Catching up from the weekend? A few fun posts for you:

• How I Scored A Better Deal At The Gym
• My Current Favorite Workouts
• A Fun Survey I Shared
• LAST DAY TO ENTER – CSN Stores Giveaway

Fitness is my passion. Or one of them at least. I love finding new ways to challenge myself physically. It motivates me. It gives me strength. It makes me downright giddy inside. No wonder I anticipate going for such goals again.

I have already discussed the general manner with which I plan to approach fitness after giving birth. I believe shooting for a gradual increase in intensity will help me stay motivated and continue to see improvements. Now, for more specifics!

Weight Training
My heart lies with strength training. I believe it always will. I gain such a sense of accomplishment from seeing my body get stronger and stronger. Plus, there are so many fun ways to mix it up! Listed below are some steps I plan to use for getting back into weights workouts.

1. Light at-home circuit workouts 2-3 days per week.
2. Begin back at the gym with 1 or 2 full body workouts a week, focusing on using machines to reacquaint my muscles with the moves.
3. Ease back into Bodypump style classes 1x/week with the above workouts.
4. Move on to more traditional workouts 3 days per week – adding in more free weights moves. Beginning to add more intensity with things like supersets.
5. Branch out to 4 day workout rotations with a focus on free weights and compound body moves. Add in even more fun and intensity with plyometrics, drop sets, giant sets, and more. Not sure what all that means? Stay tuned and I will be happy to share as I progress to these workouts. We can do them together!

Standard Cardio
Since I love all aspects of fitness, I love cardio as well. The only requirement I have for cardio is that I have a variety. I can’t do machines every workout. Nor can I go to class after class after class and upkeep motivation. I plan to incorporate the following for cardio workouts, rotating them regularly. I have a lot of cardio options, including the running I mention later, but will make sure to not go overboard.

1. At – Home DVDs: Turbo Jam and Cathe Friedrich are my top options currently. I already own them and they never let me down. Cathe tops everything though! She has a great variety with kickboxing workouts, fun step routines, and some great high intensity boot-camp style drill workouts. I LOVE those! Maybe eventually I will get to add Insanity or Turbo Fire to my collection as well.

2. Spinning: That will be the main class I use at the gym since I can do kickbox DVDs at home. Perhaps I will fit in an occasional Zumba as well.

3. Machines: I like to use machines (especially the stepmill) on occasion. Its a fun challenge to switch things up that way and they are great for interval style workouts. Must have a magazine though!

Running
I know running is cardio, but I’ve included it separately. Why? Well, I want to give running a more solid effort. I have always shied away from running because I felt I was no good at it. Now, I realize from blogs that its a personal challenge and I expected too much from myself before. I don’t have to excel at something to feel accomplished doing it.

I want to give it a real chance. I used to love running, but lost sight of it somewhere along the way. I plan to start out with the Couch To 5K program and run my first race ever. Who knows if it will lead to more running? I also have my thoughts on possibly doing a longer distance at the end of the year, depending on how it fits into my overall fitness picture and how much I enjoy it again. That’s all I will say about that for now. Don’t want to get all you running fanatics too excited.

Yoga/Stretching

I know I need to continue focusing on flexibility. I let stretching slip way too often in my past and my body could feel it. I want to make sure I stretch fully after each and every workout. Ideally, I will also manage to fit in yoga 1x/week as well. However, with the gym’s schedule and the cost of yoga studios, that may not be feasible. I will look into options though and do what I can to focus on keeping my muscles limber. Foam rolling will certainly be involved!

So, that’s part two! I’m so ready to get started!!!!

Question of the Day – What workout have you refrained from trying or fully giving a chance because of fear/uncertainty/not feeling good enough?

You all are into the Chobani! Keep those entries coming. And HELLO to any new friends who came across the site. I hope you stick around for awhile. We have a good time here. 🙂

In my last “Body After Baby” post, I shared my overall goal of reaching my body’s “happy place”. Feeling physically fit and strong. Feeling healthy because of proper nutrition. Feeling confident because I know I am caring for myself in all ways.

When setting goals, often times we hear the recommendation to use the “SMART” approach: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, & Timely.

While my overall goal is very vague and measured just from my personal thoughts, I still agree with the SMART approach. Goals should be those things, especially realistic. Today, I want to share other goals I have outside of what I will strive for overall next year.

10 Extra Goals on the Path to the One Overall Goal

Complete unassisted pull-ups again. These epitomize strength in my mind.

Squat 135# (the man bar + one big plate on each side). I love, love, love squats. I could easily do this at my happy place for 3 sets of 10. It was fun getting looks from the men in the weight room!

Bench press 100#. Yet another I could easily do at one point. I would also do pushups with a 25 pound plate on my back. What can I say? I adore strength training!

Run a 5K Race. This one really excites me. I was starting to truly enjoy running before I got pregnant. It’s a fitness challenge that has always intrigued me, but I have never embraced out of fear I would stink at it. Who cares if I stink? I want to give it a shot and experience my first race!

New workouts. I would love to try out some new things. Like my first yoga class in a studio, Insanity & TurboFire DVDs, and anything else I may come across.

Stretch, yoga, foam roll OFTEN. It is so easy for me to let flexibility slide. I want to focus on it fully to help with my other fitness related goals.

Cook more and try new recipes. I would love to aim for one new recipe a week. I need to branch out and grow my cooking skills.

Less processed foods & way more veggies. I want to get back to the style of eating I know I feel best with. That includes focusing on those two factors.

More balance with food. Continuing with that idea, I don’t want to become restrictive in any sense. However, I also know I could use more of a balance with carbs, protein, and healthy fats. Also between natural foods and my “treats”. Once these pregnancy sugar cravings lose their hold on me.

Daily prayer & positive affirmation. I want to focus on loving myself. I still pray regularly for God to help me see myself through His eyes. It’s a very powerful thing to remind yourself of and I want to keep that going.

As you can see, I have things related to fitness, healthy eating, and overall emotional well-being. All three are important to me. These are not the definitive list, but just an idea of things I plan on working towards in a more specific nature. I fully believe all of these things will help bring me to the overall place I hope to achieve…and keep me feeling wonderful throughout the process.

Question of the day – What are some goals you hope to work towards?