My Pre-Halloween Scare

October 31, 2013 Kim 54 Comments

Today I did a new (to me) move and it was hard. It is a reverse arm raise (you raise your arms behind you).

raise arms behind - squeeze shoulder blades together — raise arms behind – squeeze shoulder blades together

This was hard -I just used 5 pound dumbbells and it was still a challenge. The hard part was not just letting my arms fall but trying to control the move on the way back down.

For Garage Boot Camp we did one of my favorites – 25 in 1 Boot Camp. After we did 3 rounds using the full minute (so there was a little break), I challenged the group to do the 4th round with no breaks – just 25 reps of each as quickly as possible. This was a great way to really push hard at the end of the workout!!!

Yesterday I felt a bit like Scooby and Shaggy! I had to go over to our venue (the Governor’s Row House) for just a minute. When I got there and walked up the porch, the front door was wide open!

Now, Chris and I are the only ones who have keys (I know this because I had the locks changed after we bought it) and his car wasn’t in the parking lot (he was at work!) so the door should not have been opened.

Not cool at all!!! Actually pretty scary!

Turns out, 1 of our 3 tenants (there are 3 apartments up above the actual venue) found a way into the house and decided to go through the house instead of the side entrance to move her stuff out. (Hmmm….you think there is a reason we gave her notice at the beginning of the month?!)

A quick call to Chris (who called our lawyer), a dead-bolt installation and now I feel a little safer.

Amazing how violated I felt at the fact that this girl (and several people I had never met) plus the girl’s dog, were all tracking in and out of my place without me knowing about it.

I’m hoping that today is just full of treats – no more tricks (or scares) for me please!!!

Happy Thursday and Happy Halloween!!

Kim

Boot Camp

25 in 1 Boot Camp

October 31, 2013 Kim 8 Comments

This boot camp is originally from summer beach boot camps but I guess I never posted it (oops!).

This one is fun and great for a group because it is self-paced. It is just 8 moves and the goal is to get 25 reps in a minute. The first 4 moves are nice because you usually get a bit of a break. The last 4 take a bit longer!

I love time challenges and this one is pretty fun!!

Butt, Calves, Core, Fitness, Hamstrings, Running, Shoulders, Treadmill

Where’s the Easy Button???

October 30, 2013 Kim 80 Comments

Today’s 44 was fun because not only was it a good move to tighten the butt/hamstring area but it was a great calf stretch – always a necessary thing!!!

I did a donkey kick from downward dog. Start in downward dog position:

Pull the knee in as close to your chest as possible (good for the abs) and then kick your foot back – repeat x 44. Then switch sides and start again!

This move went quickly – definitely one that I will do again!!!

Today I ran – always a happy thing. I did 5 miles just under 7 minutes/mile (34:44) and then 2.25 more miles at a nice easy pace with a steeper incline.

I need an easy button!!! Or maybe I need to be like Sam in Bewitched

and just be able to wiggle my nose and take care of everything!!! (Although, if I remember correctly, it didn’t always work out that well for her!)

Lately, it seems that everything takes 10x longer than I expect it to and every time I turn around there is a new problem/issue to deal with.

I know it’s just a phase and things will level out (I HOPE!) soon.

In the meantime, I will just suck it up and

HaHa – just kidding!!! (sort-of!)

This eeCard makes me laugh so I’m going with it!

If you have an easy button that you don’t need anymore, feel free to send it my way – I will return it as soon as possible!!!

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

Core, Fitness

The Ebb and Flow of Friendships

October 29, 2013 Kim 85 Comments

Today’s 44 was a move fairly new move for me – the Sprawl!!! Start by making yourself a ball, then sprawl out (a big X) with your arms and legs slightly off the ground. Curl back in before repeating.

Clearly not the best place for pictures since my hand is hitting the stair rail – I was just trying to get the pictures done before Chris left for work!!

A few of these and you will really feel it in your core!!

And, for Garage boot camp, I finally put together a new workout!!! Today we did Count Down Boot Camp – not gonna lie, this was a challenge in a great way! Isn’t that what boot camp is all about?!

Friends come in all forms – work friends, social friends, fun friends, best friends and those friends that are closer than family!

As I look back at different points in my life, I can see times when I relied more heavily on certain types of friendships over others.

As new mom, I needed social friends more than anything. I was fortunate to be able to stay home with my boys when they were little but it was hard. There were times when Chris was deployed on or another trip and it was lonely!!! Thankfully I had a group of friends who were also raising young kids and we could plan outings together or escape for a couple of hours without kids in the evenings. During those years, this group of friends was essential.

As our kids got older, we all sort of moved on to other things. I eventually went back to work and spent a lot of time with my work friends. I was very fortunate to work with a great group of people in the office at my boys’ elementary school – we enjoyed spending time together for work and outside of work, too.

I have also been fortunate to have had the kind of friendship that is closer than family because it is 100% choice! In my mind this was a friendship that would never end and we would watch not just each other’s kids grow up but also grandkids.

For years our families spent all of the major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, birthdays….) together.

And then one day things changed. (I’m still not sure why or what happened.) There have been many times over the past year that I have grieved over the loss of this friendship in the same way you grieve over the loss of a loved one.

Over the past year I’ve realized that the number of friends we have isn’t really what matters (most fall into the acquaintance category truthfully!) – it is the quality of the friendships that is what counts!

Some nights I lose sleep over lost friendships – it is hard to completely let go sometimes. However, I try to just treasure the friendships that I have and let those people know as often as possible how much I truly appreciate them.

Friends – some come and some go while others will always be there even after long periods of absence.

Make a point today to let your friends know how much you treasure your friendship!

Happy Tuesday!

Kim

PS – this post ended up being harder to write than I thought it would be so if it doesn’t make complete sense sorry!

Boot Camp

Count Down Boot Camp

October 28, 2013 Kim 29 Comments

It has been quite awhile since I took the time to put together a new boot camp workout. I’m super excited about this workout – it will be a test for all fitness levels.

Make sure you start with a nice easy cardio warm-up followed by some stretching. And, always finish with a good cool down – keep moving until your heart rate has slowed and then plenty of stretching.

If you are time crunched you could just pick one or two of the rounds instead of doing all 4. If you are feeling really high energy – go through the whole thing 2x!!!