exercise

Keeping my sanity …

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Gigi in Fitness Comments Off

Gigi yoga

Today I am recommitting to my workout. January was crazy with my 3 trips, totally interrupting my exercise schedule. Of course, I brought workout stuff on all of my trips, but it stayed neatly folded in my suitcase.

Exercising is big for me, I feel much better and overall happier when I work out. Negativity can sneak up on me when I don’t exercise and I get these periods of irritability that I know are from a lack of exercise. At my age a few weeks of being inactive shows up on the body right away, another one of the many side effects that came along post 50.

So I set a few obtainable goals, like drop maybe 8 pounds or so, work on some of the jiggly areas, and work on my flexibility by returning to a regular yoga practice. Of course I want the aesthetic results, like gracefully gliding into my 57th birthday with a nice taut body, strolling on the beach sans a cover up.

So- what is my plan? Basically setting my intentions, putting my workouts on my calendar like any other appointment, sticking to my routine and really watching my diet. Wearing my fitbit, that is just sitting in my drawer collecting dust.

When I think about my life in regards to fitness, I have always been active, the 20’s were easy, things stayed in place, I worked at Jack La lanne, (does anybody even remember that gym) taught aerobic classes at Nautilus Plus (another gym that went under) worked for Jim Kelly, he had a little private gym back in the 80’s and I lived by the beach and rode my bike a lot- those years were good.

I worked for Jim Kelly during the 80’s

The 30’s came along with marriage, and the babies…things were still okay. I Discovered running, did a few marathons, fell in love with spinning, did weight training- the body was good.

LA Marathon 1998

40’s came along with the major diet shifts, no more meat, chicken, fish, it was a slow transition but by 50 all the animal products were eliminated. I discovered bootcamp, Pole dancing, yoga and pilates- the body was good.

Gigi @ 40

And then came the 50’s- things started trying to shift and my waist was becoming a traitor. My diet is mostly vegan, with some slip-ups with cheese here and there, especially when traveling. I joined Equinox, worked on and off with trainers, did classes here and there, hot yoga, pilates, barre, pretty much all over the place- periods of being real consistent and then slip ups- the body just okay.

50’s Gigi

Fast forward to now, I know that for my curvy body type I need lots of cardio, i.e. “sweat”, strength training and yoga or pilates to keep my body together. Cut out all the obvious things, and just eat “clean” whole foods in their original state…and I would be okay.

Do a variety of workouts so I don’t get bored and most of all make it fun.

This month as I recommit I will be mindful of my workouts and focus on being the best version of me.

Did you make any challenges or resolutions for 2016? How do you stay motivated with your workouts? How do you stay on track?

equinox

Xoxo,

Gigi

LIVE TO BE 100 ?

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Gigi in Aging 2 Comments

Today I read this article, that appeared on my facebook news feed, it was about this vibrant 90 year-old lady. Of course I was impressed, being on the other side of 50, you pay attention to articles on the aging process, antioxidants, powerful skin creams, hormone changes and such. Phyllis Sues, the woman featured in the article is extremely active, she practices yoga, dances the tango, and took up the circus trapeze in her 80’s. She is always learning something and challenging herself to do something new, doing some yoga poses that I can’t do yet. While it would be nice to live a long life, and possibly reach the ripe old age of 100, I would want to be healthy and vibrant like this 90 years young lady.

Phyllis Sues age 90

For the most part I live an active life style, occasionally I go on binges where I become fixated on an activity and become obsessed, like yoga, spinning, bootcamp or training for a tri, and sometimes I take a little unintentional hiatus-not good at my age. 3 weeks ago I got my mojo back working out almost daily, and of course like always I feel great. I’ve been doing bootcamp, hiking and working with a trainer. I took a yoga class this weekend, and realized that it is a critical part of my well being, and it took being away for a moment to see how much my body and my mind missed my practice. My yoga teacher said something that stuck in my head, “We are always comparing/competing–stop it!” with that I did my best, not beating myself up for being so “tight” and feeling as though I lost all the gains I had made in my yoga practice.

What is your workout routine? How do you stay motivated? When you really think about it, there is no excuse, the benefits are life saving and although sometimes it is difficult to be consistent all the time- you just have to do it! A few more golden warriors.