I would like to congratulate Summer for winning my giveaway! I asked readers to tell me about their work out motivation, and she shared:

Summer is a fellow S.C. blogger who writes about running and sometimes rum at Summerslowrunner.wordpress.com!

If you are looking for encouragement to get off the couch, you should go check out the responses on the entry. Even if you still feel like sitting around afterward, you might get a chuckle.

As promised, what motivates me to work out:

• On the easy days: Knowing that I will feel 10x better mentally and physically once I get my heart rate up. Seriously, even though I haven’t always seen huge changes in my body from working out , I know that working out “works” because I feel like my best self when I work out consistently and really push myself. I have more energy, focus and strength. Without that benefit, I would have given up a long time ago.
• On the harder days: I tap into my more superficial reasons like not wanting to have to buy new fat clothes, wanting to avoid varicose veins, the fear of one day being a fat bride and a deep hatred of back fat.

Woohoo BodyPump!

After years of recommendations from my ZenMama, I tried BodyPump for the first time last week. The class is a series of strength training moves targeting specific muscle groups. The class uses a weighted bar, and you get to choose how much or how little weight to add for each muscle group. My heart rate was often in the cardio zone, even though the class “looks” more like strength training.

Body Pump is one of those work outs that has a huge following, and the people who love it, really, really love it. I wasn’t disappointed. The instructors were enthusiastic and helpful, and I’m excited to add this to my work out rotation.

Hitting all the muscle groups can be hard for me since running and cardio is often my priority, but getting most of the big ones in during a 1-hour class solves the problem of me skipping something because I’m bored or run out of time.

It was 95 degrees Sunday, and I’m really happy I invested in that summer gym membership. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer. But my favorite thing to do in the heat is to lay around near water and fruity drinks, and save the work outs for  AC for now!