Home Gym

One of the things I was super excited about when I moved is having more time so that I didn't have to pick between riding and working out.

I would say that the single difference that bothers me the most between riding Rico and riding TC is my fitness level. My coordination is not as good as it used to be and my strength is absolutely not there. Both of these things are better when I'm fitter, and life is a lot more fun when I'm fit, so I love cross training.

Gotta stay fit so I can fit in that shadbelly again

When I was riding Rico, I did CrossFit and while I love it, my wrist is still a problem. I will hopefully be addressing it again this year but I'm pretty disillusioned by my last attempt at figuring out what was wrong. Especially because I am on a high deductible plan (work pays all of that but I have to pay monthly if I want anything other than that). I love weight lifting and CrossFit and the idea of being able to do it again makes me really happy. But for now, I can't. I did find that TRX is fun, hard enough to make me sore, and not at all bothersome for my wrist.

I tried to find a gym with TRX classes but I decided to just buy some straps. At a hundred dollars, if I could work out from home for a couple of months, they'd more than pay for themselves. And so far, it's been working!

I have them hanging between my couch and my tv, so I leave them down during the day and only hang them up out of the way after I've done something with them. I kind of have to earn my unblocked television time (which doesn't always work, for example, as I'm writing this post, they are down and I'm just peering around them, but it does annoy me).

That time I climbed up this mountain (it's not just that rock lol 
it was a 6 mile hike) in Big Sur. Now I would not be able 
to do that without wheezing.

There are a ton of youtube videos of various workouts anywhere from 10 minutes long to over an hour. I've been doing the 25-35 minute workouts so far and they've been good. The nice thing about TRX is I can make it harder by going steeper, so I don't need additional weights and the workouts don't feel like they get all that easier as I go on.

Sometimes I really don't feel like it, and I'm not obsessively keeping track of how often I work out or anything, but I try to at least do a few rows and squats every day. I doubt it will get me even half as fit as CrossFit did, but at least it's something that can keep me a bit fitter than my baseline! And maybe one day I'll be able to do CrossFit again...

Figuring Out a Gym Schedule

One thing I've been consistently missing out on in my goals is to get a gym routine down. It's hard to find the time because I have to work 8.5 hours (HAVE to take a half hour lunch break- also no gyms in my work's area are affordable, if you know where I work, you get it) and I drive 2.5-3 hours a day, plus am at the barn for 2-2.5 hours and like showering. And bf and I have a standing Skype date at 7:30pm that I try not to miss too often. So basically I either get riding or gymming, not both.  I have a really good idea for a gym routine, it makes me excited:

Monday- ride TC, no gym
Tuesday- TC off, evening TRX class
Wednesday- ride TC, no gym
Thursday- ride TC, no gym
Friday- TC off, evening TRX class
Saturday- ride TC and go on a hike
Sunday- ride TC and morning TRX class

Isn't it wonderful? Ever since having to take a long break from Crossfit because my wrist hates it, I've struggled to get into a good routine. Everything seemed too easy on my body or too hard on my wrist. Yoga and Pilates weren't hard enough, anything on a bike hurts my wrist, Body Pump hurt my wrist... TRX was the answer! It was still easier than Crossfit, but I used to pair it with 30 minutes of weightlifting afterward.

When I started my current job and I had this commute, it killed me at first so I stopped going to the gym. I started back up again when I couldn't ride TC this last winter, but then I started riding him again right around when I started traveling a lot, so I stopped going again.

This is my kind of exercise. I missed that shit
by ONE DAY damnit

Soon, I was basically as unfit as I've ever been. I've always had more than one horse going (Rico + client horses) and/or always been in a gym routine. I KNOW it's really important for me to cross train. I KNOW that I will never be able to compete TC above First without killing my back if I am not physically strong. But the time just sucks.

Traveling is hard because it means that TC gets lots of time off, which means that when I get back, I can't conform to my regular schedule. Last long trip I got home on Sunday afternoon, but I couldn't just take Tuesday off to go to the gym. I ended up riding him every day until the following weekend when I was gone again.

On top of that, they canceled my Friday TRX class, boo!

But yesterday I finally had a normal weekday where I could give TC a day off without fucking up my schedule, so I opted to go to the gym. I fed him in the morning, drove to work to be in by 8:45, left at 5:15 and was ready for class at 6:30.

I decided to just basically go to the gym and do whatever fucking class was around. I don't care if it hurts my wrist, I don't care if it doesn't do anything for me. Just get in the routine. If my schedule isn't going to be flexible, I will be flexible with what classes I do.

For real

So on Thursdays at 6:30 is a pilates class. Cool. I have a strong core, right?

Let me tell you, the few pilates classes I took coming off of Crossfit felt like a joke. I kept running to get heavier and heavier hand weights. I kept holding the poses for longer than was asked. The only part that sucked were the planks. Those sucked in Crossfit too.

But let me tell you, after two and a half years without Crossfit, I am WEAK. That pilates class last night KICKED MY ASS. I grabbed the lightest weights I could find that weren't too weeny looking (5lbs, I was using 12-15lb ones before) and while I was doing the movements I felt like I wanted weenier ones. My arms hurt literally from just laying on the ground stretching my arms over my head. I couldn't do ANY of the stretches I used to be able to, and that's saying something because I thought I was the world's most inflexible person ever THEN.

So gym time, I need it. I literally feel like I'm going to die in ten years if I don't.

TC will appreciate it too if I don't have to mentally prepare myself for sitting his trot. Now just to get creative with my schedule... and figure out how to work out while traveling! I have some ideas. By the way, none of my ideas are running because RUNNING IS THE WORST.