First, a thank you: For all of your awesome comments on my first post last week! You all rock and I appreciate your warm welcome, encouragement and feedback!
Second, a confession: I’m overwhelmed. In a good way! There is so much MEAT here. I’m a total flexitarian, but I love how juicy the meat of all of your posts are. I love having a community of people going through the same struggles and reaching for similar goals. Whether we’re trying to drop 50 pounds or 5, I love that we SHARE in this. I think that is one of the reasons I like WW so much as well, the sense of community. I intend to jump in and start commenting more on your journeys!
Quality vs. quantity.
I struggle with this on so many levels in my life, be it work, food, and my point here, exercise. Two weeks ago, I reached my goal of five workouts (I really aim for six, but am over joyed to make five in all honesty), but three of them didn’t feel like “quality” workouts. Of my five workouts, two were walks (one of which was four miles, the other two miles) and one quick gym session of just 28 minutes. The other two were more intense cardio sessions at the gym that were on par with the workouts I aim to accomplish. Quantity – I made my five. Give me a doughnut! But quality- ehhh, I had exercise guilt over the first three workouts – feeling they were not intense enough to get me to my goals.
I know that isn’t the “right” mentality. Moving is moving, and moving is good! But I also know that in order to reach my goals, a leisurely two mile walk is not going to cut it. This is not the time to stroll in my journey!
This week was better because I really focused on accomplishing the workouts I set out to do. For those interested, I created my Spring 2010 Bride in Training Schedule! on Google Docs and you are all welcome to look at it. These are the workouts I set out to accomplish each week, some days I flip flop, but this is what I strive to achieve. It is based on Hal Higdon’s 10 miler novice training program. Memorial Day weekend I am running a marathon relay with my cousin, family friend, and dad (who had a QUADRUPLE BYPASS out of nowhere in November). There are five legs, and I want to be in shape to run two legs – approx. 8 miles – by Memorial Day, which is why I used Hal’s 10 miler program as my guide.
PS TOTALLY burying the lead here - but something MUST have worked this week, I was down 1.6 pounds! Woot!
Do you struggle with quality vs. quantity in your workouts or food choices?
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I understand your struggle with quality vs. quantity, but I think for a start it’s good that you’re moving at all.
Five days of exercise per week is ideal – if you “only” go for a walk, it doesn’t necessarily help you to achieve your goals quicker, but at least you’re active.
Many people would love to have that on a daily basis… and it can help to get into a routine. You can worry about intensity later.
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I completely struggle with the same thing, but no matter what I always try to tell myself that something is better than nothing. I am so out of shape that one intense workout can make me sore for days. So I work out hard on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and do yoga on Tuesday/Thursday. I definitely don’t feel like I worked very hard on the yoga days, but strength and flexibility are important too and still… it’s better than nothing!
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I’m with san – starting with quantity isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s not ideal, obviously, but it’s a start – and you can add intensity in as the quantity becomes more and more of a habit.
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This is so interesting! For me, I would relate the quality vs. quantity to food, more than exercise, specifically, PORTION CONTROL. Have a little bit of whatever it is you’re craving, but emPHAsis on the “little”…
And then, of course, follow it up with a QUALITY workout.
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I struggle with both, but I forgive myself. If I moved five days a week, I’d forgive myself if I wasn’t dripping in sweat each time. When I was a frequent gym-goer, I aimed for two dripping workouts a week, with three or four moderate ones with a lot of strength training.
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I struggle with quality and quantity as well.
For example- I have Wii Fit and I’m really questioning just how effective it could be. It doesn’t feel very challenging. Also, I have the Jillian Michael’s 30 day shred (I only do it some days, though) and man! While I am SORE the next day I have to wonder if the quantity was enough to burn some calories? I also feel that way with my runs. I can’t quite run a mile without feeling like death, so I only do a few with walks in between. Am I really working myself enough? It’s all frustrating to me and I wish I had a better feel for it.
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I definitely struggle with quantity v. quality. Even tonight, I went for a run. It SUCKED and didn’t make me tired at all (I could barely make 2 miles and had to stop bc I was overwhelmed with other parts of my life). But, I have to remember that I got out there. If I start beating myself up then I won’t go again, ya know?
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Yes, I so do. I feel like I am just not pushing myself hard enough. But I am sweating my ass off so that is my driving force. Like those sweat beads (LOTS of sweat beads) hold the key to my fats release!!! Lame I know but it’s totally what I rely on. *shrug*
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I do struggle with it, but at the same time I get excited when I choose any physical activity over laying around. I feel better after a spin class than I do after a stroll around my complex, but if thats all I could bring myself to do that day, at least I did it. And I don’t think all workouts should always be balls-to-the-wall anyway. I think your body appreciates those walks sometimes, because its enough to get the blood moving but not so much that you need to recover. Does that make sense?
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I think we all have some trouble with this. Sometimes, the quantity is actually too much. We need to give our bodies a rest every once in a while! Then again, even when I do the 30-day shred some days, I still feel like I need to do MORE to get the quality workout I feel like I need. It’s a tough balance.
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Congrats on losing 1.6 pounds! That’s awesome!
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