TGI Fun Facts Friday!

I am so unmotivated to actually start working this morning. I'm unmotivated to start blogging. You know what I want to do? Put on my gym clothes and go for a run. It's sunny and not too cold and not too hot and I just know it would be so awesome to knock back a couple of miles.

Quite frankly, a sentence I never thought I'd hear myself saying (again, I talk to myself as I type, so I can hear myself saying what I write - and stop looking at me like that, it's not weird).

I also miss my personal trainer (I think his actual title is like "personal fitness consultant" which sounds really ostentatious, doesn't it?) I don't think I'm as good at kicking my butt as he is. Okay, maybe I am, but it's a lot less fun swearing at him in absentia. So, I've been really enthusiastic and gung-ho about my workouts this week, instead. That has fun moments too. During my plyometrics routine, one of the other club members actually stopped me to ask me what the hell I was doing. (Okay, his exact words were, "Wow, you're certainly energetic, aren't you? So, I'm guessing that must be a total body workout?" but that look on his face was pretty clear - I think you might be nuts). I totally gave Shawn credit, too. Just to scare people a little.

Tonight - I'm running. I'd thought I might hit my core really hard and then run, but I think I'll just run. I'll likely still do a bit of core work, just to warm up, and because I always do core work, but really, my plan is to run. As long as I can. Literally gonna just set the treadmill and go until my body says no more. I've done everything on my program, so tonight gets to be just for me. I grabbed my favourite shirt this morning, I've convinced this unruly mop of mine to tame itself into a ponytail, I have a set of headphones that have been working and staying in my ears... oh yeah. This is gonna be great.

Have a photoshoot in Bridgewater tomorrow - hoping it doesn't rain - and then going to stop in at Sportchek and treat myself to something fun with a $25 gift card I got using my RBC Reward Points.

Oh, and adding to my wish list: A runner's ID bracelet, like this one from RoadID. Ideally, I'd love for one of my friends and/or family to take enough of an interest in me and my new hobby to realize this is becoming a passion and get it as a gift for me, but I don't see that happening. However, one of the two TV shows I watch each week, House M.D., featured a patient last week who was a runner that had been brought into the hospital without ID and suffering from amnesia. Nobody knew who she was. I did take a few minutes to educate my family on the whole "Run Safe" initiatives (the idea that runners, when running alone, should carry ID). Of course, House brilliantly solved the mystery, but as irony would have it, the next day I stumbled on an ad for RoadID. It's brilliant. All your information right there, easily carried with you. So, yeah, adding it to the list. And I still want a heart rate monitor.

As usual, this is getting long, and I need to actually do work today, I'll conclude with my Friday Fun Facts!!

Can't puzzle out that tough issue? Try talking it out. Studies showed that people who talked out difficult mathmatical problems finished them faster than those who tried to do them in their heads. Just avoid it during exams!!

Everyone knows I strongly encourage hiring a personal trainer after my experience; turns out research suggests you'll get a better workout with one too! One study of two groups who were given the identical training programs showed that the group being monitored by a personal trainer gained 32% more upper body strength and 47% more lower body strength than the group working independently. Plus, it really does help to have someone to glare at when the workout gets hard.

Once again, Canada's Physical Activity Guide is changing their guidelines on how much physical activity we really need - and this time it's lowering it. Now it offers that as little as 90 minutes of vigorous exercise a week could achieve health benefits for most adults, or 150 minutes of moderate exercise, which can be broken into sessions as short as ten minutes. My own thoughts? Any exercise, as long as you're doing it, is good.

That's that for this Friday! Have a great weekend everyone, and I hope to have a surprise for you sometime this weekend!!