Weekend Warrior

Rats.

I’m not getting those Bloch hip warmers this week after all, because I won’t make my aerobic goal. I wish aerobics were easier for me.

Yesterday would have been a great day to drop everything and go out for a romp. We experienced a day of false spring yesterday, and nearly everyone in the office went out and got a little pink from the sun in the nearly 50-degree air. A buddy of mine at the office, who is training for a marathon in the spring, ducked out for a 5-mile run. She came in looking serene and pleased and infused with enough sunlight to make it to our real spring, which comes later than most springs do.

That cinched it for me -- I’m getting another pair of running shoes, and keeping them at the office. Ducking out for a short run would have probably helped me with my deadlines far more than the web surfing I did when my brain froze mid-afternoon.

I’m slipping, aerobically. But instead of giving up on aerobics altogether this week once I realized I wasn’t going to meet my whole goal, I’m going to take advantage of my weekend and DO SOMETHING.

That is, I’ll be a weekend warrior. I’ll get a bunch of aerobic exercise in today and maybe a little tomorrow to try to kick myself back into an aerobic habit.

Now there’s danger in this. The danger is in overdoing things and hurting myself, requiring rest and undoing next week’s goals too. But on the other hand, done well, weekend workouts can be just the ticket. If you’re already relatively fit, weekend workouts may be all you need to maintain your fitness level. If you’re working to get fit, you should supplement your weekend workouts with a least two small workouts during the week.

Today I’m determined. I’m jonesing for endorphins. I just have to move. I’m stiff from weight training and dance classes and need to stretch. But how to do the weekend jock thing safely?

One, I’ll focus a lot on stretching to warm and protect my muscles. Two, I’ll split my workouts to focus on different body parts, and vary the types of exercise, never doing any one kind of movement for more than 15 minutes. I’ll try to get in two or three good workouts this weekend following this pattern:

Stretch, warm, exert, warm, stretch.

It’ll likely be, stretch, walk, run, walk, stretch today. Stretch, yoga, lift, yoga, stretch tonight. And stretch, calisthenics, tai bo tape, calisthenics, stretch tomorrow.

That’ll give me two big and one small aerobic push this weekend, and launch me into a new week feeling buff and accomplished and healthy, ready to set a new aerobic goal on Monday.

Wish me luck,

JuJu


Weekend Warrior Workout
Weekend Warrior Warnings
Stretching, Please get this Book