looking towards fall fitness

My sister-in-law and I only have a few more weeks of our summer soul camp. Overall, I have found the challenge most beneficial for my health and fitness. I’ve struggled a bit with the creative goals, and progress has been slow on our home and garden goals.

As I work my way through the MAPS Performance program, I realized how much I love lifting heavy. My deadlift is now 135 lbs, my bench press is 85 lbs., and my hex bar squat is 149 lbs. Side note: I prefer the hex bar to the straight bar due to the more balanced weight distribution. I also tried 2 work sessions 3 days a week which I loved, too.

Back to our program: moving forward my plan is to try the MAPS Strong program next. As I look at the program, I see places where I’ll need to switch out exercises due to a lack of equipment. On my non- Strong days, I’ll continue to work on my 3 main lifts.

I started running again this week. I have an itch to get out on the trails! We have 2 good places to trail run about 30 minutes from us. Right now, I’m running a mile on the treadmill in the morning. At the end of August, I’ll start trail running once or twice per week.

I’m also going to push my husband and I to hike locally. We’ve done a few this year but stopped when the weather got too hot. Time to hit the trails together.

Finally, as the weather cools, the dogs and I will be out more during the day. My Bernese Mountain dog, Tobey, doesn’t do well with the hot weather. I hate keeping him inside but it’s just too much for him.

One last thing- this summer I’ve been changing it up with my daily exercise list (pull-ups, calf raises, Russian twists, lean backs, and kettlebell swings). I alternate between days of multiple rounds of low reps and fewer rounds of higher reps. I’ve done the multiple rounds of low reps with the bench press, squat and deadlift too to break up the routine. I think it’s helping my strength gains and also challenging my muscles more.