your favorite way to stay in shape

TazziRN, RN · Apr 17, 2008

i am in shape..........................

"round" is a shape................

imanedrn · Apr 17, 2008

I love the way I look and feel after I exercise, but I HATE actually getting to the point. That hurdle is the WORST for me!

Exercise has always been an up and down battle for me. I'll go 100% for a period of time, then get tired of it.

I have flat feet which, in addition to my feet killing me, causes problems in my knees, hips, and low back. While I was precepting in school, I was in so much pain after 1 clinical day, I couldn't imagine doing this for life!

Once I started working as a nurse, though, I realized that exercise would actually make work MORE physically tolerable for me. I have a gym membership, but I prefer to exercise at home.

I do 30 mins of cardio (treadmill, moderate pain, high incline) to increase my cardiovascular endurance (I have asthma, so breathing better always helps!) which helps to strengthen my thighs and help my posture, in addition to strengthening my arches.

I also do 2 sets of pilates videos. I alternate days for my arm & leg workouts, and do the back workout (not nearly as physically demanding, but it helps my posture a ton).

This isn't much, but (in comparison to nothing!) it has helped incredibly. Although I'm drained at the end of a shift, my body doesn't hurt like hell. I'm not dealing with back problems either, since my posture is so much better than ever before.

nurturing_angel · Apr 17, 2008

I like the way exercise makes me feel too. I love the treadmill and the eliptical the best. I used to do strength training and should really start doing that again.

:saint:

CrystalClear75, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2008

My favorite ways to work out? I love dancy complex choreography at home videos(particularly Cathe Friederich). I love challenging myself to learn the steps and once I learn the routine, I feel so good about it, it can be sooo fun.

My favorite way to strength train is working out to the Firm videos, they are excellent for overall toning.

suanna · Apr 18, 2008

My hospital opened a gym on campus for employees. Not much- mostly cardio workout machines and some resistance equipment, but ot is overbooked every day! What I wonder is why not just pick up an extra 4-8-12 hrs on a medical floor-lots of walking, weight lifting with turns and you get paid time and a half!

zuzi · Apr 20, 2008

I love dancing gym classes , LOVE IT! But my way to stay in shape is TO BE HAPPY and swimm , and walk and bycycle (not now because I don't have one), and skate and DANCEEEEEEEE and as soon as you are happy, you could do everything to be in shape! Driving is a also a method! LOOOOOOL! Stay happy! Muscles, body sculptural and grumppy, not for me, round and happy, could be an option, looooool, important is to be happy! Saluti!

llg, PhD, RN · Apr 20, 2008

My favorite ways to work out? I love dancy complex choreography at home videos(particularly Cathe Friederich). I love challenging myself to learn the steps and once I learn the routine, I feel so good about it, it can be sooo fun.
My favorite way to strength train is working out to the Firm videos, they are excellent for overall toning.

I'm TERRIBLE at the complex dance choreography as I am just not at all "light on my feet." So I use the Hip Hop Abs videos for that type of thing. The choreography is simpler. But I also like the Firm videos for a little strength training at home.

I'm just not a gym person -- don't like doing exercise in public -- don't like the idea of coming in contact with everybody else's sweat and germs -- and don't like spending the times driving there, etc.

I wish I could afford a real home gym.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2008

I'm the opposite of llg, I can't discipline myself to work out at home. I buy my gym membership 3 years at a time so I'll force myself to go to get my money's worth. I'll do a wide variety of machines for weight lifting and cardio. The germs phobia doesn't bother me. Denial is best when thinking abou that. LOL

I do yoga classes for flexibility, but confess I haven't been lately.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2008

I go to my local health club several times weekly for a mix of cardio and weights.

I'll get a basic full-body workout with free weights twice weekly (squats, calf raises, trapezius shrugs, bent-over rows, bench presses, shoulder raises, bicep curls, and tricep extensions). It takes me about 45 minutes to get through this workout, which is why I only have time to do it twice in 1 week.

I also obtain 35 to 60 minutes of some form of cardio exercise in the form of either jogging, stair-climbing, power walking, or the elliptical machine.

eccentricRN · Apr 29, 2008

A little twist to this question, how do you stay motivated & how did you get started & continue to work out... just wondering, because I try & just come up with a bunch of lame excuses why I cannot work out today... when there really is no other reason than pure laziness...soooo how do you guys get yourself moving & stay with it...

chubby & not liking it... LOL...

llg, PhD, RN · Apr 29, 2008

A little twist to this question, how do you stay motivated & how did you get started & continue to work out... just wondering, because I try & just come up with a bunch of lame excuses why I cannot work out today... when there really is no other reason than pure laziness...soooo how do you guys get yourself moving & stay with it...
chubby & not liking it... LOL...

I hate exercise and could never bring myself to do it regularly -- until I developed by hypertension and type II diabetes. Those diagnoses hit me like a ton of bricks.

Now I take my BP and check by blood glucose twice a day. Having to do that -- and seeing the numbers -- keeps the need real and concrete for me. The monitoring keeps me on track. Nothing else has ever worked for me. At 53, I am probably in the best shape I have been in since college.