Category Archives: Workouts

Summer of Fitness and Other Nonsense

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I just realized this week that I have less than two weeks left before I go back to school, so I officially have to hurry and get everything done on my to-do list!  Panic has struck!  I managed to get some back to school shopping in already, but I’m still on the hunt for a decent pair of work pants!

So I am planning a morning routine when school starts that still continues my two a day workout trend I have kept this summer.  I was told a lot of gym workouts are found on You Tube, so tonight I gave it a try!  I really wanted to try out Insanity because my goal this week is to do straight cardio with no weights.  I was told Insanity was way better for that than the usual P90X Lean Routine that I have tried in the past.(P.S. I was able to get down to my lowest weight for my wedding with P90X. See www.beachbody.com .) 

This was the site I tried.  I used the 20 minute fat burner workout.  It’s hard to hear but I just watched the people.  You can tell they are all dying because you can hear counting on the DVD but they all just stand there.  I’ll keep you posted on more workouts I try out:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuy4x_viY4M

The Olympics are coming!! Here is the schedule in case. 🙂 I am soooooo excited!

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/schedule/

Alright, here are some catch up pictures.  Stay tuned for some recipes I have tried!  I am on a roll with Pinterest! (I made my mom join today!)

1. Barney tried out a biking jersey in attempt to see if we wanted to use that as his Halloween costume.  Nay.

 

2.  My hair is now super light for the school year.  Blinding!

3.  We have had the worst wind and rain storms and this poor mother bird has had to sit in her nest to protect the eggs.  I was stressing whether she would make it or not.  She made it!

4. Mike has to sleep in the afternoon due to his graveyard shift and Barney has been trained to sleep at his feet when I run my errands.  He and dad are nap buddies.

5.  New duck toy.  It sqeaks.  Not too sure that was a good idea.  Why do dogs have toys anyway?

 8. I bought a set of curlers to try some different hair styles for school.  My attempt at being a girl.

 Question:  Any exciting things about this summer that have happened?  What would you say your summer 2012 theme has been?

Teaching Mountain Biking

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  I’m used to teaching middle school science to a bunch of a teenagers that have no interest in it, but changing over to being a mountain bike instructor is a totally different experience.  I feel like I am inadequate when it comes to teaching it.  My new guinea pig was my sister this weekend.  We went to the local bike shop and rented a bike for twenty bucks. 

First of all, the bike was extremely heavy, so I felt really bad for my sister, but she was such a trooper.  The main thing I would suggest before taking a rookie out is to make sure they have the right gear.  Helmet is a must, gloves are nice, and I highly recommend finding spandex for them.  I forget how it took me days for my rear end to feel better after riding a mountain bike (especially if you are riding a hard tail).

I took her on a basic trail that was a three-mile loop and then we upped the next ride to a six-mile loop.  Mike and I discuss the difference between road and mountain miles and we claim that you take mountain miles and double it to make it similar to each other.

For example, a 9 mile mountain bike ride is the same as an 18 mile road ride.  You have to do more miles in road to feel the burn of a 9 mile mountain bike ride.

Anyway, she did great.  I kept her in her middle gears and then when we hit uphill, had her switch down to the lower gears, but never touched the big ring.  I didn’t use my big ring until I started racing.  (In case you don’t know, the big ring is when you have a harder gear to pedal in and it takes a lot of leg work). 

I’m so proud of my sister for trying out biking.  She did a great job and put forth a great effort.  She told me she wants to do it again when she comes back! 🙂  Such a trooper!

Three A Day Workout

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WORKOUTS

 I actually was pretty impressed with myself for working out three times today.  Working out in my terms means doing some kind of physical activity longer than 30 minutes.  Thankfully on Mondays and Wednesdays, there are a group of girls who like to play volleyball at my local church, so I was able to go.  Then I was headed over to the gym for some elliptical and weights.  It feels good to start getting my arms back.  I can’t wait til I can get my Les Mill’s Body Pump DVD/set.  When I got home, my husband wanted to go for a road ride, so we did some laps on a coarse called the “Ocho” in this really nice golfing community on our side of town.  It’s a three-mile loop that makes a figure eight.  It’s about six minutes of pure climbing, and then the rest is all downhill.  My goal tonight was four laps, and I did it!

ORGANIZATION

So one of my areas of focus this summer for my “Summer of Fitness” was to organize away the house.  Since I am on a budget this week and can’t go too crazy buying bookshelves and stands (which I would go crazy at Target doing), I decided to go through the “easy and cheap” things that need to be organized.

I have always had my clothes color coded from dark to light. Its nice so when you walk in the closet, and say that you are in the mood to wear red, then you know where all your red shirts are.  The hubby’s side of the closet had random shirts thrown in there.  Every once in a while I will hear him say “I haven’t seen this shirt in a while.”, because of how disorganized it is.  I decided to help him out and color coordinate his side of the closet too. 

I also found this organizer at Wal-Mart for $4.95, which you pretty much hang from your door.  It has a bunch of hooks and you put all your purses on it.  Most of my purses are piled in a corner in my closet, so its nice to have a visual on it.  Now to just get more purses to fill it. 🙂

Here is the picture of the “vision board” I was telling you about.  Mike and I have done it the last three years on New Years when we make all of our resolutions.  One side is dedicated to my goals, the other side for him, and then anything we both want to do I put in the middle.  This last year I put a list of all the goals we accomplished in a “newsletter” and then posted it up there.  We usually put biking goals, education goals, a lot of physical goals, and other stuff.  I try to make them really easy, like “take a class” so that way I can take a simple sewing class to accomplish that or a college course towards my nursing degree. Something like that.

Question:  What are some organizing things you do around the house that are inexpensive?

The Summer of Fitness

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From kindergarten til now, I have dedicated my summers to something.  When I graduated high school, I went straight on through college, and immediately started teaching at the age of 21, I have always had summers off. (Very lucky, I know. I get told that all the time!) By August, I have had to either go back to classes or back to work.  I have never known what it feels like to not do.Twenty seven years later…..I am in the same situation.

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(This is my vision board when I was living in Utah in 2005.  I got the idea from a Oprah Winfrey episode on things to do to achieve goals.  I made it to remind me of all the fun things I like to do and to remind me of all the friends and family around me.  Usually a vision board is for goals you have.  Mike and I have one in our second bedroom.  I’ll put it in a future post. )

When I was in college, I dedicated my summers to traveling.  I went and worked in Orlando for a summer at Walt Disney World.  I went to Utah and spent a summer at Brigham Young University learning the college life on campus.  I went on four different cruises to different tropical places.  I dedicated summers to dating right.  Other summers to educating myself.  So many different things!

Starting Memorial Day Weekend, I made a pact to myself that I was going to make this the “summer of fitness”.  I have been addicted to working out since about 2004, when I started taking group fitness classes.  I slipped down to my lowest weight and felt great.  I was especially excited when I found Les Mills’ Body Pump class and started to build muscle and tone out.  I have been interested in eating right and have bought almost every Fitness, Shape, Cooking Light, and Self magazines as the years have passed on.

 

This year was a very disappointing year on my body.  The stress from my job took a toll on me.  I gained almost 15 pounds from August until May.  I even went as far as going to my doctor about it.  I am an avid mountain biker and still raced, and was even getting faster on the bike!  Why was this happening to me??  With a lot of research and discussion, I concluded the weight gain to two things.  1. Stress.   2.Eating Right. 

 

(Before And After)

I can go on and on about how I concluded this, but I will spare the details.  So instead, I am going to explain how I am going to get myself back to a “comfortable” physique.  I am not going based on weight, I am going by how I felt.  Being thirty, I have to be realistic that age plays a role, but I am also going to not let it hold me back.  I still want to be healthy.  My goal is to feel “confident” by the end of the summer.  A confidence where I am not embarrassed to sit down and not use my purse to cover my stomach.  A confidence where I am not embarrassed to wear a short sleeve shirt, because I am afraid to show off my arms.  A confidence where I can stop complaining every second I put my clothes on. 

Here is the game plan.  A successful way to diet and exercise is to keep a journal, therefore I will be keeping a journal on this blog through posts:

1. Two a Day Workouts.  It doesn’t mean I go to the gym twice a day.  It means I complete at least two workouts a day. 

2,  Food Journal.  Keep a list of foods and meals eaten.  Keep healthy meals on hand.  Watch portioning.

3. Make life more fun.  Since stress is such a big factor in my life and physically makes me sick, I am going to work on at least one thing a day to relax my body.

4. Organize my life.  When I am organized, things are so much happier around my house. I love organizing and consider it a huge impact on my success in teaching, as well as my success personally.

So here it goes guys.  I send this out into the cyber world!  I will get back to you daily on one of these four subjects, or on all four of these subjects.  Wish me luck.  See you in August!