Are You a Trivia Master?

January 23, 2013 Kim 5 Comments

Today the 43 was another multi-joint exercise!!! The lower body portion was static – I just held a lunge:

The upper body was to work my triceps. I did kickbacks while staying in a low lunge for the entire 43.

Umm...elbow higher?! — Umm…elbow higher?!

Jordan - take the picture - I'm dying here!!!! — Jordan – take the picture already – I’m dying here!!!!

And, you know, that I have to make sure things stay semi-balanced so I did 43 on each side!!! I used a 12 pound dumbbell for the first 33 with my right arm and then dropped to 10 pounds. On my left, I only got to 28 with the 12 pound weight and then I had to do the last 15 with a 10 pound so that I didn’t sacrifice form. Staying in the lunge the whole time – brutal and awesome!!!

Today was another day of Combat!!!! I did Combat 30 (cardio) and then I decided to try a new one – Core Attack. WOW – 20 minutes of solid core work. By the end when one of the people on the DVD said it was awesome, I’m pretty sure I used a different choice of words for how I was feeling. This was an intense 20 minutes!!!

Last night, Jordan and some of his friends/classmates were recognized at the school board meeting. In the fall, they competed in a National academic competition – Knowledge Master Open (KMO). They placed 1st out of 38 teams in the state of Kansas and 29th out of 508 teams in the nation!!!

Pretty awesome!!! Way to go guys (and girls)!!!! (and did you notice that Jordan is wearing something besides a white T-shirt and white Nike shorts? Rare!!)

The competition is broken into categories – law, government, history, even “useless trivia.”

So, let’s see how many of y’all are current on random facts (you never know when you might need some useless bit of knowledge!).

What quartet arrived in New York City on February 7, 1964?
Where are the Haversian canals?
What distance did the Romans once define as 1,000 paces?

If you can answer any of these I will be super impressed!!! (You thought there was a prize didn’t you?!) The prize is just knowing that you know “stuff”!!!

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

BOSU, Cardio, Fitness, Running, Squats, Treadmill

Unlimited Potential

January 22, 2013 Kim 3 Comments

Today for the 43 I used my BOSU again!!!

Today I used it for cardio, balance and toning all at the same time!!! I started by standing behind the dome, jumped onto it and squatted, jumped off the sides (straddle) into a squat, jumped back on and squatted then stepped off the back for 1 rep.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFsT5a6WHyk’]

The demo is painful (I could not get my balance!!). I found during my actual 43 that if I kept my center of gravity lower (basically stayed in a partial squat) during the jumps, it was easier to stay balanced and do the squats. I enjoyed this 43!!!

I also did Les Mills Combat – Power HIIT. I’m not gonna lie – that work-out seems harder every time I do it!!! Maybe because I know all the exercises and can really push hard the entire 30 minutes. It has things like power press x 20 (which is actually 60 squats with shoulder presses) and I used 15 pound dumbbells for those today!! Burpees with push-ups and up into 2 tuck jumps x about a million! Fun stuff!!!

I wanted to really push myself (I think a couple of lazy days helped me kick my tiny illness and now I’m ready to go hard again!!!) so I decided to hop on my treadmill after the HIIT. (15 degrees outside is way too cold for me to attempt an outdoor run!!!)

4 miles at 1.5 % incline 25:19 (+ an easy 2 total time 48:45)

7:48
6:32
5:46
5:13

It was hard but it felt good to push like that after my pathetic attempt outside the other day. Hopefully it will warm up and I will get back out on the road again this week!!!

Last night on the Biggest Loser, the contestants ran a 5K. Because I am a complete geek – I actually clapped for each of them as they crossed the finish line!!! I love it when they (or anyone for that matter) really dig deep and push themselves to do something they thought was completely impossible!!!

I think we all have unlimited potential – we just have to dig deep to find it and then push ourselves to reach it!!!

This guy has the right idea:

Yesterday was a big day for Hunter!!!

Hunter before braces - nice pic! — Hunter before braces – nice pic!

This morning he told me he is already ready to have them off. Ummm…..soon (like 1.5-2 years!!!). I think they make him look even older than he really is.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Kim

Chicken, Recipes, Soup

White Chicken Chili

January 21, 2013 Kim 2 Comments

Today was cold!!! (not as cold as those really northern states but I’m a Texas girl living in Kansas!) Between the cold, my sore throat and Hunter’s new braces – soup of some sort was on the menu!!! This “chili” was perfect!!!

2 T olive oil
1 package diced, cooked chicken breasts (we get this at Dillons)
1/2 c onion chopped
1 spoonful minced garlic (I’m lazy and buy it in the jar!)
2 cans chicken broth
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 t chili powder
1 t ground cumin
1/4 t salt
1 can Great Northern beans (I never rinse or drain my beans!)
1 can chopped green chilies
1 small carton fat-free Greek yogurt
1/4 c chopped cilantro (or to taste – I love cilantro)

In Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Stir in chicken (mine was still frozen), onions and garlic. Add remaining ingredients except yogurt and cilantro. Mix and let simmer (I let mine simmer about 1 hour – I think soup or chili can never simmer too long!!!). Turn off heat and stir in yogurt and cilantro.

So good!!! Enjoy!!!

Fitness, Thighs

Sometimes People Baffle Me!

January 21, 2013 Kim 5 Comments

For my 43 today, I used my Turbo Fire band to do some leg abductions.

Trust me when I say, my hips and outer thighs were dying before I finished my work-out. I started by stepping on the band and crossing it in front of me as shown below.

I did 43 leg abductions with my right leg, 43 alternating leg abductions, 43 left leg abductions and ended with 43 alternating leg abductions = FIRE!!!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJUZQDeIGIM’]

The demo was different – sets of 5 – just to show what I did! You can see that the band made it hard to lift my leg very high – all the better to really work those thighs!!!

Today I’m still a little draggy but thought a good work-out would help! I did Les Mills Combat, Combat 60 – Extreme Cardio Fighter. I really like work-outs that are at least an hour long and this was a good one. I think it is like the others in the program – I will be able to really increase the intensity when I get all the moves down!

I’m typically one of those people that believe people are inherently good. Every once in awhile, someone proves me very wrong! This weekend was one of those times. Some complete idiot decided to hack my blog – WHY????? I’m not sure why hacking into my little blog would give anyone satisfaction but apparently some people enjoy making other’s lives difficult. Oh well – I think Chris got it all fixed yesterday. Thanks, Babe!!!!

I figured I would continue with the idiot theme! Actually, I just thought this was funny (cause most of the time I am the idiot!!!).

I almost forgot – here is something to show how good people can be. Aspaeris (they have the cool compression shorts) is running a promo through the end of the month – 60% off with promo code FROSTYRUN.

Happy Monday!!! (Holiday for our family – everyone is home – WooHoo!!!)

Kim

BOSU, Fitness, Push-Ups

Jordan Shared his Sickie Germs with Me!

January 20, 2013 Kim 4 Comments

(Serious issues with my WordPress site today – not making me happy!!!)

Today I did a 43 and that is the extent of my work-out (maybe my entire day!)

I took my BOSU and turned it upside down like this:

upside down - pretty great tool — upside down – pretty great tool

Then, I used it for one of my favorite moves of all times: Push-Ups!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5PGASJ9NXY’]

This was Jordan’s fist demo in awhile (since he was sick and a germ carrier!!!). I counted each push-up as 1 rep so I did a total of 43 push-ups and 43 jumps!

Yesterday afternoon my throat started hurting (wah, wah…..) and today I can tell I’m not 100%. Hopefully if I take it easy today (lay around and watch mindless TV!!!), I will be good as new by morning. Hmmm..maybe I was already a little under the weather yesterday morning and that’s why I struggled so much during my run – That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!!!

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law and super friend – Stacy!!!!!