You think you'll join in? I will if you will ;)
For Fitness Friday on the 5th I better hear you checking in with your progress on this Planksgiving challenge!
let's be awesome together ♥ |
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It's Workout Wednesday! Today I bring you the Happy Planksgiving November Challenge from Bodyrock/DailyHiit!!
You think you'll join in? I will if you will ;) For Fitness Friday on the 5th I better hear you checking in with your progress on this Planksgiving challenge!
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Something about starting over is both frustrating & exciting.
Just yesterday I completely re-installed Windows on my PC desktop. I have had several people in and out of this house. At some point or another they all have used that computer. Eventually, I noticed that things weren't quite right and I was scarred to log in to anything. It's easy enough to just clean shop and start over. It's annoying to have to re-install programs and set things up again to how you like it, but at the same time I love it. I love the simplicity, the freshness. Now before I go off on a super tangent about computers, let me point out that this idea applies to several areas in life. A new house. Frustrating to find & move, but exciting to make it your own & start clean {with no dreadful cluttered areas yet}. A new exercise routine. Frustrating to keep up, but exciting to try something new and challenge yourself to stick to it. A new way of eating. Frustrating to figure out and battle cravings, but exciting of what it could bring to your health. Sometimes we need to start something new. Something that'll give us a break from the old. Giving ourselves a clean slate is often the best thing to do for our minds. In certain situations, a clean slate isn't a completely new beginning. Sometimes, it's a new mindset for an issue. When something is bogging you down, taking up all your energy and making for a frustratingly negative environment, you need to take a step back. Stepping back is my favorite way to help me get through things. Sounds counterintuitive, but I'm completely serious. When I had some assignment, project, or interpersonal situation that was just building up this negativity, I would take some time away from it. That could be a few minutes to gather my breath, or even a few weeks. When things are that upsetting, keeping at it in that mindset could do more harm than good. When you remove yourself from the situation, your mind has time to breath and re-focus. When you return to the task or situation, you have a clearer mind, a clean slate, to apply at full strength to your problem. This is how I achieve the best results. Sometimes things need a physical clean slate and other times our minds need it. One way or another, find your clean slate to your current issue.
In a minute it dawned on me that if I didn't purchase the program then I would surely be missing out on something I just know will be good for me. It's more than just having fun with blogging that pushed me to it. I've been trying for a long time now to get my photography business off the ground. I'm currently transforming my living room into an at-home studio. I've been frustratingly putting my photography website together {don't judge too harshly I just switched over the domain and still need to work out some kinks}. I'm finally seeing the ball gain a little momentum and this blogging challenge/program came at the very best time ever. I can't stop thinking about the day when my photography business is self-sustaining and on its way to getting me out of my graveyard job. I can't stop thinking about how much fun I've been having in the blogging challenge. I can't stop thinking about how happy I am that things are finally fun & motivating again. Like the image above, if I can't stop thinking about these things, then I won't stop working for them! I thought sharing that on this lovely Monday might spark some inspiration for a similar situation you might be working through. Now remember those books??
TGIF right?!?? Okay, so I still have to work through until Monday morning, but I still love the weekend. What's Fitness Friday all about? It's when we come over here and share what workouts we managed to fit in during the week. Just tell me in the comments or leave a link to your blog post about the fitness adventures you tackled throughout the week.
Nearly the second I get home from work on Mondays {some time around 730am} Daniel and I fill up our water bottles, grab our gear and head straight for the gym. It's crazy, coming home from my shift and not being able to take a minute to sit down and relax...but I love it. Jumping right into my workouts at the end of my work week is the best thing to start off my weekend. This last Monday I ran on the treadmill for warmup, did a lot of abs, squat variations, high knees and split jumps, jump rope, kick boxing, and dumbbell work for the arms. I'd go into specifics however I am completely spacing some of the details right now. I'll keep better notes for next Friday, I promise! On Tuesday: I did a quick bodyrock workout before Alex Beadon's webinar. Which Bodyrock exercise did I do?? {This one} Wednesday Was KillerOn Wednesday we typically do what are called stadiums. We go to the university football stadiums and walk leisurely around the track once. Then we start at the right side of the stadiums and go straight up. Now, we don't do the stairs, we do the giant cement blocks that the audience sits on. SO it's more like a lunge. Giant lunges straight up as fast as you can without face-planting. Then we come down the stairs and move over to the center section and do it again. We come down the stairs, move over and go up the last section. Then come down and walk the track. I kid you not, these things are killer. That ^^^ is ONE SET. We repeat until we're dead. Sometimes that only takes one set, sometimes we can make it to three! This last Wednesday I was feeling spontaneous! I decided I would leave earlier than Daniel and bike my way to the stadiums, do the stadiums, then bike my crazy-ass home. To some of you more seasoned cyclists....power to you. To me, this was my first time biking anywhere really, in about 8 years. Add that to the stadiums? I DIED. It's only about 4.2 miles there {depending on the route}. Getting there was fun and fairly easy-going. To put this in other words: mostly downhill. Then I completed an entire set of stadiums. My legs could barely go up the last section. As the guys continued on to their second set, I went back on my bike and decided I better start heading home before I chicken out and whine my way out of it. I was already starting to contemplate how to get home without riding my bike... So, for those who are familiar with riding a bike, you know that even a small hill feels like you going straight flippin' vertical. Okay, maybe that's just because I'm a complete novice....if you bike HELP ME OUT HERE !! lmao << but not joking. Above: That's the image of my ride home. That elevation graph may not seem like a lot to some of you, but to a novice like me? I was killing over. Especially after stadiums! My legs were as dead as they come! One way or the other, I got through it. I made it home. I was SO incredibly proud of myself and before I even set foot back in my house I was thinking how next time around I could only get better. Next time?!?!?! Yea, you bet your ass there will be a next time. Friday
An hour later I was drenched in sweat. Happy as can be and supercharged. I never felt that great after spin. Something had changed for me and I can't quite figure out what, but I felt amazing.
Oh spin how I miss you. Real quick. That bike ride on Wednesday? Killed my crotch because I'm not used to it and don't own a pair of fancy butt shorts. SO Friday spin?? Yup, my crotch was screaming. Had to share because it's who I am. Can't wait to hear all about your fitness adventures throughout the week!! SHARE SHARE SHARE! You see them everywhere. On your friends, on the people at the gym, and the Biggest Loser contestants. Do you need one? Do you have one already? I have a fitbit zip. I love it, however it brought some saddening realizations to my attention when the battery died. I depend on it too much for validation. When you have a fitness tracker like the fitbit zip, you get attached to it always telling you where you stand, how you're doing, and uploading your data seamlessly to the internet for you. All this is validating your hard work for the world to see. What's really upsetting was when I wasn't wearing it I felt even less motivated than before I purchased it.
Before having a fitbit count all my steps, I worked out hard, ran when I felt like it, and took longer walks for fun. With the fitbit zip, however, I'm motivated mainly to see a big number! You're figuring this is a great thing because it's doing what it was designed to do, motivate us to move more and track all that moving. Yes and no. Of course, I love my fitbit. Let me make sure we're all aware that it's one of my favorite little gadgets I own. Now that I've cleared that up, I'll continue. This thing gives a lot of motivation in its tiny package with its cute little smiles {or couch potato if you're not moving}. BUT beware that when you forget it at home or your battery dies you will lose that motivation and then some. Leaving you with less than before you started attaching it to your hip in the first place. I noticed this immediately. I usually take a short wake-up run when I take the trash out in the morning at work to help get me revved up for the day. The day I didn't have my little pink fitness buddy was the day I didn't take that run or even walk extra. I felt like I was cheating on it, working out without it felt bad. If my extra steps weren't being counted then I wouldn't take extra steps at all. That was the mentality I held when I wasn't wearing my fitbit. HOLD ON!! After a couple days without my smiling fitness friend, I got out of the bullshit slump it put me in and started kicking ass again. It was good that my fitbit ran out of juice. It was good that I forced myself to wait a few days before buying another battery. It was all good because I needed to realize that I do not require validation for anything I do. When I do the work, I do the work for me. Not for anyone else and certainly not for a tiny pink smiling gadget. With all that being said, I think it's time to finally get a new battery because I do miss my only consistent workout buddy ;) Do you have a fitbit or something similar? Have you experienced anything like this? I can't be the only one!?!
FIRST! I'd like to share a warmup video! This is a long warmup, but very effective. You don't want to do static stretches before a workout, you'll hurt yourself. You want to do dynamic moves. Things like jumping jacks and front kicks are great. Now that you're warmed up, I have two different options for you. Pick the workout you like best and hit it! ORI'm ready to hit it, are you?? Which one are you going to do today? I'm going for the bodyrock today. I think Thursday or Friday I'll do the Tone it Up kettletoning workout! OR are you going to do something different? Let me know! I'm also doing some stadiums today!!!
We all know we're supposed to be drinking a lot of water, like half our weight in ounces. However, that can be a tall order sometimes! Especially if you're counting every ounce like a burpee repetition. Today, I'll be sharing how I managed to increase my water intake.
Water BottleThis one is simple. Go out and buy yourself a water bottle. Then fill it up at the start of your day and take it with you everywhere. You know how they tell you to be a better photographer get in the habit of taking your camera with you everywhere? Same idea, sort of. I started out with an insulated 24oz typical water bottle. Used it for a couple years. It was great, but then I won some dinky contest with MapMyFitness & Crystal Light so they sent me a free camelbak basic water bottle with the bite valve. Started using that and LOVED it. I drank twice as much from that alone. Something about the bite valve makes it easier to drink larger amounts at a time compared to the traditional thing you pull up then tip your head back to try and drink. So I definitely recommend the bite valve water bottles. Want to take it a step further?? Go with a clear water bottle! Yup, the clear bottle encourages even more water consumption! For one, you get a little motivation from noticing that you're drinking a lot of water. If you take it with you to work, you can set goals for yourself like reaching the half way point on your bottle by the time you're at the half way point of your shift. SO to sum up your next purchase:
Last thing on the water bottle to mention is capacity. I started with the 24oz and it was nice because it was small and easy to carry around. However, I'd have to fill it up regularly and then you can imagine that I'd get lazy about it. Now I have the 1L {a little over 33oz} size. This thing is more difficult to lug around, but I already got in the habit of carrying one with me so it's not a big deal. Also, in the same time frame as before, I'm drinking an extra 10oz. So ask yourself if you're going to be too lazy to refill it OR too lazy to carry it with you.
I use a 2 Quart airtight pitcher with a fruit infuser for all my teas and fruit infused waters. The brand I use is Takeya {I bought mine from Costco}. My current 1L, clear, bite valve water bottle is this one from CamelBak. {I bought mine from Target} Hope this helps. Do you have any tips to add?
So, why didn't I just write a dissing post on artificial sweeteners in general? Because I wanted to focus my entry on one area. An area I can talk a little about and even possibly offer some options. It's best to focus energy on one specific thing. Almost like breaking down large goals into more manageable ones. Diet soda is almost like a trick. It's a trick to our minds and bodies. Our minds think that drinking this diet soda will aid in our weight loss and our bodies think that they're getting the real deal. When our bodies think they're getting real sugar, it preps for it. This leads to elevated fasting glucose levels, metabolic confusion, and overconsumption. In all this confusion, your body could eventually realize that you are in fact ingesting fake sugar, so eventually it might stop trying to adjust for the sugar that isn't there. You might think that's great, but then when you do consume the real thing, your body is so confused at that point that it doesn't release any blood sugar regulating hormones to balance things out. These diet drinks are also hard on our kidneys and hearts. Leading us to greater risks of heart disease, stroke, and of course diabetes. Weird, how a drink diabetics are almost forced to choose is not helping them at all. The person who's trying to lose weight? Also not getting much help from the "diet" drink. Okay okay. I think we get it, or we don't. Either way, what else are our options? Those who drink diet soda are typically doing it for one of two reasons:
So, what else can you drink? If you fall in the first category, here are some other options:
As you can see, water is the preferable choice! When I switched away from soda {not diet, just regular}, I first drank mostly Izzes. It was an easy switch, other than the lack of caffeine. Izzes became my number one drink and is now my choice when I desire a fizzy fix. From there I transitioned to drinking more and more water with less and less Izzes. Now, almost 100% of my drinks throughout the day are just plain water. Occasionally, I'll have an Izze or tea. On rare occasions I'll treat myself to a Coke when going out. We already have so much to worry about in what we eat, I at least think that what we drink should be the least complicated part of our daily intake. Of course, these are my opinions based on facts. HOWEVER to each their own, right? It's almost similar to how people know that cigarettes are bad for them, but they keep doing it anyway...so whatever works for you ;)
If you drink water, but not nearly enough. Check back here tomorrow for a post on how I have managed to double my water intake daily. I'll tell you tips that have worked for me personally. Mondays are my attack days. My days I hit the gym hard. The one day a week that I can count on getting my workout. It's not the only day I work up a sweat, but it's the one day that rarely fails me. Most people feel the Monday blues or have a case of the Mondays. Monday is typically portrayed as the start of the work week or school week. For me, Monday is full of fresh starts, possibilities, and productivity. I love Mondays.
Jump! If you have a jump rope then you're pretty much set! Anytime I need a kick, I grab my jump rope and do some intervals. For example, jump for 50 sec then take a 10 sec break and repeat anywhere from 5-10 times depending on the intervals set.
Alternating High Knees & Split Jumps! This can be a tough one! Set your interval timer for 1 minute with a 30 second break. For the high knees I like putting my hands out as a sort of bar I have to reach, keeps me focused on not slacking. Do the high knees for 30 seconds. Switch immediately to the split jumps. Split jumps are like lunges except you go from one lunge to the other by jumping and switching legs in the air! BIG on balance here, if you need to do it slower than go for it. There are always alternative exercises or modifications, just ask! These are not a complete workout, simply just some single exercise ideas! Don't forget to warm-up your muscles before jumping right in! Some great warm-up ideas are jumping jacks, arm swings, hip circles, alternating touches, and jogging in place. I'm one of the LAST people who should talk about vulnerability. I have the hardest time with the idea of sucking at something or not knowing what I'm doing or putting myself out there. I've definitely gotten better at it over the years, but let's just say that it's a continual growth. A Story |