#2013alive: Looking Forward to Trying Something New

We’re coming to the home stretch of our third week in the third month of our 12 Months of Wellness series—and we’re feeling strong. We’ve been focusing on getting at least two workouts each week that maintain our muscle and bone strength.

How did you flex your muscles?

If you hunkered down to some spring cleaning (in anticipation of the coming season), cleaning out cupboards and closets and washing walls, you demonstrated not only strength of character, but you also strengthened muscles and bones.

We heard plenty of ways that alive staffers fit strength training into their routines—though not a single one mentioned spring cleaning! For the most part, we heard about the need for variety to keep things interesting. Here are some of the tips they shared:

Amy (who confesses she tries to do as little vigorous cleaning as possible) feeds her need for variety with heart-pumping activities such as hot yoga, Pilates, indoor rock climbing, bootcamp-style circuit training, and a couple of visits a week to the alive gym for skipping and light weight training.

Vince hits the gym four times a week. He prefers free weights and dumbbells as opposed to machines, and focuses on different muscle groups on different days.

Bryce, a former gym rat, now maintains his muscle with a home-based regimen that includes pull-ups, push-ups, squats, and core exercises.

Ellen, who has just rekindled her regular gym routine is appreciating the quick results of her combination strength and cardio workout done in intervals.

How did you maintain your muscle this week?

Coming up—Try something new!

Next week we look at trying something completely different—something we’ve always wanted to try, such as a new fitness class or sport. If you really like hanging upside down, there’s antigravity yoga. And if you’re of a certain age and prefer team sports, maybe Granny Basketball’s just the thing!

It’s never too late to try something new (as the Granny hoop stars demonstrate), so put your thinking cap on and use your imagination. Some words of advice though: think it through (rock climbing’s not for those with a fear of heights), take it slow (to allow your body to adapt to new challenges on joints and muscles), and be patient (to develop enough skill and proficiency at the new activity to enjoy yourself).

Follow us!

Tune in to find out how we’re doing by checking our ongoing Twitter, Facebook, and blog posts. Drop us a line via blog or Facebook comments, or by using the Twitter hashtag #2013alive to let us know how you’re doing on your 2013 journey! And download March’s goal sheet to track your progress.