I had to start working out slowly. I am not as young as I once was nor am I in the same physical shape as I was back then. I want to become healthier and eating more nutritious meals is a big part of that equation. I have family members to care for and things I want to do and achieve so getting hurt was not in the cards. To avoid getting hurt I started slowly. I want to share my journey to motivate you to get started. The end result is worth the effort, I promise you that.
How to Start Working Out
The journey of 10,000 miles starts with one step. So how did I start working out? I took this adage to heart and with our 13-year-old daughter Sapphire, we started going to the gym. Get ready because here comes the hard part. The hardest part even still, is getting the motivation to get out of bed. Once I was up and moving the rest is easy. sort of… Now that I am up, I get an apple or a banana so that I have some energy to make it through the workout.
First Day in the Gym
Our first day in the gym we took it real easy. I haven't seen the inside of a gym in years so this was a bit daunting. We both decided to go early because there are fewer people there in the morning. Bonus no one looking at the new kids lol. We had on work out clothes but we didn't look like we worked out 🙂 Time to get over the anxiety of being somewhere new and push through, We came here for a reason and we are going to succeed!
First things first let's stretch out these tired old “muscles” I know they are in there somewhere 🙂 We do a few stretches for our legs because we are getting on the treadmill.
WAIT– back up we need to do an item check and make sure we have everything. Towel? nope forget that at home we will remember that next time, FitBit? check, running shoes? check, ok let's go. We hop onto the treadmill and we get to stepping. We are walking today not too fast or too far. We decided on 1 mile today. 5 minutes in and whew I am feeling it. I used to run at least 2 miles every day in the Army, and now I can barely make it 5 minutes walking on a treadmill. Have to start somewhere here is where I am so here is where I start.
I am feeling disgusted with myself. 7 minutes in and hey I got this, I am feeling pretty good I got past that 5-minute mark and started talking to myself and wow I am already past 7 minutes. My 13-year-old told me she was talking herself through it also. She says “it's all in your brain.” Hey, I was talking bad to myself feeling bad and negative while I was walking and the time flew by. Music and positive talking to myself (in my head not out loud of course) will help me feel better about this whole working out thing. 25 minutes later we are done and we made it. The whole mile is completed and we even walked a bit more for a cool down. .06 miles counts right?
Lessons Learned for Day 1
Take a towel to the gym, don't forget the towel it is an important item if you sweat. Music and positive thinking will push you through faster and further than negative thinking. Self-talk is important and has an effect on what you do and how well you do it. Keep your inner talk with yourself postive and upbeat. A 13-year-old girl has a lot of energy and can walk and talk without stopping. 🙂 These are a few things I learned on my first day back to the gym. I wrote a post about How To Make Walking Fun. I need to revisit it and apply some of those principles 🙂
Day 2 Walking
Day 2 at the gym, we walked the same 1 mile and we actually picked up the pace a bit. Not too much but a tad. After stretching and walking on the treadmill we got on an elliptical just to try it out. We are feeling great today. My mind is clear and full of positivity our 13-year-old is chatty as usual and in good spirits. Anyone with a 13-year-old knows this is a rare occurrence. The morning gym routine seems to be having a positive effect on her as well. *Update today the soreness starts* after the gym today I was a little sore, nothing too bad but definitely could tell I had been working muscles that hadn't been moving in a while. If you need more info on walking check out my Ultimate Walking Guide.
Day 3 Rest
Woke up this morning and ouch, I felt my unused muscles telling me they wanted a break. I wasn't overly sore but it did want a massage and the kid? Well she was ready to go 🙂 Today we go to the gym and we get on the treadmill and I take it easy. just a little walk nothing overly strenuous. The walk feels good the muscles warm up and begin to relax. I am not running yet but I feel like I am making progress. Already making progress must be in my mind right? Well, my body feels better and more noticeably I am thinking better, more clearly. I have made plans, while I was walking, using my phone's calendar and a note-taking app, I have scheduled going grocery shopping, laundry and started working on my meal plan for next week. I called this day rest because I didn't pick up the pace or do any extras. just a stroll to loosen up the muscles and keep me in the habit of coming to the gym 🙂
Lessons Learned for Day 3
On day 3 I learned there will be soreness 🙂 but I also learned that continuing to walk helped with the soreness it didn't last that long and I felt better overall. Another good tip is when starting this journey out with a 13-year-old make sure you can reign them in when they start to do too much, but also let them test their limits so they know where their limits are. The same goes for you. make sure you know where your limits are and don't overdo it. Today we lifted weights a bit also. We are making Wednesday our arms day. We did light weights 15lbs on biceps and shoulders. can I do more weight? yes but I am just getting started and I don't want to get hurt. Can my daughter do more? Yes, but the same applies to her. I am not holding us back I am easing into it so we get accustomed to getting up earlier and going to the gym as well as the activities we are doing at the gym.
Day 4 Weights
Now we are going to ease into some more weight lifting after out stroll on the treadmill. Every day we get on the treadmill first to get our steps in and to warm up for the weight lifting part. Today is leg day yay 🙂 We did leg presses and leg lifts as well as some squats and what I call leg butterflies. I don't know what the machine is called but it exercises your hip flexor muscles. All lightweights on Nautilus type machines for 10 reps and that's it. No free weights just the machines which I feel are safer for me and for our 13-year-old. We are feeling great and not overdoing it so we aren't too terribly sore the next few days.
Wrap Up
Day 5 is the wrap-up day. What I mean is we see how far we have come this week so we have a measure of where to start next week. This step is how we measure our progress. Today we push ourselves a bit further to see what we can do. we have taken it easy the first few days and now we are ready to push it a bit. We do this every Friday because we know we have 2 days of recovery and we are back at it. Keeping the time in the gym to 1/2 hour to 45 minutes and the workouts light helps us to get into the groove of going to the gym every day and helps our muscles become accustomed to the new movements.
It was an awesome week and I can not wait until Monday. We are super motivated and excited to be on this journey together and we hope you will follow our story as we continue to get better and healthier and lose weight. Sign up for our Walking Challenge and keep up with us in our FB Group.
