Category Archives: Back

Back, Chest, Fitness, Hamstrings, Push-Ups, Running

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

May 31, 2014 Kim 48 Comments

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 –

Sunday 5/25 – 44 elevated plank with extended arm and opposite arm 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!

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!!!

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.

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

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)

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

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).

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.

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

Back, Butt, Core, Fitness, Plank, Running

A Lighter Week in Anticipation of the Big Race!! (5/4 – 5/10)

May 10, 2014 Kim 39 Comments

This week was a much lighter kind of week for me because I wanted to rest my legs as much as possible since today is the big day!!!

Sunday 5/4 – 44 plank on stability ball with knee to elbow.

I did all 44 with my right knee and then switched and did 44 more!!

Just holding plank on the stability ball was hard – pulling my knees in was brutal!!!

Monday 5/5 –44 supermans on stability ball with alternate leg lifts. A right leg lift with superman and a left leg lift = 1 rep.

ready - the easy part — ready – the easy part

This was a walking day – 5 miles at 7.5% incline in 75 minutes. I wanted to do something but nothing too challenging!!

Tuesday 5/6 – 44 medicine ball crunches on a stability ball.

Pilates was a good choice for a workout that wasn’t too difficult – Burn and Firm Pilates.

Wednesday 5/7 – 44 reverse crunches with the stability ball under my legs.

Not gonna lie – just holding onto the ball was a challenge!!!

And, because I was super excited about the new shoes I received on Tuesday (I won some Mizuno Hitogamis from Jacqueline @ Skinny Chick Blog), I had to get a run in.

Just 3 miles nice and easy (25:25) with another 0.75 to cool down. I think I’m going to enjoy these shoes for lighter runs/speed work.

Thursday 5/8 – 44 hip raises on stability ball.

This is one of those moves that seems like it will be easy but you will definitely feel it after a few reps!!!

I took the day off from working out – trying to rest my legs some and I knew that I was going to spend about 4-5 hours on my feet cleaning and ironing at our venue so I decided to skip my normal workout.

Friday 5/9 – 44 stability ball squats – barely touch the ball with your butt and come up just a few inches so that you are in a squat the entire time – OUCH!!!

Saturday 5/10 –44 crunch reaches. I needed something quick and easy and this was perfect!!

Today I will spend most of my day here –

The race starts at 6:00 am and hopefully I will be done before 4:00 pm but no matter how long it takes –

Happy Saturday!

Kim

Back, Biceps, Cardio, Core, Fitness, Hamstrings, Plyo, Running, Shoulders, Treadmill

Daily Moves 3/16 – 3/22

March 22, 2014 Kim 44 Comments

It might take me awhile to figure out how I want to do my Daily 44s since I’m not posting every day!!

Sunday 3/16 – 44 Squat thrust with 4 plank jacks

No other workout – Sunday is usually my day off if I take one for the week.

Monday 3/17 – 44 seated row with band

I ran 11 miles in 88:07 followed by an easy cool down mile.

Tuesday 3/18 – 44 windshield wipers with bender ball. This move is awesome for your entire core!!!

I counted a right – left as 1 rep. Not gonna lie – this move was hard for me!! I guess my core/obliques need more work!!!

Another long run (trying to get used to running on tired legs!) – 12 miles in 95:36 followed by 2 easy miles.

Wednesday 3/19 – 44 hammer curls while standing on wobble balls.

I used 10 pound dumbbells which was about as heavy as I could handle for that many reps.

I pulled out another DVD that I haven’t done in a long time – Shape Sculpt Your Abs. I did the entire 60 minutes plus the 12 minute bonus. I like that even though the title implies that it is just an Ab workout, it is really a full body workout!!!

Thursday 3/20 – 44 side lying hip abductions. This move was thanks to Nellie (Brooklyn Active Mama) and her Weekly Wednesday Workout. I have done a move similar before but this one had a slight variation – when you lift your leg, you pull it slightly back.

It didn’t take very many of these to feel it in my hip and outer thighs!!! And, you know I don’t want to be unbalanced so I flipped over and did 44 more!

I also got in my 3rd run of the week. 8 miles in 62:13 followed by 1.6 miles nice and easy!!!

Friday 3/21 – 44 Jefferson Dead Lifts. This move was brand new to me and I liked it OK since I like to find new things to try for my daily moves but I’m not sure I would do it regularly. I saw it on Tamara’s (Fitknitchick) Facebook page the other night and thought it would be fun!

You can see in the picture that the grip is different from a standard grip with one hand facing out and the other in.

I decided that since it seemed like one side was working a little differently I should flip around and do another set of 44 the other way.

I think that I prefer the straight leg dead lift to really target my hamstrings and butt!!

I did a new workout that I just won from Kim (BusyBod) “Thanks, Kim!!!” – The MashUP Conditioning DVD. This workout was intense!!! The idea is to work the entire body in a short time (longer if you combine segments). Each 15 minute segment consists of 3 parts – 5 minutes of strength based moves (also some agility involved). This is 5 moves for 1 minute each!

The next section was HIIT – 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off for 5 minutes. I’ve never done HIIT with that long of a rest but it was kind of nice.

The final 5 minutes was the mind/body connection – 5 primarily core moves for 1 minute each and you were encouraged to stretch as needed.

I did 2 (there are 7 total) of the Tempo segments for a 30 minute intense workout!!

Saturday 3/22 – 44 jump squats onto wobble balls. You know I’m loving my wobble balls and this was a fun way to do some jump squats!!!

I tried flipping them over and really working my balance but after nearly twisting my ankle twice I decided that it was challenging enough the way I did it!!!

And, I ran again this morning!!! 8 miles in 56:52 plus 2.2 easy miles. Today for the HappyFitMarch challenge we were supposed to run a mile and compare it to the past 3 Saturdays. I used my 8th mile today (I’ve been using my first mile which is never my fastest!) – 6:00 for the final mile.

Overall, it was a great week of 44s and working out!! I ran 4 out of 7 days for a total of 31 miles plus 6.8 easy miles.

Did you do any new moves or workouts this week?

Happy Saturday!!

Kim

Back, Core, Fitness, Running, Uncategorized

Day With KT Is Evolving

March 17, 2014 Kim 122 Comments

Today’s 44 was a row with a band. Loop the band around your feet and sit back in a semi-reclined position –

On the row, you really squeeze your shoulder blades together to feel the move. By reclining a little, you can add in some core work – always a bonus!

I also got in a nice long run!! I did 11 miles (88:07) + a nice easy cool down mile. Since this week is spring break I have a little extra time in the mornings so I’m going to try and get several long runs!

I think that everything in life is constantly changing or evolving otherwise it becomes stagnant.

Carla Binberg (the former MizFit) has been doing a series on change the past few weeks which has really resonated with me. Change can be a great thing and it can keep us moving forward in our lives and toward our goals.

Lately I have alluded to the fact that I need to make some changes in regards to my blog. I wrote about how hard decisions can be and then yesterday I talked about staying true to my “why.” I have also been really focusing on the THINK acronym and I know that a lot of what I post isn’t helpful, inspiring or necessary!!!

The one thing I know is that I have way to many blog friends (and the list has grown since that September post!!!) to walk away from my little space.

So after a LOT of thought I have decided it is time for a change over here!

I have posted 547 consecutive days and loved almost every minute of it!! However, I’ve decided that it is time for me to back off and I am going to go to a lighter posting schedule (probably 3 week days but it might be 4 some weeks!) with a Daily 44 recap of the week on the weekend. It is odd for me to not start every post with my daily move and I might continue that at least for awhile – small changes might be easier!!!

I think/hope that by cutting down on posts I will be able to focus more on having quality posts and also read and comment on other blogs the way I really want to!!!

I figure this will either take away some stress in my life or I will have major withdrawals from my daily blogging and then I will just How has you blog evolved since you started blogging? Was it hard or easy to make changes?

Happy Monday!!

Kim

Back, Fitness, Plank, Running, Treadmill

Decisions

March 15, 2014 Kim 33 Comments

Today’s 44 was a great move but it was HARD!!! I did an elevated plank with a KettleBell row.

Just holding the one arm plank was a challenge and then rowing with a 20 pound KettleBell made it really hard!!!

Great – now Hunter is going to be off balance!!! Oh, well, he had already done 50 push-ups so he was tired!!!

I also ran today. The Saturday challenge for #HappyFitMarch is to run a mile and compare it to the previous Saturday’s times. I have been counting my first mile the past few weeks but I think that the next 2 weeks I will count my last miles since I prefer to start out slower and then speed up.

Today I did the same thing that I did last Saturday – timed my first mile out of a 10K.

Last Saturday’s times –

Not much different but…..

Making decisions is sometimes hard. I’m usually a fairly decisive person and don’t tend to dink around with things. However, sometimes I have a difficult time with things that seem like they should be no big deal.