A Great Workout Boredom Buster

Have you ever done capoeira? I have heard massive positive reviews of this Brazilian fight and dance combination. Once, while visiting Washington D.C., we saw capoeira street performers and I have been in love with watching them ever since. The things they can do with their bodies almost defy gravity and definitely defy my logical reasoning.

If your workout is getting a bit bland, I would highly recommend trying out some capoeira. It is a fantastic cardio workout and those who do it get massively toned muscles that are a bit more dense than the usual yogi, but not too bulky. This workout by Pop Sugar is a great introduction to capoeira that is a great change from the norm and will burn some serious calories!

What kinds of workouts are your favorite to get out of a boredom slump?

Indoor vs. Outdoor Running

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First, I am so excited for all of us who are doing the 30-day Squat Challenge that starts today! This first one is a simple start with six reps of each then we will kick it up tomorrow.

I promise to only bring this up like 2-3 times per week for the rest of the summer, but running outside is one of my absolute favorite things to do in Michigan. These country roads are wonderful to forget it all and let my feet take me away. 

Runs are a bit different inside to outside, of course, but I really did not realize how different they were until this year when I started focusing more on run times and muscle groups worked. It also helps that I am running farther and faster this year... Well, that was until we got up here. I think that everyone knows the main difference in indoor running verses outdoor running can be the hills that nature offers compared to the flatlands of those air conditioned treadmills. These hills here have KILLED my run time. Really. Each mile averages are about 90-seconds slower than ones back home. 

Another part of outdoor running that seems to make or break a run is the weather. Sure, rain is a nuisance and one of the reasons my run time has so rapidly declined, but wind has another big part in running. No matter where you run, chances are you will face wind resistance at some point. This can make a run that much more difficult to get through compared to inside when temperature, running conditions, and wind are always the same and usually a happy medium. 

To combat the difference of indoor vs. outdoor running ultra runner, Michael Wardian, recommends always keeping your treadmill at a 1.5% incline or higher. This will replicate the difference wind resistance can make when running outdoors. As much as we all may hate it, it is also smart to increase that incline a few times throughout your run to replicate the energy exertion of hills. 

Something else quite interesting about indoor vs. outdoor running is the muscle groups we use. When running on a treadmill we are mainly using our quads since the belt is giving all forward momentum we need. Unlike treadmills, the ground gives us no forward momentum, thus forcing us to use the hamstrings and glutes far more. This is super important for those who are use to running indoors to note since changing and running outside could cause injury. Not only is the ground much less even than a treadmill, but hamstring injuries can happen when changing from indoor to outdoor running since they are not use to working quite so much. 

Strangely enough, just after reading about all the differences of indoor and outdoor running, the hubs ran outside for the first time in a while and tore his hamstring. He is a pretty fast and strong runner and is now having to do therapy to get that hamstring back up to working order. 

The moral of that story would be to not push yourself too hard when changing up a run. Listen to your body, watch your surroundings, and you should be good for both indoor and outdoor workouts! 

Changing Up a Workout

There has been a lot of running on my fitness roster of late. This last week I shattered my fastest 1 mile and 5k times, which has been great and has massively encouraged me to keep on running whenever I am working out. But, only running without any other cardio or toning can be bad.  Running only would only work certain muscle groups, leaving others weak and my body open to greater risks of injury.

So, today I will be doing these workouts instead of running. This Blogilates workout above is something that I have been looking forward to doing since it was released a few short days ago. This workout looks super fun and is less than 15-minutes long. The whole 15-minute cardio part works out super great since this workout requires 15-minutes of cardio first.

These two workouts may not be running, but I am certainly excited to try them out! Also, have you ever tried backwards running before?