So before last May my working out consisted of walking through malls to shop with occasional nights of yoga with my best friend and 10-30 mile bike rides through the dangerous streets of Miami. I didn’t get too serious about working out till the middle of 2011 when I realized I needed to work on my tone. Before that I really wasn’t worried about how my body looked because I wasn’t really showing it to anyone. Call me vain if you will, but if you know you will be getting undressed infront of someone you would think twice about how your body looks too.

So in May 2011 I finally got serious and thanks to a recommendation from my friend, Alyssa I bought a Tracy Anderson Method mat workout dvd. Its an hour of semi intense muscle restructuring that leaves u tired and sweaty afterwards. Sometimes when I would start getting a little bit bored of the same routine I would do some power yoga from a yoga/pilates dvd set I had. Mostly I did the Tracy Anderson Method and started to see changes and definition after about a month of 4-6 days a week of working out. She’s was trained in ballet and then became a personal trainer to stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna so even though it was a bit trendy to buy, it actually works.  The last 6 months of the year was spent doing that dvd so often I thought it would begin to get scratched.

Then 2012 started and I found out about a hike in the Everglades Shark Valley and suggested on the Facebook invite that we should rent bikes while we were there. I met new people (Tatiana, Andrew, Jonathan) and some acquaintances (Allie & David) and Joe. The bike ride to the tower wasnt too terrible, but the ride back through the strong winds was torturous, I’m still not sure how we made it those 15 long miles. Here’s the blog entry with pics that Tatiana wrote.

That day Allie mentioned she would be starting up her weekly bootcamp again and I should check it out (I had actually been to one bootcamp session with her back in August) . For days afterwards I feel the soreness of my muscles and am unable to do my usual Tracy Anderson workouts so I’ve started doing more pilates from the dvd set mentioned above. Every Sunday  now I attend bootcamp in the park which is 10x more intense than any of my dvd workouts. Plus you get to meet nice people who are working their way to their fitness goals as well, it’s a lot more motivating than working out alone at home. Usually the workouts are so intense that someone throws up but not always. Check out her website  for fitness tips and exercise how to’s and if you are in the Miami area, like her Fit Geek facebook page and attend this bootcamp.

Last minute tip: Something that helps me stay on track and motivated is writing down what kind of workouts I do and the amount of time I’ve spent doing them on a calendar. Seeing that everyday keeps me going forward and not losing focus. I usually strive for at least 5 hours a week of exercise.