Over the course of the last nine months or so, I’ve come to the startling realization that I’m a workaholic. Probably not a revelation to my friends and family who put up with me, but somewhat of a surprise to me. You see, I’m a social media strategist, which is to say, I get paid to spend 10-12 hours a day managing and driving conversations on a variety of online communities using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.
I’ve always been a pretty active individual – playing basketball, running cross country, surfing, hiking and so forth, but over the past several years, as I’ve worked hard to progress in my career, I’ve gradually allowed my work to get in the way of those activities I used to enjoy. For example, when Chris and I lived in Tallahassee, I thought nothing of waking up an extra two hours early so that Chris and I could hit the gym or go running before getting started for the day. Now, the mere mention of waking up early makes me seethe with resentment as I now view sleep as the most precious of commodities.
It’s funny (in an ironic sort of way) that the very things I love most about my job – becoming a subject matter expert on a variety of industries & products, writing content, managing customer service and so on – are also the things that wear me out. I believe (and I think my coworkers would agree) that working in the realm of social media requires a special kind of individual – someone who thrives on chaos, being “on” 24/7, problem-solving on the fly, etc. Unfortunately, the “thrill” (or stress if you prefer) of those activities take its toll over time, and instead of being proactive and circumventing the effects of long hours behind a desk, I stopped exercising. And now, three years later, that cessation has left its mark – I sleep in on the weekends because during the week I can’t turn my brain off, the thought of throwing on my running shoes fills me with dread because a mere half-miler leaves me huffing and puffing, I feel tired all the time, and let’s not even talk about my dietary choices.
These three years of less than healthy decisions came to a head this past week when Chris and I headed to our family’s lake house for the 4th of July. One of my cousins, Adam, went through a bit of a tough break up last year, and decided to channel his feelings into getting in shape. 30 days later, he’d completed the first stage of a dramatic transformation, and by the time the family converged at the lake, he was the most fit I’ve ever seen him. While I won’t say it was his success that drove my decision to start treating my exercise program like a job (I’ve been agonizing about it for months), he did pique my interest in the Insanity program. So here I sit, as usual, in front of my glowing screen – determined to take one hour each morning to do something for myself, and because I thrive on turning chaos into order and pushing myself to my limits, I’ve decided on a program that I’ve heard lives up to its name. Bring on Insanity.
If you’re looking for a quick way to strengthen your core and get your workout on, look no further. Below you’ll see 3 song workouts for every day of the week! I stumbled across this series on Pinterest, but the original blog they were posted on has since been deactivated, which is a real bummer as I’ve really found these workouts to be effective.
As the Marine Corps says, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Ooh rah!
Sunday
- 45 jumping jacks
- 15 squats
- 50 Russian twists
- Plank – 30 seconds
- 10 standing calf raises
- 5 kneeling push-ups
- Superman – 30 seconds
- 10 lunges (each leg)
- 40 crunches
Monday
- 100 jumping jacks
- 50 crunches
- 20 tricep dips
- 15 squats
- 20 lunges (each leg)
- 70 Russian twists
- 20 standing calf raises
- 5 push-ups
- Plank – 30 seconds
- 10 split lunge jumps
Tuesday
- 80 jumping jacks
- 50 vertical leg crunches
- 20 sit-ups
- 15 tricep dips
- 20 squats
- 10 side lunges (each leg)
- 15 leg lifts (each leg)
- 50 bicycles
- 15 wall push-ups
- 40 Russian twists
Wednesday
- 90 jumping jacks
- 20 tricep dips
- 10 sit-ups
- 30 bird dogs
- Plank – 30 seconds
- 30 squats
- 15 incline push-ups
- 40 crunches
- 10 oblique crunches (each side)
- 20 standing calf raises
Thursday
- 100 jumping jacks
- 25 vertical leg crunches
- 30 crunches
- 20 squats
- 20 wall push-ups
- 50 Russian twists
- Side Planks – 15 seconds each side
- 10 split lunge jumps
- 40 high knees
Friday
- 60 jumping jacks
- 40 crunches
- 10 sit-ups
- 10 tricep dips
- 20 side lunges (each side)
- 15 incline push-ups
- 10 oblique crunches (each side)
- 30 butt kickers
- 5 jump squats
- 15 jackknife sit-ups
Saturday
- 50 jumping jacks
- 20 squats
- 100 Russian twists
- 5 kneeling push-ups
- Downward dog – 1 minute
- 15 jackknife sit-ups
- 10 lunges (each leg)
- 10 side lunges (each side)
- 20 bird dogs
- 20 inner thigh lifts (each leg)
I’ve never felt as full of life, energy, and dare I say zen, as I did when Chris and I were running regularly. Training for races like the Minnie Marathon and the Gate River Run was both exhausting and exhilarating – but after several frustrating injuries, I’ve struggled with returning to a regular run regimen.
Thankfully for me, Runner’s World announced this week that they’re kicking off their first ever Summer Run Streak, a friendly challenge to runners everywhere to commit to running at least one mile every day beginning next Monday, May 27 (Memorial Day) and continuing through July 4th – a whopping 38 straight days of runs.
This is great for a couple of reasons:
- I always do better when I have a firm goal in mind. In the past, it was working up to a particular race distance like the Gate River Run or the Outback Distance Classic, but since I’ve been out of the game for awhile, this particular goal of running 38 days in a row gives me a flexible framework, allowing me to run as much or as little as I want so long as I at least strike one mile off the to-do list each day.
- The challenge includes a hashtag (#RWRunStreak). Not only will tracking the conversations surrounding the hashtag help keep me motivated, it will also help keep me accountable. I’m making a public declaration that this run streak is important to me, and I’m going to make it happen.
- Beach season. As Runner’s World mentioned in their blog, the temptations of the summer season (vacations, hot weather, etc.) make it easy to put off running for a day, week or altogether.
- The distance shouldn’t affect other planned workouts. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on building strength in my core in preparation for making a return to running. (Little bit of kismet there, no?) The first week of core training was brutal, and I doubt I would’ve been able to successfully push my aching muscles into more than a sad shuffle if that challenge has been presented any sooner. However, after two weeks of workouts, I’ve already noticed a difference, and while the core workouts are still challenging, my muscles are recovering faster. In short, adding a one mile run (or more) each day should be just the extra push I need to keep things fresh!
If you’d like to join the challenge, it’s easy! Simple commit to running the 38 days, and if you feel like sharing your progress you can either post in the comments below or use the #RWRunStreak hashtag in your tweets!
Good luck, everyone!
Posted under: 
