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.

Core, Fitness

Snap Judgements

July 7, 2013 Kim 1 Comment

Today’s 43 was all about working my obliques. I did an oblique crunch with an arm reach and an extended leg (confused? watch the demo)

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6eqIFeESQ4′]

I counted a right and left crunch as 1 rep so a total of 86 crunches!!

I decided to go with a fun workout today because I’m SORE (must be from the heavy lifting yesterday)!! I did Turbo Jam – Cardio Party 2. I’ve said many times – I love to work out with Chalean!!! The workouts are always fast paced and so much fun that they go quickly!!

I think at different times we have all formed snap judgements about other people (or even about things) and I’m sure that we have all been on the other end and been the person judged.

Years ago, I was interviewing for a teaching job. The job was as an 8th grade science teacher and I really wanted to work at that particular school. The principal and the head of the science department were both involved in the interview. The guy that was the head of the science department was completely against hiring me for 1 reason –

I was also going to be a coach (7th & 8th girls volleyball, basketball & track). The minute he found out that I was a coach he was ready to end the interview. I explained to both of them that I became a teacher first and would have taught even if I didn’t coach.

I got the job and after about a month, this same teacher came to me and apologized for automatically assuming that I wouldn’t be a good teacher since I was a coach!

That experience has always stuck with me because I was judged by someone who didn’t know anything about me. I try to remember how I felt and not make the same mistakes.

Sometimes our snap judgements cause us to miss out on some really great things.

I’ve known many people who won’t even try avocados or guacamole because they don’t like the color and the way it looks. They are truly missing out on something wonderful just because they are judging the taste by the color.

Often we judge people by what they drive or the clothes they wear but we don’t know the background on how they got that vehicle or where their clothes came from.

It’s so easy to make a little comment – look how overgrown their yard is – why don’t they do anything about it? But, without knowing the story – they might have a loved one fighting for their life in the hospital, or they might have lost their job and ended up working 3 different jobs to make ends meet – we really shouldn’t be so quick to judge!
So, my goal is to try and stop making snap judgements about anything – new products, food, and especially other people. Just like I sometimes tell my boys – You can’t say you don’t like something if you’ve never tried it!!! And, I shouldn’t say (or think) unkind things about people without knowing their story!

Happy Sunday!!!

Kim

Boot Camp

Move It, Move It – Legs, Legs, Legs

July 6, 2013 Kim 8 Comments

This workout will leave your legs shaking – it is great!!!

Lunges and squats of all different types will have you feeling toned and strong by the end. The key here is to make sure that you are using good form during all the squats and lunges – keep your weight back in your butt on the squats and your body centered while lunging.

If you need a challenge after completing this workout – find a set of stairs and run up/walk down 10x!!!

Boot Camp

Circuit Boot Camp

July 6, 2013 Kim

Circuits are always a fun way to get in a good workout. There should only be minimal rest in between each exercise.

This circuit does require a little bit of equipment:

medicine ball
stability ball
jump rope
step or sturdy box
agility ladder if available

Challenge Move: moving planks with shoulder tap

Boot Camp

7 Mini Workouts or 1 Super Boot Camp

July 6, 2013 Kim 5 Comments

This is a workout that is great if you are short on time. You can pick anywhere from 1 – 7 of the mini workouts to customize your workout.

Each of the mini workouts should be done for 5 minutes – keep going and do as many reps as possible during that time. To make it more fun – track your reps and then try to beat the number the next time!!!

Even if you do all 7 of the minis – you can complete this workout (including warm-up and cool down) in 45 minutes!!!

Butt, Core, Fitness, Lunges

So Many Workouts, So Little Time

July 6, 2013 Kim 10 Comments

Today for my 43, I did a side lunge and a knee lift with the opposite leg.

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

The nice thing with this move was that it required a bit of mental work, too – I had to think about each part of the move as I did it otherwise I leaned the wrong way or lifted the wrong part!! Plus, the knee lift was a small bonus for my core and hip flexors!!

I did all 43 to the right side first (with a left knee lift) and then switched and did 43 lunges to the left with a right knee lift.

Today I did another round of Les Mills Body Pump – Pump and Shred. This workout is 45 minutes of lifting including a squat track (about 5:30), a chest track (5:00), back track with dead lifts and clean & press (5:15), lunge track with more squatting (5:00), shoulder track (4:45) and core work (4:00). One of my favorite parts of the Body Pump workouts is the final stretch – they always include at least 5 minutes of stretching and after all of the lifting it is a treat (even for someone, like me, who doesn’t really like to spend time stretching!!). I am enjoying these workouts so far, as they get me in the mood to stay in shape and actually stick to it. Plus, with the awesome inner chest workout that I am currently doing, I have a feeling that I may be seeing positive results sooner than I think. It’s all about being consistent with it.

One of the many things that I love about reading other blogs is the AMAZING workouts that so many bloggers share. My Pinterest workout board is getting bigger and bigger!!

412 pins – of those, I’ve probably only done about 30. I’ve pulled some ideas out of different ones for my daily 43 and even for my boot camp but there are still LOTS of great workouts that I want to try.

Plus, I have a few workout DVDs to choose from. I’ve done all of them at least once but still want to do them again (and again!!!). I have a nice variety of really intense workouts (Insanity, P90X, Body Pump), Pilates and Yoga, shorter workouts (lots of the 10-minute option DVDs where you can do from 1-5 of the sections), Tae-Bo (love!!), The Firm, some Denise Austin (old school!!), Biggest Loser workouts, Jillian Michaels, Cathe Frederick…..

This summer I have been creating a lot of my own workouts for my Boot Camp classes. I come up with 3 new classes a week so that takes time to figure them out, practice them and then teach the 6 classes (and I do the workouts every time!!).

And, then there is my top favorite option – RUNNING!!! I don’t run as often as I used to because I’ve found that when I run too much I end up injured (usually with a stress fracture – I’ve had 6 or 7 in the last 10 years) but I still love running!

So, while I have MANY options every day, I don’t have enough time for all the workouts I want to do!!! Sometimes even when I really want to do a workout or challenge, I have to realize that time is still a limited resource and I can’t do it all!!!

One of the workouts that I really wanted to do and just couldn’t make it work with my current schedule of running, boot camp, lifting and, at the time the program started, I was finishing Insanity Asylum – is Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp program. I signed up (paid and everything!!) for this round (I even have the badge on my sidebar!) but when it was time to start I realized that I couldn’t add it in and give it 100% with the other workouts that I have going now.