not that kind of bar(re)

I'm not a fitness guru. I go through stages where I don't think about working out for weeks. Okay... I think about it. But that doesn't really do anything. I'm interested in being healthy, not dedicated to it. There were a few months last year where I was doing Bikram yoga three times a week and consuming mostly organic juices I made myself. Yeah, that was weird

I'm currently trying to make exercise a regular part of my life. Instead of telling myself I need to go to the gym every day, and feeling defeated if I miss a day, and giving up all together, my goal is to run a faster mile. I can work on it at my own pace, and it's a small accomplishment that takes some effort. The work it takes to get there involves sprints, long distance running, weights and cross-training

To supplement the running. I'm also trying to add some diversity to my routine without throwing myself into a new lifestyle, à la the Bikram yoga incident of '11. I want to try out boxing, get back into swimming, and I've signed up for a few classes at a local barre studio

Barre is apparently similar to ballet and focuses on small muscle groups. When I first heard about it, I had images of Center Stage, Save the Last Dance and the ballets I went to when I was little. Ballerinas are always so small and delicate but somehow ripped at the same time. Barre utilizes short, repetitive movements, weight-bearing exercises and stretching. Hopefully, throwing in a couple of these classes with my regular routine will add diversity to my workouts and help get me strong, long and lean. I mean, if I get one millionth of the muscle tone and flexibility of these ballerinas, I may get hooked.