exercise

Right now, I run on my elliptical 50 minutes a day, 6 days a week.  I do not increase the time, but I increase my speed and vary the resistance on the machine.  DH walks and runs our dogs.  We basically live in a frozen tundra from Nov - April so it's really not safe for me to walk them.  I have arthritis in my foot and everything is covered in ice, plus there is no sidewalk on our street (not that anyone would shovel it if there was).  It's also getting dark when I get home from work and I just don't feel safe.  DH runs the dogs during the day.  When it warms up and lightens up, I will resume doing short periods of agility with Kenya (I have equipment in the yard) and walking the dogs 3 miles each night which I was doing before winter.  In the summer, my work gets out a half hour earlier so I will probably use the extra 1/2 hour to do strength training at the gym at work.

I have a dog park near by so I take the dogs there every other day or so. They spend an hour + running and playing with other dogs.

I work Neiko with the frisbee

I work Neiko and Lily on a balance ball to build muscle and balance.

I meet up with friends that have dogs and we take them hiking on the weekends (off leash)

In the warm months they get to go swimming.

 I used to rollerblade with Dakota but she's too old for that now. When my aussies get older I will roller blade with them. I've already introduced neiko to the rollerblades but since it's winter now there's no chance to go.

With all of this, I usually don't have to technically walk the dogs. 

 For myself - lately nothing! :( But in the summer I road cycle and mountain bike plus kayaking, hiking etc. I also have a gym membership...which I need to go back to using!
 

I try to get the gym every other day and do 30 min's of Stairmaster and 20-30 min's of strength training. I only use weights for upper body since I figure my lower body gets enough workout doing cardio. I do crunches on a balance ball. I have an elliptical at home that I use on some non-gym days and I have a treadmill in my office that I use if I can't get to the gym at lunch.

 DH runs Sassy and I walk her, but he's got more days off, so he takes her more. Buffy's 12 and gets her share of exercise running around our yard and playing fetch. She has arthritis, so even too much playing fetch and she's limping for days.

I guess I'm a workoutaholic if that's a word, hehe. I am at the gym 6 days a week, an hour on the elliptical, and either walk for another 30 min. on an incline or do some weight training and ab exercises after that. Then I also walk dogs for some extra money during the days, and my dogs get walked a few times around the neighborhood per day. If we take them to the huge park by us we usually walk for a good hour on the trails and such.

 ^ Yep! You're a workoutaholic!  I would LOVE to do more walking and just being more active in general, but there aren't enough hours in the day.  I just finished my elliptical run.  Now I need a shower, do chores, take Kenya out, and by then it will be bed time.  Sometimes I feel like work is actually the worse thing for me physically.  Working all day is mentally draining, but physically it's nothing, plus I feel more hungry when I'm sitting there working than when I'm actually being active.

Liesje

 ^ Yep! You're a workoutaholic!  I would LOVE to do more walking and just being more active in general, but there aren't enough hours in the day.  I just finished my elliptical run.  Now I need a shower, do chores, take Kenya out, and by then it will be bed time.  Sometimes I feel like work is actually the worse thing for me physically.  Working all day is mentally draining, but physically it's nothing, plus I feel more hungry when I'm sitting there working than when I'm actually being active.

I feel the same way. I'd much rather be active and not sitting behind a desk. On days that I'm so busy that I can't get to the gym at lunch (or do the treadmill I now have in my office), I'm not a very pleasant person to be around. Years back, I'd go to the gym after work but then I found that the gym was so crowded that I couldn't get on any of the equipment and left in a worse mood than when I got there. I tried going before work 6 AMish and it was just way to bright and busy for that early in the morning for me.

^^  Yep!  I work at a college and I have free access to the gyms and workout rooms, but the athletic facilities are under construction.  Even before that, the demand was much greater than supply.  You had to sign up to use equipment days in advance!  The bikes aren't as popular, but I sweat buckets when I bike so it's not like I can ride for 50 mins and then take a quick shower on my lunch break.  Ug...oh to be a boy!  I do sleep really well since I started running on the elliptical.  I just wish I could be active ALL day, not super-active for an hour.  When I visited a friend who lives in downtown Chicago she kept apologizing for us having to walk everywhere, but I really enjoyed it.  I miss the college days when I didn't have a car and was forced to walk to school and work (and had the time!). 

Liesje

 ^ Yep! You're a workoutaholic!  I would LOVE to do more walking and just being more active in general, but there aren't enough hours in the day.  I just finished my elliptical run.  Now I need a shower, do chores, take Kenya out, and by then it will be bed time.  Sometimes I feel like work is actually the worse thing for me physically.  Working all day is mentally draining, but physically it's nothing, plus I feel more hungry when I'm sitting there working than when I'm actually being active.

DH says I work out way too much but I don't feel like I work out enough...but trust me, the only reason I have time right now for all of this is because I'm only working part time. When I was working full time I'm lucky I had enough time to take my dogs for walks. I am very thankful for this time off from a full time job. And yes, when I sat at a computer for 8 hours a day I always felt hungry (out of boredom) and was always munching on something (usually not healthy for me) 

I do recumbent bike 3 or more times a week and run at least 2 times a week.  Our really expensive stairclimber we bought ages ago is finally dying, so you can only use it for about 10 minutes before the computer gets all wacked out, but I try to use it a couple times a week as well just for variety (like I will do a circuit, I will run, then get on the stairmaster).  I do a variety of hand weights 4-5 times a week, balance ball once or twice a week and I have started incorporating resistance bands into my workout 1-2 times a week.

I also walk the dogs for 30 minutes in eth morning and close to an hour at night and often do hills and stairs. When my patients at work are high enough level of functioning and have good enough balance and coordination, I do running with them once or twice a week and sometimes 10+ flights of stairs 1-2 times a week.  

Gosh, I look at all that and I STILL need to lose at least 8 more pounds…lol!

The dogs & I run 2-8 miles almost every morning.  After our run, I head for the gym.  Three days a week, I strength train.  Two days, I do a yoga class.  In the evenings, the dogs & I go hiking/biking/running/roller blading.  We're usually on the move for at least 45 minutes in the evening.

 I also have a treadmill that both the dogs, & I use when the weather is bad.  We also have an endless pool, so we add swims to our routine as well.

Lately I have been going to Yoga and pilates classes during the week at my gym 2-3 times per week.  Sometimes I make it to the cardio strip tease class.  I want to go to the spin class when I can get there early enough to get a bike.  I used to walk with my boss in the mornings about 3 times a week but we have kind of stopped.  I really need to get back into that habit but I get bored with it easily.  I used to have a tainer and do weights twice a week but can no longer afford it so I go to group classes now instead. 

Sarah, are pilates more challenging that yoga? 

I've gotten into the "routine" of yoga, & I tend to lose focus.  I go through the motions, but my mind is somewhere else.  If pilates are a little more challenging, I might need to switch to a new class...

I have been doing Pilates for a couple months and am just recently getting into yoga more.  I would say they are very similiar but also very different.  I personally think Pilates is more about using the resistance of your own body to build strength and balance.  Yoga to me seems to have some of that and a lot of familiar poses to Pilates but seems like it is more about stretching and balance.  I like the classes b/c it is time for me to become one with myself and focus on my balance and relieve some stress.  I personally prefer Pilates so far but haven't taken as many yoga classes so it is really hard to tell you the difference.  In the pilates class I go to we focus a lot on tightening some of the body parts I want to be tigher...we work abs, butt, legs etc etc.  In yoga, it seems like we go through the same routines over and over and over sometimes which I get bored with. 

Not sure if you are looking for anymore aerobic but I have also heard great things about Nia.  I have a good friend who teaches it.  I have taken one class in the middle of the night and we were both a little drunk but I loved it.  

ETA:  I personally think Pilates is a little more challenging and in the class I am in there is more variation of routine.  I find myself sweating and breathing hard in pilates quite often.  We move from one thing to another pretty frequently.  Whereas in yoga it seems like we do the same thing over and over and over sometimes.

I mostly hike a couple of miles with Willow every morning. It's my favorite part of my day and I look forward to it.  We (Willow and I) stop for a coffee and a snack on the way to the trail. She really has a good time.   And, I try to get to the fitness path to walk another couple miles on my own later too.  It's much easier for me in the spring/summer because I can go on my lunch to the trail near work and get another couple of miles in.  But, it's hard working a 2nd shift, I only have so much time in the morning and then it's dark early.

I do have a gym membership too.  But, I must say I love exercising outside and really hate the noise and people in the gym. It's gotten better since I found a 24 hr gym so it's not as crowded.  And, I bought an i-pod to drown out some of the noise too.  I usually do the treadmill or bike.  I'm just learning to use the weights now too for toning.