Keeping UP the Working OUT

I talked about being fit and wanting to work out and I just wanted to chat a little about what I have been doing and how it's been working out for me.

Since I got my heart-rate monitor, I have been trying to work-out to my heart rate and make sure I am working in a "fat-burning" zone as opposed to just burning meaningless carbohydrates. This can be challenging because my running is significantly slower than I was running before. It's more of just above a speed walk. So obviously to me it feels like I am not "working" hard enough but in actuality, I am just doing the right kind of work.

I am also learning that changing up my workouts keeps me interested. For the past couple of years I would mostly just do the same type of weight-lifting, ab workouts and running {and threw some swimming in for awhile} but I have noticed the past couple of weeks if I change up the workouts, I really look forward to it and don't get bored.

Last week, I went for a run jog on a nice, sunny day which felt great. The next day was not so nice outside so I flipped on the On-Demand Exercise and found Day-1 of Jillian Micheals' 30-Day Shred.

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I didn't really know what to expect but I will just say that I am not a huge fan of Jillian on The Biggest Loser. On the workout, she was not annoying or obnoxious {which is what I usually think of her}. She was really motivating, the workout was great and I am planning on doing another one today!

My next workout was with my brother, who I mentioned in this post, and he had me do some really great core exercises which are also great for my back as well as mixing in the cardio. I have been figuring out that I like mixing-up the workout in the sense of alternating strength, core and cardio during the workout. Let me say, running on a treadmill for thirty minutes straight can definitely be less than thrilling.

I feel like I am still on track {to what I haven't quite figured out} but I am still motivated and am enjoying trying different workouts and changing things up a bit.

What are your favorite workouts right now? How do you keep from getting bored with your workouts? Do you have any favorite exercise DVDs?