House Arrest – Stephanie

Okay, I am not on “house arrest” per se, but it is currently 110 degrees outside, so that kind of puts a damper on outside fun like running. My husband is gone frequently (military), so I must find ways exercise–in my own living room (ugh!)–after my 3 year-old goes to bed.

Frankly, it is tempting to just sit around and watch T.V. after putting my daughter to bed. Getting motivated–and staying motivated–to workout everyday is much easier with Cathe’s videos. Even on my tired days, I feel totally pumped by the time the warm up is done. No longer do I view working out as a chore, but as MY time. I look forward to my workout all day long. This is definitely a shift from seven months ago when I would go weeks and weeks without doing any type of exercise. Shocking, I know, but it’s easy to slip into a sedentary lifestyle.

I love step aerobics, but it had been difficult finding videos that I will do more than once. Plus, before having a kid, I really enjoyed working out at a gym (not so easy now, logistically speaking), and no videos really captured that intense, motivating gym step workout experience. Cathe’s videos keep me super challenged, so I enjoy doing them again and again. Even videos that I have used scores of times keep me on my toes. I am truly amazed that Cathe can 1) talk during her workouts; 2) remember her choreography; 3) can do that left/right thing (Say “left” when it’s actually her right).

One of my biggest challenges right now is strength training. I absolutely hate doing strength training. I hate weights. I know that they’re good for me, build muscle mass, increase bone density, blah blah blah, but I just don’t find them as enjoyable as cardio. It’s just not my thing right now. If I didn’t have Cathe on the videos telling me what to lift–how much and how, counting the sets, etc–I would never even touch weights. One day, my husband came home while I was going hammer curls, and he told me that I looked “tough enough to hurt him and take his wallet.” Nice.