Day 8 – Week 2 – 2 mins
Well – that is a milestone. We have made it all the way to week 2 without losing a single day of exercise.
I know, I know, it’s all very easy at this stage. We’re only doing a minute or two of jigging about – you can’t call that proper exercise, you say. And you are right. But I tell you – if I had told myself I had to do half an hour of exercise every day for a week, I sincerely doubt I would have managed it. This way, I am learning to deal with all my resistance, all my excuses, all the million and one ways I’ve managed to get out of exercise in the past BEFORE it gets hard, BEFORE I lose the will to live at the thought of having to get hot and sweaty for half an hour.
Does that make some kind of sense?
Believe me – this habit of getting up and exercising first thing in the morning has to be well and truly ingrained before I get a chance to wimp out at the tough stuff.
So today. Two minutes of arm exercises with the mini medicine ball, and my work was done. How did you go?
Suzi
Day 7 – Week 1 – 1 minute
Well. We’ve done it. One whole week of exercising every day. Don’t be put off by the tiny amount of exercise it is each day, it is breaking a huge psychological barrier to get up, get your little outfit on, put on the shoes and put your hair up each and every morning of the week, even when away on an overnight trip. If you’ve done it with me, you should be proud.
Today it was back on the bosu for a minute. And I still weigh 146 pounds (66 kgs).
Tomorrow – we’re doubling the workload….
Day 6 – Week 1 – 1 minute
Well – I did get myself up at 6.00am after a night of fine red wine and conversation, but I decided it wasn’t really the done thing to be rummaging around in my host’s kitchen looking for a big tin of fruit to lift above my head.
So – I resorted to doing a minute of squats instead. Squats are very portable exercises and don’t take up much space. I highly recommend them for overnight trips outside of your own home.
And I have to say, my thighs are beginning to feel a little firmer. This is probably not due to the squats, but it is possible the tiny bouts on the bosu are beginning to have an effect. Or perhaps it was the hour and a half I spent on the back of a motorbike last night, as we drove through the rain to Whitstable. I’m kind of new to being a biker chick, and I may have been gripping the bike a little harder than is really required to stay onboard!
Anyway – main thing is – I managed to do my minute while away from my home comforts. That deserves a drink in itself!
Tomorrow – the last day of the one minutes. It gets tougher on Monday!
Enjoy your Saturday night,
Suzi
Day 5 – Week 1 – 1 minute
One minute bosu and 146 pounds (66 kgs).
So far – it really hasn’t been much of a challenge this week. I just follow my morning routine and there you are, it’s done. But tomorrow is my first real test.
I am staying overnight with a group of friends, in a seaside town about an hour and a half from London. In the morning, I will need to get up early and catch a 7.00 train into London for work. This will be quite a challenge – I am not in my own house and I have to be on the road early.
Tomorrow is ‘arms/strength’ day, but I won’t have my mini-medicine ball with me. Instead I will need to try and find something around the house that is heavy enough to cause me a bit of strain when I lift it above my head (like a large can of tinned fruit!). And I have to hope there is one spare room in the house that no-one is sleeping in, so that I can do my little arm lifts unobserved!
Wish me luck! I cannot fail this early in the task!!
Suzi
Day 4 – Week 1 – 1 minute
One minute of arms and the mini-medicine ball. Weight unchanged at 146 pounds (66 kgs).
I am SO looking forward to the day I get to see some progress in that department – though I’m afraid my scales are less than sophisticated. They are the type that has a dial showing the weight, rather than a digital type readout, so they are not incredible accurate. Even worse than that – they are these very trendy glass based scales, with not particularly dark markings on, and when I look down at the reading, I have to admit, it’s a struggle to see it. I tried squatting down to read it, but it sends the dial haywire – so you’ll have to put up with my vague type readings.
So by now – you might be wondering – do I feel silly doing just that one minute each day? A little, I guess. But it is nice to finish a workout so quickly, and feeling like you want more, rather than falling in a heap on the floor with exhaustion. But the main thing to remember is that the hard part of this is not the exercise, it’s the getting up, getting changed, and getting yourself motivated to do SOMETHING which is difficult. Believe me, I still feel the resistance each day – and the only thing that makes me do it, is knowing that it is just one minute. I’m hoping I eventually beat that resistance down to nothing by the time I’m having to get up and do half an hour each day, otherwise that is when I will really struggle.
Suzi
