Category: Fitness

Today I wanted to workout even though it’s a ‘holiday’ just to put my mind at ease about all the junk I’ll be eating!  Also, I feel much better taking tomorrow off since I went today.  I usually attend classes where I just do what I’m told.  Today was a rare occasion where I worked out all alone.  Here’s what I did

 

Cardio: 15 minutes of running.

Weights:  12 Machines, 12 reps, Twice

Agility:  500 jump ropes

Abs:  50 reps between each 100 jumps

Time: 50 – 55 mins

 

Cardio: I always start with cardio to get it out of the way.  Also, it raises your heart rate for all the other exercises you are about to do.

Weights: When you’re looking to a full workout, it’s important that you do multiple muscle groups and not concentrate on one area. If you are a consist weight lifter, it’s ok to focus on 1-2 muscle groups at a time, but I’m used to full body workouts.  I did the following machines, some of these names I might have made up:

Leg Press, Box Jumps, Fly, Leg Curl, Leg Extension, Pull Ups, Tricep Dips, Biceps, Triceps, Shoulder Raise, Chest Press, Lateral Pull Down

Again, 12 reps each and 2 rounds on each machine.  I like to do my rounds one at a time and then go through again.  Most gyms have a ‘circuit’ of machines already set up.  Be sure to adjust machines so you don’t injure yourself.  I was lucky enough to be the only person using them so the second round took way less time because each machine was already set up for me.

Agility and Abs: It’s easy to just skip these two things but they make a huge difference.  Remember the Ali quote “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee?”  Well agility is essential to get the ‘athlete float’.  I love jumping rope because it’s also cardio.  Here’s the ab exercises I did, again, I think I made some of the names up:

50 Pike leg raise (arms and legs straight, raise to touch at the top), 100 Cross body air bike (alternate elbow to knee), 100 Medicine Ball bounce side to side, 50 per side oblique crunch, 3 minute plank.  I did these in between each set of 100 jump ropes.

MODIFIED

Here’s a modified version of my workout.  I work out a lot at a high intensity.  If you are at the beginning of your fitness, the above workout might be too much for you.  Here’s what you could do instead:

Cardio: 20 minutes of walk/run.  Try to alternate intervals at 2, 3 or 5 minutes.

Weights: 10 machines, (cut out pull up and box jumps) 10 reps, twice

Agility: As many jump ropes as you can, if you can’t jump rope yet, standing jumps, as many as you can. Or find something (a can of soup, a shoe, anything) and jump over it side to side for one minute intervals.

Abs:  Plank for as long as you can, 50 crunches, 50 per side oblique crunches

The point is to do what you can and then do it again! Hope this inspires some of you to get a Christmas workout in before the Roast Beast!

*****I’ll be writing most of this week and next as I am on VACATION!  Check back for holiday related stories, tips and issues!

 

This weekend I ran my second 5K! I had signed me and the hubby up about a month ago purely based on the awesome swag they were giving away.  Instead of a t shirt or water bottle, they did vintage knit hats.  I have been looking forward to this silly hat, and planning my winter attire around it, so far this winter.  So I was quite excited.  Also, a few friends were running this time too, along with 5,000 other runners.  This was considered a ‘fun run’ where everyone dresses silly and there’s blow up figures everywhere. It was a much different atmosphere than my first 5K. 

Here were my goals for this 5K:

1. Run the whole thing and finish faster than last time.

2.  Have fun running with friends and my husband

3.  Kick my husband’s butt.

To be clear, I did not specifically train for this 5K either.  I have not upped my running outside of the gym.  My classes at the gym have become a little more cardio focused which has upped my endurance.  However, I’m still not running on my own.  My husband didn’t train……….at all and probably hasn’t run more than a mile since high school.  We do hike and he’s fairly active but I thought he would struggle for sure.

Mile 1:  Again, Mile 1 is always the easiest for me.  My body felt great that day and I wasn’t nervous at all about keeping up with everyone.  There were so many people that I knew no one was sizing me up.  Also, we were encouraged not take it too seriously since it was a fun run. I set my own timer as this race did not track the runners.  At 13 minutes I finally checked the time because we hadn’t seen a mile marker yet.  I was thinking, we HAVE to be done with the first mile.  The first mile was all within the stadium, so it was hard to me to track the distance.

Mile 2: (I’m guessing…..) Mile 2 is always hard for me.  It’s just longer than I usually run and my body starts to get mad.  I had a stomach cramp from (again…..guessing)  2.2 – 3.0 miles.  I told Dan, who was still running strong too, that I might have to stop soon.  Of course he didn’t care and was only keeping up with me at that point.  So three or four different times I almost stopped.  But I knew as soon as I walked, I would have wished that I didn’t.  The track got so thin sometimes I was even just running in place so that I didn’t walk.  I got through the cramp and then felt fine but psychologically it was really difficult to keep going when you’re body is pretending it can’t. Still no mile markers.

Mile 3: The end is always pretty easy.  By now you’re running on a high and know you are almost done.  Also, if you’ve gone this far you can just keep going right? My body tends to go in machine mode and just run.  I find myself wanting to sprint just to have the race over with!  I had checked the time in the last stretch and knew I had about 5 minutes to get across the finish line to finish faster than my last race.  At this point Dan had walked a few times but always caught back up with me.  He was starting to have weird pains so I ran ahead to keep my time.

Last 5K Time: 36:22.  Ugly Sweater Run: 32:54

Three and a half minutes faster!  I knew I would finish under my last time but I didn’t expect that it would be that fast!  I was also the first finisher in my group.

Two years ago I would have laughed at the thought of running a 5K with my husband.  Even a year ago, when my friend Nikki started the Zombie 5K ap, I was still saying “I’ll never be able to run a 5K.”  Well on Saturday we ran one together, and I beat her!  (Granted she was sick…….but still! Love you girl!)

I feel like I’m wrapping around to something I continue to repeat over and over on this site: The time will pass anyway!  Two years, one year, 6 months ago I didn’t think I could ever run an entire 5K without stopping but I did.  The time that you spend overweight, unhappy, out of shape will continue to pass whether or not you do something about it.  OR you can take your own life and health into control and GET. IT. DONE.

 

PS.  I’ve been wearing the hat ever since!

I am quickly approaching my one year anniversary at my gym.  I can’t believe how fast it has gone.  Also, I’ve been thinking back over the year and the changes I’ve experienced in my body.  Even though I’ve been going to the gym 4-5 times a week for the past 10 months, just in the last two months I feel like I can finally do the things I’ve been wanting to do.

This got me thinking about peoples expectations when going to the gym.  Everyone is different in the results they think they will see and how long it will take to get them.  I remember my very first class at Cole Fusion Fitness.  It was Body Rock which is a fusion of strength training, agility and cardio.  I remember looking at Yoga Brian (there’s too many Brians to keep them all straight) and saying “Is he serious” about 10 times in class.  After my first few classes, I picked a girl in class and wanted to do everything she could do.  I did this on purpose, not to be envious or creepy, but because I had to pick a destination.

If you are starting a new fitness routine, choose some goals of where you want to go.  If you are going to the gym day after day but not measuring where you are going, you will probably give up.  Fitness can get very tedious and monotonous for sure.  I have tried to have a ‘gym rat life’ a few different times in my life but always gave up because I got bored.  This time, I give myself goals and can feel my body trying to reach them.  Each time I reach my goals, I set new ones.

When we used to run laps at the gym, it would nearly kill me.  Now it’s easy.  I started with 5 and 8 pounds in class and now I lift 15.  I used to do ‘lady pushups’ and now I can do manly pushups.  I used to watch every minute tick by and now I barely notice class is half over.

One of my most recent goals is to be able to do a pull up.  I remember doing chin ups in gym class in elementary school and I could NEVER do them like everyone else.  Because I was so tall and my muscles were not very strong, I was always one of the worst girls. I think being able to do pull ups is amazing and it’s something I want to be able to do.  So how am I getting myself there?

After my first few months at the gym, I started attending Boot Camp where we often do pull ups in class.  I had to start with 90 pounds of assistance.  Ever since setting this goal,  I use less and less weight to help me with the pull up.  My friend Melody and I do pull ups everyday after class and we are down to 35 pounds of assistance.  I also have a pull up bar at my house that I just like to hang on.  Each week, I can tell it’s that much easier or I can hold on for just a little longer.  Each week I get closer.   Very soon I’ll be able to do it with no assistance. While I have no before pictures, here’s me trying after class just the other day:

No one set this goal for me.  I set it for myself.  No one will ever hold a gun to my head and say, “Do a pull up or you’ll die!” But it’s something I wanted to be able to do, and very soon, I’m going to do it.  How cool is that?

 

I hear, “I don’t have time to work out” all the time and often said it myself in the past.  The truth really is, that most of us aren’t willing to sacrifice time on the couch or out shopping for fitness.  But honestly, we all do. There are 7 minute work outs, 15, 30, hours….and so on.  How many of us have at least 7 minutes in a day? Everyone of us!

The point of working out is to increase your overall fitness and health. You decide how quickly you want to get fit and to what level.  Are you trying to increase your endurance? Running distance? Muscle strength? Have an idea of where you want to go so you can start getting there. In my mind, a long distance runner is my ideal fitness.  When I think of what a healthy person looks like, I automatically think of a runner.  Know what your ideal fitness level is.

You decide what your ideal is, how fast you’re going to get there and how much time you want to spend doing it. For me, I wanted to get there as fast as possible.  That’s why a joined a gym.  I do believe that you can get the same results working by yourself as you can in a group, but I can’t.  I love going to the gym for social and health reasons.  That’s just how I chose to do it.  I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and don’t feel like myself when I don’t.  Again, this is just how I chose to do it but it can be done so many different ways!  Just make sure whatever you are doing is getting you closer to your goal.

One of my short term fitness goals, is to increase the time that I can plank.  Slowly I’ve increased the amount of time I can hold a plank. Planking is awesome and works so many muscle groups all at the same time.  Always, in the first 15 seconds, I feel like I could hold the plank for days.  Then after the first minute, I think I might die.

YOU WILL NOT DIE FROM PLANKING.  When you think you’re about to die, hold it 10 more seconds and you’ll find that you didn’t.

So where do you start? I have found that everyone seems to have a different idea of what a plank is and what the proper form is to do it.  Here’s a link that I like and agree with: How to Plank.

Planking, when done right, should hurt your entire core. It’s great for posture and strength.  You can read about all the benefits: Here. 

I often shake when I get close to my physical limit.  Don’t let this distract you!  Find a zone and forget about the time.  Here’s a great visual for this month to get you from not planking at all to a 3 minute plank.  I think I’m currently around 2 minutes and I will be following this to push myself to three minutes. Join my on my goal this month: Planksgiving!

 

As a professionally trained singer, I know how to breathe.  I know how to use my diaphragm to hit the high notes and keep things in tune.  My lung capacity is excellent and I can hold a note longer than almost anyone I know.  However, my lungs had not a clue what to do while I ran!

It sounds silly but there is a proper way to breathe while you run.  If your lungs are burning, you are coughing or can’t catch your breath, you’re doing it wrong.  As you condition, your lungs will become stronger and allow you to run longer.  Also, your recovery time when you finish should get shorter and shorter.  Here’s a link to a short article I liked about how to breathe when you run: