I realize that it's been forever since I've talked about my workout routines. I've done lots of recapping and will post a recipe here and there, but I can't even remember the last time I discussed exercising. Maybe it was when I talked about push ups for my wedding? Anyhow, strength training, with an emphasis on weight lifting, was my go-to exercise for years. I tried to become a serious runner, but that hasn't happened yet due to my leg injury and lack of motivation. Instead, I focused on building muscle and getting in and out of the gym in 30-40 minutes. When I wasn't following a program like P90X, my week looked usually looked like this:

• Monday/Wednesday/Friday: Upper body weights, abs
• Tuesday/Thursday: 20 minutes of cardio, 20-30 minutes lower body
• Saturday: 20-40 minutes cardio
• Sunday: rest

After my brother's wedding in September, I took 2 weeks off from working out. I was sick of my routine after doing the same thing for years. I also didn't feel well, and I wanted my body to rest. I realized that I didn't feel like going back to my old routine. After my break, I decided to try other forms of strength training that used my body weight, such as push ups and planks. For the first time in years, I did Pilates. 

I first got into Pilates after I graduated from college, and I immediately fell in love with it. I liked that it only required a mat and that I didn't have to wear shoes or socks. I couldn't do one roll-up when I first began taking classes, but I kept going and got my core stronger than ever. Since Pilates is a full-body workout, I toned up all over (with the best results in my core, thighs, and butt). When I lived in both the suburbs of Chicago and Adelaide, I went to Pilates classes up to 6 days a week before I started working full-time. I wish I never stopped, but there were not many classes that I could go to after work at my Adelaide gym. As a result, my workouts changed to shorter cardio sessions, lifting dumbbells, and occasional fitness classes. 

I still did Pilates every once in a while on Xfinity On Demand, but the videos are not very good. I found Blogilates while doing a Google search for free online videos, and I did those every once in a while too when I moved to the city last year. I found some of the workouts to be so hard that I got frustrated and stopped. When I realized back in September that I needed a new challenge, though, I jumped head-first into Blogilates. 

Cassie, the founded of Blogilates, is a Pilates instructor that uploads new videos to her site at least once a week. They are short videos (anywhere from 5-20ish minutes), and you can search videos based on the areas that you want to work. 

She provides a workout calendar that tells you exactly which workouts to do each day and has nutrition plans too, but I just like to stick to whichever workouts I feel like doing. Her site is very user-friendly, and it's easy to find what you want. 

I love being able to work out in the privacy of my own apartment and on my own schedule. 

The only "equipment" I ever use is my yoga mat, 2 big water bottles, and a chair when the workout calls for it. Most workouts require nothing except for a mat. I got this Gaiam travel yoga mat when I visited Australia two years ago, and it's perfect for doing Pilates on a carpeted floor (if you have hard floors, you want a mat with more padding). I fill the two large water bottles with water and use them as hand weights for specific workouts. They can be light for me unless I'm fatigued already, so I'm planning to get my own real weights in the future. 

I know that doing home workouts isn't for everybody, but Blogilates is perfect for me. I find that it constantly challenges me, and  I'm always excited to do it. I feel that I've toned up all over, and  my flexibility and core strength is better than it used to be. 

If you're thinking about trying Blogilates and have never done Pilates before, try taking a few classes with an instructor first or do Cassey's beginner classes. Most Blogilates videos are what I like to call "fitness Pilates" classes, meaning that you're constantly moving the entire time and do difficult moves to exhaustion. You need to know the basics to avoid injury. There are also lunges, push ups, squats, burpees, and other moves that are not necessarily specific to Pilates. If you want a challenge, though, I can't recommend this highly enough!

Long Cardio Workouts

Although I named my blog "The Little Jogger", it's evident that I don't do much jogging. I got injured soon after I started blogging, and the rest is history. I still want to run a half marathon one of these days, so I'm not giving up  yet. 

Anyway, I don't think I ever mentioned that I was a cardio queen when I was in college. I used to go on the elliptical for an hour every day, 6-7 days a week (plus 30 minutes of weight machines). Although I was in awesome shape and could go out and run 6 miles like it was nothing, my need to exercise consumed me. I was addicted. If I had to skip a day, I panicked. I thought I would pack on weight unless I stuck exactly to my regimen. It wasn't healthy. 

I fell away from long cardio workouts towards the end of college. I went through many phases where I just didn't want to do it at all. I think I was mentally scarred from my cardio addiction, and I just didn't enjoy it anymore. Since I started grad school, most of my elliptical and treadmill sessions have been 20 minutes at a time. Then, a few weeks, ago, something happened. I was on my parents' elliptical machine for 30 minutes, and I didn't want to get off. Before I knew it, I had worked out for an hour. I did it a few separate times after that, and I enjoyed it just as much. I realized that I'm starting to love long workouts again. This is great for my long-distance running goals, and I know now that I don't have to do it every single day in order to maintain my weight. I also don't have the time for that, but that's another story. 

Here's what my workout schedule looks like right now:
Monday/Friday: BLOGILATES upper body or weights/abs for 45 minutes
Tuesday/Thursday: 30 min elliptical/20-30 minutes lower body BLOGILATES
Wednesday: 45 min full-body BLOGILATES 
Saturday: 1 hour elliptical 
Sunday: REST

My new school schedule comes into full swing the week of February 11 with rotations two times a week and classes the other days, so I'm going to have to cut back when it gets crazy. I'm VERY okay with that. That's the difference between the Crazy Cardio Jenny and the Jenny I am now. I feel a billion times better when I exercise, but getting enough sleep and having time to do everything else is also important. 

Calorie Counting

I finally got around to setting up my own My Fitness Pal account and logging my food and exercise on it every day. I do it for two reasons. First, I want to see how many calories I'm eating a day in addition to my ratios of carbs/protein/fat and then how well I'm doing with my vitamins and minerals. My Fitness Pal does an excellent job of showing all of this to me on the iPhone app. It's also excellent motivation to eat healthier. Second, I need to get better at estimating calorie amounts in foods. It's the nature of my career, right? This is a great way for me to practice. I'm not sure how long I'm going to do this, but I'm enjoying learning for now. 

If you want a super-easy and free way to track your food intake, set up an account! It just takes a few minutes, and you can log in on either your computer or smart phone. The food database seems to have everything, which makes searching for food very easy. You can type "Chobani Strawberry Greek Yogurt" into it, and it will find it and give you all of the nutrient info. You can also enter your own recipes into your account and store it. One of the best parts of using your smart phone is that you can instantly scan the bar code of any food that you buy, and it will bring up the nutritional information. It's pretty awesome. 

I keep all of my info private, but you can join groups and forums to keep you motivated if that's something that you want. 

That's all for now! Here's to a happy, healthy year! 

Finally, here is the last recap!

The picture above is nearly impossible to see, but it says "Minnesota welcomes you" on it. 

On our final day, we started in South Dakota and ended in Chicago. We made it through four states. 

In Minnesota, we saw a lot of windmills and farmland. 

Our two favorite parts of the state was a rest stop in Dakota, Mn called Kwik Trip Stop  (very clean, had lots of good healthy food, etc) and the cannon on the trailer. It was almost Independence Day. 

Along I-90, Minnesota was very flat until we were close to Wisconsin. Then, it didn't feel like we were in the flat Midwest anymore. 

Hello, Mississippi River!

Hello, Wisconsin! It's my favorite welcome sign of the trip. 

From La Crosse, we drove towards Madison. 

We weren't in a hurry, so we detoured onto a more quiet country road so that we could enjoy more green scenery before settling into our urban concrete jungle just one state away from us. 

We stopped in Madison to stretch our legs and eat dinner. We drove around the college campus and then parked near the Capitol Building. We took some pictures, walked around a bit, and ate a quick dinner. 

We easily could have spent a whole day walking around Madison. I haven't been there since my college days. It's a fun, clean, fit city. It's only a few hours away, so I'm hoping that we can go back sometime soon. 

From Madison, we drove east to Milwaukee and then south to the Illinois border. We saw a pretty rainbow on our way. 

In Kenosha, I got super excited as we passed Mars Cheese Castle. It's a tourist trap just north of the Wisconsin border that sells cheese and bakery goods. My oldest brother went to tennis camp in Kenosha way back in the day, and we used to stop there when we visited him. I remember eating the cheesiest grilled cheese sandwiches ever. I also recall that there were knight statues, and there were treasure trolls for sale. I'd usually get an elephant ear for the car ride home. I wonder if Mars is just like I remember it. 

Before I knew it, the sun set on our final day. We were home. 

It was an epic road trip. With Al's car here and everything moved in, I no longer have to share him with another city (or country). It's pretty awesome. 

If you haven't heard already, the weather in Chicago and in many other parts of the US has been whack! We're used to freezing cold temperatures and lots of snow (depending on the year), but it's been snowing almost nonstop since New Years Eve. It stops tonight, and then the temperatures are dropping to 15 below zero (and even lower in the suburbs). Ouch! I've never experienced weather like this, so I plan to stay indoors unless I have to take my friend's dog outside. We've been watching him for a week while she's in Mexico. She's supposed to get back tonight, but flights are getting delayed and canceled left and right. 

Charlie is quite the looker, isn't he? He is absolutely head-over-heels in love with my husband. (I also talked about Charlie here.) 

Back to the January insanity, we have a beautiful deck on the 7th floor of our building. In the summer, residents are out here grilling, drinking, and sunbathing. In the winter, you can look at it from the gym and take pictures of the snow accumulating on it. 

It's beautiful, isn't it?

Now I'll focus on the main topic of this post: the South Dakota recap. If I can't be in warmer weather, I can vicariously live through myself in my memories. 
Here are earlier road trip recaps:
Part I
Part II
Part III

We entered South Dakota in the late morning of our third day. Soon, we were within sight of the Black Hills that is home to two tourist attractions: the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore. I was excited to see them, even though I heard bad reviews from people who had been there before us. 

Custer is the oldest town in the Black Hills and located near the attractions. As soon as we saw the sign, we knew we were close. 

We saw Crazy Horse just as we left Custer. We could have driven right by it if we didn't know to look for the shape of a man's head in the side of a mountain. 

The mountain carving began in 1948 and, if it's ever completed, will resemble a famous Native American warrior riding a horse that will be much taller than Mt. Rushmore. Even mid-completion, it looks awesome.  

If you look closely at the photo below, you can make out the sketching on the rock where the horse's head is supposed to be. 

We paid $20 to park at the museum and get a better look of the enormous structure, but we both agreed that we would have gotten just as much out of pulling over to the side of the road and taking pictures for free. For our $20, we were able to go into a stuffy museum with bathrooms, a video to watch if we wanted to go into the theater, and a giant glass window where we could get a closer picture of Crazy Horse (posted above). We also could have taken a bus to the bottom of the mountain for an additional fee, but we already felt like we paid enough. I feel a little bad that we didn't take the time to learn about Crazy Horse and the memorial, but we had a lot of driving to do. 

We got back in the car and navigated the hills to find Mt. Rushmore. Luckily, it wasn't hard with the signs. 

After our Crazy Horse experience and hearing over and over again that Mt. Rushmore was "overrated', we didn't feel like paying to park the car and dodge other tourists to get a few photos. We probably could have parked on the side of the road further down the hill and walked up too (although it could have been dangerous with all of the cars driving quickly around the bends), but we decided against it. Instead of leaving our car, I snapped a bunch of photos from the passenger's seat while Al drove by and turned back around a few times. We got some decent photos, too. 

Mt. Rushmore was pretty neat to see in the flesh, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it unless I was doing a road trip. I always imagined it being gigantic, but it's much smaller than Al and I expected. I'm glad to say that I have seen it, though. 

On our way out of the park, we went through some crazy Western touristy town that was packed with tacky-looking restaurants. It  looked like a blast, but we had to keep going. 

We ate lunch at McDonald's somewhere near Rapid City (hey, if you get your stuff grilled, ask for light sauce, skip the fountain drink, and split the side of fries with your road trip companion, McDonald's isn't so terrible for ya) and then drove east to the Badlands. We were stoked to see this place. 

The Badlands is a national park in rural South Dakota. I only heard of it last year when a family member mentioned it to me. It's surrounded by flat grassy farmland, which explains why we were so shocked when we set our eyes on these rock formations. 

In parts of the park, I felt like we were visiting a mini Grand Canyon. 

(I didn't pack enough daytime comfy clothes, in case you noticed that I've worn this outfit before.)

We took our time driving around the Badlands Loop, which is just a small paved part of the park that allows you to see the sights in just a few hours. We got out of the car at almost every stopping point and snapped pictures. 

These rock formations are unbelievable. I'm not a geology buff by any means, but it would be fascinating to learn in depth about how these came to be. 

With the panorama feature on my iPhone camera, I was able to get some pretty sweet pictures. 

After the Badlands, we made our last stop for the night in Oacoma, South Dakota. 

Oacoma sits right on the Missouri River. After we checked into our hotel, we drove over the bridge into Chamberlain to grab a bite to eat. 

We didn't see anywhere we wanted to eat in Chamberlain, so we crossed back over the bridge and went to Al's Oasis next to our hotel. It has the same name as Al, and it looked inviting (and tacky). 

It was a cute little place to shop for touristy things and pick up some groceries, but the restaurant wasn't very exciting. It was one of those eateries where, by the look of it, you only want to order "safe" things on the menu. I think I got a turkey sandwich or something. We were in and out of there, and then we went to bed. 

We didn't have far to go the next day before we got to the South Dakota/Minnesota border. We started by crossing over the river for our last time.

We passed some random but interesting statue on the highway. I have no clue what its purpose is. 

Our last stop of South Dakota was also a pleasant surprise. I was looking for attractions in Sioux Falls while browsing on my phone, and I learned that there's a waterfall that goes through the center of town. It had great reviews on tripadvisor.com, so we checked it out. 

We were pleasantly surprised! After paying to see all of these natural attractions, it was nice to see a big rocky waterfall going through the middle of a green park in a Midwestern town for free. 

The reviews warned us that it might smell bad, and they were right. From what I remember, there's a meat plant near the park that makes the air reek if the wind is blowing a certain way. Although it smelled like a rancid dead animal, Falls Park was very enjoyable. 

We just breathed through our mouths. 

That's all for South Dakota. I have one more recap to do!