#beautywithnofilter

Can't afford it? Not one in the area? Plain ol' don't like them? As a gym rat, I too have struggled with being motivated to exercise when gyms were unavailable. I mean, what do you do without elipticals, treadmills, machines, and sweaty people everywhere? Let's start with a story.

Once upon a time, I loved running. Or so I told myself. In high school I ran track. Outside of track season I would jog around the neighborhood or park. When I started school at the University of Georgia, I dabbled in exercises at the gym on campus(which is still my favorite gym ever). For some odd reason, I still enjoyed running outside more than going to the gym, so that's what I stuck to until my Junior year when my kinesiology class showed me the format to a proper workout. Anyways, I graduated and moved back home with my parents. I had no money to join a gym but still needed to exercise. Also, I had gotten fat. I could pinch myself in areas where there used to be no squish. And my pants? Why didn't they fit anymore? And this Victoria Secret swimsuit I have on, it used to look cute on me on the beach. Maybe it'd still be cute if these rolls weren't in the way of the band on my bottoms. What are these rolls? It's not dinner time. I blame all that on the hormones my doctor put me on but still, once I stopped taking them, I still had to get back to fit. I took my butt to the park and convinced myself to train for a 5K. Oh, but wait, one little thing: I HATE RUNNING NOW. The way my boobs are set up, it feels like I'm running with 15 extra pounds strapped to my chest. No fun. Every time I start running, 1/10 of a mile later I just ask myself whhhhhyyyyyy?!?!? This lasted for 3 months until I joined LA Fitness. But now that my gym membership is temporarily unavailable, I have returned to my old stomping grounds at the neighborhood park. And you know what? It's not that bad. I actually like it. Here's how I made it work:

Basic workout essentials:

• The Workout Sandwich

• Bread- Stretch/Warm-up(5 minutes)

• Turkey- Cardio(15-25 minutes)

• Lettuce- Resistant/Weight-training(15 minutes)

• Bread- Cool down/Stretch(5 minutes)

The goal to maintaining a quality exercise routine is to make sure you're having FUN! Tailor your workouts to fit YOU! I absolutely cannot workout without listening to an awesome playlist. It really sets the mood for awesomeness and total domination to occur. At the park, I stretch at my car then walk briskly for about 5 minutes. After that 5 minutes I start power walking to the point where I have to breathe out my mouth(this is a sign your heart rate is up). Half way through the path, about half a mile, I  run for 100-150 meters. Then I do deep lunges up the hill followed by high knees. I walk until I catch my breath then do 50 Russian soldiers(as in the exercise, not the people). I catch my breath again and then run to my starting point, which should be about 200 meters. In one mile I sprinted, worked my core(abs and back), legs, and glutes. This is also referred to as interval training, alternating bursts of high intensities to boost your heart rate. Then I snag my handy dandy yoga mat out of my car(because who doesn't keep a yoga mat in their trunk at all times?) and do varying arm exercises with it for a quarter of a mile as I briskly walk to the patch of green field to do sets of squats, lunges, and more exercises. This is the resistant training part.  Once I'm done with those, I roll up my yoga mat and do two more sets of the same arm exercises as I complete the full mile. Then I stretch it all out. Bada-bing, bada-boom! You're finished! If all else fails, do exercises that you enjoy! If you hate running, don't run! But do do something!