I'll say it once and I'll say it again. I love the concept they have over at Nerd Fitness. Whats the concept? Leveling up your life. Basically, it calls you to make your exercise program into a video game. How can you "level up" your character (you) to make them stronger, more healthy, more able to take on the enemy (the day/world). I've always loved this but I've never quite put it into action. Its been in the back of my mind, sure, but what is leveling up without written out achievements to unlock? Since playing Pokemon Go, (yes, don't be a hater) I've realized that I need to feel like I've accomplished something in order to be motivated level up. Maybe a reward, maybe a sticker or just progress tracker. (p.s. I haven't set up any rewards yet other than stickers, feel free to leave suggestions).
So, I've finally taken the plunge. The things I have listed for my "levels" may not seem like much, but they will challenge me. Once I've reached all these I will make harder goals.
Monday: Strength Training
Tuesday: Active Rest (like hula hooping or catching pokemon... something fun)
Wednesday: Cardio
Thursday: Cardio
Friday: Active Rest
Saturday: Strength Training (this may change depending on how well John and I do at getting out to the tennis courts)
I am sticking the progress charts in my planner and I am going to use my planner to schedule what work outs to do for the week. Wish me luck!!
I don't know about you, but I am horrible at committing... to exercise regimens that is. Part of it is lack of will power. The bed is just so warm and comfy, and it pulls me back in. Or when I get home from work, the couch is just so soft and inviting. The other part of t is that I don't have any real fitness goals. I know I don't really need to loose weight, I just want to tone. So, because I can't see immediate results, I loose my motivation.
But, sometimes even that doesn't work. Ever since I've learned about this awesome website called nerdfitness.com, I've changed my goals to be a bit more meaningful and specific. Though, still broad, my main goals now are to get healthy so that I can become strong and gain more energy. These are great goals, and keep me wanting to work out, but somedays, laziness and procasitination win and I get out of the habit and down the rabbit hole I go.
[Side note: Nerdfitness is an awesome website that takes fitness and makes it real. No gimmicks to get you to try to buy anything. It uses gaming philosophies to motivate its readers to workout. Things like "level up your life." There is fun stuff for non gamers as well. And no, they are not paying me, I just want to share the love!]
One of the main philosophies at Nerdfitness is to exercise in a way that you love. Something that you find fun. That way, you won't dread working out. The problem with this for me, is that the exercise that I find fun is swing dancing and gymnastics. Both are not really fun/wise to do at home and yet I don't have time/money to take classes at the moment. I am sure I will find other forms of working out fun, however, I'm not sure what those are yet.
I follow Jessica on youtube and have done several of her workout videos. I've really enjoyed the ones that I've done and she is easy to follow. While I was scrolling my subscription box, I found the perfect thing for me: 31 Day Ab Challenge starting July 1st! I was a little worried, since it seems to be targetting a certain area and I was worried it was going to leave other out... good for core strength, but not much else. However, listening to her intro video, it sounds like she is very concerned about making sure the exercises are balanced. It seems perfectly in line with everything that I am learning about fitness and I am super excited to get started.
This is also going to be great because I can try out different types of workouts and see which ones I enjoy the most.
If you would like to join me so that we can support each other in this 31 day challenge let me know in the comments!
I'm also thinking of doing little updates on my challenge to keep me accountable! Let me know if you's be interested in that!
So, based on you coming to this particular blog post, you are doing so for one of three reasons...
1. You are a Mormon
2. You are not a Mormon (either curious, investigating or very against)
or
3. You just love me and/or my blog.
So, lets get a few things straight before I get started.
1. I AM a Mormon, albeit a very recent convert.
2. I am not writing this to shove religion down your throat.
3. I do not really want to have a theological debate. We have are beliefs and that's fine, let's be respectful of each other.
Okay, now that that's out of the way...
Have you ever noticed how talented Mormon families are or seem to be?
Maybe you didn't grow up in a very Mormon populated environment so, allow me to give you some examples.
Lindsey Stirling- Young amazing violinist.
Alex Boye- Amazing singer.
Not to mention, The Osmonds
Of course, you could argue that there are lots of talented people out there that are not Mormon, and I'm not denying that. I am just sharing the secret with you why there seem to be a lot of talented Mormons, especially young Mormons... and it may just help you (or your children).
The reason is simply this:
Mormons are taught, from a young age, that God gives us talents and they are to be developed.
So you see,
there is not some crazy thing that Mormon's do to become talented...
they just work hard.
Which is why I believe that hard work is the most important part of any passion. If you want to be great at something, you have to work for it.
You know what the wonderful thing is?
Everybody has the choice to work hard, which means everybody has the chance to be really great at something.
Mormon or not.
So, let's get our butts in gear and be really great at something, okay?
I've had so many things come to mind that I want to do. The list goes on forever. I have so many goals, especially after getting married. So, I thought it would be useful to write down some of my goals and tips for how to achieve them.
Health Goals:
1. Drink More Water-
So, I kind of hate drinking water. Its a horrible habit, I know, but I usually drink apple juice or really just ANYTHING rather than water. But, I know I need to do it as it will help me feel more energized, give me a healthy glow and all sorts of good stuff. I have a few tips.
-Drink 1 bottle of water for every other juice/soda you have
-Use no/low calorie water flavor enhancer like Dasani Drops I received some from Influenster (courtesy a free VoxBox) and they're pretty good! I definitely suggest them!
2. Run a 5K-
I talked about this more on my other blog so, I don't want to go into too much detail. About why I want to do it, so you can read that here.
Tip: Exercise even if you don't feel like it (unless you're legitimately sick)
Knowledge Goals
1. Learn Spanish -
I want to learn Spanish because my husband speaks Spanish pretty well and wants to teach our future children.So, I don't want them to be talking secrets in a different language just because I won't be able to understand them! Since I have a while to learn this, I still need to come up with a specific plan.
Tip: Memorize a "word of the day".
2. Improve Memory-
I want to improve my memory so that I will be better at learning. It will just overall improve my life.
Tip: Memorize something each day or play memory improving games (gotta love apps).
Business Goals:
1. Get a Job-
This is pretty obvious, I would like a job to make some extra money for us! Its a long and hard process but, it will be worth it in the long run
Tip: Don't give up!
2. Make More mark. Sales-
My goal is to eventually be a mentor and to do that I need to consistently reach a certain sales goal.
So, if your in direct sales, I have a tip for you:
As some of you may know, last year I started an online literary magazine. I really love it, but, I've kind of hit a plateau. So, I'm going to start working on getting submissions and making it more, well, active.
Tip: If people aren't coming to you, find them.
Personal Goals:
1. Be a Good Wife-
One of my number one goals, after getting married, is to be a good Godly wife. I've found a few posts that I really like about being a Godly wife, you can read one here, courtesy of pinterest.
And yes, I bought a hula hoop.
