardio conditioning by elevating my heart rate.

Sometimes after my training session, I’ll add a brisk walk or a run or I go swimming.

Thursday

Thursday is my catch up day. I tend to do some kind of cardio. Since I want to swim at least once a week, this might be my swim day. If not, I’ll go for a run.

Friday

I see my trainer again on Friday morning. We do something that complements what we did on Wednesday.

Once in a great while, I treat myself to a orthopedic massage. An orthopedic massage is not necessarily the most pleasant massage. It’s not like a relaxation massage. Instead, it works on injury rehabilitation and improving range of motion. If I get a massage, I try to get it on Friday so I go into the weekend feeling better.

Saturday

I haven’t returned to my boot camp class yet, which is on Saturday morning. Instead, I’ve been riding a bike or running at the gym.  I look at what my fitness routine has been this week and Saturday becomes the day that I try to fill in whatever I’ve been missing.

The one thing that I’m struggling with right now is that my daily steps have dropped. That’s due to a change in my living arrangements and I’m just not getting in as many steps as I used to in doing my daily activities. I need to figure that out because while having some physical activity is important, so is getting in those steps. That’s next on my list of things to figure out.

I’m happy to have worked out a fitness routine that works for me. Of course, this will change when I can begin to go outside. For example, my Sunday activities will probably change when the weather improves. When that happens, I’ll adjust what I’m doing and figure out how to keep the variety going.

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