Midday Workouts with Mimi...
You like it? It's a name one of my sorority sisters gave me when I was talking about working out in the afternoon. (Thanks Cylia!!) In the last year when I was on my major weight loss kick, one of the things that helped me was working out in the afternoon.
Yes I had a regular 9 to 5pm like many people, and I have a 3 year old son and a husband. Sometimes I'd come home from work and would prepare dinner then crash. The thought of working out seemed like the farthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to rest. But then I'd think about what I ate that day or the fact that I have been inactive for a day or so and I'd start to feel guilty. There had to be a better way I thought to myself.
That is when I incorporated the lunch break workouts into my routine. I am fortunate to work at a place that has a gym and has fitness classes such as Bootcamp, Zumba and Yoga, as I've blogged about before.
Well after doing bootcamp for months it was starting to become to cumbersome to run to the gym, change, do the class, leave 10 minutes early to change back into my clothes, run back to the office, eat my lunch and back at my desk in an hour. Most times I failed.
So I stopped with the midday workouts. And it was fine for a while because I was still able to get my evening workouts in but then I started having obligations during the evening and that was keeping me from the gym. the guilt started seeping in again.
I follow a lot of fitness bloggers and one had posted something about working out on her lunch break and some strategies she came up with. I thought "how brilliant"! Why didn't I think of that. They were pretty simple stuff. One was to wear your workout clothes under your work clothes. Again I thought, why didn't I think of that.
So that is what I did this past Wednesday. I wore my sports bar and tank top under my work clothes. I couldn't wear the tights because I didn't have any that would fit under my work slacks. So I threw them into my gym bag along with my cross trainers and was out the door.
When 1:30pm rolled around I grabbed my bag and headed to the gym. I quickly changed in the locker room, put on my heart strap monitor and watch and was off to the gym. I did a 5 minute warm up on the elliptical then hopped off and stood around thinking, hmmm what's next. I slapped my forehead and scolded myself for not having a workout plan. I pulled some workouts off the top of my head and wrote them down on a dry erase board in the gym. I did this circuit three times and finished in 24 minutes and burning 103 calories. I was satisfied with this. But that only left me 15 minutes to change, get back to my desk and scarf down my lunch.
I think I can definitely do this once a week if not twice a week to supplement my other workouts. I could possibly do a two a day, where I work out twice in one day. Which is what I did this day. I still ended up going to the gym after work and worked out for an hour. I had to after all the cake and candy I ate on Valentine's Day! LOL!
I will work on this next week. Yesterday I bought some tights that I know will fit under my slacks. I will make sure I have a concrete plan before heading to the gym so i know exactly what I'm doing and not waste time trying to think what muscle group do I want to work on. As far as lunch, on those days I most certainly have to bring my own lunch from home, which I do on most days of the week. But instead of eating it all in one sitting, I will probably start grazing on it about an hour before I work out then eat the rest when I get back.
As far as clean up after the work out I did get a little sweaty but nothing that required jumping straight into the shower after the workout. Moisture wicking shirts would be ideal, and then having some wipes to freshen yourself up would be good.
My goal next week is to be down at the gym and changed in 10 minutes, the run to the gym will be my warm up, work out 20-25 minutes, change and back in my office with 15 minutes to eat the rest of my lunch.
Anyone else want to take the lunch time challenge with me?? I'll give you a workout plan if you need one!
Yes I had a regular 9 to 5pm like many people, and I have a 3 year old son and a husband. Sometimes I'd come home from work and would prepare dinner then crash. The thought of working out seemed like the farthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to rest. But then I'd think about what I ate that day or the fact that I have been inactive for a day or so and I'd start to feel guilty. There had to be a better way I thought to myself.
That is when I incorporated the lunch break workouts into my routine. I am fortunate to work at a place that has a gym and has fitness classes such as Bootcamp, Zumba and Yoga, as I've blogged about before.
Well after doing bootcamp for months it was starting to become to cumbersome to run to the gym, change, do the class, leave 10 minutes early to change back into my clothes, run back to the office, eat my lunch and back at my desk in an hour. Most times I failed.
So I stopped with the midday workouts. And it was fine for a while because I was still able to get my evening workouts in but then I started having obligations during the evening and that was keeping me from the gym. the guilt started seeping in again.
I follow a lot of fitness bloggers and one had posted something about working out on her lunch break and some strategies she came up with. I thought "how brilliant"! Why didn't I think of that. They were pretty simple stuff. One was to wear your workout clothes under your work clothes. Again I thought, why didn't I think of that.
So that is what I did this past Wednesday. I wore my sports bar and tank top under my work clothes. I couldn't wear the tights because I didn't have any that would fit under my work slacks. So I threw them into my gym bag along with my cross trainers and was out the door.
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| Workout Plan |
When 1:30pm rolled around I grabbed my bag and headed to the gym. I quickly changed in the locker room, put on my heart strap monitor and watch and was off to the gym. I did a 5 minute warm up on the elliptical then hopped off and stood around thinking, hmmm what's next. I slapped my forehead and scolded myself for not having a workout plan. I pulled some workouts off the top of my head and wrote them down on a dry erase board in the gym. I did this circuit three times and finished in 24 minutes and burning 103 calories. I was satisfied with this. But that only left me 15 minutes to change, get back to my desk and scarf down my lunch. I think I can definitely do this once a week if not twice a week to supplement my other workouts. I could possibly do a two a day, where I work out twice in one day. Which is what I did this day. I still ended up going to the gym after work and worked out for an hour. I had to after all the cake and candy I ate on Valentine's Day! LOL!
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| Used these for box jumps and triceps dips |
I will work on this next week. Yesterday I bought some tights that I know will fit under my slacks. I will make sure I have a concrete plan before heading to the gym so i know exactly what I'm doing and not waste time trying to think what muscle group do I want to work on. As far as lunch, on those days I most certainly have to bring my own lunch from home, which I do on most days of the week. But instead of eating it all in one sitting, I will probably start grazing on it about an hour before I work out then eat the rest when I get back.
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| After my workout-Not too sweaty |
As far as clean up after the work out I did get a little sweaty but nothing that required jumping straight into the shower after the workout. Moisture wicking shirts would be ideal, and then having some wipes to freshen yourself up would be good.
My goal next week is to be down at the gym and changed in 10 minutes, the run to the gym will be my warm up, work out 20-25 minutes, change and back in my office with 15 minutes to eat the rest of my lunch.
Anyone else want to take the lunch time challenge with me?? I'll give you a workout plan if you need one!
I've been thinking about doing this...but more like walking! Great idea, let me try it on Monday!
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