I don’t know if this will be interesting to anyone but, for the sake of accountability, I’m gonna blog about my current fitness challenge! You might know from this post and this one, that a) I love creating my own fitness challenges and b) I love pretending I’m a ballerina.
I love creating my own fitness challenges because I’m a self-proclaimed decisionphobe. Now what does that have to do with working out? Well, I LOVE exercising. The brain break it gives me during and those sweet, sweet endorphins after. But without a clear plan in place…I’ll often just skip exercising entirely. Making the decision about what to do and when to do it leaves me at an impasse. Because I know this about myself, I plan ahead and make all the decisions in one big batch!
I love pretending I’m a ballerina because ballet is something I’ve done since I was itty-bitty. In my experience, finding delight as an adult is often as easy as reflecting on what brought you joy as a child and doing THAT.
So with all that out of the way, let’s chat about my 30 days of ballet training!
The challenge is made up of 5 types of work-outs:
STRETCH – That’s an obvious one. Stretching.
STRENGTH – Less ballet inspired, more building strength in key areas NEEDED for ballet.
TRAIN – Ballet-inspired workout to train a specific body part or aspect of ballet.
CARDIO – Center work without breaks to get the heart-rate up.
BARRE – Also an obvious one. Barre work.
Here’s what the work-outs look like over the 30 days:
Week One
1 – STRETCH: Flexibility
2 – STRENGTH: Legs and Abs
3 – STRETCH & STRENGTH: Back
4 – STRENGTH: Back
5 – STRETCH: Total Body
6 – STRENGTH: Knees
7 – BARRE: Classical Ballet
Week Two
8 – TRAIN: Posture
9 – BARRE: Fitness (in athletic shoes)
10 – TRAIN: Extension
11 – CARDIO: Stamina Work
12 – STRENGTH: Arms
13 – STRETCH: Adagio Inspired
14 – BARRE: Floor
Week Three
15 – STRENGTH: Legs and Bum
16 – TRAIN: Arches
17 – BARRE: Classical and Fitness Combo
18 – TRAIN: Splits
19 – STRENGTH: Arms and Core
20 – TRAIN: Core
21 – BARRE: Fitness (in athletic shoes)
Week Four
22 – STRETCH: Yoga Inspired
23 – STRENGTH: Legs and Abs
24 – TRAIN: Neck and Arms
25 – STRETCH: Active Stretching
26 – TRAIN: Arms
27 – TRAIN: Abs
28 – STRETCH: Active Stretching
Bonus Days
29 – STRENGTH: Back
30 – CARDIO: Classical Center
I’m currently on Day 13 (and yes, my arms are sore from yesterday!) and am loving the training schedule so far. I’m already feeling stronger and more flexible. Shall I report back after Day 30?
If you’re interested in taking on a similar training schedule, I put together this 10-Day Ballet Challenge (using free online work-outs). Let me know if you try it out!
And if you suffer from decision fatigue, I can not recommend making your own fitness challenge enough. It works for all types of exercise and fitness levels! Need help getting started? Shoot me an email! I would LOVE to help you put one together. 🙂
What’s your favorite way to exercise? Have you ever tried a fitness challenge (either one that was already made or something you put together yourself)?
Good for you, Beth. Accountability is everything. And making lists of the days you’re going to do each activity makes it all so simple and straightforward. No room for dilly-dallying. I love to make challenges for myself. I’m currently training to walk 490 miles on the Camino de Santiago in September, which requires lots of hiking, strength training and backpack-carrying. Today it’s a 5 mile hike with 10 lb. backpack. Good luck in your challenge!
I really wish I did ballet when I was little. Good luck with your fitness goals! You can do it and it’ll feel amazing.
http://www.chausadventure.com
I totally agree that sometimes finding joy is as simple as doing the things we loved to do as children! For me, it’s art. Your ballet fitness challenge sounds tough! But way to go and pursue it! Sounds like you’re doing well and enjoying yourself 🙂
Oooh I love a good challenge! I’m currently doing 30-day squat challenge now when me knee pain is finally long gone, at least for a while.
Your plan looks easy to achieve, never done any ballet class though. Good luck, I am sure you ll have a great progress! Happy May Beth!
Amazing, Beth. Honestly, this post was inspiring to me. You should always exercise how you prefer and I am now thinking to do the similar challenge. I used to dance hip hop and dancing is the only thing I truly enjoy. So I might start today. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your challenge Beth! We share the same love for ballet and I wanted to share how I was able to turn my love for ballet into a fun job. I decided to become a certified barre instructor because I fell in love with how it resembled ballet class. I got certified through American Barre Technique because it’s ballet based and the course was all online. I think it would be perfect for you, so I had to share. Here’s their website if you’re interested: http://www.americanbarretechnique.com
Thanks so much for sharing! I’ll definitely check this out. xoxo