12 Week Oxygen Challenge

Alrighty!  I’m going to start off telling you that my computer is having major SLOW issues!  This post will be short and sweet due to my lack of patience!  I have a WONDERFUL trip to report on and an AMAZING 12 week challenge that I’m about to EMBARK on coming up TOMORROW!!!

I have been waiting through the longest month to get started on this.  With my injuries and knowing I’m starting a strict challenge, my exercise and healthy eating life have taken a small dive!  Yesterday I took before pictures and went through the whole measurement thing.  I’m going to weight myself a lot, but I’ll only do measurements and progress pictures every 2 weeks.  This is what I’ll be talking about clear up until October 7th!!!  Seems so far away!  I’m excited to get in the best shape of my life.  My stress fracture is healing up awesomely and hopefully I’ll be able to step it up big time next week!  I do have a small snag in my calendar this week.  For 3 days we’ll be on Pioneer Trek.  I won’t be by a gym (: nor will I be eating exactly what I should, but at least I’ll be walking and walking and walking!

First off, back to my wonderful and amazing trip to SAN DIEGO!  Last December, I purchased 2 tickets to ONE DIRECTION for my 14 year old daughter.  Best money spent!  This trip was a dream come true for her and I was so happy to be a part of it.

We had so much fun being inseparable for 3 days!  We rented a cute mustang convertable and drove all over.  My brother lives close by so we stayed with him and did a few things with his family.  His cute twins enjoyed riding in the backseat as we cruised around singing!  We loved the beach, shopping, sight seeing, and of course One Direction!  Just watching my daughter at the concert was entertainment enough with her crying, jumping up and down, and screaming!  I was quite proud of myself for my mad navigating skills.  I never imagined a concert so huge!  It was in a football stadium that was completely sold out.  65-70 thousand people!  Not to mention Comic Con was going on at the same time and I guess San Diego is headquarters to that big deal too!  Here are some pictures from the trip!

As for my challenge, I’ll get ONE good day in and then be AWOL for a few.  I’ll be following the plan 100%  Back to My Fitness Pal too!  I took a little break from that!  After reading through the material and nutrition program, I wasn’t surprised by anything!  Mostly, I need to remember to eat more often, protein, drink water, and eat lots of veggies.  I haven’t seen the workouts yet, kind of dying to see them!  I’ll be back soon with Trek adventures and tips on how to STAY in the game with being healthy!  My FAVORITE way to be!  I also have a slew of family coming to town right now!  We’ll be hoppin’!!  (:  Remember:

Get er done!

 

We need a bit of motivation today!!  My Mom group met at the track today for a much needed workout in the glorious morning sun!  Our warm up was lugging our weights and mat around the entire field to find a way in!  I don’t know what it is about running on a track, but I feel like a fastie olympic runner.  Ha Ha!  Here was the workout!!!  It was a GREAT all over body deal!

100 WALKING LUNGES

90 HIP RAISES

80 PRISONER SQUATS

70 OVERHEAD PRESSES

60 TRICEP PUSHES

SPRINT ONE LAP AND RUN A SET OF BLEACHERS

50 BICEP CURL WITH INNER THIGH SQUAT

40 STIFF LEG DEADLIFT

30 BURPEES

20 PULL UPS

10 TURKISH GET UPS (5 EACH SIDE)

SPRINT 1 LAP AND RUN A SET OF BLEACHERS

We also did my favorite ab warmup with 20 sets of Tabata planks.  20 seconds on and 10 seconds off for 20 rounds!!  Killer soreness for tomorrow!  

THEN, I had to run to the gym to do the WOD so I can teach that tonight!!  I feel happily spent!  

K!  Now my soap box.  I just read an email from a friend who is needing a boost in the exercise department.  So, I’m thinking…what motivates me to exercise?  The list is long!  Here are a few:

 I love how I feel accomplishing something that is hard.  I must have a huge endorphin rush because I feel so great during and after!  I like the results.  I have more energy for the day.  It makes me happy.  Me time.  I feel healthy.  

So, how do you get it in and how do you stick with it?  Years ago I worked for a time management company and I went to many seminars on prioritizing, organizing, and planning your life by days, weeks, months, and years.  I learned lots about setting and achieving goals.  From what you read of me, I loved it!  One thing has always stuck with me.  Whatever you want to get done the very most, schedule it before 11 a.m.  So, to get in your exercise, make it happen before 11 a.m.  If you are not a morning person and like to stay up late, that can be difficult.  Try looking at your week on Sunday night and scheduling in when you will exercise.  If the day gets away from you, try a 20 minute workout or go on a brisk walk uphill at night.  Here are a few quick and easy workouts that you can do anywhere!

The ultimate helper for me is a workout buddy!!!  I have said this before and I know from experience, but when you have a friend to workout with it is sooooooooooooooo much more fun!!!!  Find a friend to walk with, join an exercise group or gym, take the kids out exercising.  It is much much better than sitting by yourself in front of a workout video or in the lonely basement.  Some people are fine with that, but I have found more success with FRIENDS!!!  Pics of toned people make me work harder too.  DANG!!  Is all I can say about these two.

Don’t beat yourself up!!  I’m constantly falling down and no matter what I pick myself back up!  ALWAYS.  Keep it up!  It’s worth it!!  Enjoy the SUN.  Life is GOOD (:

Hurdle every obstacle!

HELLO!  I’m back and I have a minute to write before I REALLY need to finish my Christmas shopping!  We had a great vacation to Southern Utah!  My husband and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary!  The years fly by like turning pages in a book!  We went and saw one of my FAVORITE concerts of the year:  THE PIANO GUYS!  Their concerts are always so laid back, simple, and completely AMAZING!  One of the comments I read about them was, “Ice cream for the ears!”  So true!

Here are a few pictures.  The two shots of the red truck are taken 3 years apart.  I’m going to make it a tradition to take one on the truck every year to see how the kids change!

Back to reality is always TOUGH to swallow, especially when I didn’t eat well 3 out of the 4 days of our trip.  Aghhh!  Today I am back at it though and VERY happy to start feeding my body goodness.  SOOOOOO, how to overcome OBSTACLES is the name for today.  In St. George, my two older boys found a row of hedges that were evenly spaced near our condo.  They started jumping over them again and again.  It was fun to watch them hurdle over each one with such effort, so as not to hit the bush and fall to the hard ground!  This morning as I was wondering when to exercise, a few obstacles came to mind.  Here they are:

• I ate WAY too much that I won’t be able to keep up with my running friends.
• I’ve been staying up too late and sleeping in.  I can’t possible wake up at 5:30 a.m.
• My baby has an awful ear infection and can’t go to preschool, so I can’t go to the gym.
• My ipod is dead.
• I hate the treadmill.
• I need to do laundry.
• I’ll go LATER!

Do any of these thoughts ever come to your mind?  Well, I ignored them all.  I ran 5 miles on the treadmill and did a 20 minute circuit workout!  Yes, my 4 year old has a terrible ear infection and is miserable.  He watched My Little Pony with me while I ran.  My body felt gross from all the sugar, but better when I got MOVING!  Don’t fall over the HURDLES, push through with all you got, and BEAT every one!  I read this quote from my planner this morning that I found perfect for today.

I’m loving the Christmas season and excited to make my holiday treats and go to 9 different holiday events over the next 10 days!

Say Hello to friends you know and everyone you Meet!  Gratitude and Fresh Fallen snow is my wish for Christmas this year!

Food for the day:  Oatmeal, vegetables, and fruit!!!  It’s that easy!

Treadmill and Bootcamp KICKERS

Hi all!  I have a few minutes this morning to post a couple workouts I came up with on my trip.  I hope they are HARD.  Exercising in serious humidity made me feel like I was a MACHINE!!  I was dripping!  Here is the BOOT CAMP!!!

50, 40, 30, 20

Complete four rounds of the following exercises.  Start the 1st round with 50 reps, 2nd round 40, 3rd round 30, and last round 20 reps of everything!!!  You’ll feel awesome because you get the hard stuff in FIRST!!  It’s all MENTAL!

BURPEES

WALKING LUNGES WITH WEIGHTS (Double the reps.  The first half do straight walking lunges and the second half cross your front leg over the other leg as you step down.  This works your BUTT more).

OVERHEAD PRESSES

SITUPS

PUSHUPS

DEAD LIFTS (Hamstrings)

SKULL CRUSHERS (Triceps)

3 SET OF LADDERS OR HIGH KNEES

Finish with 3 sets of 2 minute planks

There are NO cool pictures of people running on a treadmill!  Probably because it isn’t cool.  I don’t mind the treadmill.  I play little games with my speed to make it interesting.  It was cool to run on the cruise ship.  It felt a little funny, but the view was beautiful.  I felt like I was running on the WAVES!!!  Here it is:

5 MILE TREADMILL WORKOUT (45 minutes)

Warm up for 2 minutes

1 minute at 6.0

2 minutes at 6.5

2 minutes at 7.0

2 minutes at 7.5

1 minute at 8.0

1 minute at 8.5

1 minute at 9.0

2 minutes at 7.5

2 minutes at 7.0

2 minutes at 6.5

1 minute 9.5

REPEAT

This should get you to about 4 1/2 miles.  Sprint the last 1/2 mile.  I ran between an 8 and 9.

I finished with a few weights (12-15 lbs):

Complete each exercise 3 X’s.

15 High Sumo

15 Lateral Raises

15 Front Raises

20 Tricep Dips

20 Situps

20 Side Ups (R)

20 Side Ups (L)

20 Supermans

That’s all FOLKS!!!  TIme to get REALLY motivated with my DIET, starting TOMORROW 🙂 Here’s a bit of MOTIVATION!!!

 

And, I just like this SONG *  Have a GOOD day!!

300 sit ups and 3 ways to keep you motivated!

Here are a few of my favorite motivators:

Pictures of Healthy People

Clothes that I feel good in

Positive comments from others 

  Here is an example of one of my favorite healthy pictures!

Today I tried an AB challenge.  I wrote that I’d do 1000 sit ups the other day.  This morning, I had 10 minutes so I thought I’d see how many I could do.  I did 300, but I finished around 11 1/2 minutes.  Very fun!  I’ll get to 1000 someday.

This quote makes me happy too!  Have a wonderful weekend!!

Solution to stress…play!

As we near the final stretch of summer, I have to remind myself to…CHILL!!  I feel like we are on one BIG LONG vacation.  Normally, I am a very positive person, however I have 2 pet peeves I was thinking about yesterday that need some SOLUTIONS.

#1 Unreliable people

#2 Disorder

I expect a lot from myself.  I keep a pretty fast pace and thrive on getting tasks done.  I assume all others are the same…ha ha ha!  Sometimes in conversations with my husband I tell him, “I’m just normal.”  He constantly tells me, YOU ARE NOT NORMAL!!  Hmm, is that a compliment?  I think so.  When I commit to something, I keep my commitment.  I have been known with my family to not show enough sympathy.  When a case of the “whines” and “I cant’s” hit our home, my medicine is, “you are fine and stop complaining.”  We ALL have ENORMOUSLY busy lives filled with heartaches and frustrations.  I prefer the I’M TOUGHER THAN NAILS approach.  You’ll get through it.  Buck up!  (:  I add lots of LOVE, really I do!

Pet Peeve #2 is a curse in some ways.  Disorder.  I have tried to change myself and let the kids go at it with the house.  It didn’t work, I wanted to pull my hair out at the end of the day.  Disorder is summer’s middle name!  Hence, I’m having difficulties as we near the final stretches of the season.  The other day at dinner my kids were ratting me out!  My oldest son was imitating my loud words towards my younger son.  I said something like, “Stop being so annoying or you are going home and I’ll be happy about it!”  My daughter said something funny too.  She said, “Mom, you don’t get mad, you just YELL.”  I think I need more sleep.  Well, I DID close the door to my daughter’s room, turned my ipod on, grabbed a big garbage bag and COMPLETELY cleaned every inch of her room.  I FELT SO MUCH BETTER!!!  Here is the final product.  I would have done a BEFORE picture, but that would have been EMBARRASSING!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The BEST solution to silly pet peeves and stresses is my very favorite activity, EXERCISE!!  I know that’s boring and everyone knows that, but more than exercise, we need to PLAY!!!  Yes, I loved my AWESOME body combat class this morning.  I can ZONE out and FORGET the many pressures on my mind.  It relaxes me.

More than my normal exercise routine however, it’s when I take the time to roll down a hill with my kids that gives me greater JOY!!  Last night we had a church activity with the youth where we went ICE BLOCKING!!  First of all the summer evening was so BEAUTIFUL!  I love being outside.  We had so much fun sliding down the hill, SUPER FAST and then I tricked them into exercise by telling them to run up the hill with the ice blocks and BEAR CRAWL down the hill.  It put a smile on everyone’s face!!

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUST ROLL WITH IT!!!

*GOOD TIMES*

Is Competition good or bad?

With the 2012 OLYMPICS well under way I’m trying to keep up with the latest stats on athletes and events.  I was talking with a friend the other day about the meaning of COMPETITION and whether it is good or bad.  What could be better than groups of athletes pushing and striving for the best within themselves and then challenging the same from their rivalry.  I THRIVE and am PUSHED by STRONG, MOTIVATING people!!!

On the flip side, we have all seen and heard stories of competition in sports, politics, work, and more where people can be deceitful, manipulative, and completely vicious.  Competition is good when both sides are giving their very best and when it’s all over they can walk away certainly heartbroken on the losing side, but never cruel and unsportsmanlike.  Lessons can be learned from hard work and COMPETITIVENESS!

Here is my “story time”.  I’ve never liked to be beaten and I’ve always strived to be better than I am.  It can be a little bit of a perfectionist/OCD curse at times.  I LOVE GYMNASTICS!!  When I was 11 or 12 I spent a lot of time at Gymnastics World, running around doing flips on the bars, floor, and balance beam.  My Mom always wondered where I got this skill.  I was not like anyone in our family.  I worked hard.  I enjoyed sweating and giving it my all.  I secretly liked being faster than the others.

One time, I had just moved up a class and was OBVIOUSLY not the best in the class, in fact I couldn’t do most of the things they were doing.  After a very tiring practice which included hundreds of situps and pushups we sat around our coach at the end to hear his “pep talk”.  He started in with the usual pumped up speech and then asked the question, “Who do you think is the best gymnast in our class?”  I thought of names in my head of the best girls in the class.  And then, to my surprise and shock, he said…MY NAME!!  I was a little embarrassed because I knew it wasn’t true!  Why did he say it was ME!  He went on to explain that I was the one who gave it 110%.  I was on time, worked my hardest, and finished everything I was asked to do without complaining.  I’ve remembered this experience and tried to use it in everything I learn in life.

ALWAYS give your ALL.  Look within YOURSELF and GO BEYOND what you think you can do.  If you think you can only do 25 pushups, get there and go to 35.  NEVER SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LOWER!  Our minds play tricks on our bodies and sometimes we have a battle going on in there telling us it can’t be so.  IGNORE IT!  Listen to the voice that says ONE MORE, KEEP GOING, YOU ARE STONG!  If someone tells me I can’t do something, I say, BRING IT!  FUEL the FIRE all the more!  GO USA!!!