I am someone who had to do cardio almost daily. Take a look at my workout log that I’ve had for over a year – the proof is there!  I was definitely a cardio addict prior to my foot injury.

Since I cut out nearly all formal cardio since November, I can’t say that I miss it too terribly! I do, however, know that my cardiovascular system has certainly taken a hit and hope to get back in cardio shape in the near future (whenever I get the doctor’s OK), but gone are the days of “needing” to do cardio daily.  It’s not all that necessary in my opinion.

For the past few months most of my workouts have been comprised of strength training, Yoga (I finally managed to do a headstand!), and Pilates.  I feel like I have gained incredible strength from taking Power/Vinyasa Yoga classes each week and my core strength also feels stronger since I incorporate more Pilates (This DVD is a favorite!) into my weekly routine.

I’ve really enjoyed putting my focus on strength – it feels really empowering to be strong and I definitely feel more self confident when my focus for my workouts is strength rather than simply burning as many calories as I can doing cardio.

Stability Ball Circuit

On Tuesdays and Thursdays before work, I wake up earlier to get in a quick 30-minute workout in our guest room. I have very little equipment, but you really don’t need much to get in a good workout.

One piece of equipment I do love having though is my stability ball:

Stability balls range in price, but are generally inexpensive. I’ve seen them at TJ Max for $12.99 which is not bad at all. I actually got my ball for free from work since it had a scratch on it and we were going to get rid of it – luckily the scratch has been pretty harmless and the ball is still in great shape!

For my morning workout I put together a quick circuit workout the night before and it turned out to be a pretty good one – simple yet effective:

I performed each exercise back to back and repeated it 3 times, which took 25 minutes (which included a quick warm up with some band exercises).  For the pull overs I used 20lbs of weight and I didn’t use any for the reverse flies (just range of motion, really focusing on form and feeling it in the right muscles), but you can certainly add some. I find with that exercise it doesn’t take much and it’s easy to let momentum kick in – hence why I don’t use any or use very light weight.

The push ups followed by the roll-ins were tough! My shoulders were screaming! Also, the forearm plank on the ball was pretty brutal and I couldn’t wait for that third one to be over!

I will definitely incorporate this circuit again and come up with some different ones.  There’s so much you can do on the ball!

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Life Updates:

I mentioned in my last post about an offer Andy and I put on a house and it was…accepted! We’re so excited! But…it’s a short sale and we still need bank approval. Luckily we’re not in any hurry and can wait it out. I just hope they accept it.

Other than house hunting (which had become like a part time job!), I’ve been busy at my real job with running our annual health incentive program. It’s a fun time of year and I really enjoy this aspect of working in corporate wellness.

As far as the weekend goes, we are celebrating a birthday. This weekend is Andy’s niece Claire’s 1st birthday. His brother and sister-in-law are having a family get together tomorrow. I’m excited to celebrate with everyone and to see little Claire. She’s gotten so big! I can’t believe it’s been a year since we first met the little one.

Have a great weekend everyone!