Creating a New Routine

This week has been all about creating a new routine for my daily life, now that I am not going out to work. I don't want to spend all my time at home, I need to go out and mix with other people and get some exercise and potentially do other activities.

As a consequence, I've been trying out new classes this week, some costing £2, some free.  The first one on Monday, was at our local leisure centre and was a Pilates class. After getting booked in, I had 20 minutes to kill before it started, so I went into the gym, which was allowed on my £2.05 ticket, and spent the time on the rowing machine.  It's the machine I enjoy most in the gym. 

The Pilates class was good. The teacher was lovely, so upbeat and quirky. The exercises were hard though. I did my best for my first attempt. I don't have a strong core, so I found a lot of it difficult, but I felt super relaxed when I left the class. 

On my way out of the centre, I saw on the noticeboard some information about the local New Age Games Scheme, which is another local scheme that provides free exercise activities to residents aged over 50. I noted down the classes and activities I was interested in on my phone and then when I got home I registered for the scheme and now I can attend these too, subject to there being space in the classes. 

The timetable includes: yoga, aerobics, a fusion of pilates and yoga, soca aerobics, indoor tennis on the Olympic park and gym sessions, all in various parts of the borough, so they should get me out and about.  There were also sessions such as water aerobics and archery, but I wasn't so interested in those activities. The scheme is term time only, so only runs until 23rd July, but I should be able to catch a few free activities between then and now, which is all good.

On Tuesday morning I sprang awake really early at 4.15am, as a consequence, I was up and out a bit earlier with the dog.  This was just as well, as I wanted to head to the gym again at 11, to try out an Aerobics class this time. Once again I needed to pay £2.00, but it was worth it.  Once I've tried all the available low cost and free classes, I can decide which ones I like and want to attend regularly and build my new weekly routine around them. 

Exercise has always been one of my priorities, not that you'd think so to look at me, but it keeps me healthy and strong, both mentally and physically, so it's always been important to me. It was harder to find the time and energy to go when I was working and I slipped back into just attending one class per week, but now I have more time and I am less exhausted by work, I can expand my horizons and attend at least 2 or 3 classes each week, providing they don't cost too much.

The aerobics class was good. Nice people, which makes all the difference. Lots of body conditioning and using weights, which was fine. I enjoyed it and the music was great. I will probably go again. 

On Wednesday, I decided to try another class, Soca Aerobics this time. I was quite excited for this class, as I love the Calypso type music that they dance to. It was a bit further away from where I live, but was free. For a first visit, I decided to take the bus and scout out the cycle parking. It was a short bus ride and a 10 minute walk away. The class started at 11.30am. It was in one half of the sports hall and it filled up with participants.  It was a great class, with a beautiful teacher and good music. I will be going back, preferably on my bike next time. There's just two weeks of the class left until it closes for the summer, but I'm definitely going to try to go to these if I can. 

On Wednesday afternoon, I felt really tired and decided to go upstairs for a nap. I woke up 4 hours later, having slept all afternoon. It was a bit unexpected really, but I must have needed it. I even slept well that evening too, which led me to feeling more refreshed for the remainder of the week.

On Thursday and Friday, I decided not to go to any classes and I got distracted doing other things. I did, however, go to a free gym session on Saturday morning. OH came with me and we cycled there, as he's signed up for the scheme too. At the moment, every pound matters for me and if I can avoid spending any money at all, I can stretch out what I do have for the month. The gym session was good. I worked on some of the weight machines to tone different parts of my body and got back on the rowing machine too. A bit of a change for me, but a good one.

Overall, it's been a good week for trying out activities. There's some more classes to try out next week, so I'm looking forward to that and I'll keep you posted with how they go.