Time trials & Measurements

So todays' workout was a repeat of an earlier time trial that we had done. Here' what it looked like:

• low jacks (20)
• pike press (10)
• mountain climbers (20)
• tricep plank leg lifts (20)
• Supermans with toe touch (20)
• leg lifts (10)

This was done in 4 rounds. My time on November 25th was 21.36 and today it as 16.34! That's a huge improvement! Usually shaving a minute off your time is good, but 4 minutes is AWESOME! I'm very proud of myself, and it makes up for the lack of inches I've lost over the past 6 weeks. I left the numbers on a sticky note at the office, so I'll post them tomorrow, but overall there was only .5 inch and .25 inch losses. I know I should be happy that I'm not gaining and that I'm still loosing, but I guess I was hoping for more.

So for tonight I'm just happy that my fitness has improved, feel good about the small losses and work hard on eating better. The last few inches/pounds are the hardest, I know this. Right now I'm weighing in at 166lbs. If I could get to 160lbs I would be very pleased. If I could also see all my abs, I would be thrilled! We all have goals, and I think I'm being reasonable about mine.

I'm just back from a 30 min dog walk with Shanan and her two beasts, and now I've gotta put those pesky kids in bed!

Nite!

Sore legs

After yesterdays wicked workout my legs were tired and sore, so after todays wicked workout my legs are TIRED AND SORE!! I've already put the hot bags on them, and walked the dogs (we did a nice 3Km) hoping to stretch them out. Worked a little bit, but MAN, they are so - tender to the touch!!

So today was booty bootcamp and my new favorite male trainer Craig was there - meaning my ass throughly kicked and then handed back to me! LOL! We did the following 45 second stations (doing the complete circut twice):

• Bootstraps

• Plie squat (holding a 20 lb kettlebell)

• Low jacks

• Med ball slams - making it bounce and grabbing it before it comes to rest; repeat 

• Plank (walking hands out) 5 leg lifts on one side; walk up, walk down 5 leg lifts on other side

• 2 forward lunges (holding a 25 lb med ball), with 4 backward hops, repeat

Since there was still time we then did a squat tobata Craig style - a very low squat and then explode up. And, rather than doing them all, he changed one of the 8 reps as the following:

• close to a wall and holding a 20 lb med ball, low squat rising up to standing, raise med ball overhead and throw the ball above your head at the wall. Catch the ball on its way down and lower immediately into a low squat - repeat for the full 30 seconds.

Today was a good food day, and if anything I missed a meal. I brought the wrong tupperware container for lunch and ended up only having sm chocolate milk, boiled egg, apple, and a handful of almonds for lunch. Then I ran to a meeting, and had a Clif bar for a late mid day snack. Early supper of stirfry and eggrolls, breakfast was the normal quick oats with raisins. If I can just hold off on the snacking I'll be doing ok!

So, tomorrow is another Craig workout, I hope my legs are up to it. Again on Thursday, but Friday is a holiday so no workout. I hope to get something in Sat and Sun, and Monday will be anotehr holiday (so no workout). This keeps me at my 5 workouts a week, and in good shape for the BEACH IN T-MINUS !$ DAYS!!

On that note,
Nite : )

Holy workout Batman!

First let me say how impressed I am with my Physioterapist, Brian Tomee, who saw Jake (my son) this am and seemingly 'fixed' his foot! After listening to both Jake and I, asking a few questions, he manipulated a Jake's ankle. A small 'pop' sound, Jake's eyes got large, and then Jake prolaimed 'that feels better' and a big smile.

Apparently Brian found some small metatarsals which were out of place, so he quickly and quietly (without warning Jake) snapped them back into place. Beautiful! Jake's foot was sore for a bit in the morning, but after lunch he was walking just fine and asking to go out and play! I can't believe what a turn around this is - we were so worried about how this would impact our trip (in 14 days!!) but now it seems like its a non issue. By suppertime he was asking to play outside, and even took the dogs around the block!! WOW!

I thought I was going to miss the workout today, but as Jake was feeling so well I just took him with me and he ate his lunch (Subway) and then watched the workout. I think I've mentioned that Laurissa has brought her trainer, Craig, into the Core Essentials fold! So, today Craig opted to help Laurissa with out workout: this is both a good and bad thing! LOL!

So today everything was tobata style:

• Skipping tobata
• Squat/Drop touch
• Kettlebell (two handed swing) alternated with a med ball slam
• Kettle bell (alternating single handed swings) alternated with '4 knees high/drop to the ground'
• Mountain climbers, alternated with brazillian twists
• one more nasty awesome exercise that I can't remember....

I haven't been sucking air that hard in a long time. There was very little breaking in between the tobatas, but still, it was only a 30 minute workout! Phew! Today there were only three of us: Jen L, Shanan and I.  Toward the end of the workout Jen was feeling dizzy, Shanan had Craig helping push her through the tobata's, and I was just gettin' er done (so much so that I don't think I said a single word!). Holy Cow, that was a great ass-kickin'!

Oh, I almost forgot, I think I need a smaller size in my workout pants too!! All workout long I was pulling at the damn things as they crawled down my (obviously SMALLER) backside. Yes!!!

Anyway, now that I have my fancy new camera I'm going to try hard to take more photos of good meals, workouts, etc. Here is my favorite breakfast (I have it almost every morning):

This is 4 tablespoons of fast oats (with cinnamon), with a handful of raisins and two tablespoons of low fat yogurt. Mmmmmmm! What I really love about this is how it stays with me until my mid morning snack. Plus it gives me lots of energy.

Lunch was a turkey breast Subway sub on whole wheat, heavy on the veggies but with NO sauce! Mmmmmm, I love this. Healthy, and without the sauce its very low on calories and fat. Supper, was BBQ'd porkchops (I love that BBQ weather is here!), steamed carrots and broccoli, with Hubby's new Italian White Bean creation:

All said it was a great day - Jake's foot is better, I got an AWESOME workout in, I ate really well (with next to no snacking)!! I can only hope that tomorrow is as good as today!!

Nite!

Sports injury

Ok, not mine but its still going to wreck havoc with my workout schedule this week. My son had a hockey injury and hurt his ankle, therefore tomorrow should be a whirl wind of  Doc's and physio appointments to see if we can get this kids ankle better for our vacation in two weeks!!

Sorry for the short one tonight, I need some rest for tomorrow. I will miss my noon hour class but an hoping to make a 6:15 RealRyder class with Mike tomorrow night. Cross your fingers.

Nite

The Meltdown!

Sorry, no post last night - it was 10:30 by the time we got home from the Meltdown and we were tired! We had a quick snack and off to bed. I just have to say how EXCELLENT the Meltdown was!

Here's how it worked, teams of 5 (Shanan, me, hubby, Jane and Jennifer) started on the RealRyder.

Laurissa led us through an intense 15 min ride. This was also the first ride I've done with Laurissa and as short as it was I have to say that I think she would be a tough instructor - she had us doing left/rights for 2 beats each WHILE out of the saddle! I'll have to remember to try her for a 60 minute ride in the future. : )

After the RealRyders we were off to Kettlebells.

This ws sprinkled with cardio moves like burpees, bootstraps, and mountain climbers. We worked though the basic two handed swing, one handed swing switching up top, rack position and cleans. Craig did this portion, he is the kettlebell man, and he lives up to his reputation - he is an intense instructor. He gets in your face, but not in an agressive way, more of a 'I'm watching and I KNOW you can do it - so DO IT' kind of a way. :)

Next, and final station, was the Water Rowers.

We did a 2000m ride, my time was 7:38. A good time for a woman, but I know I could have done better. It was a hard ride, I was cursing those last 500m. I really enjoy the rower though - reminds me of my youth. Hubby had the second best time at 6:20-ish. Shanan had a WICKED ride (I nattered in her ear the whole time trying to push support her through it)! Good fun! This makes me want to better my time ... not that I'm competitive or anything!

This just in! Here's a link to a short video that shows my team on the water rowers (Hubby is on far left and I am in the pinky shirt on the far right).

After we finished workout out there was nubblies (fruit, hummus, crackers, BEER and wine!) Yummmm. The hummus was sooooo good, and I washed it down with a nice, cold beer! All in all it was an excellent evernt and a SUPER way to welcome Craig into the Core Essentials fold. It was also nice to meet some of Craigs clients and learn about the successes he's been able to help them achieve.

And, lets remember that we did our regular noon hour workout - although Laurissa did take it easy on us knowing we had the evening event too. I can't even remember what we did, but I was sweaty so it must have been good! LOL!

Also, I did buy a new camera! Yeah!! It's the Fuji Finepix J20, and looks like this (IN HOT PINK!)

Now, I know I was going to take all sorts of great photos but the Lithium battery seemed to have juice in it, but died early in the day....so, now pics just yet. However, there was a great pic of hubby coming off the water rower last night that I should be able to pilfer get a copy of and use here soon.

Today, after yesterdays double workout, will be a day of rest. Its 8:00 and I'm going to finish my coffee and take the girls to the dog park so Abby will have someone to play with. Echo doesn't care about such things as long as I bring a ball for her. Its sunny, but -10 out there....bbbbrrrrriiiiiiiiihhhhhhh!

Later!

A Massage and a rest

There was no workout today, I did consider it, but after checking out my calendar (Doc in am, massage in the late afternoon) I just couldn't justry taking more time off. My bod just feels like it needs a little rest, AND I will be working out twice tomorrow - regular noon hour, and then in the evening a special event Laurissa and the Core Essentials crew are putting on called the Meltdown!

SPECIAL EVENT!

The Meltdown

Get ready for the inaugural Kettlebell Meltdown. A great night of Kettlebells, circuits, RealRyder classes and more. There'll be food, prizes and a DJ. We'll be doing circuits throughout the evening. No worries it is not 3 hours straight! Build your own team of 5 or be placed on team. Pick your time slot for your 45 minute session.

Session times: 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., & 8:30 p.m.
Date: March 26, 2010

Join Craig Guthrie, Laurissa Manning & the rest of the Core team for a night you won't forget! Three teams of 5 can register per time slot.

 So we have a team of 5 registered: Shanan, Jennifer Chapman, Jane, myself and hubby! It sounds like so much fun! There are door prizes, great tunes, great trainers and even a little drinky-poo afterward for those inclinded toward such things!

Back to today and my MASSAGE!! Wow, this was a new person to me (his name was Brad) and he was just excellent. He listed to what I was saying about where was sore, and he managed to uncoil all the loose muscles - and eneded on my face and neck.....heavenly! He also said the nicest thing - "you tissue is in excellent shape". I asked if by 'tissue' he meant skin or muscle, he said both and then suggested that I must drink lots of water! Why, YES, I do! Thanks for noticing! LOL!

Anyway, I'm lovely and relaxed. Kids and I are fed - which reminds me I was going to take a photo of supper but can't find son's crappy little camera. So, that's IT! I'm heading to Shoppers to buy a cute little point and shoot and by using my Optimum points I can save $75! So, hopefully tomorrow I'll have a new little camera - and I'll be sure to take pics of the Meltdown too!!

Alright, off to drink another glass of water (to help flush those toxins out from the massage)!

Nite

Retro workout

I need to confess...I ate POTATO CHIPS last night! Now, I did it right - while there was a whole bag I only had one bowl and ate them slowly. MMMmmmmm, so yummmy!!! There, now I've got that out there I feel much better! LOL!

 

So lately I've been very slug-like at work (on those afternoons when I don't have meetings) and have stayed in my workout clothes until late in the afternoon - today I actually went HOME in my workout clothes!

 

Here's a pic of me in my office being slug-like:

 

Oh, and here I am being silly and  'kissin' the guns' (however hubby just pointed out that I look pregnant in this one because the sweater is puffed out in odd shap - thanks you for that!):

 

Today's workout was great, and it felt like old home week - almost all of the exercises were ones I've done before, but ones we haven't done in month and months. Here's what I can remember about it:

• warm up skipping - 50 legs together, 50 scissors in front, 50 legs together, 50 knees up
• lunge forward, lunge forward (walking forward), jump back 4 times (20 reps)
• side plank: hips up, hip to the ground (12)
• bridge up and down (with one leg up) then with legs still up 'climb' up the leg with your hands
• plank - legs out, legs in, legs out, legs in (1 min)
• wall squat (1 min)
• plank forward with knee between knees, then bringing leg back and into the air into a pike (squeezing butt) (12 reps)
• brazillians (12 reps)

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but it was a strength workout which is less sweaty and leaves me thinking I could do more. HOWEVER, ask me tomorrow and I'll tell you I'm feeling it now! LOL! That's the way of the strength workouts, feel fine after but hurtin' the next day! 

Ok, all is quiet here and I must hit the hay. I'm trying to deceide if I'll workout tomorrow (Booty Boot camp) or if I'll just have my MASSAGE and a rest day......I told Laurissa I probably wouldn't be there, but right now I'm thinking I will go! 

Nite! 

Tricky Tobata's?

Sorry for not posting last night, it wasn't until I was in bed that I remembered. That's also because I often think about what I want to blog about before hand, so maybe I had it all worked out in my head?? Anyway, sorry about that! So now this post will be a catch up of yesterday and today.

Yesterday was our first day back with Laurissa after her being off over March Break - she looks refreshed and I think she had a nice break off with her kids! We started off doing 'internal work' but once she described it (30 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 6 reps) I realized that she was sneaking in Tobata's! LOL!

Anyway, we did the following intervals TOBATAT'S:

• burpees
• lunges
• squats
• mountain climbers
• pushups
• plank with legs V-ing in and out

I was cursing (in my head)...it was a hard workout, maybe because we'd been off for a week doing just ryder?? And, I was SWEATY! LOL! Good workout, even if I had to modify a few of the exercises to give my old knee a little less action.

Ok, today (Tuesdays and Thursdays) I've taking up the Booty Boot Camp workshop at Core Essentials! (With only 23 days until:

I've decided to ramp up the workout schedule for the best possible results). This workshop is aimed to "Tone & Tighten and sculpt the best butt ever! This workshop will focus on the derriere. Get ready for steps and lunges!"

I haven't done this workshop in many months and had forgotten how good Laurissa is at really targetting the butt!  But on the positive side, it gave my upper body a well needed rest.

I'm tired, pooped, fatigued....done! All in all a good day, I ate really well and lots of good exercise (including walking up my the STEEP HILL I live on tonight after work - I was really feeling the Booty work :)

Nite!

Weekend wrap-up

Sorry I missed checking in yesterday - hubby was working, there was house chores out the wazoo, and playdates and a hockey tournament! Phew, I'm tired.

I didn't get any exercise in Sat (aside from vacumming, hauling laundry, dusting, etc). Funny, I'm always sweaty cleaning the house! I did 2 loads of towels on the closeline yesterday!! That's how nice its been here lately! It actually got up above 15 degrees - son and I took the dogs to the park in jeans and tee's!

A note on the running - I believe it has irritated my 'bad' knee : ( I have Petella femoral syndrome (have had it for many years). What the hell is that you ask?

Well, my very un-technical answer is this: The knee cap naturally moves in all directions (to a degree), however when I walk, run, bike (or generally exercise with repetetive knee movements) my right kneecap (patella) tracks out of place - in my case it tracks out to the right. This is because my VMO (vastus medialis oblique) is stronger than the other 4 muscles that make up the quadricep.

The VMO is only one of the four quadriceps mucles (together we think of these 4 as the Quad) - in fact, it is really the smallest of the quadricep muscles (I've always called it the 'little troublemaker'). Each of the 4 pull in a slightly different direction. The idea that one small part of one muscle can make enough difference to overcome the other three larger and pull the patella 'off track' seems adsurd -sadly, I'm here to say it is possible.

The tracking out doesn't hurt, what hurts is that each time the patella tracks it irritates the fat pad under it. With enough repetition the fat pad can swell and become irritated. (Friday after Ryder I had to actually ice it (which I haven't had to do in YEARS). I was smart during the class and listened to my body - I didn't rise of of the saddle as that was putting extra pressure on it.

I had a scope done in my late 20's to determine that PFS was the issue, and to clean the joint up a bit. At that point the doctors said the only/best option was to reduce the outside quad muscle (vastus lateralis) to balance the 4 quads and therefore stop the patella from tracking out.

The reduction is just that - REMOVING PART OF MY MUSCLE! I did years of physio to try to strengthen the VMO, but it didn't work (pretty common actually). Needless to say I passed on the surgery. I've just come to live with it, and honestly it hasn't been much of a problem in years because I've become much less active! And now that it's rearing its ugly little head I'm going to have to be much more careful about what exercises I chose to so - this means no running (bummer).

Ok, so there is your sports medicine lesson for the day! LOL! After writing this I've decided to take today, Sunday, off as another rest day from heavy exercise. I'll take the dogs on a nice long walk, and prepare for this coming week: I will be training with Laurissa 5 days so maybe the rest is best!

Later!

Real Ryder March Break

As an add on to last nights JOGGING post, I thought I'd just point out that I calculated that I ran 3 KM!! I ran 3km and was feeling good. I probably could have done another km at least - well, maybe if I hadn't been wearing my puffy down-filled winter coat! LOL!

Anyway, today at noon we had a 45 min ride with Elvira (a new instructor for me). She is 20 weeks pregnant (looking more like 10 weeks) and managed to out ride Shanan and I AND leave us both as a sweaty puddle on the floor! There were lots of killer moves - my hated favorite was the riding out of the saddle for one minute, then hovering over the seat for one minute (we did this for a full 6 minutes)! Phew!

So, the exercise today was great, but my eating is WAY OFF today. Its like I have a tape worm or something...I can't seem to fill my belly, and then when I do I'm still thinking about what the next thing I can eat will be! This is NOT like me and I'm NOT happy! I think its early to bed tonight to save myself from myself!

Tomorrow is another Ryder class but with Mike, another instructor that I'm not familiar with so it should be exciting - and  my hiney should be good and sore by tomorrow nite! Ha!

Ok, just a quicky tonight....tomorrow I will try to take more photos, I know they make the blog more interesting....

Nite

Hump day

Well, I was hoping to get a home workout in tonight, but that didn't happen. I was back to work this am, so after leaving work I rushed to the Rink to attend son's hockey practice and relieve Oma who had the kiddies today. The practice went an extra 1/2 (as there was no one waiting for the ice - extreemly rare). By the time we got home, and I threw together my new favorite quick meal (Pita Pizza's) it was 7:00!

Here's my pita pizza:

Doesn't it look great! Mine was chicken and spinach (with red peppers, zuchinni and cheese) on a whole wheat pita. Takes less than 5 mins to prepare, and about 5 to cook. We used to order pizza or do the frozen ones, but after a good look at what is in them we made a decision to make healthy pizza's. The other great thing is that each person can make their own - daughter likes just cheese, son is cheese and pepperoni, while hubby and I generally do the heavy-on-the-veggie pizza.

So its now 8:00 and I still have to bath the kids, clean the kitchen, flip the laundry, walk the dogs....wait, hubby just arrived home - I'm off to walk the dogs.

Back from walking RUNNING with the dogs! I'm not sure what got into me, but after a few warm up minutes of walking I felt like running. And lord knows the dogs could use the exercise. So, we did almost 30 mins of running (really jogging cause I'm slow and steady). I stopped twice for 30 seconds, and then back at it again! I'm quite proud of myself! I didn't think I could do that, but I'm feeling pretty go and likely could have gone farther (and the girls could have too). I guess this speaks to my increase in fitness!

I could use a soak in the tub (I ran in my heavy jacket and I'm WAY sweaty) which reminds me, I need a massage. I now find that every few months my body just gets overall tired and needs a good rub. So I must remember to call and book an appointment tomorrow for this weekend! It always does a world of good.

Tomorrow and Friday are both RealRyder noon hours (Laurissa is off with her kids on March Break so our regular class isn't happening. Luckily we could throw in these Ryder classes to fill the void). All this cario and I'm going to have to do a heavy-duty TRX on the weekend to balance it all out!

That's allllll folks!

Nite

Beautiful weather!

I can't get over the beautiful weather we have been having lately - It's almost like it's spring (however, any hardened Maritimer knows that we will still have one or two more snows before mid April when spring really begins with its cold wet, mud and spring flowers).

As this is March break for my kiddies, I have taken Monday and Tuesday off work. Yesterday I didn't really exercise, but I was outside most of the day with the kids. We'll write yesterday off as a day of rest. I did, however, shop my hiney off! And I came back with what has to be the last of the DR essentials! I got two beautiful dresses - I was looking for sundresses, but these were even better. I'm not showing pics, you'll have to wait to see them in the vacation photos, but they are simple (one so much so that I almost didn't try it on, but its was one of those dresses that doesn't show well on the hanger) but really work with my body shape. As Shanan asked "was I a wrecking ball in a summer dress"? The answer is yes, in these dresses I am! LOL! Also, with the right little sweater they will be fine for the office or an evening out!

Today, my son and I walked the girls on the harbour boardwalk for 40 mins (and man, the wind off the water is cool) and while son is at the library I grabbed a 30 min TRX workout (thanks to a neighbourhood mom who offered to be the mom in the library while the 1 hour activity was taking place). Nice!

So, the rest of the day will be spent on laundry, making supper, running erands and playing at the playground. Supper with a good friend and her dog and maybe a drink on the back deck. I better enjoy it, tomorrow is back to work for the rest of the week, and no more breaks until we leave for the Dominican.

Later : )

Dominican

Well, we are almost 4 weeks to this :

And this:

and this:

and this:

So, today Shanan and I took in a Zumba class - I've taken them before but this was with Cathy who has a latin dance background so it was very different....I LOVED it! It does however, remind me of my serious lack of coordination - I can shake the bottom half of my body, or the top half BUT not both together! LOL! In any case it was fun and I was SWEATY by the end of it! What a great way to get an hours worth of cardio in.

Upon returning home  I grabbed my girls, and Shanan grabbed her girls and we headed to the park. A nice 10 min walk there, walked through the park, and the 10 min walk home...so maybe another 1/2 hour of moderate exercise? It's a beautiful spring like day out there, crisp, but wonderful.

Now, I'm stripping wallpaper off the walls in the basement hallway and listening to the boys play playstation in the basment (they just came in from an hour of street hockey!

Eating was good today....healthy snacks and not overeating. Hmmm, must think about supper too. What's healthy but quick and easy? Neither hubby or I have much interest in cooking supper tonight.....must ponder that over the wallpaper stripping....

Later : )

midnight snackers

I wish I was one of those people who can buy snacks (relatively healthy ones, like multi grain Tostito's) and only eat a serving a day and then leaving the rest for another day/snack. But I'm not. I am the type of person who can not bring snacks or treats into the house in large quantities because I will eat every, last one upon them entering the house. I might make it until bedtime, but then I might wake up to pee and think 'mmmmm, chppies...' and before returning the warm safety of my bed bypass the kitchen and eat the whole bag. I'm not proud of this, but I know myself well enough to not bring these things into the house. Unfortunately this mems my kids suffer (I guess I can justify it by saying that they don't need the stuff either, but hell, they are kids and as a kid you should be able to eat some of the crap mommy can't!). Anyway, this is my thought of the day....

Today is my much needed day of rest. I worked out 5 days this week and my body is tired. I'm hoping to take in a Zumba class at Core Essentials tomorrow - there is a new teacher that Shanan is raving about so I thought I'd try it out. It's fun and a great way to get that cardio in for the week.

Since I've mentioned Core Essentials, check out the work they are doing to the business - http://www.coressentials.ca/demo-time-core :

When I started training with Laurissa we workout outside  - even if the weather was bad. It was fun, I loved it! This was in July of 2009. By Novemeber Laurissa had bought herself a building and started to increase her business from her basement to this beautiful old heritage building in the downtown of Dartmouth. Due to the was the pervious owner had separated the building for tenants the only way to the second floor was via an exterior stairway. So basically there was a large unit on the ground floor, and a large unit with a loft on the second.

After the reno's are done the building will be whole again - interior staircase, two shower/change rooms on the ground floor and a large studio space! The upstairs will be largely altered except that the large storage room (coats, closet, etc) will now have the groundfloor stairs exiting into it. Its perfect! And I'm so proud of Laurissa for being so sucessful in making her business grow. She's found a pocket in the market with the unique Water Rowers and RealRyders and lined up some excellent instructors (and just this week brought Craig Guthrie into the fold).  Its must be an exciting and stressful time, but she's really doing such a great job! Keep up the good work Laurissa!!

Ok, well I gotta get ready for the day - I'm pulling in some overtime today by working the Home Show booth. Also, I'm mentally trying to phsyche myself up for the X-Weighted weigh in tomorrow am - last week I was up 2 lbs......I'm feeling positive...fingers crossed!

Mags

Busy day - phew!

What a busy day at the office - meetings, writing reports, issuing permits, meeting with Councillors! Wow, and I actually did feel like I actually made some headway too!

I also was able to squeeze in a noon hour workout - so I'm getting closer to that 5 day a week goal that I made for the X-Weighted challenge. Most weeks I get 4 workouts in, and some I reach the 5 workout goal. But, from now until the beach I'm determined to make the 5 per week (or better!!)

Today was a Booty-Bootcamp, and already my hiney is sore! LOL! All squats, lunges, leg lifts, etc..

So busy was the day that I'm only posting this the next day~!

Feeling skinny today

When you have one of those rare days when you think you look good, you feel good, the sun is shining and your ass looks good in its jeans - you should embrace that day! Walk with some extra wiggle! Smile at a cute young man half your age and make him smile back! Why? Cause your one hot b!#ch and you know it! LOL! ; )

So, aside from feeling like 'all that and a bag of chips', I also had a great workout today - and as we were paired Laurissa ended up workin' along with us! : )

• Med ball throw standing - upon catching drop into a backward lunge (10)
• Med ball throw sitting - upon catching drop back flat and back up into a sit up (20)
• Med ball throw standing - throw ball into the air, catch and lower into a squat (20)
• Kettlebell - double handed swings (20)
• Kettlebell wood choppers (20/side)
• Kettlebell sit ups with an overhead bell raise (20)
• Russian twists with a kettlebell (20)

I was feeling somewhat fresh afterwards so I did a 5 minute skip. It must be all the sunshine and good weather, but I have more energy lately (and remember I'm on hot, b!tch)

I realized that I have the bikini but the tummy still isn't quite bikini worthy. So, I'm going to step up the workout routine. I'm going to try to workout 5 noon hours a week. Lets see what that does!!

Perhaps I'm also feeling good due to an excellent intake (food) day. I was less hungry today, and what I did eat stayed with me longer. I had 250 ml of chocolate milk mid morning with a granola bar and it stuck with me until after workout! Yeah!! Finally!! Lunch was stirfry, midafternoon snack an apple, supper was pork with mixed veggies (raw with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese), peas and coucous. MMMmmmmmm!

Ok, gotta jet - suppers on the table and I'm one hungry puppy!! I'm hoping tomorrow is as good a day as today - the weather is supposed to hold for the whole week!!
Nite

Walkin' the Girls

Most evenings of the week are impossible to get in a workout - kids have activities, hubby often wants to get to the gym and we only have one car. I've always enjoyed walking my dogs, and its great exercise! Plus, Echo my older (6 yrs) dog is heavy right now - she usually puts on some 'winter weight' but this winter was more than usual. Also, Echo is a garbage-gut - she will eat anything and everything. Echo will eat something she knows she's not supposed to (gargage, her WHOLE bag of dog food, etc.) and then put herself in her kennel and not come out! LOL! Smart border collie knows she shouldn't and can anticipate her punishment!

Anyway, I was reading Amy's blog (one of a few that I generally read daily) and she's having a hard time finding the time to get her exercise in and has realized that she LOVES walking with her pup Jersey. It's good for the pups, good for the owner and a great bonding experience. Tonight was able to walk the girls BEFORE supper *this is the only free time*.  I was able to get out of the office a squinchy bit early and we walked for 50 minutes! I calculated this to be between 300 and 400 calories burned! So see Amy, its great exercise too!

Well, the mom hat calls - clean up after dinner, homework, laundry, bath kids.......
Nite

PS check out what's going on at Core Essentials - the are expanding!

Monday & feelin' like spring!

As I had a Halifax meeting at 10 am, and as my office is on the other side of the water I chose to work from my home computer via emails and walk the dogs early this am! We had a good (but short) walk and played for a short while in the little park up the street. Great way to start your day - brisk walk (some training with the beast on how to NOT pull on the leash the entire way - this means the walk takes twice as long as we keep stopping and back tracking).

 

Noon hour was excellent as always. I have to say lately I have had less than my normal motivation to get moving. I always make my noon hour workout (unless work that I can't rearrange or a sick kid keeps me from it), I never bail without a solid reason. Maybe part of the reason is that I paid upfront for my 6 weeks and I'm a tight wad? LOL! Anyway, I'm always ok once I get there, and usually give between 80% and 90% - today was about 90% once I got moving. We did another timed trial, my time was 15:30. We did the following five exercises x 4 rounds:

• Pike press (10)

• Wide legged mountain climbers (40 with each foot being one)

• Tricep push-ups/leg lift (10) *THESE ARE THE HARDEST - I always land on my face!*

• Supermans (front super, roll over to a back super and a toe touch, roll back to front superman - 20 with each roll being one)

• Leg lifts (on back, raise and lower both legs to the ground without touching and back up) (10)

I started with about 2 mins of skipping, and as I was done first I opted to skip until everyone else was done (probably another 4 mins). The skipping was my way of punishing myself for the CHIPS that I inhaled ate at shanan's on Saturday. Plus, I didn't workout at all this weekend (aside from lifting toilets!)

I'll have to look and see if I wrote down what my original time was - I know that Laurissa has it written down somewhere....

Alright...quiet time now. I think a cup of coca and my book is in order.

Nite

Sunny Sunday & Spring Cleaning

Another bright, sunny day here today and its even a tad warmer (reads + 4). I spent the morning installing the second toilet....does that count as exercise? Probably more stretching than exercise - trying to reach around the bowl to attach piles, etc.

Next on the list of household chores was hauling wood, which was definately exercise! It generally takes about a 1/2 to fill the basement stores, but I also spent time out tidying up the wood piles (and cleaning up the poopy piles from the dogs - LOL!).

Talking about dogs, on Friday we had a visitor watching our workout:

This little darling is Ellie, Laurissa's chocolate lab! She starts at one end of the space and slowly (through stretching and wiggling) moves her way over to the nearest saltlick person. She really is the cutest and so well behaved! It makes me feel like I'm home with my own two beasts!

I didn't actually get to a TRX workout, but I did 8 loads of laundry, changed 3 beds, walked the dogs (30 mins), made 2 suppers, cleaned up the yard and shed....all in all I'm tired, my back is sore and I just want to sit down and start a new knitting project - a French Market Bag! It looks so cute! It's knit huge and then felted...I'll be sure to post photos once complete.

Nite!

Sun-shiney Saturday

I woke up to a bright, sunny day today - it looked warm too, but as I stepped out the door with the girls for a morning walk I realized my mistake. Nevertheless its a beautiful March day, not quite spring but hey we live in the maritimes! We had a great, hour long walk through the parks and some of our back streets.

I also woke to aches and pains in my hip flexers - thank you Laurissa! Wow, I guess it was that stutter stepped with the 'drop' to touch the ground. I HOPE to workout later today, but only if I can loosen these puppies up! Although the walk with the pups did a great job at loosening things up :}

Also, I'm hoping we can squeeze the time in for a TRX workout - we have early dinner arrangements with friends and Jake has hockey and we still have to install at least one of the two toilets today!! Heavens knows I need to burn off the CHIPS and ALCOHOL that was consumed last night at Shanan's - but it was sooooo worth it! I haven't really touched that stuff for such a long time. And the chips were my favorite - plain, rippled...mmmmmmmmmmmm

Ok, off to install a toilet - did I not tell you how damn handy I am? Guess that comes from being the oldest child to a step father who was an electrician by trade and handyman at heart! LOL!

Later!

Fell off the wagon yesterday

Yesterday I fell off the wagon - I ate alot of crap I shouldn't have. I blame it on my monthly hormones. I have no control of my hormones and I have no control of my eating when my hormones are in the driver seat. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, I'm going to acknowledge it and move on. There. Done with that.

Today was a much better day. I ate well (even avoided the cake at the office). Well, SO FAR today I've eaten well, I'm about to head out to Shanan's house for a girlie night and there will be food and drink! I've also pawned the kids off on the grandparents for the night... : )

Todays' workout was all about the tobata. Here's what it looked like:

• skipping tobata
• mountain climbers tobata
• pile lunge tobata
• touch the floor tobata (stutter step until Laurissa yells 'touch', not rhyme or rythm to that either!)
• one-jump forward, two jump backward tobata

It was awesome, I was as red in the faced afterwards as I am after my usual 60 minute ride with Max Saturday am. It was mostly lower body, so tomorrow will be alot of upper body - or a full TRX workout. 

Well, off to the party!!
Nite

Motivational

Great noon hour workout, it was one of those times where all of the sudden its over and you're left wondering where the 1/2 hour went! Don't get me wrong, my muscles knew what was going on (some of them were screaming!) but the time just flew.

Laurissa got us started (outlined the exercises and equipment we'd need) and we were off to the races. Into the second exercise Laurissa join in, and told me it was for me! :) She's been reading my blog and noticed when I mentioned that hte last time she joined us I found it motivational (which I do). She's in such great condition that I enjoy having her join us, plus, like running she becomes the pace setter (which makes me move faster!).  So Laurissa, if you are reading, thank you for the motivation - however, I know that you do your own daily workouts and you leading some of the classes (like Ryder classes) so we don't expect you to  join us every time!

So, today's exercises were something like this (warmed up with skipping):

• deadlift - single leg R (15)
• power thrust (bringing opposite leg to elbow) on same side as deadlift leg (10)
• deadlift - single leg L (15)
• power thrust (bringing opposite leg to elbow) on same side as deadlift leg (10)
• plank on elbows - right leg out to side, back to center, left leg out to side (10 per leg)
• single leg walk out - standing, bend over walking hands out until in plank position then return to standing on one leg (each leg 10 reps)
• on back, legs straight in the air - lift legs straight up;  with legs straight up raise arms up to touch toes (repeat this combo 20 times)

We worked thought this routine from top to bottom, and then back from bottom to top. It was a great workout! I love strength workouts, and now I have a great excuse to take the girls for a nice walk tonight.

Eating has been ok, not stellar. I've been hungry all day, and I'm not sure why! I'm not nibbly, my tummy is actually growling.....thankfully I brought lots of healthy snacks! I'm off to eat my apple!

Mags

Hefting filing cabinets

The name of  todays exercise was hefting filing cabinets. While I was out sick my huge, 5 drawer file cabinets (there are four lg ones, and two small ones) were moved to make room for someone else (with little thought to my own inconvenience I might ad, but don't get me started 'cause that's a WHOLE other rant!) who thought their needs were more important required the space my cabinets were taking up.

Today I (and Shanan, she's such a good friend!) re-organized the cabinets. The exercise goes like this:

• First you empty and number the contents,
• them shuffle the cabinet across the office,
• then carry large piles of the contents back to the cabinet.

Do this, fast, for 1 hour - break for water as needed. It turns out that this was excellent exercise both cardio and strength moves. So, I guess I should thank this unnamed person....but I won't! The other upside, if there is one, was that in this flurry of moving and organizing we were able to create a proper lunch table beside the kitchen in our office - previously there was an empty table in the hall that we dragged chairs to, but we were in the way and across from offices (and we are a loud bunch when we want to be).

Good eats day (not stellar, but good), however I was HUNGRY most of the day!! Tomorrow I promise to be better. I've already backed my lunch and it looks so good it makes me hungry again right now!!

I was going to TRX tonight, but I'm too tired. I was gonna walk the girls, but when I got home hubby was making supper and fighting with daughter to complete her homework. I sent him out for the walk with the girls and I took up the battle. So little exercise but tomorrow Laurissa will work us hard to make up for it  - I might even show up early and do 5 mins of skipping to warm up!!

Nitey nite

PS Tonight I'm going to do some research on healthy smoothies (with spinach,etc) - more on this later!

Happy Monday

Today was a good day, hard to believe it was Monday - maybe it was the long weekend (due to power outage at work on Friday)? Good eats day:

• Breakfast was my regular oats with raisins and sprinkled with cinnamon.
• Mid morning snack was a low fat yogurt and a granola bar.
• Lunch (after working out) was tuna fish on WW pita's with spinach and a protein drink (thank you Shanan!)
• Mid afternoon snack was a large, crunchy apple (and 4 small peppermints)
• Supper was an Indian soup I made the night before - it was a tad overcooked but quite yummy! It had chicken, onion, sweet potatoe, peas, curry and cumin and chicken broth. Mmmmm, and we made papadams to do with it!

Bedtime snack is a G & T - that's right, I'm sitting here, right now sipping on a Gin and Tonic. Not sure what brought this on (well, really I wanted a rum and coke, but we don't have any coke in the house). Somehow I wanted to sip the drink and hear the ice clinking in the glass - maybe I really am starting to get geared up about the Dominican (which is only 6 weeks away!!).

Today's workout was an interval of sorts. We did almost all upper body with skipping in between, but no rest until the full 8 exercises were done. They included push ups, chin ups, pulls ups, leg lifts - with skipping in between each one. We did the whole routine 3 times, and man, I was a sweaty beast by the end....it was AWESOME!!

No noon hour workout tomorrow, so I'm going to see if I can get a TRX workout in tomorrow night once the kids are settled. I must say that I'm really not a night-time worker-outer. I'm a morining person and my energy fizzles by early evening. Well, the best motivation is thinking about the bikini and the remaining 6 weeks to be bikinin ready!

Nite