First Month of Exercising

Today is the completion of my first month of exercising since I downloaded the Step Counter app on my phone. Plus my granddaughter and I joined the new Planet Fitness that opened on September 21st a few miles from where we live. I’ve always been very active but never had a plan to be held accountable for. I’m liking that now I’m able to track my activity since I love personal challenges.

Snowball and I have been walking twice a day around our block for months now which averages 2 miles a day. Since I downloaded the Step App we usually do at least 3 and sometimes up to 4 miles so I can get to 6,000 steps. Sometimes if I’m short on my steps, I can bribe Snowball into walking down to Starbucks which adds on an addition mile down and back. He’s so smart, I could probably take his leash off and he’d find it by himself. All I have to do is ask if he wants a Pup Cup and he jumps up and is ready to go!

Snowball is such a fast runner and I’m trying to keep up with him!

Step Counter App

Back to my Step Counter app. I started tracking my miles when I decided to participate in the three mile Alzheimer’s Awareness walk in Myrtle Beach on November 2nd (this coming Saturday). It’s not a race so I’m only competing against myself. My goal when I started getting serious was just to be able to finish the three miles. Most of you know I live for a challenge and this is just another goal for me to achieve.

The app tracks steps (I put in 6,000 per day), miles (I figured 2 miles per day), how much water I drink (I put in 60 ounces per day) plus a few others things like heart rate and pulse. It even reminds me to drink if it thinks I’m off track. The app shows my goal, my daily steps and then a daily average from the week. This was a great day with over 10,000 steps and over 4 miles.

I can check my stats daily, weekly, monthly and year. The red shows I made my 6,000 steps. When I first started the app I was on a learning curve. The 21st I had appointments most all day so only got in 2,738 steps but because of the days I went over, I’m still averaging over 6,000 daily steps.

The app also has milestone achievements which is fun to check out. My first Mile achievement was 3 miles accomplished in one day. But then 20 days later, I was up to completing 60 miles! Again for me this is great because I love to challenge myself.

Planet Fitness

Then along came Planet Fitness and Alexandra and I go at least 3 times a week and if she can’t make it on the 4th, I try to go myself. There are so many different exercise machines for arms, legs, abdomen, and even your butt! We have been going a month but are still learning which are the best for each of us. They have rowing, stair climbers, elliptical and regular bikes plus treadmills and all kind of lifting, pulling, pushing and stretching machines. They all show you what muscles you will be working on and you go your own speed and weights that are comfortable for you. I found a few for my arms since Lia says I have “jiggly” arms so I’m trying to work on the jigglies. LOL What every body part that needs attention, arms, legs, tummy, back, it’s all self explanatory.

I slowly increased that and now I’m up to 3.5 miles and I’ve got that down to finishing in 59 minutes. I set the walk for 3.5 mph but they have an automatic cool down dropping it to 2.1 mph when you hit 60 minutes. So I need to try to get at least 3 if not 3.5 miles before cool down. I made it to 3.5 miles!

We both take large water bottles with us and it’s empty by the end of our two hour workout. The other cool thing about PF, they have tanning beds, which Alex likes along with hydro and cryo lounges which I like plus the basic massage chair. I like the hydro because it’s heated and feels like I’m laying on an air mattress on a wavy ocean.

They just got the cryo lounges in and those are super cool. You can adjust the settings that are divided up into sections from your feet to your head to either heat or cold. It’s a great 15 minute ending to a two hour work out.

Alex, the photographer, always takes our picture before each workout. It’s a good way to get exercise and keep fit but also it’s great that Alex and I have some one on one time together.

After completing my first month of exercising, I feel good and on track. I know I’m ready for the Saturday Alzheimer’s Awareness walk and I have my new Sketchers that I got about a month ago already broke in!