By The Numbers

I’m a numbers girl when it comes to fitness. 

I like to know exactly how far I have gone,

how long I have worked out,

how much I have lifted,

what my heart rate is at what time,

…you get the drift.

For me, it is that hard-proof that I’ve worked my butt off, or not.

One of my favorite fitness numbers is my heart rate.  Your heart rate can tell you so much about your workout.  Are you working hard enough?  Are you working TOO hard?  What exercises elevates your heart rate and keeps them there and which ones do not?  I like knowing that what I am doing is doing something!  I mean, if I am going to put in the time, I had better be getting something out of it, right?!

I did not wear my heart rate monitor as much when I was solely running.  I would wear it occasionally but came to realize that my heart rate, on a run, is bangin’.  I know that going on a run for thirty minutes or an hour was going to get my heart pumping for sure! 

But since I’ve been sidelined for the past 7 weeks (wahhhhhh!!) I have started to wear my heart rate monitor more often to make sure that the exercises I am doing are getting my heart rate up to a level that makes my heart work.  After all, like I have told Katie since she was itty bitty,
“Why do we work out, Katie?  To make our heart strong, that’s right!” 
I have always left off the “and to make our butt smaller” part.  She will probably figure that out soon enough, sadly.

So I thought I would share this morning’s heart pumping workout that left me absolutely drenched.  And yes, that’s a good thing.

 

I started out with Jillian Michaels’ Ripped in 30- 

I really like these because there are four different workouts in one DVD and each one is 30 minutes.  Each workout has strength, cardio, and abs…intense yes, but it’s only 30 minutes.

Then, as I was scrolling through Instagram this morning (posting my #SheReadsTruth for today), I noticed this short and sweet series by @JanaKickBooty. 

And it did.  Kick.my.booty.

Time-

Not too bad.

After that I proceeded to turn on the Olympics while I walked my two miles.  Ankle still sore.  Hmmm.  Going to call doctor today and see what he says.
 

I was going to be done working out after my two miles, but then I thought about something I saw on Pinterest this morning-

 

And repeated the above booty-kicking series, with an even faster time-

Whaaaaa?!  Awesome!!

 

My final heart rate stats were great, too!

 

And the graph-

 

I think this is the coolest thing.  See the first [almost] thirty minutes, that was Ripped in 30, then there is the spikes for the minutes I was doing the series from Instagram (with the spikes being the burpees I’m sure!), then there is the steady-state heart rate from the walk, then the spikes again.

You really do not need all this information to get in a good workout, but I love it.  I love knowing the results of my sweat!  A heart rate monitor is such a valuable workout tool.

Know what else is super valuable??  Time spent in the Word.  Seriously, it starts my day off with the right mood, attitude, and intention.  My mornings are not complete without my quiet time.

Today was DAY 20 of Prayer for #SheReadsTruth-

FAITH & FORGIVENESS- the way to pray.  Thank you, Father, for both. 

Talk to you soon, friends.

xoxo