Favorite ways? Does anyone enjoy exercising? Me! I do! I really do love exercising, and I love how I feel the rest of the day when I get it done. It boosts my energy, I’m less tired, and I feel more capable of being able to complete any tasks I have that day, even when they’re physically or mentally challenging.

I have a number of favorite ways to exercise, but not all of these I am super excited for every single day, so I guess that’s why I have a number of different ways. It keeps me motivated to do something everyday.

I love exercising when it feels like part of the activities of the day. In the summer I really enjoy hiking. This is a great way to get in my exercise, but see cool things at the same time. This doesn’t really feel like exercising, but usually the next day my body will let me know it really was a good workout. Plus, it helps me find reference material for my art, so it’s a win win!

Depending on what my husband is doing, sometimes going to work with him is exercising. Packing truckloads of lumber or sheetrock into a house is definitely a workout. This isn’t my favorite kind of exercise, but it counts. If I know ahead of time that’s what I’ll be doing that day, I usually don’t do something else, utilizing that as my workout. But, this is one of the reasons I exercise on other days, it keeps me fit enough to be able to help with this kind of work.

Lifting weights is one of my favorite ways to exercise. I don’t lift heavy, I’m not really trying to bulk up. I usually follow a YouTube video and do a 20-30 minute workout focusing on various areas of my body, like upper or lower body. At least once a week it’s a total body workout. Even though the weights are hand weights, I can usually feel the workout later, which to me is a good sign it worked correctly.

In the winter I do a lot of walking, sometimes jogging, on my treadmill. I know a lot of people who absolutely hate treadmills, but here in Alaska they’re nice to have. Weather doesn’t impede my ability to get my walk, or hike (I like the incline training) done for the day. I just turn on either some music, or a talk from my Church’s most recent General Conference and listen.

I really enjoy Pilates and Yoga. I only do this once a week usually, but it’s a great way to stretch my body, loosen my muscles back up, and recover from workouts in an active way. If I am feeling under the weather, I will do Yoga. This helps get my body moving, my lungs working, and get the blood flowing, but in a gentle way. I feel like this promotes healing as well.

Once in a while in the summer I go bike riding. When my kids were little this was an almost daily thing, but now that I don’t have anyone wanting to go ride bikes, I find I don’t do it nearly as often. Sometimes in the winter I go cross country skiing. Last winter however, one of my boots wore out and I haven’t gotten new ones yet, so that probably won’t happen this year.

These are some of my favorite ways to get my body moving. What are some of yours?