Really, I am asking you this question. What’s a workout to you? Is it a sport, running, hitting the gym, working out at home, yoga, playing hide and go seek with your kids, swimming, raking leaves, gardening, Tai Chi or kayaking?

A workout to me is an activity that get’s me moving, increases my heart rate, may or may not break a sweat, push my lungs to their limits, my body to exhaustion or leave me feeling relaxed.  It’s endorphins spinning around, blood pumping, inhaling oxygen and massive joy ! (ha ha).

I’ve always been a fast paced active person. As a child/youth I played soccer, volleyball, badminton, downhill skied, road my bike and ran (mainly training for soccer). As I got older I’ve managed to keep playing soccer, run a lot more and get into new activities like Zumba, Yoga and oh, having children 😉

I still love the faced pace of soccer, when I’m on the soccer field I can lose myself in the game. It’s the only thing on my mind that is until I get subbed off and rest on the bench for a few minutes. Then I’m brought back to reality of “I wondering if the girls are sleeping/behaving”, “crap, I forgot to put the laundry in the dryer” and “oh man, I love this game”.

I love running because I can do it by myself or bring my little side kick with me, that is, until she get’s too big and heavy for me to push in the jogger. When I run, I solve problems, I plan meals, I watch my neighbours, I kill two birds with one stone (walk the dog/run/fresh air for us) and write a blog post in my head (ha ha).

Zumba and yoga are similar experiences for me. When I Zumba, I am in the moment…mainly because I am a few steps behind since I don’t go often. During yoga I’m focused on what am doing, how my body feels and my breathing. All of that is a workout in its self.

Then there is yard work; mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, gardening (which I’m terrible at) and chopping wood (I kinda suck at this too). Yard work is HARD work. I raked the leaves the other day for 40 minutes, even managed to work up a sweat….oh and a blister 😦 The next day my shoulders, arms, back and abs sure felt it.

Last night I managed to go to Zumba class last-minute thanks to my Mom (xo), I found myself lost in the workout and looked at my watch to realise it was more than half over! Nothing like getting lost in a workout, a run, gardening or raking leaves 🙂

What’s a workout to you?

Does it change through the year/seasons?

Do you like moderate or vigorous activities as a workout?