All posts by Kim

I am a 44 year old wife, mom and athlete. I started running in high school and have loved it ever since. As I got older, I had to stop running every day so I added in weight training and all sorts of fun work-outs like Insanity, P90X and Turbo Fire. I'm a certified personal trainer and I love all aspects of fitness.

Cardio, Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Roller Coasters – Love them or Hate them?

May 18, 2013 Kim 20 Comments

Today’s 43 was a lot of jumping!! I haven’t done a single burpee in weeks now – and as much as I hate burpees, I love them even more!!! I didn’t do a true burpee today (no push-up) but close.

I did a squat thrust (burpee with no push-up) and then 2 floor jack before jumping back in and jumping up.

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

This was a fairly quick 43 but it definitely got my heart rate up!!

No other workout today – going to gear up for the “party” circuit!!!

Roller coasters are not my thing!!! They don’t make me sick – I just don’t like them!!!And, the wooden roller coasters – don’t get me started on how much I hate them!! I haven’t been on one in about 20 years!So, today, Jordan is with a band group at

I’m not really worried (maybe a little). I’m super happy that I’m not there!!I hope that he and all of the band (and orchestra) members have a great time!!!And, hopefully, Jordan has inherited his Dad’s love of roller coasters and not my ~~fear~~ aversion to them!!!

Do you like roller coasters?

Happy Saturday!!

Kim

Back, Core, Fitness, Hamstrings

Going from 0 to 100 Might Qualify me for an Idiot Award!!

May 17, 2013 Kim 16 Comments

Today’s 43 was a great one to work on balance! I did a single leg, bent-over row.

Start on your right side (or left – whichever you want to do first!!):

Then row (keep leg up for all reps):

After completing all reps (43 for me!) then you get to switch legs and start over!!

(Can you tell these pictures were all after I was completely done and showered – dressed for a day of PE – and totally rocking my lovely compression stockings!!)

I got up at 5:00 to do my work-out because I’m ~~an idiot~~ subbing PE today. I struggled through my entire 43 and workout today. I did a SELF DVD – Trim and Tone Fast. It was a fine workout – 60 minutes with a warm-up plus the following 6 sections and a cool-down:

legs
back
arms & shoulders
chest
core
full body

There wasn’t any cardio in this workout which was perfect for me today because I was having a hard enough time just doing basics this morning.

I think the fact that I spent almost 3 weeks like thisand the past 4 days I’ve been more like thishave left me a little drained and very sore. I’m telling myself I’m just sore from lack of activity and that I need to just suck it up!!!

In reality, I think the fact that I took the DR very literally when she said that I couldn’t hurt anything by “jogging” at this point – I felt the need to hit it hard and now I’m paying feeling it big time!!

Add to the workouts and all of my normal daily activity the fact that I haven’t slept more than 1-2 hours at a time for the past several nights (my legs sort-of throb all night long) and I should probably wear this today:But – I won’t!! I’ll just go up to the school and spend the day teaching PE to a bunch of wound-up kids (last Friday of the school year!!)!!! Oy!!

Oh, well – I can rest over the weekend – OH WAIT – that won’t happen since we have 6-7 graduation parties to attend and we have to take Jordan up to the middle school at 2:45am Saturday morning and pick him up between 3:00 & 4:00am Sunday morning!! (love a band contest/6 Flags trip!!)

Happy Fun Friday!! I’m thinking today will be a Diet Coke day for sure (rare for me but…)

Kim

Core, Fitness, Shoulders, Triceps

Driving

May 16, 2013 Kim 31 Comments

Today’s 43 was a move that I got from a post by Lori and Michelle at Purely Twins. The move is called plank step on and offs.

I used my step with both pieces to make it a nice challenging height.

14" double step (the Transfirmer) — 14″ double step (the Transfirmer)

Set up in plank with both feet on the step. Then step the right foot down followed by the left foot, step the left foot back up then the right – repeat off the left side for 1 rep.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuJyZ-xH9PI’]

(At the end of the video I’m asking Hunter how long he is going to record me – can’t waste all of my energy on the demo when I have 43 reps staring me in the face!!) By the time I finished 43 of these, my arms were shaking!!! And, my core was burning!! This was a great move!!!

My legs are REALLY tired and sore after yesterday’s run – not surprising since I haven’t done anything with my legs other than keep them elevated for 3 weeks!! Today I wanted to work out some of the stiffness.

I did Turbo Jam – Cardio Party 3. This was a great workout to shake out my legs – lots of kicking (and punching), some jumping, lunging, side-ways moving….pretty much some of everything!!!

So, in general, I feel like I’m a fairly nice person. However, there are some circumstances when I’m driving that really irritate me!!!

When I’m driving down the road and someone decides to back out of their driveway without looking (even after I give a nice little warning tap of my horn)!!! Yesterday when I was taking Hunter to school we experienced this and I reacted like this:I used my horn the entire time she backed in front of me and as she took her time putting the car into drive since I was just hanging out at a complete standstill. (and then I ended up following her to the school – nice!!)
When I’m zipping down the road at 3-5 miles over the speed limit (that’s my norm) and someone turns right in front of me and proceeds to go 10 miles under the speed limit! I feel the need to get inches away from them like this:If you really need to cut me off, at least drive the speed limit!!!!
And – Round Abouts!!! I don’t know if y’all have them but they are everywhere in our city – which is fine for people who know how to drive through them.If you look closely, you will see that there is not a single STOP sign. This means, if no cars are coming YOU DON’T HAVE TO STOP AND SIT THERE!!! Also, the Yield sign is for people fixing to enter the round-about. If you are in the circle – YOU SHOULD NEVER STOP!!!!!

So, do I have road rage? Maybe on occasion but only because I can’t stand it when drivers are idiots! Now I feel much calmer after sharing this!!!

Any one else have these issues? (I hope I’m not the only crazy, occasional road rager!!!)

Happy Thursday!! (I guess beware if you see me behind you on the road :Wink:)

Kim

Fitness, Lunges, Quad, Running, Treadmill

Overcoming Fear

May 15, 2013 Kim 37 Comments

Today my 43 was all about working my legs!!! Finally!!!

I did a 4-count lunge: Lunge forward with right leg, clap overhead, clap under leg, clap overhead, step back – switch to left leg – repeat = 1 rep.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttJjkZp1Rc4′]

Not gonna lie – 43 of these and my quads were burning, my arms were getting tired and I was breathing hard – I might be a little out of shape!!!

Today I RAN!!! This was my first run in over 3 weeks and obviously, my first run since having surgery. I was actually really SCARED!!! Like, awake half the night thinking about it, SCARED.

I don’t know why the thought of running scared me so much. I have run after numerous injuries – Achilles tendonitis, a torn calf muscle, stress fractures galore (the last one in my hip and I ran with it for 3 months) – I’ve run during 2 pregnancies and after giving birth x2 – I’ve run after wiping out during a run with blood streaming down me – but not after having part of my legs striped away.

It is completely irrational – a runner scared to run?!

But today – I was scared to run!!! So, I geared myself in compression stuff (I knew the wraps would be a mess) –

compression shorts compression socks — compression shorts
compression socks

I told myself what I needed to do –

I dug down deep –

And I ran.

As much as I wanted to test out my new Garmin,I decided to save that for another day and stick to the comfort of my treadmill (my overcoming and digging down only carried me so far!).

I started this run slower than I have EVER run but then I felt “it” come back and I drop-kicked the fear and just enjoyed the fact that slow or fast – I AM STILL A RUNNER!!!

I ran 5 miles and walked 1/4 mile.

Did it hurt? Yes
Have other runs hurt? Of course
Can I run through pain? DUH!!!
Will the next one be easier? Without a doubt!!!!

I’m glad that I didn’t let my fear hold me back!!!

What fear are you facing today? Big or little – you can beat it!!!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

Ummm…I Don’t Jog!!!

May 14, 2013 Kim 34 Comments

Today for my 43 I did a move that from Kim and Alex over at Fun and Fit shared. They always have some super great ideas and their videos are cool because usually one of them demonstrates the correct way to perform an exercise and the other shows the wrong way (or ways)!

So today I did Rotating Abs (click to see their video). The starting position can be with knees bent and arms in or legs and arms extended – you can see I have a little bend in my knees.

From the start, you rotate (get it – rotating abs?) to the right hip without letting your shoulder rest on the ground and hold for a couple of seconds:

Rotate or twist back to the center and hold:

Then rotate to the left and hold to complete 1 rep.

This is a slow moving type exercise so you aren’t just rolling back and forth – you really have to hold your abs TIGHT to keep this controlled. I used a 3-count for all of my holds today. This was a challenging 43 for me but I really liked it!!

Yesterday I had another DR visit and she said that the only limits on what I do are my own – pain tolerance. She said that I’m not going to hurt anything at this point. So – I’m back to working out!!!!

Today I did a Pilates workout – Burn and Firm Pilates (click to read review). As much as I want to hit it hard and run and jump and go crazy, I’m actually a little scared. Moving my legs is still pretty painful because of the bruises and knots (deep bruising according to the DR yesterday). I picked a standing pilates because it is a decent workout but still low impact.

Overall, it was great. I’m hoping to run some tomorrow. I’m fixing to go for a little walk with a neighbor – see how it feels!

So, my DR cleared me to do whatever I can tolerate – WooHoo!!! Then she said, “You can even get back to jogging.” What?! I know that I could have said awesome and let it go but I really, I couldn’t!!!

I don’t jog!!! I’m a runner!! I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a total nut-job!!! I’m fine with that as long as she understands that I am a runner!!

Anyone else feel the need to correct people who call you a jogger?

Happy Tuesday!!! Gonna go enjoy the warm sunshine (already 80 on the way to 90 today)!!

Kim

Day With KT