My Favorite Things: Fitness Edition

In Februrary, I "retired" from swimming after my very last college conference meet.For 12 years of my life, I was a competitive swimmer. I started when my family lived in Australia, and fell in love with the sport! I swam both short and long course seasons with my club team and spend most of my summers (and school years, actually...) doing two-a-day practices once I moved to Texas.

For some reason there are tons of horror stories of ex-swimmers who gain tons of weight. Maybe it's because they've never seen going to practice as a "workout" and don't see a need to schedule time to exercise, maybe it's because they don't adjust their eating habits (which is crazy hard- when you go from burning 1200+ cals a day in the pool to a measly 300 on the elliptical, a BIG adjustment has to take place)... Regardless of whether or not the rumors were true, I was absolutely certain those stories weren't going to include me! 

So, 6 days after my last swim meet, I joined a local gym and started taking their classes. I knew that I couldn't work out on my own- for 12 years I'd been told what to do! So, my first favorite thing is: group fitness classes. I've taken yoga, spin, Pilates, YogaFit, step, and cardio circuit classes. I like to switch it up so I don't get bored. ;)

source

If I can't make a class, I get on the elliptical. My second favorite thing, my iPhone, is essential because I get bored easily on that machine, so I listen to music, watch Netflix, read blogs...  Basically anything to distract me from stopping.

source

My last favorite thing is this guy:

source

I looooove my water bottle. I found it on Pinterest and actually bought it on Amazon. It hold so much water AND my keys and ID/gym card, and it was pretty inexpensive (*edit- looks like the price has gone up. It was only $12 when I got it!). Getchya one. You will thank me.