Tag Archives: stability ball

My New Happy Hour

March 7, 2014 Kim 66 Comments

Today’s 44 was similar to a move that Jody shared on Instagram recently. She did an oblique crunch on the stability ball – doing all reps to the same side before switching.

I changed up the move some and don’t look nearly as graceful as Jody but…..

You can sort of tell that I did more of a reach and I alternated sides. I did count a right and left as 1 rep so it was actually 88 crunches to complete the 44.

Today is more running – nice and easy to make sure that my Achilles is OK after the pain the other day. (chronic injury – have to baby it sometime!!) I’m trying to keep my mileage up because this month Taylor has a fun March challenge. The challenge is to get at least 31 miles of walking or running BUT if you already do that then it was to pick a number that would be a good challenge.

My goal for March is 150 miles of running. That isn’t much for a lot of people but for me that is a very high mileage month!!!

So……last night while making dinner, I also made this –

2 days in, did I already fail on giving up my Happy Hour???

Nope!!! Because that is actually….

It’s just Crystal Light in a fun glass!!

Part of why I enjoy my evening cocktail is because I love my fun glasses – I have a collection of Martini glasses all around my kitchen soffit and they are just fun to use. I decided that I can still use the glasses – just with a different type of drink.

And, the beauty of my Crystal Lighttini is that it is only 5 calories!!!

So, I can still have fun drinks and give up wine/cocktails – it’s a WIN!!!

Happy Friday!!

Kim

FYI – this is NOT a sponsored post. I just happened to have Crystal Light in my pantry and decided to make some for “happy hour.”

Butt, Core, Fitness

The Gift of a New Day

February 9, 2014 Kim 54 Comments

Today for my 44 I decided to take a move that I’ve done on the floor and do it on a stability ball. I started in plank –

From here I did alternating lunges –

Not gonna lie – holding plank on the ball was a challenge and then doing a total of 44 lunges with each leg – HARD!!!!

Since today was a day off with the Michelle Bridges program, I did one of my all-time favorites – Les Mills Pump – Combat. I love this workout!!! 45 minutes of punching and kicking that goes by so quickly and I always feel like I got a good workout afterwards!!

This morning I realized that I need to get back to waking up and being excited for the day ahead instead of being so consumed by my To-Do list. I need to appreciate the beauty that I have every morning when I wake up and have an entire day ahead of me to use however I want.

Each day is like a gift – a clean slate full of hours to use any way we choose!!!!

I am choosing to close out each day at the end of it and start fresh each morning! Instead of carrying things over from the previous day, each morning will be a completely fresh start!!!

I think that far to often I go to bed feeling like I didn’t accomplish enough or that I wasted time and then I wake up feeling the same way and it sets a negative tone for the entire day. However, I’m choosing to focus on the beauty and newness of each day and let go of the mistakes from the day before!!!

What a great idea – don’t count the days and don’t dread the days!!!

Make each day count because it really is a gift!!!

It truly is a new day which means the possibilities are only limited by the choices I make.

Today (and each new today), I choose to start fresh and live the day to the max – enjoying each new exciting challenge that comes my way!!! Bring it!!!

Happy Sunday!!! It’s a new day!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

How Do You Manage the Spam?

January 25, 2014 Kim 51 Comments

Today for my 44 I took a move that I’ve done on the floor (plank rolls) and added a stability ball to make it a little more challenging. A plank roll is just holding plank and rolling your feet so your head goes forward and back.

And for some reason this morning I guess I thought I had reverse aged because I got to 40 and stopped. Oops – good thing I realized it in time to fix it and do all 44 reps!!

I did one of my 10 Minute Solution DVDs – Ultimate Boot Camp. By doing all 5 sections it ended up being a good full body workout in under an hour!!

Oh, wait – wrong kind of SPAM!!!

Do you ever feel like Spam is completely out of control?! The email spam is one thing but thankfully most of it goes right into my junk folder and I never even see it.

However, the SPAM on my blog is

I have Akismet which keeps most of it from ever getting onto the actual site so that’s good.

But, I still have a problem – I try to check it and empty it several times a day but the number of spam messages is easily over 1,000 a day.

Here is my problem – I try to go through because I know every once in awhile a comment that isn’t spam ends up in there and I hate to delete anything that someone legitimately took the time to write. At the same time I feel like I’m spending a LOT of time going through it every day!!!

How do you deal with spam? Do you scroll through all of it before you empty it?

Happy Saturday – I’m off to spend the day with a bunch of brides!!!

Kim

Chest, Core, Fitness, Running, Treadmill

Some Friday Favorites

January 24, 2014 Kim 81 Comments

For my 44 today I went with a move that Debbie @ Live from La Quinta had in a post the other day about balance. I figure I might not have balance in all areas of my life but I can work on my actual balance!!!

I did a 1 arm chest press on the stability ball.

I did all 44 reps on the right side and then switched and did 44 more because it’s all about balance!!!

It might seem like it is easier to do 1 arm at a time but you really do have to work on the balance and hold tighter with your core so you don’t roll off the ball. I used 15 pounds and that was just enough to make the last 5 reps or so really difficult!!!

And, I did another run (4 in 1 week!!!) – 1.5% incline for 8 miles at 7:30 pace then an easy cool down mile.

The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorite movies and like Julie Andrews says, “I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad!!!”

I love our new dishwasher!!

The fact that the buttons are on the top of it is nice because our old one had them right on the front and people were always leaning against it and turning it on!!! Plus – check out the 3 racks –

Look how cool the top rack is – it holds all of those big utensils – I love it!!!

Another kitchen appliance that I love is my Ninja Crock Pot!!! (I actually love all of my crock pots and use them often.)

The really cool thing about this one is that you can use it in other ways besides just a slow cooker. The feature I love is the stove-top cooking one.

So, I don’t have to use a skillet to sauté onions or brown meat – I just do it in the Ninja – it’s genius!!!

And, I haven’t watched as much college basketball as I normally do but the other night my favorite team did this –

Pretty big deal for Texas to beat Kansas since I actually live in Kansas!!!

My final favorite today is this cool YouTube video that Jordan put together for me.

I wanted to have some kind of picture display for the Bridal Fair this weekend and Jordan took care of it for me!!!

What is one of your favorites today?

Happy Friday!!

Kim

Butt, Fitness, Power Moves, Quad

A Sherpa Wife I’m Not

January 22, 2014 Kim 86 Comments

Today I did a single leg power hop with my opposite foot on a stability ball for my 44.

And, I’m completely aware that I look like a total goof in the video – I had already done 44 reps on each side and that was the 2nd attempt at a video so 20 extra reps!!!! Plus, I’m just not that coordinated!!! The good news is I still got a major quad burn by the time I was done!!!

I did Cathe – Turbo Barre today. Yikes!!! I always forget how challenging that workout is! It is 75 minutes of high reps – my hips are going to be sore but it’s good with the extra running!!!

If you know Lindsay over at Cotter Crunch you know that she is the epitome of a Sherpa wife!!! Her husband is a professional triathlete and she does everything in her power to help him and make his life and training as successful as possible. I admire her in many ways!!

However, I don’t think that I will ever be considered a sherpa of any sort. I want to be supportive and helpful and do OK right up until someone (like my husband) is sick. And then it’s an epic fail!!!!

Umm….yep, this is pretty much my mentality!!! Rude isn’t it?!

Especially when you consider the fact that when I’m sick Chris is all about taking care of me!!!

I want to be more compassionate and I try but I always end up reverting back to the “suck it up” thing. I would like to say that it causes me stress when Chris is sick and that is just how I deal with it but I think what it comes down to is I’m more selfish than I should be.

Maybe I should shadow Lindsay for a day or year or so (cause that’s not creepy at all!!!).

Are you a sherpa? Does your husband wait on you when you are sick?

Happy Wednesday!!!

Kim

PS – after yesterday’s post about clothes and all I thought I would show you a picture of what I wore yesterday to run a ton of errands.

standard winter attire – yoga pants and a fleece top

I did wear shoes and not fuzzy socks!!! Considering that it was about 7 degrees while I was out, I don’t feel at all bad. And, I was super productive yesterday and made it through my entire “To Do” list!!!

Day With KT