Category Archives: Biceps

Christmas Memories

December 17, 2013 Kim 75 Comments

Today I pulled out my band for the 44.

I stood on it and did alternating cross body bicep curls. (No pictures because I haven’t been getting up at 5:00 for Chris to take the pictures before he goes to work and the boys aren’t really into taking pictures first thing in the morning – but I found a video of someone else doing exactly what I did!!)

Do you want to know something sad?! I don’t really remember that much about a lot of the Christmases from when I was growing up!! I remember a few small things but for the most part – nothing. And, I don’t have any pictures!!

I do remember one Christmas though. I was in 8th grade (a brutal year – I went to 3 different schools!!!) and we lived in Rantoul, Illinois. My dad was deployed to Korea for a year so it was just my mom and all 4 of us kids.

One day a couple of weeks before Christmas we received a really large box –

It was from my Mema and Poppa who lived in Texas and were sad that we couldn’t come down for Christmas. They mailed our gifts early.

About 2 days before Christmas, we got an much bigger and better surprise – Mema and Poppa came to spend Christmas with us!!!! Talk about a happy thing (I’m pretty sure I’ve said before – all my happiest memories involve my grandparents)!!!!

The box didn’t have our presents – it contained a large handmade, wooden church that someone had made for Sam & Mandi (the were 1st & 2nd graders) –

(not the real thing – remember no pictures!)

I have no idea what presents I got that year or what we ate or anything other than the fact that the best part of Christmas was being with my grandparents!!!!

Now that I have kids of my own – I try to help them build up Christmas memories. I hope that their memories will be less about the gifts and more about the special times that we share together!!! (And, of course, there are pictures to help jog the memory!!!)

What is your best Christmas or Hanukkah or any other memory?

Happy Tuesday!!!

Kim

Biceps, Core, Fitness

The Toothache Dilemma

December 6, 2013 Kim 58 Comments

Today I used my one of my bands for my 44 and did a slow bicycle crunch. Using the band and going through the moves slowly made this a great move for my abs and also a nice bicep workout!!

I counted a right side crunch and a left side crunch as 1 rep so it was really 88 crunches.

The workout for Insanity the Asylum vol.2 was the Championship plus Sudden Overtime (Fit Test). Not gonna lie – I was dreading this one!!! But – it wasn’t horrible! It was about an hour and during the last 10 minutes you do the fit test part – as many rounds as possible during 3 minutes.

I actually think this workout was a little easier than the Game Day one that was part of the first Insanity the Asylum!!!

All day yesterday I had a dull ache in my tooth/gums on the left side of my mouth. I ignored it because that’s what I do!!!

Then last night at about 11:30 I woke up (I had probably been sleeping about an hour) in pain!!!

The entire left side of my mouth hurt (not just a little) and even my left ear and my throat. I propped myself up and tried reading thinking maybe I would fall back asleep because ignoring things makes them go away or something!!!

Finally around 1:30 I couldn’t handle it any more so I went in search of something to take.Thankfully we had some hydrocodone from a previous injury or surgery (don’t know and didn’t care – just needed some relief!!) and I took one. It finally kicked in around 2:15 – less than 3 hours before my alarm would be going off – nice!! As long as I stayed propped up, the pain was back to just a manageable/ignorable level.

At 5:00 when I got up, it was just a dull ache (like yesterday) so I figured there was no reason to put off the fun of Insanity!!!

My dilemma is what to do – I don’t even think our dentist works on Fridays but I don’t want to experience another night like last night – Oy!!!

What would you do? Ignore it and hope it just goes away (that could totally happen, right?!)?

Happy Friday!!!

Kim

Biceps, Fitness, Plyo, Thighs

Not a Fan

November 26, 2013 Kim 61 Comments

For my 44 today, I did a bicep curl with a plyo move!! I did a sumo squat and then jumped with a curl!!

This move went fairly quickly but my legs were burning by the time I finished. I just used a 12 pound dumbbell since I was jumping (I probably should have gone a little heavier).

I did some of my favorite workouts – Turbo Fire!! Today I went with Fire 60 – 60 minutes of nonstop cardio and then Core 20 because lately I feel like I need a little extra work on my middle!!! (or maybe I just need to quit eating Cheetos!!)

So – I have a little secret!!!I am NOT on the current bandwagon – you know, the one involving Katniss (I think that’s her name) –

I think that almost every blog I read last night mentioned this movie because they either saw it over the weekend or have plans to see it.

I haven’t read the books and didn’t watch the first movie and have no plans to watch this one. I think part of it is the fact that I rarely read/watch the “biggies” (still haven’t seen a single Twilight movie!).

Plus, I just don’t get the concept of kids fighting to the death for sport.

I know that I’m in a very small minority and I’m totally OK with skipping this series. (I think Chris and the boys saw the first movie – it didn’t make their top 10.)

I will just stick to my chick-flicks, comedies and Christmas movies!!!

Hunger Games – yes or no?

Happy Tuesday!!

Kim

Biceps, Core, Fitness, Lunges, Plank, Running, Treadmill

Almost Time to Bring out the Trees!!!

November 25, 2013 Kim 84 Comments

Today I did another one of Allie’s moves from her Trifecta Arm video – she called this one “pick up the baby.” I called it HARD!!!!

Start in a plank with dumbbells (I used 10 pounds) – step right foot in, stand and lunge with a bicep curl – step right foot back to plank – repeat on left side = 1 rep.

44 of these and I nearly called my workout for the day done!!! (just kidding – sort of!)

I did Jillian Michaels Hard Body – Level 2. Umm….this was the first time I’ve done this part and it was a great workout! Lots of plyo moves with weights, some balance challenges and some core work – awesome!!!

I decided to get in a quick run – last week I had a great week of long and slow but every once in awhile I like to push my speed a little. I did 4 miles at 1.5% incline in 24:27 then 0.6 miles easy to cool down.

Today is deep clean day – baseboards, corners, under furniture – I can hardly wait!!! (well, that might be exaggerating a bit!!)

But, it’s for a good cause –

Some of my favorite people are coming later this week to spend Thanksgiving with us!!! And that is something I truly am excited about!!!

And then I can turn my super clean house into a Christmas wonderland!!! I’ve made myself hold off on decorating this year until after Thanksgiving and I feel like I’m missing out on trees and lights but it will be worth it soon!!!

I love having Christmas decorations all over the house!!! Christmas trees in every room and Santas galore – it is awesome!!!

Have you decorated for Christmas or do you wait until after Thanksgiving?

Happy Monday!

Kim

Biceps, Core, Fitness

Stretching – Good for the Body, Great for the Mind

November 21, 2013 Kim 74 Comments

Today’s 44 was fun because it is primarily an arm move but it also works the core! This move is from Allie @ VitaTrain4Life. She did an awesome arm workout for us yesterday and I borrowed one of the moves for my 44.

The move is a bicep curl with your legs lifted (that’s why your abs get involved!!).

I think the hardest part of this move was to try and keep my arm movements controlled.

I pulled out a DVD that I tend to forget about today – Exhale Core Fusion Body Sculpt. I forgot how great this workout is. It is 5 10-minute sections (although a couple are a little longer) of slow moving work.
Upper body
Thighs
Butt
Abdominal
Stretching

I’m not sure which of the sections was the hardest – they all seem like they should be easy and innocent but they really work the designated areas!!!

The final section – stretch – is one that I tend to skip in lots of workouts. However, today I decided to spend the 10ish minutes and tried to completely relax into it.

Usually I will spend about 10 seconds in the corpse pose and decide I don’t have time for that. Today, I don’t know if my body was telling me it needed the time to relax and prepare for the day or what but the stretching was awesome!!! I enjoyed the entire time both physically and mentally!!!

Lately I’ve read several posts about stretching – Kris on Fitness had a great one yesterday talking about stretching to help prevent injury and how as we age it is a vital part of fitness. Abby @ Change of Pace wrote a post about the “torture tools” that are available (foam rollers, sticks, balls, etc.) to help with preventing injuries and the value of taking the time to use them.

Even knowing about the importance of stretching to help prevent injuries has rarely been enough to make me stop and do it.

However, today I discovered that being willing to spend a few minutes calming my mind after working out can be very enjoyable – who knows maybe next time I will do 15 minutes!!!

Do you enjoy stretching?

Happy Thursday!

Kim

Day With KT