I don’t call my January efforts “resolutions.” But I do have a sense of January as a fresh page, full of possibility. And I work that sense to my advantage, feeling newly motivated on January 1st when it comes to starting new routines. Shortly into December I embarked on a 10-week commitment to Caroline Girvan’s first EPIC program.
When I last blogged about it I was just into week three and feeling enthusiastic enough to pack some dumbbells so I could continue the program through the holidays at my parents’ house. At five workouts a week, the EPIC program is not what I would call a small commitment. Most of the workouts are 45-60 minutes, with a shorter (30-minute) HIIT on Sundays. The schedule of workouts every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday for ten weeks establishes an intensive enough routine for anyone who is sticking to it (as I have been).
I got a little bit nervous as January approached because I always do Yoga with Adriene in January. For anyone unfamiliar with Adriene, every January she does a full month of new content for 30 days. Each day builds on the one before, and it is truly something wonderful. This year, I signed up for her FLOW series, not without a little trepidation about how I was going to fit in five EPIC workouts a week and daily YWA. I got to ease into it with a slightly longer holiday break this year that gave me quite a bit of freedom through the first week of January.
My morning routine starts with the cats (feeding them then playing for a bit), then meditation, then 15 minutes of writing, then yoga. If I can get that all in before breakfast, I’m a happy lark. I put the EPIC workouts later in the day, either right before lunch or right before dinner. As it turns out, this schedule sustained me through the entire month of January, even after work started. Even during weeks where I had an endless list of things to do. After a period of time, instead of trying to firgure out how to fit my workouts into my day, I structured my days around my workouts. It’s a subtle difference but it makes a difference.
The only day I forgot to do yoga was last Saturday when I was so fixated on the vegan potluck at Sam’s that I literally didn’t think of yoga (to be fair, I did do the one-hour EPIC workout that had been scheduled for the Friday but I was too exhausted to do on Friday. That change probably contributed to me forgetting to do the yoga later as much as the donuts).
Here’s what I can say: a good routine gives me hope and motivation. I especially like tracking my workouts (which is surprising, considering how much tracking anything used to depress me twelve years ago). I went old school and printed the schedules and stuck them on my wall. The EPIC schedule is pictured above. The FLOW schedule is here:
For EPIC, I add a green sticker every time I finish a workout. Watching the stickers add up over the past eight and a half weeks has kept me going on days when I didn’t feel like it. It also helped me know where I was if I took an extra rest day. I modified the weeks a few times, taking rest on Wednesday instead of Thursday, or on Friday instead of Saturday.
Considering just how unmotivated I was until mid-December, it is truly remarkable to me how easily I managed to establish and stick to my routine. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing. If I truly feel as if “enough’s enough!” I can pull myself out of my malaise for an enthusiastic few days. But what’s challenging is the long game. This time, between choosing well (I love both programs), printing out the schedules, marking off completed workouts, and also making a solid commitment, I stuck it out.
That said, I took a day off yoga on Thursday, and I think I will take a week of rest after I finish EPIC and before I begin the next round of ten-weeks: EPIC II. I don’t see a short break in routine as a problem–but I am finding great satisfaction in the momentum I’ve built up.
My next challenge will be to get walking and eventually running again three times a week. I haven’t found the winter weather to be particularly inspiring this year, though as a Canadian I know well that if I dress for it I always feel good once I’m out there.
How did your January routines go? Will they sustain you through another month (or two?)?
