Saturday, June 18, 2011

Working Out at The Park

I ventured down to Disneyland yesterday to have some fun with friends before I leave for Florida.  Luckily, yesterday was my rest day so while I did go on my usual walk, I did not worry about getting in any other workout.  Well... that is till I got to the park.

Obviously when you visit a Disney park, you'll be doing a lot of walking.  Luckily, I was as sore as I was expecting from my long run so I didn't mind all of the walking.  Plus you have to be quick on your feet to avoid all of the little kids, strollers, and people in general.  It's like walking an obstacle course all day.

Then there's one really good place for a workout... Tarzan's Tree House.  You have your stairs, shaky bridges, and you're still avoiding all the running kids.  I'm sure if you climb up and down that house, you could burn a good number of calories (I know I was feeling it in my legs by the end of one climb... I'm blaming muscle fatigue from the day before).

Other ideas of places to burn calories?  The Pirate's Lair (formerly Tom Sawyer's Island).  There's enough room to run and climb in there that it really is a gym in disguise.  You can also row a canoe around the Rivers of America and considering it looked like only a 1/4 of the boat was actually rowing, that should be a good arm workout.  Now, I have actually never been on Tom Sawyer's Island nor have I done the rowing, but from observations, they just look like good places to get a fun little workout in.

Obviously, I doubt you're going to burn a lot of calories at Disneyland.  There's too much good tasting food that's probably not the best for you (at least in the portion size they give you).  With the right restraint you won't gain a ton and can have a fun day.  Disney is also offering healthy snack alternatives like fresh fruit at stands right next to the Churro's and Pretzels.  It's just up to you to choose the right option (I admit, I don't usually, but I'm typically down there to splurge on my diet).

While I was at Disneyland, I received 2/3 of my Jillian Michael's DVD's!  Yoga Meltdown and 6 Week 6 Pack both arrived in the mail along with two books I bought.  The child within me opened up the DVD's this morning and eagerly got ready for a new and exciting workout.  I decided to try the yoga workout this morning and I only watched part of the 6 pack one (that's for tomorrow).

First impressions?  I really liked the yoga one.  Both DVD's offered level 1 or level 2 options and I started at level 1 since I haven't done any yoga in a while.  It was a good workout, not the hardest, but there was a lot of stretching involved since it was still focused around yoga.  Don't get me wrong though, doing some of the exercises that focused on my arms and shoulders definitely has me feeling them.  One thing that I realized during some of the poses that I'm stronger on one side than I am on the other, and the side depends on the workout.  So I guess there's something else for me to work on... I need to become more balanced.

I'll do a more in-depth review on the new DVD's after I have used them for a while.  Like I said though, first impressions are very good.

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