Category Archives: Cardio

6:00am Show Time for Surgery – Yikes!!

April 24, 2013 Kim 37 Comments

Today’s 43 was a challenge!! I did mountain climbers on a stability ball. The mountain climbers weren’t bad – it was staying balanced on the ball!!

I did them with my hands on the ball.

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

I counted 10 as 1 rep so to do 43 reps, I did 430! Just for fun, I did some (430 so that I had a double 43!!) with my elbows on the ball – these were harder for me. I think because I had to keep my elbows in close to keep them both on the ball – much less stable than the wide hand stance!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHZV306bUOU’]

About half-way through my workout I decided I’m not too bright. I can’t have any water this morning and here I am working up a sweat! If you look closely in almost all of my pictures you see this

I carry this cup everywhere – always full of ice water. I usually refill it between 6-9 times every day. This whole no water thing in the morning is not cool!!!

That is all I did for working out today because I have to be at the hospital by 6:00am – EARLY!!! (and because I can’t have any water!!)

Today I’m having my veins stripped. Several weeks ago, I talked about my varicose veins and whether or not I should have them treated. Since then, I’ve had several more appointments including an ultrasound to do more testing on my veins. The DR said that I have numerous breaks in several veins and a number of valves that aren’t working correctly. Her recommendation was to do surgery and strip (remove) some and ligation (tie off) on some.

The way I understand things – I will have an incision in my left groin to remove the greater saphenous vein. On my right leg, the incision will be behind my knee.

The only part of the surgery that bothers me out is being intubated!! I realize that I will never even feel it since I will be put to sleep – just the idea of a tube shoved down my throat freaks me out!!!

Oh well – hopefully I will be back to at least light workouts in a few days and then my normal stuff soon.

I do plan to continue my daily 43s – they will just be upper body only for a few days!!

Happy Wednesday – see you when I “wake-up”!!

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Running, Squats, Treadmill

My Life as a Pseudo PE Teacher

April 23, 2013 Kim 16 Comments

Today’s 43 involved my step –

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

I just did quick moving squats from side-to-side (right squat – over – left squat – over = 1 rep).

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izJ93vHVoeg’]

This was a quick 43 but it got my heart rate up and my quads were burning!!!

I decided to run today since I won’t be able to run for awhile after tomorrow! Treadmill (snow/ice mixture coming down outside!) – 1.5% incline – 6 miles in 37:05 + 2.1 miles slower with higher incline for a total of 8.1 miles in 63:30.

So, lately I have spent several fun-filled afternoons in the gym while the real PE teacher is coaching at the HS track meets!

This is a great gig for several reasons – a big one is I get to go to “work” dressed like this:

I also get to run around and play – usually with lots of balls!!

In my previous life (before children) I was a middle school science teacher ( and I coached 7th & 8th grade volleyball, basketball and track). Middle school kids are VERY different from these young kids (the afternoon PE classes are 2nd, 1st and Kindergarten students)!!! So, as the “fake” PE teacher, I’ve learned 3 lessons:

Always wear a whistle!!
I need a blingy whistle!!!

I’m not super loud but I can blow a whistle with the best of them!!!
Helpful phrases – “You’re OK”, “I think you’re fine”, “You’re going to be OK”, “keep going, you’re fine”……..little ones have all kinds of reasons why they might not be OK (especially when I have them run a couple of laps!!!) – a little reassurance and they are always ready to go again (till the next time!).
My #1 rule: NO TATTLING!!! Kids like to tattle (or tell you every little thing that someone else did) – on their friends, kids who maybe aren’t their best friends, even on themselves – crazy, but true!!!

I really enjoy subbing in PE (even with the younger kids!!!)! Where else do you get to do stuff like this?Well, maybe not exactly, but we always use some of these:And, there is always at least a little bit of running involved!!!

Happy Tuesday! I think I’m going to put on my bikini, cover-up and flip flops and head south until I find a warm sunny spot – anyone want to join in?

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Quad

Welcome Back Sunshine!!!

April 19, 2013 Kim 20 Comments

I’ve been singing this song in my head the past few days – guess it worked!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOomEMSxC0′]

Today’s 43 was fun and quick!! I did a plie jump. Start in plie – jump up, touching heels together – back down to plie. Even just 10 of these will set your quads on fire!!! 43 will really have them singing!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8t2p_7g5s’]

I did a new (to me) DVD today – Cross Training for Fitness. (This is a Gaiam workout.) Jessica Smith and Guillermo Gomez lead the 5 different sections. The entire workout is made up of 5 15 minute sections: Cardio Kickbox, Strength & Flexibility, Lower Body Balance, Core Power & Flow and Relax & Restore.

The Cardio Kickbox and Lower Body Balance both had lots of kicking and knee strikes. They were fairly quick paced and got my heart rate up some. The Strength & Flexibility section was great – body weight moves to really work on strength. I loved the mixture of standing and floor work in the Core Power & Flow section. I almost didn’t do the Relax & Restore segment but I’m glad I did – it was very calming!

I loved the variety in this workout. Also, I learned a couple of new moves that I’m sure I can turn into 43s in the future!!!

I’m so happy to see the sun again. It was warm in TX (close to 90) but I spent most of my time inside (hospital) so I didn’t get to fully enjoy the warmth. It has been rainy, cloudy, dreary and COLD since I got back to Kansas Monday night.

But today…..

And, it’s supposed to get close to 60!!! I’ll take it!!

Happy Fun Friday – the sunshine has already made this a happy day for me!!!

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Squats, Stairs

Catching Up

April 17, 2013 Kim 21 Comments

Today my 43 ended up being my work-out, too. I decided to use our stairs to really work my legs. I went up the stairs sideways skipping every other step:

On the way down, I stayed sideways but didn’t skip steps.

Because I didn’t want one leg to get more work (or be stronger!!), I did 2 sets of 43 – one leading with my right leg (left leg pushing off) and the other leading with my left leg (right leg pushing off).

The move is like a sideways squat (just on an uneven surface) and it took 7 “squats” for each trip up the stairs so I did 301 “squats” with each leg!!! Not too shabby – plus I kept the pace pretty quick so I got my heart rate up!!

Then I decided to try a plank hold on my elbows instead of with my arms extended. For some reason, this one was harder – 3:30 today.

Since getting home yesterday around noon, I feel like I have been going non-stop and today is jam-packed!!

Last night Hunter played in the district string fest – 6th, 8th and high school orchestras.It was pretty cool to hear the difference a few years can make! Plus the 6th graders are from 6 different schools in the district and only had 1 practice all together – pretty impressive!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rh1DF4duNg’]

The finale was God Bless America (love that song!!) and all of the orchestras played together on it – I just recorded part of it since it was long.

I missed a lot over the weekend with the sleepover and all but thankfully Chris took some pictures of the cake making and birthday celebrating!!Looks like fun was had by Jordan during the afternoon and Hunter and his pals that evening!!

Now I’m off to tackle a mile-long to-do list which includes a dentist appointment, DR appointment, afternoon spent subbing PE…….

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

Cardio, Core, Fitness, Push-Ups

Sibling Love

April 13, 2013 Kim 4 Comments

Today’s 43 is compliments of Hunter. I gave the boys free reign to come up with a move and make the video and told them I would get it done! Hunter came up with this whooper of a move. (Chris said Hunter wanted to add more but thankfully, Chris saved me. Hunter said, “she can do it – she did 4300 jumping jacks!”) I think maybe deep down he is proud of me!!!

Anyway, the move is called “the Cube” – I’m not sure why except for the fact that Hunter performed it with his Rubik cube in place.

jump back to plank
push-up
20x mountain climbers
push-up
jump back in
jump

The above is 1 rep – 43 of these was no joke!!! I struggled to finish all 43 today (maybe because it was 860 mountain climbers and 86 push-ups plus all the jumping!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGpxsQS8-Hw’]

Thanks, Hunter!!

After the killer “Cube”, I did some Turbo Fire. I did Lower 20 – which is 20 minutes of lower body work using this “cute” band and will leave your legs and hips shaking!!!

Innocent - I think not! — Innocent – I think not!

Then I did Upper 20 (20 minutes of upper body work – including more push-ups!) using this band:

A great workout to start my day!!!

So, I spent the bulk of yesterday hanging out at the hospital. My dad was in the ICU until about 5:45 or 6:00 in the evening when they finally moved him into a private room. At least then he could sit in a chair for a few minutes. He looked pretty good – he said he wasn’t in pain just really uncomfortable.

One nice thing about my impromptu trip is seeing all of my siblings. The last time all 4 of us were all together was over 2 years ago!!! My younger brother drove in from Levelland and my sister came from Sherman so by mid afternoon we were all together!! I always enjoy catching up with my siblings (in person).

Tim (twin) & me Aunt Jackie & me Mandi & me Sam & me — Tim (twin) & me
Aunt Jackie & me
Mandi & me
Sam & me

And, while I was hanging out with my brothers, sister, aunt and dad here in Texas, Chris was busy at home!!

Hunter had 4 friends over 4 a sleep-over last night for his birthday. That means a total of 6 boys (counting my 2) + Chris!!! For weeks I had been planning to make a special cake for the event. However, it’s hard to make a cake when you aren’t there!

Chris and Jordan to the rescue: