When Do You Like to Exercise?

I've always enjoyed exercising, but when I gained weight, it got harder and harder with each few pounds and I stopped. It was a vicious cycle, because without the active lifestyle, the weight kept coming, and with the weight building up on my body, it got harder to exercise.

When Do You Like to Exercise? image courtesy of Pixabay

Bedtime Exercise Routines?

So, lately, I've been exercising every day, making a point of it, and most days I end up squeezing in a workout right before bed because I forget to do it when I'm working. (And, as a copywriter, I live a very sedentary lifestyle.)

Logically, I know that's not the ideal because it can interfere with sleep. Plus, it would be very easy to forget and just go back to slacking off because, well, at the end of the day I'm tired. (Who isn't?)

Morning Workouts?

Today, I was logging my breakfast on SparkPeople, because I find their app easy to use and I helps me to see the details of what I've eaten. Plus, I love the little charts they provide that make it even easier to see how I'm doing.

Seated Dumbbell Workout

So anyway, while I was recording what I had eaten, I noticed a link to SparkTV. I clicked it and it was a bunch of free to watch exercise videos! I picked out a 9-minute seated dumbbell workout first and used my 3-pound weights. It was great and I got a surprisingly good burn in my upper body muscles, abs, and arms.

Seated Cardio Workout

I was having fun at that point, so I picked an 11-minute seated cardio workout with the same instructor. I had my doubts when I picked it but figured it was worth a try. It was great! And, surprisingly intense, though the instructor did explain how to increase or lower the intensity by adapting the movements.

So, now it's still morning, and I've completed a task I normally put off till the end of the day, and I feel great about it. That leaves me wondering; when do other people enjoy working out?

I would love to hear how everyone else fits in their workout and if you get the same positive feelings after finishing a good workout!

Feel free to share in the comments, browse around the site for more information, and be sure to join us on the Facebook F&C page.

Ten Minute Seated Dumbbell Workout for Upper Body Strength

I'm mixing it up a lot this week on my exercise routines, because I want to share a lot of ideas and having new things to talk about here on Fat and Cranky keeps me motivated; today I went with a ten minute seated dumbbell workout to help build upper body strength.

Ten Minute Seated Dumbbell Workout for Upper Body Strength image courtesy of Pixabay

Ten Minute Seated Dumbbell Workout for Upper Body Strength

I warmed up as I normally would, with a few stretches and moving around a little bit to warm up my muscles, then I took a seat on a padded bench with no backrest.

I slowly went through a series of presses, stretching, bicep curls, stretching, and tricep extensions followed by stretching. I went through my simple set of dumbbell exercises a couple times until my ten minutes were up.

The Good and Surprising Things About a Seated Dumbbell Workout

What I liked about this routine was that it's a great alternative workout you can do if you have a hurt leg or any kind of lower-body limited mobility, or even just if you have sore legs from a hard lower body workout the day before.

What surprised me about this short workout was the intensity of it - by taking the lower part out of the workout, I found I focused more on my arms and chest muscles and got a more intense workout in a very short time - my muscles were actually burning and quivering in that short time span. 

Since I'm not doing pictures of my own yet to actually show you these exercises, I wanted to share a link to a web page that shows some of the exercises I'm talking about - Sport Fitness Advisor.

Thanks for visiting Fat and Cranky, I'm so glad you took the time to drop by and I hope you'll feel free to leave a comment to share your thoughts. Laure J