If you’ve read my fitness post from last month, you’ll know that I have been a little discouraged recently in regards to my fitness journey. I’ve been working out five times a week this entire year, but feel like I have nothing to show for it. I decided that my fitness routine needed a revamp and some simplification. Previously, not all of my workouts were that intense every single week. I sprinkled in some yoga and 10-minute ab workouts on days where I just wasn’t feeling it. But most of the time, I would try to do three days strengthen training and two days just cardio. I mentioned in my post that I thought I wasn’t doing enough, so I’d up the amount of “light” cardio I did before my strength training (on the stair-master or bike), and I had five circuits of workouts consisting of three workouts each that I repeated three times. Looking back on it, it’s crazy that I did that and thought that I wasn’t doing enough. I was working out for an hour and a half on those strength training days.
I grew to resent my workouts at this point, especially my leg days because I thought I’d never see the end of my workout. But since then, I’ve done a total overhaul of my workouts and have been on this new routine now for the past month and I’m really loving it! It’s still a little similar, but I’m not trying to overdue the amount of of circuits and exercises I do. It’s still flexible and incorporates some of my favorite fitness activities. I don’t resent my workouts anymore, which is key for me! So, here below is my ideal weekly fitness routine and how I worked out this past week. The exercises in each circuit change every week on my strength training days, so keep that in mind, as well as what yoga practice I want to do and what form of cardio I can do weather permitting! 🙂
DAY 1- Strength Training: LEGS
-Warm up: 15-20 minutes on the bike (not all out intensity, just something to get the muscles warmed up)
Circuit One (3 Sets)
- Single Leg Deadlift (9 each leg)
- Lateral Bounds (22)
Circuit Two (3 sets)
- Step Up to Reverse Lunge with Weight (8 each leg)
- 180 Degree Squat Jumps (16)
Circuit Three (3 sets)
- Deadlifts (15)
- Squat Pulses with Resistance Band (12)
Circuit Four (3 sets)
- Side Lunge with Weight (15 each leg)
- Squat Rotation onto Step (32)
BURNOUT: Wall sit (at least 1 minute)
STRETCH
DAY 2-CARDIO
-25-30-minute run
–STRETCH
DAY 3-YOGA
-35-minute Yoga with Adriene video on YouTube
DAY 4- Strength Training: ARMS
-Warm up: 15-20 minutes on the bike (low intensity)
Circuit One (3 sets)
- Shoulder Pushups (15)
- Tricep Dips (22)
Circuit Two (3 sets)
- Single Arm Shoulder Press (12 each)
- Front Raise (15)
Circuit Three (3 sets)
- Tricep Kickbacks with Twist (18 each)
- Bent Lateral Raise (10)
Circuit Four (3 sets)
- Alternating Side and Forward Bicep Curls (12)
- Arnold Pulses (12)
BURNOUT: Chest Press (until fail)
STRETCH
DAY 5: CARDIO
-25-30-minute run
-STRETCH
I always try to listen to my body everyday. My body may not feel like it’s up for a workout on certain days, so on days like such, I use it as my rest day. I don’t like to plan my workouts or rest days until the day of because you just never know what your body is going to feel like some days. I like writing my workouts the morning before I do them so there’s no lag time during the workout about what exercise to do next because it’s already written out for me. I also want to mention that I do have burnouts at the end of strength days to “burnout” all the energy I may still have left!
Prior to this month, I think I was focusing so much on the results that I lost sight of why I was working out in the first place. Yes, I loved the feeling of accomplishing a workout, but I was too centered on how that scale never seemed to change. I’ve been so used to working out five times a week that I forgot how much I do love to workout to begin with and how I should let the results come in their own time. My mindset has definitely changed, and in turn I think my workouts are much better and I feel so much better mentally. My thoughts are about how much I love my body enough to take care of it and workout, not the size.
And that concludes my new, ideal, weekly fitness routine! I love the variety in this routine because I feel like your body doesn’t get too accustomed to the same things. Although there is that variety, I feel like this routine is so much more simple and enjoyable than the prior workout routine I had. I hope you enjoyed this post and I’d love to know what type of workouts you enjoy doing in the comments below! Hope you have a great one <3