Fitness Notes

Few, if any, of you are aware of this, but Blonde in this City is not my first go at blogging! In college, I started using Tumblr & gradually began to create my own content that morphed into a fitness blog. Once I moved to NYC in 2011, it fell to the side as I looked for jobs & winter approached (you could probably find it online still, if you really wanted to), but the desire to stay fit in my adult life has not left me. 

I'm not exactly what you'd call the "athletic" type, though I've been a dancer & competitive swimmer nearly all my life. There were a handful of other sports sprinkled in there, but those are the two that stuck (and will never leave me, either). I was a truly horrendous runner growing up, which I later found out was caused in part by a heart murmur and shortness of breath. A fairly severe dance injury to my hip (seven years ago today, to be exact!) shattered a lot of hopes I had of continuing to dance through college and I still experience pain and setbacks from it on a regular basis. I've come to accept that I'll never fully recover, but I know that keeping myself strong is the best thing I can do! 

Finding time to be active can be a struggle in itself; I joined a gym towards the beginning of the year, mainly for access to an indoor year-round lap pool, but also for motivation. I can't afford to be paying for something I don't use! I took up ballet again last spring, although it's been a few months since I've made it to a class. Yoga became a regular part of my routine post-college, particularly when I was going through a bad period in a relationship. Stepping away from everything to focus on my breath and how my body feels has helped awaken a deeper desire to better myself. Lastly, like I said before, I'm not a runner by nature but I look at it as a challenge to overcome. I started jogging around my neighborhood in Des Moines over my summers in college and I opt for a treadmill at the gym instead of an elliptical now regardless of my pain levels that day. My shallow breath capacity makes it tough to run even a mile without getting winded, but I hope one day I'll feel comfortable and strong enough with running to sign up for a race!

Staying consistent is tough, but I've recently set some goals for myself to make sure I'm getting in some activity a handful of times a week no matter how busy I am. My options are endless, from $5 yoga classes nearby to ballet to Broadway Dance Center to my gym & the pool to a run in my neighborhood!  Having a lot of choices is a helpful reminder that exercise isn't a chore. In the end, it's not about a number on a scale for me, but about how I feel from the minute I get up until my head hits the pillow at night. 

Do you have any fitness tips, exercise regimens, or places you go to for motivation/inspiration? I want to know! (I didn't touch on food or nutrition here & plan to at a later date, but it's never too early to learn something new-so share those, too!)

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