I can’t believe that I’m saying this but I’m actually one of the annoying people who’ve come out of the lockdown with an actual fitness routine. Gasp, shock of all shockers because if you know me at all, you’d know that for years I have tried and failed at setting up a realistic and workable fitness routine. Apparently, all it took was one pandemic and a year’s worth of lockdown.
When Manila went into lockdown last year, my life was literally upended. My already sedentary office life had deteriorated to me basically just rolling off the bed, down to the kitchen, and then back. I wasn’t tracking my steps back then but boy, I’m pretty sure that I was practically horizontal for a good two months.
And then I figured that it would also be beneficial for my mental health to come up with some sort of daily schedule where I do activities to fill up my day, as opposed to just laying in bed and watching videos all day. Please note that because the lockdown was enforced so suddenly in March 2020, we weren’t able to take our laptops home with us (security issues) so operations basically halted until June in our department.
Of course, I tried doing the Chloe Ting videos, and while they were very effective, they were also very tough. So much so that I began to feel the dread of waking up early to do her killer workouts. So, I naturally fell back to my old cycle of quitting her workouts and switched to Leslie Sansone’s Walk At Home videos, which were a lot more low-impact. I enjoyed these workouts so much that I even found myself waking up early just to do them when we went back to the office.
Eventually, everything just evolved to me tracking down my steps. Late last year, I bought the cheapest smartwatch I could find on Lazada and with the Leslie Sansone videos, I was hitting 6,000 steps daily. Last April, I figured, hey, why not go for 10,000 steps every day? I found that I couldn’t do them particularly well with the Leslie Sansone videos because her workouts require me to move my arms which means that that watch can’t track my steps accurately.
Thankfully, my sister-in-law bought a treadmill a couple of years ago so now I do my walking there. I started doing the 10,000 steps on April 5th and have only missed 4 days since then. I guess because I’ve been doing the Leslie Sansone workouts for a while, I didn’t really feel any pain or soreness. The only real problem that I encountered was when I tried to up the incline and my Achilles’ heel ached for a couple of days. Now, I just basically stick to a 4kph – 4..5kph speed at a max incline of 1%.- 3%.
I think that I have found the one workout for me because I actually like the time that I spend on the treadmill. I’m sure that there would be loads more mental health benefits if I walk outside and see nature, but I just can’t be bothered to go outside, in this heat wearing a mask. Right now, I just wake up early, hop on the treadmill and watch YouTube videos. I have successfully managed to rewire my brain that now whenever I see a video, I think to myself “oh, I’ll watch that tomorrow”
The only downside to the whole thing is that it takes too long to get to 10,000steps. I don’t know how to increase my pace, but I can’t hit it at less than 1hour and 25 minutes, even if I up the speed. Because I go to the office daily now, I just walk for an hour or so, just until I hit 8,000, and then make sure to make up the difference at work.
The result is that so far, I have lost 7lbs. It’s not a lot but I did find myself slipping onto a pair of pants that I haven’t been able to wear for 4 years. It’s wild how happy that makes me because if I manage to lose enough weight, it means that I will have a new wardrobe in the way of my old clothes! I wouldn’t have to buy new things! Also, it’s wild to me that I’m losing weight faster than I did with the Chloe Ting workouts. Again, it’s wild.
Let’s see how long I can keep this up. I’m still enjoying myself walking 10,000 steps every day and even do it during the weekends. Progress update soon? Maybe.
