Finding that “Exercise Anthem” Song
After I finally start exercising, it’s not so bad. The hard part is starting. Thinking back to my younger days in high school, there were certain “anthems” that sports teams played to get them pumped up before a game.
I need something like that for exercising - I need an anthem. It’s the song that makes me want to get up and be active every time I hear it.
I sat down and started listening through some CDs that I knew had the potential of having an exercise anthem on it. My requirements were pretty simple. It’s a song that had to have a driving beat and be by an artist I like.
It didn’t take me long to find it. Just listening to it made my head bob a little bit back and forth and I wanted to stand up and do more.
I guess I can’t write a post about finding an exercise anthem without sharing what mine is. While I enjoy many styles of music, I really enjoy hard rock/metal. If I ever were to become a professional bass player, I would want to be in a band along the likes of Metallica, Korn or System of a Down.
The minute the bagpipes started with Korn’s Shoots & Ladders, I knew. That was my exercise anthem. Listening to that song takes me away to another place. A place where I am active and feel alive. It makes me want to get up and dance or hop around like a fool. It’s the perfect exercise anthem for me.
What’s your exercise anthem?
Adequate Sleep May Be Another Key to Losing Weight
When you think about losing weight, you think about being active and exercising. At least, that’s the first thing I think about. Recent research is suggesting that lack of sleep is an under-estimated factor in obesity.
Two key hormones produced at night which help regulate appetite were at play, she said.
Grehlin makes people hungry, slows metabolism and decreases the body’s ability to burn body fat, and leptin, a protein hormone produced by fatty tissue, regulates fat storage.
“We have shown that less sleep (two four-hour nights) caused an 18 percent loss of appetite-cutting leptin and a 28 percent increase of appetite-causing grehlin,” she said.
[Via Yahoo.com]
Lack of sleep has also been documented to cause other health problems and even could be deadly when it comes to your heart health.
Last year, I was trying to get adequate sleep at night. I was doing well for a while there, but soon life caught back up with me and I was back to going to bed after midnight almost every night. Unfortunately, that is still my present routine.
I really need to change that and attempt to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. That amount feels good to my body. Since sometimes it helps to take baby steps, starting Sunday night I am going to try to be in bed by 11:30 pm. The next week I’ll try 11:00 pm. My goal will be to go to bed by 10:30 am. That will allow 30 minutes for some chatting with my husband before falling asleep. We normally wake up around 7 am so that will give me 8 hours of sleep a night.
No April Fool’s Here - I Did Ten Minutes Straight on My Elliptical Today
This morning, I woke up a little bit later than usual. After doing a few normal things after waking up, I headed right to my elliptical and I wasn’t going to get off until I finished a full ten minutes. I wanted to do it so badly, since endurance has been a problem from day one.
First minute passed by no problem. Second minute brought about a little bit of pain in my knee. After five minutes, I was feeling pretty good. At seven minutes I was about ready to quit.
But I kept going for ten full minutes. Yes!!
The best part? I felt so good that I wanted to do more. Unfortunately, because I woke up late I didn’t have the time because I had to get to work. But tomorrow, I have to wake up when my alarm goes off.
Who knows? Maybe I can do 20 minutes? Or 30 minutes?
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. I’m actually excited for tomorrow morning!
When is The Best Time to Exercise - Mornings or Evenings?
The one thing that is very difficult for me to do is exercise. I have a nice elliptial machine, jump rope, toning bands, hand weights and an exercise ball. The tools are there, but the motivation to take 30 minutes of my day isn’t there.
I’m too busy…I’m too tired…etc., etc., etc.
Something I started doing a few days ago is hopping on my elliptical almost first thing in the morning. I get up, help get my son ready for school, and crank some tunes and start exercising.
I still have sleep in my eyes. I’m still in my pajamas.
No excuses. I hop on the elliptical. The first day it was for five minutes. The next day it was for 7 minutes. The day after that it was 8 minutes. I will keep increasing the time until I am at 30 minutes.
I can’t explain how good it feels to have that warmth you feel when exercising first thing in the morning. It’s amazing when I think about it. By the time those few minutes are over, I am more alert (I am NOT a morning person at all) and I feel ready to start my working day.
I believe that will be the key to me keeping with exercise. No excuses. Hop on the elliptical in the morning.
