Indoor Exercise Routine

We've had a rainy week here in SoCal so my morning routine has been stuck indoors for now. I definitely get cabin fever and really want to spend several hours outside today. Unfortunately, we're expecting more showers. Boo. I honestly don't know how people who have real winters deal with being cooped up for so much of the year.

With my indoor workouts this week I've had a hard time reaching my limit. Yesterday morning I did an hour of cardio and didn't feel finished but I had to get to the office. The day before was 1.5 hours. Today I finally got really good results after 2 hours.

I started on the treadmill on a program called "cross training" for 30 minutes. This alternates from 0-6% incline and from 2-4 in speed. At certain times during the cycle there is a little light that comes on and you're supposed to do work with weights at this point. I used my resistance bands for my arms and did several cycles of curls, reverse curls, and a few others.

Next was 30 minutes on the stationary bike. I've got an older model bike that only has a manual control for more or less resistance. I kept it on enough to make me work hard enough really get a good sweat going. If it ever feels easy then I add a bit more resistance.

After the bike I was on the elliptical for 30 minutes on a "random" program at level 12. It was great and I really worked up a sweat. I especially like how my arms are involved the entire time.

The final part of the workout was back on the treadmill for another 30 for the same "cross training" program. This time I only did isolation exercises with my arms (hold in front of you for 60 seconds, rest for 60, repeat for five times total). By this time my calves were finally feeling it. Success.

I'm in really great shape these days from getting up at 4:30 am and getting in the very cold Pacific Ocean for 1.5-2 hours every morning. I didn't realize how much better shape I was in until recently and it feels pretty fabulous.

I should get back out into the water in the next few days. I had moved from my long to short board recently since the waves called for it now. I had been worried that I would have a harder time keeping up with everyone paddling but that wasn't the case at all. In fact, I out-paddled a guy that was a bit taller than I am (and on a long board) back out to the lineup last Friday. Yeah, it made my confidence swell up a bit but can you blame me?

P.S. I got a new waterproof video cam that I plan on taking out with me quite a bit so stay tuned for dawn patrol vids!