These past two months have been incredibly difficult and I feel like an emotional wreck. And put into perspective of the 100s of memes and reality-checks floating around social media that self isolation isn't so bad only makes me feel guilty on the days I feel like I'm going to lose it. My one saving grace in all this? Is that every one of my girlfriends is going through the same roller coaster emotional ride.

My other saving grace? My at-home workouts. I know what you're thinking. Really?! Not something baked or a bottle of wine? Yes, I purposefully said bottle, because honestly who's having just a glass these days. To be honest, this is not entirely me and some crazy motivational drive I have within, giving me the ability to wake up at 5:30am on days when I could be sleeping at least until 7. No, this was one of my girlfriends who said on March 29th, "So starting today...5 veggies minimum, alcohol once a week, stretching and/or a workout everyday! Who's in?!" And then the very next day, THIS showed up on my Pinterest (of course it did!)!

Well the veggies were not likely, because of what's available here in Barbados. Alcohol was doubtful, because who can refrain??? Admittedly, my girlfriends and I just finished the Whole30, but at the time I thought alcohol would be my savior. So I was left with the workouts. E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y! To be fair, the mantra above about motivation is what drives me to run on lots of days! I'm not always motivated to run and I certainly don't always have a good run (hell, half of my runs I think are awful!!!), but I am disciplined enough to lay out my clothes the night before, set my alarm, and roll out of bed super early in the morning. Still...workout everyday?!?

Why in heavens would I think this was a good idea? Well (1), my friend asked me to and I NEVER let a friend do anything by themselves. I'm actually being very serious here about this point. Ask any one of my friends who have been on girl's trip with me, if they are out til 4am, well so am I! This is also how I was convinced to do the Whole30 during a pandemic! And (2), I'm a crazy type-A kinda gal. So if I can't control anything else around me (thank you corona) then I have to find something to control! Other type-As are nodding their heads in agreement right now;)

So I set a schedule, classic type-A, and got to work. I probably spent hours on Pinterest and Youtube looking for the best workouts to get me through an unforeseeable amount of exercising. I found some amazing workouts and some not so amazing ones, but I knew the weekly time slots to fill would look something like this...

My Schedule

My Workouts

Here is the list of my absolute favorite workouts, plus a few pinnable workouts for those intense HIIT days (scroll to the bottom for those)!

Monday:

• CARDIO - 30 Minute LES MILLS GRIT Cardio Workout
• ARMS - 15 Minute Full Upper Body Workout

Tuesday:

• HIIT -  Any of the 4 pinnable workouts below
• LEGS - Toned Legs and Round Booty

 Wednesday

• YOGA - Bikram Yoga Workout or Best Bikram Vinyasa Fusion 

Thursday

• HIIT - FitFactory Toronto LIVE on Instagram, daily at 12pm (or whenever, since "live" runs for 24 hours)
• ABS - 15 Minute Epic Ab Workout, 20 Minute Lower Abs Workout, or 15 Minute Total Core Ab Workout 

Friday

• YOGA - Bryan Kest Power Yoga (an oldie, but goodie) or 60 Minute Intense Power Yoga

Saturday

• DANCE - 40 Minute Reebok LES MILLS BodyJam Workout

Sunday

• JO'S WELLNESS GYM - Zoom Class

A Few Quick Notes

I have a few MadFit strength body workouts from YouTube listed above. I love these, because they are easy to pair with a 30 minute cardio workout or do a few together for a complete body workout. She's no fuss, gets right to the point, and so a 10 minute ab workout is exactly that. 10 minutes of abs without all the extras of chit-chat, warming up, stretching etc.

4 Pinnable HIIT Workouts

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The above links and pinnable workouts are my favorites! I try to find at least one new workout every week, but these are my go-tos and the ones I always come back to. I knew it would be hard to wake up and decide on a whim to workout every single day, so I created the simple schedule and that helps to keep me motivated. Now I know every Monday I need to do a Cardio and Arm workout. I can pick anything, but they should fall into these categories. 

We have very little say on most of what's going on around us right now, but I can do one thing entirely on my own, for myself, and that no one can stop me from doing. For me that's exercising everyday. Find your one controllable, releasable thing and stick with it. I still struggle some days and have emotional breakdowns, just ask my closest friends, but this has helped me tremendously and without I might just go batshit crazy! Too soon for puns?

How are you surviving the pandemic? What are your favorite at-home workouts?

xx Bre