January 24 - January 30
In terms of going to the gym and working out, I would say that week 4 of 2016 was really good, albeit a bit difficult. I had to strike a balance between school and exercise and I think I hit the right spot.
My classes on Monday and Friday start at 10am while my Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday ones start at 8am. Every morning, I would wake up at 5:30am and take a 10-minute trike ride to the gym where I would run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. After that, I would hit the showers then go to school, all the while lugging around a huge gym bag with my dirty clothes, toiletries, and hair dryer.
My Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes end at 4pm while my Tuesday and Thursday ones end at 2pm. I still have some org work to do afterwards so daily classes at the gym are oftentimes impossible. However, I was able to go to my first ever Spinning class on Tuesday. I was so sore the next day that I decided to give my body a break, hence the lack of a run on Wednesday.
I’m still trying to work my Zova workouts into my schedule. So far, I’m doing them only on the weekends but I plan to do more of them this coming week. I’m thinking of increasing my goal of three workouts per week to five, just so that I could get my money’s worth.
Aside from working out, I also count calories using MyFitnessPal. However, I don’t count calories when I’m at home over the weekend since those are the days when I finally get to taste real, homemade food instead of food cooked on a poor college student budget.
This week, I changed my steps measuring tool on MyFitnessPal from the default one using your iPhone’s built in motion sensors to Pacer, a pedometer app that also tracks weight loss and your BMI. I’m really loving the easy interface and the beautiful look of the app. I feel that it’s more accurate than the default one since you can choose to see your walking and running stats separately or together.
My mom recently got me an Apple Watch as a late birthday and Christmas present. I’m still playing around with it and familiarizing myself with all its features so if you have any suggestions or tips on how to maximize the use of all my fitness apps on it, then please let me know!
I usually listen to podcasts when I’m on the treadmill and this week, I listened to the following:
- Serial - S02E05: Meanwhile, in Tampa
- Freakonomics Radio - How To Win A Nobel Prize
- TED: The Year in Ideas 2015 - The Day I Stood Up Alone | Boniface Mwangi
- Stuff You Missed in History Class - The Vanishing of the U.S.S. Cyclops
- Stuff You Missed in History Class - Queen Victoria: The Lady Hastings Scandal
- TEDTalks - The Unheard Story of the Sistine Chapel |Elizabeth Lev
- Stuff You Missed in History Class - China’s Cultural Revolution: Red Guard and Purges
On Saturday, however, I listened to the Top Hits Run playlist on Spotify.
This week, I also downloaded the Sworkit app after seeing glowing reviews of it on Business Insider. I love how you can create and customize your own workouts but I must say, I love the design and the interaction of Zova more.
