Day 326 - A Little Is Better Than None

I wasn't sure how long the drive from Citrus Heights would be this morning, and I slept right up until my alarm went off at 5:45am (usually I'm up about 5), so by the time I'd had breakfast and a cup of tea, it was getting late. Rater than skipping exercise completely, I did one of Coach Nicole's kickboxing routines from the Jump Start program. It was enough to get my heart beating and my breathing faster. Nothing like my Focus T25 routines, but it revved me up.

It would have been easy to just skip the routine altogether and just jump in the shower, but that wouldn't have been the Spark thing to do.

There is something about exercising in the morning that is really pleasurable. You get a little sweat going before your shower, the blood flows to your brain so you can think more clearly, and your muscles get a little movement to wake up your body. I will admit that it takes a while to get used to thinking about exercise as a good thing. I did it for about 3 months before I started to find it fun.

It's hard work, for sure, and in the beginning all you can think about is "when is it going to end???" After a while, you start to get better at it, and then you start getting so good that you want to raise the level a bit. I've been doing it now for about 9 months, and I've increased the level of intensity 3 times. I'm about ready to do another level up, but I haven't found anything that gives me in 30 minutes what I get from T25.

If you had asked me a year ago if I would be happy about doing exercise, I would have said, "Are you KIDDING????" What a difference a few months (and a whole lot of perseverance) can mean.

So if you aren't doing at least 10 minutes of activity every day - walking, house cleaning, even marching in place count, as long as you get your heart rate up and slightly out of breath - then you are missing the point. Spark is about a total lifestyle change. Not just eating, not just exercise - the WHOLE PACKAGE.

Make sure to take those 10 minutes and do SOMETHING. If you can do that three times a day, that's a half hour of activity! It's not hard, and you really don't have to give up anything to do it. Just remember to think about it as a gift you are giving yourself. It is a wonderful, generous gift!

Have a great day, and KEEP SPARKING!!!