Week 44 – When your heart skips a beat!

Do you ever wake up and reality hits you, instantly? It’s as though a part of your life is missing and you aren’t exactly sure how to cope! Typically, this feeling is brought on by the loss of someone who had an impact on you, and now you need to fill that void, alone! Accepting the loss is important but to keep your sanity, a good idea is to take the time to do something that can improve your mood! Maybe it’s spending time with your friends or singing in the shower or maybe even playing with your Xbox for hours! Once you identify those “happiness triggers” make sure to resort to them when you need them!

On Christmas Day, I really needed a fix to keep my spirits up and so I decided I would do something that would clear my mind and help me feel good, which meant: a new cardio routine! You may be thinking, “Seriously? You get joy from that?!” Umm.. well yes absolutely, because exercise is great to keep your heart pumping, keeps you energized and can motivate you to get out of bed!

Week #44 Challenge: Follow a HIIT Cardio video at home!

One thing I love about working out at home is the fact that you can follow videos! P90X and Insanity were my favourite for years! They are pretty intense but they yield great results! Since I wanted to try something new, I opted for a YouTube HIIT video! You just play the video and start mimicking the trainer!

Here is the YouTube Video I followed:

How to make your workout fun? Well now that you picked your video (videos if you are following shorter segments), here are a few things that can enhance it:

1) Create an amazing song playlist: you only have to watch the workout video to replicate the movements, therefore that leaves you with the possibility of muting the workout video to play your own tunes! These are music tracks that are sure to get you “in the zone”:

• Hey Violet – Guys My Age
• Shaun Frank ft. Ashe – Let you get away
• DVBBS & CMC$ ft. Gia Koka – Not Going Home
• HUCCI and Gameface – The Leaves Are Brown
• Pham ft. Young Fusion – Movements
• Mickey Valen ft. Noé – Meet Me
• Matthew Koma – Kisses Back
• Black Coast – TRNDSTTR
• Blackbear – 4U
• G-Eazy – I Mean It (A bit of harsh language, the beat is great though!)

Warm-up and/or Cool-down beats:

• SMNM – Baby Girl
• The neighbourhood- WDYWFM?
• Melanie Martinez – SOAP
• Awolnation – SAIL

2) Spruce up your hydration: water is so important while working out! Grab your favourite bottle and throw in a few fruit pieces to liven it up: lemon, frozen berries, melons and kiwi are great additions. Frozen grapes make awesome ice cubes!!

3) Bring sexy back: I am serious! I feel most motivated and inclined to workout hard when I put a little effort in my workout look! This will vary based on what you feel looks good on you! So girls: pin your hair up, slip on your favourite workout outfit and pull out your hottest moves! As for you guys, maybe your favourite jogging pants and a ball cap will do the trick, Channing Tatum style you know 😉

Most importantly have fun guys! This is time and effort you are putting into your body and mind and that is a wonderful thing to do!