Hand Gallop Blog Hop: Fit to Ride

I love blog hops!

The awesome Stephanie over at Hand Gallop posed this question last week and I'm finally getting around to answer it.

What do you do to stay fit to ride?

I'm probably to write this up and then crawl into a hole in shame because I have been so inconsistent with my own fitness lately.

-- Walking.  I've been trying to up my endurance level so that I can ride longer without getting tired. I can't run very much at all, so that is a goal. So far I only do good on this if I stay consistent and run every day. Some days I just do a cardio video instead.

-- Strength training:  I do this about 2-3x per week and I usually use videos to help me. Without the videos I'll give up and quit halfway through a routine. Usually, I focus on my legs and back/abs. I'm trying to work on my shoulders more, but they are so weak that I still have trouble with pushups, so its a slow process. I do a lot of squats, calf raises, planks and any ab exercises that do not involve crunching.

-- Stretching: I am horrible in the area of flexibility so I have to remember to stretch daily. I also ride better if I stretch beforehand (which I rarely do...).

-- Diet:  My health issues are a subject for another entire post, but suffice it to say that food allergies and their subsequent results make it difficult to eat in general. That, and I am in love with ice cream. Yummy. When I focus on cutting all corn and corn byproducts out, limiting breads and sugar, and eating lots of vegetables, then I'm doing super good and can keep my weight up.  :)

Thank you Stephanie!  I need this boost to get me back on track and do all these things again.