Howdy, y’all!

Don’t ask me why I decided to go all cowgirl on you, but the urge to say that was just building up inside as I started to write this post. Anyway, talking about other things besides how I greeted you…

Exactly a week ago, I expressed my decision to slow down my workouts a bit for now. That means I’m not doing my dear burpees or circuit workouts, and most exercises I’m doing now are focused on bodyweight resistance, flexibility, and static strengthening (like yoga). At first, I thought, Wow, after all the improvement I’ve made this past year, it’s like I’m taking three steps back now. I won’t have much to work towards. Yeah, yeah, Alison, it’s your self-pity party and you can cry if I want to. Yes, I will definitely be missing my high intensity workouts and the incomparable rush of endorphins they give me, but I also realized that:

a) I am thankful for the body God gave me, so I want to make sure I take proper care of it.

b) I’m still dancing.

c) There are other fitness goals I can work toward that don’t involve me lying in puddles of sweat at the end of my workout.

Something that I’ve learned especially in this past year (ya know, reading healthy living blogs err-day) is that fit, healthy people come in many shapes and sizes with many different skills up their sleeves. A yogi and a marathon runner may not be able to accomplish the same things, but that doesn’t make either any less fit than the other. And that my friends, is the beauty of fitness. You can find something that you enjoy or that works for your body right now to stay fit, without having to do a million different forms of exercise. Now, I still think cross-training and trying different kinds of exercise can be super beneficial for gaining strength in different aspects. You just don’t have to be a Crossfitting yogi that bikes up mountains and swims laps every week.

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[From this summer]

So I’ve actually gotten myself pumped to work on some new things that I haven’t paid much attention to in the past. These are some skills I’ve been particularly interested in lately:

• handstands (I’ve been using the instruction from this great tutorial)
• pistol squats— YO. So hard, even with just bodyweight. I’ve been doing them to a low stool/box too!
• assisted pull-ups (a real pull-up is a long ways away..)
• wall sits
• planks
• yoga poses
• ab exercises
• power walking/incline walking (do not underestimate the power of the incline on your beeeehind)

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As you can see, there are plenty of things to work toward, and I’m excited about them! I do realize that exercises like pistol squats and pull-ups can get pretty intensive, but I don’t go too crazy and I’ll only work on them once a week if at all.

I used to have the mentality that if I wasn’t sore or just plain wiped out after a workout, then I didn’t have a good workout. Like, what?! My brain and SENSE aren’t always in check with each other. I can already tell that my body is much happier (i.e. less exhausted, more energetic when I go to exercise again) now that I’m not constantly pushing it to its limit. Hallelujah, Alison!

Thank you all again for your loving support through this journey of mine. I deeply appreciate it. ❤

So tell me: What are some of your fitness goals right now? What kinds of exercise do you enjoy the most?