A new approach to working out. Running and yoga, friends? :)

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mariannejj108
mariannejj108 Posts: 20
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi!

I just started the C25K running program, and I have always despised running! Having done some crossfit, figure skating, gym and yoga before I have been on/off active since my teens. Even tough working out a lot, I have always been overweight with my weight going up and down between 160-190 lbs over the years. I do fall in to bad habits where I work to much and just stop taking care of myself. I think that I for a long tine have done things 110% or not at all. (Theres really nothing wrong about that, we're just going to have to accept that I have a personality trait that also works like that. :)) But, I'm getting older and now in my early 30ies I feel like I want a way to live a more balanced life when it comes to food and fitness.

I started out as a figure skater so my relationship to training has always been based on pure discipline and a deep pressure to always perform. I think that's what's made me continue with stuff that are really high intensity, like crossfit. Now however, I want a way to approach working out that's based on joy, feeling good and actually feeling my body getting better, stronger, healthier rather than just work on discipline (often ignoring pain) to perform. I have now just started with a yoga at home combined with running routine and I have come to realise that I do love to workout alone. I like the feeling of being out in the rain, my legs heavy and lungs burning. Seeing the trees and letting my mind just shut down. The yoga makes me really feel all the pains and strains, in my back, my hamstrings and how darn tight my hips are. I think, eventually, that I really want to feel strong. (Right now I feel WEAK! My entire body is week.) And I think I might start freeletics or adding some tougher things to my workouts. But, for me, this feels like a completely new approach to fitness. Based on what makes me and my body feel good - not just forcing it to achieve and perform to meet some goal. I also think I need a new coping strategy for life, for so long I have (as many do I think) used food, red wine and a spot in front of the TV just to get away when the going get's tough, and after really tough shifts at work where I feel almost empty and full of anxiety when I get home - It would be good to reach for running shoes and the great outdoors instead of that bottle of wine and bag of crisps. (However I'm not going to ever STOP doing that, it just, can't be my first line of defence. ;))

The running is really brand new for me, I did my first run yesterday and I think I was a bit cooky, having worked out quite a lot before in life. But really, today, I'm so sore, I have brand new pains. (Perhaps that's age as well. ;)) Anyone else recognise these thoughts? It would be great to make some new friends on this road to a new kind of healthy life. :)

Take care all!

Replies

  • Chrisparadise579
    Chrisparadise579 Posts: 411 Member
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    I dont really run that often except for mud runs but they are indeed fun. And I have to say I share the same attitude, I am an all or nothing person in most areas of my life especially fitness. I workout at home as well because 1) I feel like Im more free and can slip into my own world. 2) Because its the same price to build a home gym as it is to have a gym membership. I do yoga once or twice a week and love it, it makes you feel better and stronger and calmer all in one.
  • mariannejj108
    mariannejj108 Posts: 20
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    Hi Chris! Mud-runs! Really? Haha, that sounds awesome but slippery. It's really easy to get caught up in the all or nothing approach when it comes to fitness I think, everyone seems to strongly believe in goal-oriented superdiciplined fitness and we seem to forget that the point of it all is for it to make us feel good and alive. There is a joy in moving, getting to know your body, feeling the ups and down, feeling it move or getting stronger. But we tend to forget that because we just want our damn body to loose some pounds or grow a six-pack, and with that goal in mind we count calories and force ourselves through workouts we don't enjoy. Then we don't reach our goal and we seem to feel it was all for nothing... How's that for something to beat you down? :)
  • throoper
    throoper Posts: 351 Member
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    Hey there! I'm a runner and do yoga intermittently, and I'm 32 too. Wanna be friends? :smile: And yes it is super expected to get really sore leg muscles the first few times you go running. When I go through phases where I stop running for a while, I'm always sore when I start back up. Try to get back out in another day or two even if you're still a little tight... it'll actually help.
  • mariannejj108
    mariannejj108 Posts: 20
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    Hey! Yes, I did go out again yesterday and after being a bit stiff it felt really good. I do however have an old, quite bad hamstring injury (it really went popp) and it tends to come back and haunt me. Stretching and yoga does help with the pain though, so I'm hoping it will get better and better with time.

    throoper; Awesome, even the same age as me! :)

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