Cardio Day- Get up and move that body

Here is another day to a new week. I love Sundays- as that is my body's day of rest from the previous week of workouts and muscle's being used to their maximum. Love and hate it!

This morning began with my usual 5 minute warm-up and then stretches to get me going. I then did 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill. Today I walked at a 12 incline and switched to a 3 incline. I did that for the 30 minutes. I usually walked at the 3 incline for 1-2 minutes. I was really dripping with sweat towards the end. It felt wonderful! I then ended with 1 minute of v-sit crunches and then 50 bicycle crunches. My abs were burning at the end. I could hardly do a crunch. I then ended with the superman and stretches.

I feel great! I have decided to go vegetarian for a month. I found a book called "Food is a Wonder Medicine" The power to heal is on your plate. It is based on the New Four Food Groups which are: Grains, Vegetables, Fruits and Legumes. This is all the foods that I have in my food storage, so why not use them. I will have to buy fresh fruits and veggies, but I have all the grains and legumes. I will convert to soy milk and tofu instead of cheese, milk, butter and eggs. I am looking forward to this new change.

"Be all you can Be" and "Become what you used to Be"

Arms Day!

Good Morning,
Today was working out the arms day. Here is my routine. Enjoy!

Warmup- Run 3 minutes on treadmill
Stretches: Lower-back, seated hamstring stretch, straddle stretch(middle, left and right), Right and left hamstring stretch, gluteal stretch.

Arms: Push-ups x10(regular), pull-ups(wide grip)x10, push-ups (wide)x10, pull-ups(close grip)x10, push-up(close)x5, pull-ups(alternate grip)x10

Cardio: Run 3 minutes on treadmill

Triceps: Dips x10, bi-cep curls 7-7-7(blue bands), plank for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times. The last plank I held for 1 minute.

Shoulders: Blue Bands (golds gym)
Lateral Raise x10, shoulder press x10, squat row x12, chest fly x12- repeat 3 times. Squat row and chest fly I use a black and pink band together.

Abs: V-sit with going side to side for one minute. Bicycle for 30 seconds.

Stretches: Superman x10 on each side, straddle stretches, right and left gluteal stretch, lower back stretch, left and right quad stretch.

Protein Shake: 3 T. protein powder, 1 cup water, 1/2 c. blueberries, 2 scoops fiberwise(melaleuca brand of a metamucil)

Cardio Day

Okay, it is a must for me to do some sort of cardio everyday- Today I chose to do treadmill cardio. Here is my routine:

Warm-up- 5 minutes
Stretches: lower-back stretch, seated hamstring stretch, straddle stretch, left and right straddle stretch, right and left hamstring stretch, gluteal stretch, lower-back stretch, right and left quad stretch, upper body stretch, arm circles, shrugs and neck turns

Cardio: walk/jog on treadmill for 25 minutes.

Cooldown: about 2-5 minutes it depended on how long I was jogging as to how long I need to get my breathing back to normal.

Crunches: 50

Superman: 20

Back to Boot Camp

Good Morning and what a great start to the week. This is the 4th week into the New Year and the future looks bright. I have been trying to stay on track with an exercise routine. Have had a few mishaps, but by the end of the month I should be back to a routine that will have me working out 6 days a week- cardio and strength training, so it should be fun. Here is my routine as of last week.

Monday*Wednesday*Friday

Warm-up- 10 minutes on Treadmill
Stretches: lower back stretch, seated hamstring stretch, straddle stretch, left straddle stretch, right straddle stretch, right hamstring stretch, left hamstring stretch, gluteal stretch.

Arms: Push-ups X10, stretch, Pull-ups X10, stretch, repeat 3 times. ON the last set of pushups I do till failure.

Cardio: 10 minutes on treadmill (running or incline of 12)

Tri-ceps: Dips X10, Plank X30 seconds, BiCep Curls X10, repeat each exercise 3 times. The last plank I hold as long as I can.

Shoulders: These are used with bands
Shoulder Raise X10, Squat Row X10, Shoulder Ups X10, Chest Fly X10- repeat 3 times

Abs: Crunches till failure or V sit till failure

Stretches: Superman, left straddle stretch, right straddle stretch, left gluteal stretch, right gluteal stretch, lower back stretch, left and right quad stretch.

It's over! Drink a protein shake, shower and begin your day! Remember to EAT CLEAN!!!!

It's a New Year w/ new goals and progress

Well as you can see I crashed after November. I continued working with my trainer till Decmember 17th and then I did absolutely nothing. After my big loss in November I didn't follow any eating plan and I gained all my weight back and then some. Yikes. I am a true believer now that a healthy lifestyle is 90% diet and 10% exercise. So, here I go again. I do feel more energized since starting an exercise progam in September and I am stronger. I just need to be more disciplined in the eating area. No more eating cookie dough, pastries, chocolate, cookies, breads and all the other processed stuff out there in which I poison my body with.

Well here it is the actual evidence that I did nothing the last few weeks and that I did nothing in regards to my eating.

Chest - 40 3/8"
Waist - 37 1/2"
Hips - 40 1/2"
Thigh - 23 1/2"
Calve - 15 1/2"
weight- 180.8 (gain of 6 lbs since November 2010)

Exercise- Tae Bo Cardio- 44 minutes

Using a Personal Trainer pays off!

So, if any of you are waivering on if to find a personal trainer- I say "go for it". You will not be dissapointed. My husband did just that back in September and the results are amazing. You get pushed to fatigue and it feels great. Yes, I do feel like I want to die or throw up, which I have by the way- thrown up- not die.

The workouts are hard, but you feel better about yourself and you feel as if you have accomplished something beyond your potential. You push yourself beyond your comfort zone and it feels good.

Our trainer uses no expensive machines. She brings an exercise ball, medicine ball and some strength bands and that is it. We use our own body weight to lose weight- it's true! We do pushups, pullups, lots of core exercises, bench dips, shoulder presses, bicep, tricep curls, core exercises, ab exercises- did I mention core exercises, and lots of wall sits (ouch!). It is all good.

Here is my progress from the last 3 months.

Upper Arm- 11 3/4(sep), 11 1/2(Oct), 11 1/2(Nov)
Chest- 43 (sep), 42 (oct), 40 3/4 (nov)
Waist- 37 1/4 (sep), 36 1/2 (oct), 34 1/2 (nov)******3 inches********
Abd- 41 1/2 (sep), 39 1/4 (oct), 36 1/2 (nov)******5 inches********
Hips- 40 3/4 (sep), 40 3/4 (oct), 40 1/4 (nov)
Thigh- 23 1/2 (sep), 23 1/2 (oct), 23 1/4 (nov)
Calf- 16 (sep), 15 1/2 (oct), 15 1/4 (nov)
weight- 182.8(sep), 184(oct), 174.8 (nov)

I am very pleased with my results. I am working hard to lose another 10 lbs by Christmas.

Sickness continues............

My trainer came by today and I had to tell her the bad news of not being able to work out. My husband told me that he had canceled with her, but I think he just forgot. I told her that we would start again on Monday as I am still sick and in no shape to exercise. She understood and went on her way.

It seems like whenever I start an exercise program I get really sick in the beginning and have to quit because of my illness. This time though I won't give up. Once I am feeling better I will get back on track.

Back in January of 2004- I hired a personal trainer who basically just told us to exercise and got us on a diet plan that worked for her. Once again I got sick and it turned in to pneumonia-plus I had a severe sinus infection and I was sick from January to May. I wasn't allowed outside as the air would bring on my coughing, so I stayed indoors and couldn't do much. We didn't continue with her as she went on to compete in body building and needed all her time to train, so here I am 6 years later trying to get in shape once again. This time is different- because I can see how following a healthy lifestyle brings good benefits.

Here is to healthy eating, healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle!