Is anyone's workout routine like mine?

M

midnight

Cathlete
The only structure I have to my workouts is that I generally alternate strength days and cardio days. I never know which video I'm going to do until I look at them and one of them catches my eye. I don't schedule rest days. If my body or mind is tired, I take a day off then. I do try and keep in mind that if I'm doing strength training with one of the gym style workouts that I have to do the others to balance things out. If I do a total body workout then I don't worry about it. Sometimes I just feel like doing Bootcamp or High Step Challenge, no matter what's scheduled. I tried to do a Cathe rotation once and it drove me crazy.

I am like this about other things as well. I can't plan meals ahead of time because I want to eat what I happen to be hungry for at mealtime. I can't join a book club because I have to read what I'm in the mood for.

All of this drives my DH crazy and he thinks I am "disorganized" and insinuates that I'm lazy because I don't really structure my time and plan ahead. I tell him that I'm just a free spirit with ADD (the ADD part is true) and that this is just my style. It still makes him nuts. Anyone else like this?






--Lois


"If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning" - Mahatma Ghandi
 
I hear ya girl! You described my exercise routine exactly! And it's quite effective, I might add. I'm a little more structured with my eating, but that's because I have an eating disorder and it's necessary for me to do that to stay in control.

As for books, at this very moment, I have three books on my bedside table in various stages of completion (whatever I'm in the mood for), as well as magazines in the bathroom and in the living room for those odd moments. I also have . . . ooh, at least 15 other books in the bedside table or under the bed that I've either never started or never gotten back to. That doesn't mean I'm not reading. Quite the opposite. I read constantly.

So lazy? Ha! Our DHs just don't understand us. We are the opposite of lazy, if you ask me. Oh, and I try to pull off that free spirit routine all the time, too. I can't even pack a reasonably-sized suitcase because I just never know what I'll feel like wearing when the time comes. I CAN be organized, though, when I need to be. I'm a teacher. I have to. Chaos reigns in the absence of organization and structure. But in my off-duty time, I prefer to be more spontaneous.

Shari
(your sister in spontaneity) :)
 
I think I can identify with you. Each and every month I say, "okay, this time are going to make it through a Cathe rotation" and each and every month I find myself doing my own thing. That is, until this month. For some reason I am having good luck sticking to rotation for June. I'm not following it to the letter but have managed to stay true to the general format each day.

I'm with you on the food. I never plan it out in advance. I decide at the time. I'm doing Jenny Craig right now and although there is a daily menu, I find myself mixing and matching across days (which my counselor says is fine because calorie counts per meal are very similar).

We differ on the book club. I've been in one for six years and love it. I typically have a couple books going at a time - the book club book and one of my own choosing. This month we're doing "Devil in the White City" which is a facinating story of the building of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. That's the white city part. The "devil" refers to a diabolical serial killer who is preying on women drawn to Chicago during that time period. I highly recommended it!

I think you're right - embrace your style and free-spritedness! :)
 
LOL! Me! I can't stick to a rotation to save my life!!! Even though i do teh daily check-in, i don't always end up doing the w/o say i will do. It ALL depends on my mood}( My food is VERY under control though.


jes:)
 
I have probably done most of my workouts like you. Most important is my running, then weights usually follow. I have never done a Cathe rotation but I did 2 P90X rotations and loved them!! Now though I am doing Freestlye training for my lower body so I put in upper where I can..

As for eating....I definitely plan my meals ahead of time. Being Vegan for the last year has made me do that as I do alot of cooking ahead.

Don't really worry about my DH as he is the president of The Procrastination Club...http://bestsmileys.com/frustrated/7.gif[/img]...Carole
 
Lois, it's like you've gotten into my head.;-) Yes, I generally alternate strength and cardio. I usually know at the start of the month what strength series I want to use. It's the cardio that is very negotiable. I do tend to do a lot of kickboxing since I can't work out my legs so much with weights anymore.

I'm the same with meals. I generally eat the same thing for breakfast, either oatmeal or egg whites because I can't stand anything too flavorful in the morning. I don't know why, I've just always been that way. I'm not like that after breakfast; I know it's weird. The rest of the time, I eat what I feel like eating.

I don't have ADD and I'm not disorganized -- although if you compare my life now and my life pre-motherhood, you'll find I'm less anal now and am able to let go of more things. But even pre-motherhood, I always went with how I felt. I always thought I was impulsive, but if I look back at my life so far, I've always had good reasons for doing something or choosing one thing over another. And there's always been a method to my madness.

Pinky
 
I feel like I've just "come home"! I, too, have tried since February to stick w/ Cathe published rotations. After 20+ years of bodybuilding, weight and cardio training, I still tend to gravitate to alternating my strength and cardio workouts...it just "fits" and I've achieved and maintained an enviable level of physical fitness and vitality listening to my body and nourishing and training it acordingly. I've always been very committed to living a consistently, healthy lifestyle - being active, eating right and limiting or completely avoiding any habits that would be detrimental to my physical and mental well-being.

I'm not disorganized, indecisive or non-committal. As a matter of fact, I'm a very organized person who has attained a fine balance between structure and flexibility, can make an educated decision and follow through with it!

I needed this thread today. Thank you all for sharing.

~ Kim

P.S. I just realized it's my One Year Anniversary on these boards! Happy Anniversary to me!

"Welcome the challenge...Embrace it...Don't fear it." -Cathe Friedrich
 
Lois, I'm reading your post and nodding, for workouts there's never a plan but it always gets done. I have, however; had to discipline myself to throw in an all leg workout each week as I love working the upper body but tended to only work my legs during circuit workouts.

Your bookclub comment is true for me as well. I tried to join a book club in November and bailed in January. It motivated me to read a book, just not the assigned book. The little rebel in me rears it's head yet again.

I'm the same with meals and have always been more of a market shopper buying 1 or 2 days groceries at a time. Most nights my meal planning is a few minutes of 'What's in the Fridge?' and waiting for the creative juices to kick in. I like your free spirit attitude and it's nice to know that there's others out there like me.

Take Care
Laurie :)

p.s. Carole, your hair pulling emoticon made me LOL! :+
 
I find it hard to plan too much as well. I try to plan a week ahead with my work outs but that doesn't always work. Soemtimes it's only a day or 2 ahead and sometimes I don't have a plan at all. The only meals I ever planned ahead were ones I took to work because I had no choice. Now that I'm a SAHM the meal-planning days are over. To me, life is too short to plan everything ahead of time like that. Makes it boring and predictable. I don't mind a little planning in my life but there's a limit to how much I can handle... :)

Wendy

I smoked my last cigarette on March 17, 2004 at 10:00 pm!

Baby Joey born May 14, 2005 11:19 pm 7 pounds 12 oz 21 inches long.

http://www.PictureTrail.com/wendymin
 
I've got my hand up over here because I'm just the same. I am, in fact, the most organized person I know. Lists are my constant companion. But when it comes to my workout, forget it. I make a plan at the beginning of each week, but more often than not, I ended up changing what I planned to do to what I feel like doing at the time. I try to get a balance of strength and cardio.

As for meals, I eat the same thing for breakfast every day, so I never worry about that. The weeks I have my daughter, I plan HER meals for each evening, but mine are just whatever I feel like. We eat together, but we rarely eat the same thing:)
 
My lifting routine is very regimented, but my cardio routine is much like yours--I wake up in the morning & think hmmmm, which Cathe workout have I not done in a while? & that's the one I choose.
 
I am a fly-by-the-seat of my pants kind of gal. So it's interesting to see I usually follow rotations. While I might not follow them to the tee, I will substitute a similar workout for whatever is on the schedule for the day. I do this, because I don't have the patience to sit down & plan my own rotations. I'm also pretty sure I'll leave something out or undertrain some body part.

Marla
 
I usually alternate cardio and strength days too. Yesterday I did Low Max and today I only did PUB, thank goodness because my glutes are KILLING ME!! I didn't know I had some of these muscles. I love it though but OUCH.....
Kali:eek:
 
I vary how I do my workouts. Most of the time, I'm like you: a strength workout one day, a cardio workout the next, maybe a combo workout between two cardio workouts, a stretch day after a few days. A day off when I feel like it (often ends up being a Monday), and try not to have two days off in a row (except occasionally).

At other times, I like to set up rotations, something that I really started with P90X, because that was so well thought-out and worked well. Sometimes, those "rotations" are planning specific weight workouts on specific days, they doing whatever cardio interests me in between, and doing a recovery week after about 3 or 4 weeks, where I focus on core and functional workouts.

I find that when my "freestyle" way of choosing workouts gets to be a little too irregular, setting up a more structured rotation for a few weeks helps me get back on track, and leads to better results much of the time.
 
Lois~~ you describe me to a tee. I am ADD but I work very hard at staying organized. I make lists of my lists...LOL... I have looked at some of the rotations and even printed some out and went to the trouble of substituting workouts for some of them because I didn't have those, but I can't follow a rotation. On a day that calls for a long workout, I might have appointments in the afternoon and have no time. Winging it definitely works for me on working out. I am definitely trying to alternate strength and cardio.
 
I am bad for not completing any of cathes rotations. I have all intentions in the beginning but it goes down hill every time. I try to make mine up a week at a time, but I always change my mind by the middle of the week. If I am doing S&H one week I want to switch to another strength tape by the next. When I was planning to do three weeks of S&H. Does any one else do that same thing. It drives me nuts!

Also If you miss a particular workout on a day, do you try to fit it in somewhere before the week is over or do you just ditch it and go on to next week? I try to fit it in but if I don't I feel guilty.

I wish I could complete one of cathes rotations or even mine.

kim
 
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