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.

Biceps, Circuit, Fitness, Shoulders, Squats, Triceps

Groundhog as Meteorologist (at least today!)

February 2, 2013 Kim

Today’s 43 was another circuit that I thought would be fun – you know I love to work as many different muscles as possible!!! This one was pretty much a total body circuit!!

Sometimes it is more challenging to keep the legs stationary than it is to move them! The single leg squats require core strength to keep your balance. Adding the hops and weights helps get your heart rate up! Score on many levels!!

I liked this circuit as a 43 – it went really quickly, too. 43 reps = 129 of each of the arm exercises!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9pfYrxxyDc’]

After the circuit I still wanted to do a bit more today so I did one of my 10 Minute Solution DVDs – Ultimate Boot Camp with Jessica Smith. I only did 3 of the 5 sections: Fat Fighting Skills & Drills (intervals of high intensity cardio – loved this section!), Ultimate Total Body Training (power, strength & endurance moves combined – loved!), and Six Pack Ab Attack (duh – core!).

This was a great work-out for me. Each of the 10 minutes were non-stop activity and Jessica actually put together some moves that were new for me (love when that happens – sometimes it seems like all of the work-outs use the same ‘ol moves!!!)

So, in case you didn’t get up and watch the news

the famous ground hog did not see his shadow so spring is on the way!! And we all know that just like our local meteorologist – this guy is totally accurate (at least 50% of the time!!!)!

Cute tradition! And if you live in or around Punxsutawney, PA I guess it is a pretty big deal! Maybe Topeka should come up with something fun like that…hmmm……

Well, no matter when spring arrives these little guys always make me smile!

Happy Saturday (in the middle of winter!)!!

Kim

Fitness, Lunges

50-mile race, Firm in February, 5th graders & Fun Friday!!!

February 1, 2013 Kim 23 Comments

The letter of the day is F!!!

My 43 was an alternating lateral lunge with 5 pound dumbbells that I picked up one on rep and put back down on the next rep. (Picking up and putting down the weights is a great way to make sure that you get maximum benefits from the lunge because it forces you to get low!) I counted a right lunge and left lunge as 1 – so it was 43 lunges on each side!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRsW4MVzmWY’]

(Poor planning on my part – early morning and no video so I got Chris up at 6:15 when I finished my work-out so he could make a demo before I showered!) He got to sleep in because he is off today – I was up at 5:00!!!!

The rest of my work-out was Les Mills Combat. I doubled up today!! I started with HIIT Power – always brutal!!! Then I did Combat 30 – good but easier than the first!!

Registration opened up today (and I signed up this morning!!!) for the Heartland Ultra-marathon!! There is a 100 mile race and a 50 mile. I’m just going to do the 50 (hopefully next year I will be ready for the 100!). The race isn’t until October but I wanted to sign-up on day 1! WooHoo – 50 miles!!! (Anyone want to pace some miles on October 12, 2013? Let me know!!)

For the short month of February, I thought it would be fun to add in a challenge move every day. I love all of the challenges that different people offer in the blog world but it is hard for me to follow them completely in addition to doing my own work-outs and running. I decided to just do something new for myself by picking 1 move and doing it each day in the month of February for the # of reps that goes along with the day of the month.

My move – Wall Sit for 1 minute!!!

Look – I can even do it after my shower. Really, that was my whole idea – something that I could just do at different times in the day not just during my sweaty work-out. By the end of the month it will have to be at a lot of different times of the day – no way will I be doing 28 minutes worth all at the same time!!!

If you decide to pick a move of the month and play along let me know!!! We could motivate each other!

Today I have a full day of 5th grade!!! Reading, math, science, social studies……Friday!

So many things (all starting with F) – but one of the best – Fun Friday!!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o1dJqRpmP8′]

Have a great Fun Friday!!!

Kim

Let me know if you want to play along on the daily February move!!!

Boxing, Fitness

The Knock-Out Punch

January 31, 2013 Kim 2 Comments

I have been enjoying my Combat work-outs so much that I decided to do some boxing for my 43 today. I used Hunter’s punching bag.

And, happiness – I wore my pink boxing gloves!!!

For the 43 I started with a right stance and, using my right arm did a jab, hook, uppercut series plus a left cross. (I feel like my punching technique has improved thanks to the hints I’ve gotten from the Les Mills crew.) Of course, I had to switch my stance after I got to 43 and do another set with a left jab, hook, uppercut, right cross. As a bonus, I did 43 alternating jabs to finish!

Boxing makes me feel powerful!!! I didn’t think I would like it as much as I do!

I also did a Les Mills Combat work-out – Combat 45. Great work-out – especially the jumping side kicks and the jumping knees!!!

While I was punching and kicking today, I was thinking about things I would use a knock-out punch on.

My first thought was this: But then I would have missed out on my work-out opportunity of the day and that would not have been cool!

Then I thought I would knock-out all of the daily aches and pains I experience thanks to getting older!!!

But even that is a totally selfish thought use of my knock-out punch!

What I would really, really like to use it on is Cancer. Cancer sucks!!! The last 1.5 – 2 years it seems like many people in my circle of friends, aquaintances, etc. have been hit hard. So, I would say –

And on that note, time to take on Thursday!! 4th graders today!!! (I won’t be doing any knock-out punches at school!!!)

Happy Thursday!

Kim

Fitness, Running, Thighs, Treadmill

Wednesday – Take 2

January 30, 2013 Kim 6 Comments

Another day, another 43!!! Today I used a stability ball and did leg circles. Don’t be fooled into thinking this was a fluff move – it was NOT!!!

I did 43 front circles and then 43 back circles with the same leg. My hip was dying!!!! After a quick stretch, I switched sides and repeated 2 sets of 43.

don't let the smile fool you - this hurt! — don’t let the smile fool you – this hurt!

I sort-of played around with my foot position and found that when I flexed my foot it really increased the burn in my hip/thigh – WooHoo!!!

After the 43 today I had to spend about 3 minutes stretching out my hips before I could move on to my work-out! Running day!!!! (Treadmill because it was 5:30am, dark, cold and snowy!)

I did 9 miles in 58:50 at a 1.5% incline. Then I did 2 more miles at an easy pace to cool down. The running is feeling good – my hip feels pretty good. My left achilles is very sore but I have had problems with it for years and starting back into hard running again I sort of except it to hurt. Lots of stretching!!!

Monday it was 75 degrees and sunny and gorgeous. Today it is 20 something, dreary and looks like this Crazy how different the weather can be in such a short amount of time!!!

I guess I was a day ahead of myself yesterday morning when I wrote my blog – I ended with “Happy Wednesday!” Oops – I don’t know why I felt the need to skip Tuesday – usually a pretty good day – oh, well. Today will be a do-over Wednesday!!!

I know that we aren’t the healthiest eaters around – we do pretty good but we also like pasta, lots of meat, bread, probably don’t always get enough veggies. But fruit…..I like to have it daily:

OK – that might be a tad extreme since I actually still eat (meat and carbs!!!) but it made me laugh!!!

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Squats

Smile – It’s Worth It!!!

January 29, 2013 Kim 6 Comments

:Happy-Grin: :Happy: :Overjoy: :Happy-Grin: :Happy: :Overjoy:

My 43 today was great for getting my heart rate up in a very short amount of time!!! I did a squat- jump to a side kick – jump to squat. It went quickly but it was still effective. In fact, since this was one of those 43s that I had to do 2x (43 on each leg) – I actually stopped for about 20-30 seconds in between legs to catch my breath!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDDrFS1nu5U’]

I don’t know why it is so dark but you get the point!!! Hunter said we should try it again but in the second demo he cut off my head and parts of my feet so we just used the dark copy. Since I did 5 on each side for 2 demos I guess I did 53 reps/side today!!!

I did another Les Mills Combat work-out: Power HIIT – 30 minutes of hard-core intensity!!! Then I forced myself to do the Core Attack work-out. 20 minutes of ~~torture~~ core work. I hope it helps!!!

The rest of this week is going to be BUSY – 3 days of subbing, library volunteering, school newsletter to start, finish, copy and distribute, tutoring……..I should have gotten up earlier today! Oh well – 5 am will be showing it’s ugly head the next 3 days!!!

This is something I try to remember – especially when I start to feel overwhelmed! Find the little things to smile about. Things like:

New Yellow Box flip flops on clearance for only $12 and a warm day in January to enjoy them (yesterday!).Or, an 8th grade band concert where the kids let loose and acted like kids during the Dinosaur song:

You can barely see Jordan but you can see his smile – FUN!!!! I tried to get other pictures at the concert last night but we always seem to sit in the spot where we can’t see Jordan at all.