Uh, remember the anti-cardio funk?

Well, it’s officially GONE.

After tonight’s Ride class – courtesy of my favorite Ride instructor (let’s see if she’s paying attention and reading this post *ahem*). She damn near killed me!

And I LOVED every sweaty second.

I mean, you know it’s gonna be a ridic class when you’re already out of breath on the first track after the warm-up. Um hi, near heart failure by the time we rolled into the Climb track at the end.

Dripping with sweat, beet red face, and a huge smile (where this very blog post sprang to mind, in fact!). Not a bad way to spend a Monday night. <—especially when Monday is a holiday and you spend the entire first part of the day with little Ms. Isabel, the cutest, most snuggly niece of all time.

The point of all of this?

That you CAN get cardio-‘d out if you aren’t careful.<—this also applies to weight workouts, btw.

Remember the whole yogurt-ed out issue? Case in point.

Well I definitely spent my fare share of time in the Ride studio this fall/winter, mostly because it was the only cardio I could really do that didn’t bug my knees after the half marathon. And it didn’t even strike me that this could be the root cause of my anti-cardio bout a couple of weeks ago. That is, until tonight’s ridic Ride workout snapped me right out of it. Who knew I’d only need to get away from Ride for a few weeks for that fire to return?

I should know better though, it’s the same thing that can happen with any workout really. The more you do it – without varying the intensity and style and type of workout – the more accustomed to it your body becomes. And before long, you can easily end up not challenging yourself, and getting into that workout rut we all know and fear.

The easiest answer to that problem? Shock it, baby! Keep your body guessing no matter what…

• Vary the intensity of your running (hello speed intervals mixed with steady state workouts).
• Try a new workout entirely – maybe get to that weight training class at your gym that you’ve been dying to try but unsure of whether or not you’ll like it (on my list? Trying TRX in the very near future)
• Or, give yourself a break from your tried and true workouts – whether it be spinning, running, weight lifting, swimming or something else – it never hurts to ease up on your go-to in favor of something new and shocking 😉

I’ll have more on ways I plan to keep my body guessing in the next few days…as I wrap up my STS rotation, I have some ideas on what I’ll do next to shock it good.

Until then, I urge you all to shock it now and then, you just never know what you might end up loving…or revisiting and falling in love with all over again!