Week 1 Progress:

     First things first, Whenever someone asks how a new diet or exercise regimen is going, they either have nothing but good things to say, because they hit it hard, or offer concessions, because they're starting out slow. I fall into the latter category, but I feel brutal honesty will benefit myself and anyone reading and keeping up with my progress.

     Work has been exhausting, since I've been closing every night. I've been waking up later than I would prefer and accomplishing less. Denton also had a few beautiful rainy days at the beginning of the week, so I traded swimming and sand volleyball with starting Game of Thrones and extensively cleaning my apartment. I did manage to cruise around a bit on my longboard and pick up some "not-so-bad-for-me" groceries in between shifts and spending time with friends.

     The biggest thing I started this week was easing myself back into yoga. I started a YouTube 30 day yoga challenge, hosted by Erin Motz, on Wednesday. Motz is a yoga instructor from Florida who also writes for The Huffington Post and various yoga sites. She started the free 30 day challenge on the DoYouYoga channel, through YogaTrail.com in 2013, as a way to introduce beginners to Yoga in 10-20 minute sessions per day. It was nice to stretch some muscles that I hadn't in a while, and the nice warm weather gave me an excuse to use my balcony.

     The Day One video focused on proper breathing techniques and teaching beginners how to move your body according to your own flexibility. The downward-facing dog pose is one of the most commonly used beginner poses in yoga, and requires you to get on your hands and feet while sticking your butt up in the air. the goal is to stretch your heels, so that your feet lie flat on your mat, and relax your head as you engage your core. This essentially stretches and strengthens your entire body.

     I skipped the Day Two Challenge Thursday because my work did a morning employee screening of Maleficent, and I lost my motivation for any sort of exercise for the rest of the day. The video gave me a really good stretch this morning and displayed some child's poses and warrior poses, that exercised my chest and shoulders.

     I'm excited to see what the rest of the challenge offers me, and am eager to take friends up on invitations to work out with them. I'm probably going to utilize my apartment complex's fitness center and go rock climbing next week.  Here is a link to Motz's blog if you are interested in keeping up with her.

Thank you for reading my second "Fitness Friday" blog post and please don't hesitate to comment and leave feedback. 

Fitness Friday

By: Morgan Dougherty

     In about 100 days I will be in Mexico for Labor day weekend. That means I have about 14 weeks to prepare my body in order to be fit enough to go surfing. I'm healthy for the most part and have maintained a pretty normal weight. However, I am baffled by the way I lose pant sizes and lose little to no weight.

     This post won't be about why I want to lose weight for aesthetic reasons, I'm more concerned about gaining muscle and becoming more balanced so that I can fulfill fitness goals. My game plan isn't meticulously drawn out at this point, but I hope writing weekly will motivate me to get serious about my goals and encourage anyone reading to offer any suggestions they might have.

     Here are some activities that I plan to dive deeper into this summer and will discuss my progress in depth for future "Fitness Fridays".

• Skating:

     When I got to college I noticed that a lot of people used longboards as transportation on campus. I had friends who were passionate about skateboarding in grade school which motivated me to dabble into the sport a little myself. A few of those friends and myself forgot about the sport, but picked it up again recently. I stopped skating because I was never any good at performing tricks, but I still enjoyed the ride. I liked seeing how longboarders on campus sped down hills and glided through crowds of students. They were basically street surfing! 

     Skateboarding is an excellent workout, especially if you're doing tricks that can also improve coordination and precision. I'm pretty clumsy so I think before I try learning any tricks on a regular skateboard, I will ease back into skating by cruising on a longboard. Both skateboarding and longboarding improve cardiovascular health, strength and flexibility, so I hope practicing on the streets will prepare me for the sea.

• Yoga:

     I took a free yoga class at the beginning of last semester through my university's rec center. After an hour of not knowing how to position my body and slipping over my mat because of my sweaty hands, I felt confused but refreshed. I know if I started going to classes again and committed to the exercise, I could probably strengthen my core and tone my arm muscles, which could help me pop up faster and give me enough time to catch a wave.

     After doing a little bit of research, I found that there are 8 different styles of yoga: anusara, ashtanga, bikram, hatha, hot yoga, restorative yoga, and vinyasa. Hot yoga is a popular style that surfers practice. It helps them focus their breathing and concentrate when they're out in the water. I'll figure out what style is be best for me and document them in future posts.

• Strength training and running:

     When it comes to arm strength, I have issues lifting any single item if it weighs more than 50 lbs., and I definitely can't sprint for more than 2 minutes. Toning my limbs is something I have no idea how to accomplish and i have almost no endurance. I hope that being able to hold difficult yoga poses and "Kick, pushing" will give my limbs a good starting point to help me ease into weight lifting and run longer. 

     I want to strengthen my body so it can handle whatever I throw at it later in life. If I shared this post with you, I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions that could help me meet my fitness goals and motivate me to write future blog posts. I also didn't include any photographs because of copywriting fears. I will try to add photos I've taken personally in future posts but I need to get my hands on something other than my phone to do so.

Thanks for reading my first blog post!