Furniture as Fitness Equipment (5/25-5/31)

This week I decided to take a basic piece of furniture and use it for all of my daily 44s.  I used one of the little footstools in our basement – 

great piece of fitness equipment!
great piece of fitness equipment!

Sunday 5/25  44 elevated plank with extended arm and opposite arm row.

ready
ready
row
row

Can you tell that my arm is in front of me?  Positioning my arm like that instead of under my shoulder made this move HARD!!!!  And, I had to do a set of 44 with my right arm!

ready
ready
row
row

I think I need to do more planks with my arm out in front – I felt that for days!!!

Monday 5/26  44 triceps dips with hands on my step and feet on the foot stool (so they were higher than my hands).  This move is similar to one that Josie (Yum Yucky) showed recently – advanced tricep dips!!!

ready
ready
down
down

Total burn during this move!!!

I did a fun workout – Prevention 3-2-1.  I like this workout because the format makes the time fly by.  You do 3 minutes of cardio, 2 minutes of strength work and 1 minute of core for 6 segments!!!

Tuesday 5/27  44 split leg dead lift with one foot on the foot stool.

ready
ready
down
down

After finishing one set and having a hip on fire, I had to do 44 on the other side!

ready for side 2
ready for side 2
down
down

I love dead lifts and this was a fun way to do them – the key is make sure that most of your weight is on the leg/foot on the ground!!!  (12 pound dumbbells)

I started back on one of my favorite weight lifting programs – Chalean Extreme – Burn Circuit 1.  (for the record I’m still sore today!!!)

And, after that, it was time for Hunter’s final long run – his best one ever!!!  We continued with our 5 minutes of running/1 minute of walking because he likes that and wants to do that for the half – 10.65 miles in 1:41.26 (average pace 9:31).  

Wednesday 5/28  44 single arm bent over row with one foot on the foot stool and a wobble ball under the foot on the ground.  (12 pounds)

ready
ready
row
row

This week had lots of days that had 2 sets of 44 – always fun!!!

side 2
side 2
row
row

For some reason, I spent all of Tuesday night with a stomach ache so when I got up Wednesday I decided to do something fairly simple – I just walked 8.25 miles with an 11% incline.  (It took just over 2 hours!)

Thursday 5/29  44  hip lifts with feet on the foot stool (toes up).

ready
ready
up and squeeze
up and squeeze

Another day of weight lifting – Chalean Extreme – Burn Circuit 2.  

Friday 5/30  44 push-ups with feet pressed against the side (at the top) of the foot stool.

start position
start position
down
down

And, for the record, Chris took a bit to take the 2nd  picture – pretty sure I said “Holy Hell, take the picture already!!”  This move was HARD!!!!

It was a running day again – 9 miles in 67:47 with 1.5% incline + 2.5 miles easy!!!!

Saturday 5/31  44 box jumps using the foot stool – fun times!!!

And, yesterday when I was reading blogs, Taylor @ Lifting Revolution  had this great Weekend Warrior Workout as well as a statement that I took as a challenge – she said to set a timer for 30-40 minutes for the workout but that “we weren’t going to finish and that’s the point.”  Of course, that meant I had to try it!!!

The workout includes:
     1 mile run
     500 jumping jacks
     400 squats
     300 leg raises
     200 push-ups
     100 burpees (either dead man or with push-up)

The moves can be broken up any way you want to but the plan is to keep moving for the entire time and see how much you can get done.  

Total time – 48:40 broken down to 41:35 for the moves + 7:05 for the mile.  I did all the push-ups on my toes and deadman burpees for all of them.

Pretty sure that I will be moving slowly the rest of the weekend after that workout!!!

Do you ever use furniture for your workouts?

Happy Saturday!!

Kim

There Are Some Things I Just Don’t Get

There are lots of things I don’t think I will ever understand!

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1.  How can a 15 year old boy sleep over 12 hours day after day?!Screen Shot 2014-05-29 at 8.35.04 PM

2.  How is it possible that no matter what road I take, no matter what time of day it is I always get behind someone who refuses to drive even close to the speed limit?  Yesterday I followed a guy who literally drove between 15 & 20 mph when the speed limit was 35 (which, of course, means I prefer to drive 40!!).

Screen Shot 2014-05-29 at 8.39.25 PM3.  How can I be cold all day (unless I’m running or laying out!) and hot all night?!

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4.  How come I can remember trivial information that is pretty much totally useless but the things I really need to remember I have to write down if I hope to ever think of it again?

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5.  How could I be anything but happy today?!  It’s Friday and after I finish cleaning and ironing  at the venue this morning my weekend will pretty much be started!!!

Screen Shot 2014-05-29 at 8.49.42 PMWhat things baffle you?

Happy Fun Friday!

Kim 

Asian Shrimp Noodles

I could probably eat pasta every single day!!!  I love having pasta mixed with flavors besides traditional Italian ones.

This dish is such a great combination of flavors and the fact that it can be eaten cold makes it perfect for summer!!!

Asian Shrimp NoodlesIngredients:
Angel hair pasta – cooked
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/3 c honey
2 T rice vinegar
2 T sesame oil (this ingredient makes the dish!!!)
2 T soy sauce
1 t ginger
1 pound shrimp
carrots, thinly sliced
snap peas
1 red pepper, sliced
1/2 c green onions, chopped
cilantro, minced (handful)
salted peanuts (about 1 cup)

For the dressing, whisk the oil, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger.

dressing
dressing
ingredients all prepped
ingredients all prepped

Combine pasta and all chopped veggies.   Sprinkle peanuts on top.

before mixing
before mixing

Pour dressing over all and mix well.  Refrigerate until serving.

This was a huge hit with the entire family – I’m sure we will have this again!!!

Sometimes Sore Is Good…

Not long ago I made the comment that I rarely get sore.

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I thought that last week I did a pretty good job of easing back into strength work and that I would be ready to really hit it hard this week!!

Umm….I can barely lift my arms above my head after a couple of tough workouts this week!!!

Screen Shot 2014-05-27 at 9.21.35 PM

It has been a long time since I felt like this and I can’t decide if it is another (in a long list) sign that I’m getting old(er) or just because I took an extended break from serious strength work. (I think I will go with the last choice!!!)

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I guess I will just call it a success and hope that I can move my arms on Thursday when I have to clean, set-up and iron all day!!! 

Do you ever get sore?

For me it really is a rare thing – even when I do new moves or up my weights I’m usually not sore.

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

18 Years Ago

May 25, 1996 – The Day We Said, “I Do.”

Look how young we were!!
Look how young we were!!

A lot has happened in the past 18 years!!!

*  We have moved 6 times.

*  We have 2 incredible boys!

Jordan - dressed up for HS graduation
Jordan – dressed up for HS graduation
Hunter - in his standard neon yellow
Hunter – in his standard neon yellow

*  We have buried all 4 of our grandmas, my Poppa, and both of Chris’ parents – thankful for the time we had with all of them.

*  We have cried.

*  We have laughed!!!

*  We bought a business!

the day we closed
the day we closed

*  We have had good days and bad days.

*  We have loved each other every day!

18 years
18 years

Here’s to the next 18 years!!!

Happy Monday!

Kim