Oops

So I picked a bad week to do a No Sugar Challenge. Auntie Flo visited and nothing shuts her up better than something sweet, chocolaty, and so not good for you. So I'm enjoying my sweets this week and just upping my workouts and avoiding soda...mostly anyway I did slip up last night. With the stress of finals and end of semester stuff I'm thinking a restricting type of challenge is not a good thing right now.

So lets change up the challenge (because I like doing personal challenges) and make it a move more challenge. It goes with my 2014 resolution and health/fitness goals for this year.  So I challenge myself, and you if you wish, to move more. Set your phone alarm to go off every 30, 35 or 60 minutes and get up and do 5 minutes or more of some activity. Especially, if like me, you are studying for finals and lose track of time.

So do squats and jumping jacks during commercials, take a 5 minute run outside around the house and up and down the driveway, tickle the kiddos for 5 minutes, wrestle with the hubby. Anything,just get up and move for 5 minutes or more. The goal for adults is 150 minutes of exercise type activity per week. So if you get up and dance 6x a day for 5 minutes each time you have 30 minutes a day. Do this 5x a week and you've hit that 150 minutes. Easy peasy, right.

So, here's today's activity thus far for accountability:

25 minutes Zumba-style dancing (I worked out to Dance Fitness with Jessica, just search for her on YouTube. She's great.)
75 squats
1 minute 40 seconds of burpees
1 minute 20 seconds of wall sits


So I'm up to a little more then 30 minutes of exercise today. Am I done? Nope, it's only 11am here, there's still a whole day to go through.

Okay before I get back to hitting the books, I'm going to make a quick post on something amazing that became available yesterday. If you haven't already heard, Beachbody has made a new P90x. This one is P90X3, all the intensity and work from P90X in only 30 minute workouts. Perfect for busy people like me who cannot always find time for a 90 minute workout. However, I can almost always squeeze 30 minutes in my day.

Through the rest of December, P90X3 will be discounted. If your a Beachbody club member you get further discounts. Plus there is free shipping right now. Looking for a Christmas gift for the health/fitness nut on your list? Order by December 15th to get P90X3 by Christmas.

December Goals and an Advent Workout

Hello Dear Readers!
I hope everyone of you had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend and made good decisions and made time to be active. I tried my best, the active part was pretty slim due to cold temps and me being a chicken when the thermometer reads below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr. However I did OK on everything, proof being the scale actually read less today than it did on Wednesday. If I had splurged too much it would of been higher due to water weight gain. I did have soda, and that was probably the worse I did.

December goals:
My main goal for December is to have fun and not stress too much. If I lived in the Southern hemisphere December would be my most favorite month. I love Christmas and everything it stands for. 
So for December lets not worry too much about the food we eat as long as we keep 80/20 in our mind. Eat great 80% of the time so that 20% of the time we can enjoy those Holiday sweets and treats.  No guilt is allowed this month. We will keep active enough to keep those bad, negative thoughts at bay.

For some fitness fun I'm thinking up a fitness Advent calendar. There will be a different exercise each day. So here is the list:

New Week, New Plan

Well, sort of anyway. I did make it to the gym Wednesday and Thursday morning last week. I felt like I was able to accomplish most everything I had planned on. Still need to work on a study schedule though.  Hubby woke me up a 3:30 am on Friday(after I had had trouble falling asleep and didn't really get to sleep until midnight) and so by the time I was suppose to head out for gym/class I was dozing off and having trouble staying awake.  I don't drive if I'm too sleepy and it's useless to go to class and end up sleeping through the entire lecture. So I skipped Friday so that I could get some much needed rest.  I'm making a goal of only one missed class per course this semester so I guess that's it for Microbiology.
So this weeks plan is via Muscle & Fitness magazine's MF Trainer website .  Some days I don't mind going in without a plan just a general idea of what I would like to do. Most days I need a plan of action or I just randomly go from machine to machine, exercise to exercise and feel like I've not worked hard enough.
I'm still going to to the Supreme 90 Day, I just have to get back in to it.  I'm aiming for that tonight, exercising at about 7:30-8pm actually helps me sleep better it seems.
Well gotta get a move on if I'm going to get anything done today.

Day 3, Rest Day

Today is a rest day according to the S90D chart. However, I didn't feel like resting so I've done a Hula Abs & Buns workout  that I bought from the Dollar Tree a few years ago.  I enjoy working out to this dvd every now and then for something different.  Your abs and thighs are burning by the time 30 minutes are past.  It's harder then it looks.  I also plan on going 30 minutes on my gazelle here as soon as I finish posting this.
Tomorrow is Tabata Inferno and I've heard some good things about this section of S90D, I plan on being good and sweaty when I finish it. Love getting sweaty and feeling strong. Have a good afternoon dear readers.

Merry Christmas and a new workout

I hope all you dear readers are having a wonderful Christmas day.  Ours has been lovely so far.  Even the weather is cooperating with being partly sunny and 55 degrees.
One of my gifts was a workout system called Supreme 90 Day.  It's similar to P90 or P90x without costing the arm and a leg that Beachbody charges.  Well I say it's similar, I'm going by online reviews since I've never actually seen the P90 series except for online and t.v. and I've not done this system as of right now.
However I've been reading reviews and they're very good for S90D and I'm looking forward to getting started in the morning.  My weight has been wonderful so far this break (I've actually lost a few pounds without trying).  I know I said earlier that I wasn't going to try to lose weight this break just try and keep busy. However, I saw this at the Dollar General and it was only 10.00 and so I nearly begged Hubby for it for Christmas.  I'm really looking forward to getting started.
Anyway my point is I know I said I wasn't going to try to lose weight, but if it comes off while I'm exercising then that's a wonderful side effect. Right? I've wanted to try P90x, but cannot afford the high cost. So here I have in my greedy little paws a perfect, affordable substitute.  It also comes with a nutrition guide written by Tosca Reno, who is wonderful.  I have two, or three, of her Eat-Clean books and am already familiar with her style.
So tomorrow I'll take a before picture and all my measurements and share with you all.  I'll also try to post daily on which workout I did and what I think of it.  So here's to a hopefully awesome 90 days.

Day 1 of Fall Semester Went Well

I got up packed my healthy lunch and dinner of salmon lettuce wraps (I'll post the recipe next, they were pretty good), grapes and water. I got the kids on the bus. Set up the crockpot with a beef roast, potatoes, carrots and celery for the fam's dinner and took myself off to school.

Between my first and second class I have about 3 hours of spare time. I ate my lunch and talked to Hubby during his lunch and then went to the gym.

My workout consisted of the adductor machine, leg press, leg curls, glute press, and torso twist machine. I totally surprised myself with the adductor machine. Last May I was doing maybe 40lbs. Yesterday 40lbs was way too light, 50lbs still too light, 60 barely noticed. At 75lbs I finally felt some resistance. I was like WOW, I can squeeze 75lbs and I'm barely noticing it. I could probably do 80-85 easy, but wanted to take it easy and work up to heavier weights. Apparently my running over the summer has strengthened my thighs up considerably.

I also had to keep increasing weight on the leg press, stopping at 65lbs, could of gone higher easily. I stopped at 50lbs on the leg curls and did 70lbs with the glute press (which was also a big increase). The torso twist was a measly 55lbs, I'm sure I could do more here too. I just wanted to start easy since I haven't used weight machines in about 3 months. I've done dumbbells/free weights/resistance bands at home, but those aren't quite the same movements.

I also jumped on the treadmill and did a 5 minute warm-up, 20 minutes of intervals with 3 minutes running/2 minutes walking, then a 5 minute cool-down. This all plus walking about a mile and a half to two miles around campus going class to class.

Today's workout will be upper body, like I posted yesterday. I don't have a plan to say, it's easier to just do whatever machine is available and right down what and how much I did. They have some new equipment in the gym that I plan on giving a try. I'll also do 30 minutes on the elliptical, probably intervals similar to yesterdays treadmill workout.

My lunch and dinner today will be salads with a creamy dressing (miracle whip, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and garlic), salmon, nuts and seeds. I also have some grapes and of course water with it. Breakfast wasn't too healthy but not too unhealthy either. I had a banana, coffee and two very small sausage biscuits (the kind you pull out of the freezer and throw in the microwave).

Tuesday 8/2/2011 workout (and Mondays too)

Okay I did workout yesterday, just didn't get a chance to come on here and post it. Monday's workout was upper body plus Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred plus day 3 of week 4 of couch to 5k.

For upper body I did:

Dumbbell reverse grip bench grip; 3 sets of 6

Dumbbell bench press; 3 sets of 10

Incline dumbbell flys; 3 sets of 12

Decline dumbbell flys; 3 sets of 20

also for some core work...planks; 5 sets of 10

I also got an extra 1.5 miles of walking in while the boys' were at baseball practice. Would of been more but I formed and popped a blister on my heel. Being without band-aids, I had to stop because it hurt.

For today I did lower body plus another day3 of week 4 couch to 5k(I didn't feel like I was able to move on yet...I did awesome today so thursday will begin week 5) plus 30 Day Shred. My lower body exercises were:

Band hip adductors; 4 sets of 12 (each leg)

Figure eights(or leg scissors, whichever you want to call them); 4 sets of 12

One leg Bridges; 4 sets of 12 (each leg)

Squats; 4 sets of 12

Calf raise jump; 4 sets of 12

Side planks; 4 sets of 12

Needless to say, after today's workouts my legs are good and sore. Tomorrow I have a full body workout planned plus it's weigh-in time, hopefully we'll see some signifcant loses. See ya then.

Sunday 7/31/2011

Today's work out is brought to you from bodyrock.tv. It's their 300 reps of brutality workout. It's amazing and you start to feel it just a short time into the workout. I'm not feeling the best today (got some sinus thing going on) so I'm spreading the workout through out the afternoon. If I can do 2 sets of each exercise at a time, I'm good. I plan on picking up the pace this week. I don't have a week of driving 3 hrs a day like last week and the only thing I have to do away from the house is Wednesdays school registration for the kiddies. So I'm running on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Monday and Thursday I'll do upper body workouts. Tuesday and Friday I'll work the lower body. Wednesday and Saturday I'll do total body (pilates?) workouts. Sunday I'll rest. I've got 20 days till my 5k and due to last weeks craziness I'm a week behind in training. So instead of 3 days of running, I'm doing 4. Instead of exercising 5 days a week, I'm doing 6.

So for today hop over to Bodyrock.tv and take a lookie at their 300 reps of brutality video. Give it a try. It consists of:

lunge and twist; 5 sets of 10

Dive Bomper Burpee; 5 sets of 10

Jumping lunge and swing; 5 sets of 10

Planck, jump and knee tuck; 5 sets of 10

Sumo squats; 5 sets of 20

Today's Workout

I think I'll call this the Take That Mother Nature workout. Yep, it's that time of month. Feeling tired, crampy, and so not in the mood for doing much. However, I'm not going to let it get me down. I've been doing too good to let a little thing like Auntie Flow get in my way. So here's the plan for today, I've even linked to some YouTube videos for you so you know what to do:

Standing shoulder press w/ band, both arms; 3 sets of 12

Standing side raises w/ band, alternating arms; 3 sets of 8

Standing front raise w/ band, both arms; 3 sets of 8

Standing barbell (or dumbbell) military press; 4 sets of 10

Standing dumbbell side raises, both arms; 4 sets of 10

Standing close grip low row w/band; 3 sets of 10

On ball band lat pulldown; 3 sets of 10

Prone cobra; 3 sets of 10

Prone iso abs (planks) on knees; 3 sets of 30

Just a note, some of the videos aren't the exact exercise. I chose some to represent the exercise as close as I could.

I'm doing The Biggest Loser Cardio Max workout for cardio today.

Bent over dumbbell rows; 3 sets of 12

Pull ups (okay I'm going to attempt these, I've not been able to yet); 3 sets to failure

Dumbbell laterals (side raises); 3 sets of 10

Dumbbell shoulder press; 3 sets of 8

Band should press; 2 sets of 10

Tricep pushdown w/ band; 3 sets of 8

Bench( or chair) dips w/ feet elevated; 3 sets of 10

Barbell(or dumbbell) curls; 3 sets of 8

Preacher curls on ball; 2 sets of 10 and 1 set to failure

Also for the challenges I'm currently doing there is 25 crunches and still attempting to do at least one chin up. So that's it for today. Easy, right? My first race in many years is coming in 32 days. I'm going to be in good shape by then, I hope. I also have a 15 year high school reunion coming in 6-7 weeks. I want to look great for that and I will as long as I keep going strong.

Today's It's-Monday-So-Don't-Feel-Like-Doing-Much Workout

I'm calling this a lazy day. I did my day 3 of week 3 of the couch to 5k program. Then I did the following workouts. I also did 25 extra crunches because of a challenge I'm doing with HealthyFitFamilies.com . A great website by the way, so head over there and give them some love. I've also been attempting to do a chin up. I've been trying all day long. Just.Can't.Seem.To.Pull.My.Self.Up.... I read one article that had a slow step by step plan to doing one. It recommends hanging for 30 seconds or more before and after workouts. Well, I'm trying to speed things up so I hang from the bar every time I walk by it. It's hanging on the doorway between my bathroom and bedroom. Given the amount of water I drink, I walk by quite often and am bound to have blisters soon. I'm determined to pull myself up though.

Dumbbell Squat With Ball	3	10	Legs
Dumbbell Straight Legged Deadlift	3	10	Legs
Standing High Cable Chest Press Both Arms	4	15	Chest
Static Lunge	4	8	Legs
Adductor Side Steps	4	8	Legs
Standing Chest Fly With Band One Arm	4	12	Chest
Laying on Bench Dumbbell Flys Both Arms	4	12	Chest
Standing Bicep Curl With Band Both Arms	4	15	Arms
Standing Triceps Extension With Band Both Arms	4	10	Arms
Laying on Ground Abdominal Crunches Hands by Head 4 12 abs

TGIF Workout

It's Friday so I've got to kick today's workout up a notch. I don't usually workout over the weekend except for a run on Saturday mornings. So, for today, nothings optional. I've got to make sure I maintain all the hard work I've done all week. I've worked too hard to let it go to waste for two days. So to kick the weekend off here's today's plan:

Squats; 2 sets of 12

Concentrated Curl; 2 sets of 12

Seated dumbbell military press; 4 sets of 15

Hammer curls; 2 sets of 12

Shrugs; 2 sets of 12

Standing upright row with band; 3 sets of 10

Standing calf raise; 2 sets of 12

Standing Full range lateral raise w/ band; 3 sets of 10

Barbell curl; 2 sets of 12

Standing close grip high rows w/band; 3 sets of 15

Standing overhead cable pull down with band; 4 sets of 10

Reverse grip pull down with band; 2 sets of 12

Regular grip pull down with band; 2 sets of 12

Step ups; 2 sets of 12

Dead lift; 2 sets of 12

Cable(band) seated row; 2 sets of 12

Hyperextension on ball; 2 sets of 12

Plank on knees; 5 sets of 20

Ab crunches w/ hands by head; 5 sets of 20

and for later just for fun...

Leg extensions with band; 7 sets to failure

Dumbbell lunges; 3 sets to failure

Leg press with band; 3 sets to failure

Walking lunges; 1 set to failure

Stair stepper (will be doing step ups instead) w/ dumbbell; 10 minutes

Jump lunges; 3 sets to failure

Step ups w/ dumbbell; 10 minutes

Today's Killer Workout

Why is today's workout going to be a killer? Mostly because I didn't do yesterdays and so I'm doubling up today. So here's today's plan:

Week 3 Day one of Couch to 5k

Bench press(well, on ball dumbbell press actually) 2 sets of 12

Twisting Situp: 2 sets of 12

Dips 2 sets of 12

Lat raise 2 sets of 12

Dumbbell Chest Fly: 2 sets of 12

Reverse Crunch: 2 sets of 12

Tricep overhead extension: 2 sets of 12

Dumbbell front raise: 2 sets of 12

incline bench press: 2 sets of 12

ab curls: 2 sets of 12

tricep pushdown(with bands): 2 sets of 12

Dumbbell shoulder press: 2 sets of 12

Side crunch: 2 sets of 12

and then...

Front Ball Squats: 3 sets of 10

Static Side Lunge: 3 sets of 8

Resistance band leg press: 4 sets of 15

Sumo Ball Squat: 3 sets of 10

Dumbbell leg curl: 3 sets of 12

Resistance band leg extension: 4 sets of 15

Standing incline Chest Press w/ band: 1 set of 30

On ball tricep extension with band: 1 set of 30

Ab crunches with hands straight up: 3 sets of 15

and if I'm feeling froggy later...

Leg extensions w/ band: 7 sets to failure

Smith lunges: 3 sets to failure

Leg press w/band: 3 sets to failure

Walking lunges: 1 set to failure

Stair stepper: 10 minutes (okay I don't own a stair stepper, but I do own a Wave step thingy and I figure 10 minutes up and down that would be an okay substitute).

Jump Lunges: 3 sets to failure

Stair Stepper: 10 minutes

So it goes like this: 1st, first set of exercises; 2nd, run; 3rd(sometime after breakfast)second set of exercises. Then later this evening ,if I have any energy left, the third set. So I'm off to download the podcast for the third week of Couch to 5 K then get started. Have a great day everyone. Stay Active :)

Today's Workout

I thank my body for being awesome and getting me through these shoulder exercises. Also, a 10 year old boy makes for an awesome trainer. The crunches ended up being speed crunches because he wanted to count. Cool thing is he cranked them out along with me. I've got great kiddies.

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Muscle Group
Standing Shoulder Press With Band Both Arms	4	12	Shoulders
Seated On Ball Dumbbell Side Raise Both Arms	4	12	Shoulders
Standing Front Raise With Band Both Arms	4	8	Shoulders
Seated On Ball Dumbbell Military Press Alternating Arms	4	15	Shoulders
Standing Close Grip Low Rows With Band One Arm	4	10	Back
Seated On Bench Bar Lat Pulldowns	4	10	Back
Prone Cobras On Ground Without Band Both Arms	4	10	Back
Prone Iso Abs On Knees	3	30	Abs
Laying on Ground Abdominal Crunches Hands Straight Up	3	20	Abs

Summer is kicking in full gear

It's hot here in the mid-south. We have hit triple digits, not the first time this year that was back in the beginning of June. It just seems that it's hotter this time around.  So I'm trying to make sure I get most of my workouts and outdoor stuff in before 10am.  Today that didn't go though. I got my run in 30 minutes later then usual (a lot more traffic at 7 then 6-630am around here). I meant to come in cool off, fix breakfast and then do my weights work out.  Well I came in cooled off, fixed breakfast and then started checking facebook, emails, class work and by the time I got done with that it was noon and time to fix lunch.  Then I got sleepy, I think the heat of the day added with the boring lecture I watched for class was the cause for that.
So I'll be doing my workout after dinner today. Still going to do it and I've got a big one planned. Off the top of my head it consists of:
dumbbell squats with ball
adductors (using  band)
crunches
deadlift
step ups
pull downs
tricep extensions
hammer curls
concentration curls
seated cable rows
hyperextensions
and more but I've not got my paper in front of me.  It should be a good hour long workout. I'll love it when I'm through, I'm sure.
I'll post tomorrow's workout in the morning. Tomorrow's not a running day for me so I'll probably do some yardwork during that time frame instead.  Have a great evening everyone. Stay cool, stay active.