My Workout Journey – Jill Mac Nutrition

June 23, 2017

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, or if you read my about me page 😉 you know that I wasn’t always interested in health, nutrition, and fitness. In fact, I’d say I did a complete 360 in terms of my beliefs about health. Growing up I loved to party, I smoked cigarettes, and ate fast food and every horrible processed food you can imagine on a daily basis. I mean, it’s no wonder I had IBS and terrible acne – I was putting garbage and toxins into body every single day. I also completely hated exercise and drank tons of energy drinks and sugary coffees to top it off.

When I quit smoking and learned about paleo, I actually started to care about my health and realized how important food was to our body – real food that is. But I still wasn’t convinced that I needed to exercise. I felt great and lost a bunch of weight without exercising at all, so I didn’t think I needed to. It wasn’t until I read about exercise being the number one prevention for Alzheimer’s that I started to realize that even though I didn’t need to exercise for weight loss, it was still important for good health.

I researched more about the health benefits of exercise, and joined LA Fitness towards the end of 2013 (about a year and a half after I had begun eating paleo). At that time my workouts were as follows:

Monday:

9:45 AM Body Works plus Abs

“A lightweight dumbbell workout moved to the beat of the music. Burn calories as you flow through a variety of exercises to sculpt and tone your body into shape! Notice improvements in your muscle tone, posture, balance and strength. A total body workout! 55 Minute Workout.” – LAFitness.com

I really enjoyed taking this class. I liked that it was only light cardio involved and enjoyed the dumbbell workouts. I always enjoyed strength training more than cardio during the workout, but I do love the way I feel after doing cardio.

Tuesday:

Rest day

Wednesday:

Yoga 11 AM

“Flow through a series of dynamic movements that will increase your flexibility and restore balance and strengthen core muscles of the lower back and abdominals. The ultimate class of focus and self-awareness. 55 Minute Workout.” – LAFItness.com

I absolutely loved yoga. I felt amazing afterwards and really enjoyed the class.

Thursday:

Yoga 9:30 AM

I liked this yoga class even better, because I liked how the instructor in this class would come around the room to make sure you were doing everything right and explain how it should be. I feel like I really learned from her and got better at yoga from her instruction.

Friday:

Boot Camp Conditioning 9:45 AM

“You can command Power, Strength and Agility with this military inspired circuit workout that will push you to your limits. As you maneuver your way through each workout station, you’ll lunge, crunch, box and more for a full body workout. In the end, you’ll leave class feeling exhilarated. 55 Minute Workout.” LAFitness.com

This was (and is) my absolute favorite class. It really is an accurate description that you leave feeling exhilarated. I always feel amazing after boot camp, and this was the perfect start to my weekend.

This was an awesome time. I was in college and my classes were late, so I got to sleep in until at least 8 every morning. I also had a lot more free time, so I was able to make very delicious paleo meals for dinner every night and eat lunch and breakfast at home most of the time as well.

This was a gym schedule that I absolutely loved, but unfortunately had to change things up once I was no longer able to go to class at those times.

After that, I wasn’t very consistent with what I was doing for a while. I’d take some classes here and there, or work out at home.

I didn’t have another steady workout routine until I started working out with a personal trainer in 2015 at Shredcore. With him, I did a lot of heavy and intense strength training that I hadn’t done before.

He would change up the workouts each week, but it was always very intense and most of the time involved heavy weights/barbells, although sometimes was bodyweight and cardio workouts.

While I was working two part time jobs, this was my workout schedule:

Monday:

Shredcore 8 AM

Some type of the above-mentioned workouts

Tuesday:

Rest day

Wednesday:

Shredcore 7 AM

Some type of the above-mentioned workouts

Thursday:

Shredcore 7 AM

Some type of the above-mentioned workouts

Friday:

Boot Camp Conditioning 9:45 AM (LA Fitness, sometimes)

Sometimes I’d go to boot camp because I did love that class, but many weeks I’d just go the 3 times a week to my trainer, but here and there I’d throw in a yoga or boot camp class, or a run/jog.

At the end of the summer in 2016, I quit both of my part time jobs, and began working full time at LA Fitness (where I still currently work). When I started working at LA Fitness, this is the workout schedule I had:

Monday:

Shredcore 6 AM

Some type of the above-mentioned workouts

Tuesday:

Shredcore 6 AM

Some type of the above-mentioned workouts

Wednesday:

Shredcore 6 AM

Some type of the above-mentioned workouts

Thursday:

Rest day

Friday:

Rest day

This schedule was very hard for me to keep up with (especially since I was so busy at my new job and ended up staying late many days) since it is very hard for me to wake up that early (I would set my alarm for 4:45 AM so I could have coffee and get myself ready before going to workout).

I quickly started skipping my Tuesday morning sessions with my trainer, but I would make up for the missed workout by working out at my gym after my shift with a coworker. After a while, I had a tough decision to make. I love love love working out in the morning. I love getting it over with first thing in the morning and not having to worry about getting my workout in for the rest of the day and I get to relax after work. I love how amazing I feel after a workout in the morning, which leaves me feeling great all day. I love the energy boost that I get to start my day. Working out in the morning is just the best. It puts me in a good mood for the day, feeling great.

However, with my full time work schedule, having to wake up that early was proving to be very difficult for me, and I was starting to struggle with paying for the personal training. So I made the decision to stop going and to just workout at LA Fitness.

I loved having a personal trainer and taking the classes because I am a person who needs accountability, and I can be a bit competitive so I enjoy working out with others to push myself more. To be able to take the classes that I like, I have to workout at night after my shift. This isn’t what I prefer, but with my schedule this is what works for me right now.

So currently, this is what I’m doing:

Monday:

LA Fitness workout 6:30 AM – OR – Boot Camp Conditioning 8 PM

If I workout by myself in the morning, I do strength training for my upper body. Sometimes I workout with a coworker and we’ll do some type of strength training workout. If I don’t wake up in time for a workout before my shift, then I’ll take the boot camp class at 8 PM (which is absolutely amazing and I love).

Tuesday:

LA Fitness workout 6:30 AM – OR – Boot Camp Conditioning 7 PM

So Tuesdays now, I don’t really have a usual routine. Sometimes I’ll go in early before my shift and do some mix of cardio and strength training. Sometimes I’ll workout with a coworker after my shift doing some mix of cardio and strength training. Or sometimes I’ll take a boot camp class after my shift (which is also a mix of cardio and strength training, btw)

Wednesday:

Boot Camp Conditioning 7 PM

I absolutely love this boot camp class, so this is a can’t miss every Wednesday. One time I did 6:30 AM morning cardio and then this boot camp class at 7 PM and I actually felt AMAZING that day (and took a rest day the next day), so I’d like to do that more often (if I could just get myself to wake up in time).

Thursday:

Yoga 8 PM

I really love this yoga class, however I have found myself not going as often lately due to the time. I am making a commitment now to go back to taking it every week. Yoga really does make me feel great and I do enjoy it a lot.

Friday:

Boot Camp Conditioning 7 PM – OR – Rest day

I’ll be honest here, most of the time, Fridays are a rest day. But some weeks, if I feel I need it or am motivated, I will take a boot camp class and start the weekend off feeling great.

You might have noticed that I haven’t listed Saturdays and Sundays workouts. I like to keep my weekends open, so I don’t have a set workout schedule. However, sometimes I’ll decide I want to go to the gym, or go for a run, or a friend will ask me to do a workout with them and I will. Some weekends I work out and some I just relax, it really just depends on how I am feeling.

I went from absolutely hating exercise to falling in love with fitness. I love that I can see how my muscles have grown after all these years. I love that I was able to change the shape of my booty by strength training glutes. I love that I feel stronger and more confident. I now have a goal to get a pull up and I’m going to be so excited when that day finally comes.

I’ve found a way to always adapt my workout schedule to my work schedule and get it in even if it may not be at the time that I would prefer.

UPDATE as of July 2017:

I found a way to go back to working out in the mornings while taking a motivating, intense, and fun workout class! I joined Orangetheory Fitness. They refer to it as group personal training. It’s like a boot camp style class, where you wear a heart rate monitor and the goal is to have your heart rate in the orange zone for more caloric burn and after burn. It involves treadmills, rowing machines, TRX, and weight training. I love that they have early morning classes to accommodate my preference for working out before work, and I found a location right down the block from my job.

So this is my current workout routine:

Monday:

Orangetheory 6:30 AM

This is a tough workout early in the morning that leaves me feeling energized, happy, and ready to take on my day at work! It works out perfectly that I work at LA Fitness down the block, so I just go in early after the class and shower at work and have time to eat breakfast all before my shift starts at 9 AM.

Tuesday:

Upper Body Strength @ LAF 6:30 AM – OR – Yoga 8 PM

Normally on Tuesdays I do my own upper body strength workout at LA Fitness in the morning and then shower and get ready before starting my shift at 9 AM. I am also trying to incorporate more yoga into my workout routine, so some weeks I’ll do yoga at night instead (since there are no early morning yoga classes available at LA Fitness).

Wednesday:

Orangetheory 6:45 AM

My Wednesday mornings are pretty much the same as Monday, in terms of my workout routine.

Thursday:

Legs 6:30 AM – OR – Yoga 8 PM

Similar to Tuesdays, some weeks I’ll do morning strength trainings for legs/glutes and some weeks I’ll do yoga at night (due to no early morning yoga classes at LA Fitness).

Friday:

Rest Day – OR – Boot Camp Conditioning 7 PM

As I’ve previously said, Friday’s mostly always a rest day. But some random weeks I’ll throw in a boot camp class after work if I feel motivated to go.

Have any questions or your own workout journey to share? Leave it in the comments!