Walks

I have a friend who is teeny tiny and not athletic, nor does she enjoy working out–but she has a rockin’ six pack. It’s genetics to some extent, sure, but she also watches her calories and walks for an hour a day. Every single day.

I’m not giving up CrossFit (or my rock-hefting version of it) for walking, but I am trying to incorporate walks as much as I can–when I’m on the phone, for instance, I walk.

The past two weeks have been the most stressful of my entire life–we’re trying to move apartments in Aspen, I was traveling last week, my brother’s band was staying with us this week (I LOVE my brother but 4 more people in our apartment is just stressful), there’s a ton of stuff going on at work, and I haven’t been working out regularly. Once you fall out of the routine, it’s really, really hard to get back into it. And I don’t have the group mentality to motivate me. So I’ve been taking it easy on the workouts. (And the blogging … if you’ve noticed)

And taking more walks. Because you can make calls to subordinates, superintendents, stupid apartments, and siblings, all while walking. You cannot make these calls during CrossFitting, sprinting, or yoga.

Which isn’t to say I’ve gotten lazy–I’m up to speed on my burpees for the burpee challenge, I’m still doing a handstand a day, I’ve done yoga once this week and played sand volleyball for a few hours yesterday. It’s just to say that I’ve gotten LESS INTENSE the past two weeks while my stress level upped and my saving grace was WALKS.

Maybe it’s kept my cortisol levels down to not stress my body with intense workouts while it’s emotionally and mentally stressed. Maybe my appetite is less because my workouts are less and I’m eating naturally according to what my body wants. Whatever the case, my body feels as good, fit, and energized as ever.

If only I could walk and type at the same time …

Check out: Mark Sisson’s Guide to Stress