(The demo is actually my last 3 – I had to go wake Hunter to come record me! Chris has drill this weekend and Jordan stayed with a friend last night.)
I did the first 13 with 8 pound dumbbells then I dropped down to 5 pound dumbbells for the next 30!! This was a great workout for my entire upper body and exactly the kind of 43 I needed today!!
Obviously, you don’t have to do 43 reps of the circuit (unless you really want to!!) but I promise you if you do even 5 or 10 you will feel this!! Try it, I know you want to!!!
Today I decided to do a circuit for my 43. I wanted to get some toning, cardio, plyo – basically some of everything in one quick round (well actually 43 rounds!). Looking at the circuit you might think it is no big deal – try a few!!!
The first 10 or so weren’t terrible – but the last 10 were brutal!!! A tough 43 for sure!!!
I think part of the challenge came from the fact that I kept going from floor moves to standing – constant up and down. It was a good workout for sure!!!
I’m not sure what is going on with Phil the groundhog – I think he was a little off this year.
On a happy note – I finally figured out how to make a picture collage!!! Thanks to Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean for sharing her favorite 30 Apps for the iPhone the other day – I learned about Diptic!!
Even though my Grandmother is no longer here, today would be her birthday – Happy Birthday, Mema!! I miss you every day!!!
aren’t they cute!!
(My Mema never looked at the camera – only at the people in the picture with her!)
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!!!
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!
Today I decided to do a circuit for my 43. I made this one up last night (while drinking a Cosmo) and I think it did the job of working all parts of my core!!!
I always look pissed off during my demos – not sure why!!! I’m probably thinking about the fact that I still have 43 of these to do!
Anyway – I did not rush this work-out because I wanted to feel each and every crunch!!! 43 times through the circuit = 215 of each of the different moves = 1935 total crunches!!! I think I might be sore tomorrow!!!
I hope y’all try the circuit – you could pick a more reasonable # of reps – like maybe 10!!!
A few random pictures from yesterday (just because I took them and now I want them on my blog!!!).
frozen ducks!!!
The poor ducks – it was in the 50s here most of the week. Yesterday that all changed – high of around 28 I think (same for today but at least the sun is shining!!!). The ducks looked frozen into the lake yesterday morning.
Knightly Tabard
At one point yesterday afternoon, Hunter came upstairs with this on – just because, I guess!!! You never know when you might encounter a Renaissance type around here!
Hunter’s Rubik collection
This cracks me up – all together and all except the 6×6 cube solved! I think Hunter has plans to add more to his collection – everyone needs a new challenge.
Well, I’m done with the random stuff for now. Gotta go check on my sickie – Jordan is miserable!!!
Try out the core circuit and let me know what you think.
The 43 today had to be lower body because my upper body is sore!!! I did an exercise to work my butt and quads plus a bonus core work-out!!
The move started with a front kick
kick it!
right into a back kick
working the butt!!
This was one of those great exercises where I did 43 with my left leg and then immediately did a second set of 43 with my right leg. I tried to barely tap my toe in between kicks so that I could get the extra core work trying to keep my balance.
The rest of my work-out today was the 12 Days of Fitness. Today was the final day so I decided to take it a step further – I did the entire thing 5x through! It was a great work-out!!! I did it like a circuit and just kept moving from one exercise to the next. My heart rate was way up there!!!
If you haven’t clicked over to check the plan out, here it is. (Gina at the Fitnessista always has great work-outs like this on her site!!!)
Day 12 12 Sumo Burpees
Day 11 11 Weighted Squats (25 pound DBs for me)
Day 10 10 Overhead Press (15 pound DBs for me)
Day 9 9 Lateral Lunges – each side (25 pound DBs for me)
Day 8 8 Bicep Curls (15 pound DBs for me)
Day 7 7 Triceps Dips
Day 6 6 Pull-Ups (assisted ones for me – used a step stool)
Day 5 5 Frog Crunches
Day 4 4 Toe Touches – each side
Day 3 3 Mountain Climbers – each side
Day 2 2 Push-Ups
Day 1 1 Minute Plank (arms extended)
It really didn’t take long to go through the whole set (less than 5 minutes) – the weights really got my heart rate going. Bonus – 5 total minutes in plank today!!!
Yesterday while putting up all of the Christmas stuff, I had a minorlarge DISASTER of EPIC proportion!!! I have a few cookbooks and all of them were on the jankity shelves in our storage room so that I could have Christmas decorations (Santas) everywhere!!!
I was stacking a plastic tub full of Christmas stuff in the corner by the shelves and this happened:
What a mess!!!
It was scary because I could see the shelves going down but I couldn’t do anything to stop it except jump back out of the way so that I didn’t get buried alive!!! Because the shelves contained a lot of other crap stuff and some of it was breakable and I heard that awful shattering noise over my loud screams! I had to keep the boys back because I didn’t want any cut feet in addition to the mess. They were troopers though – I pulled books out and they carried them upstairs – lots and lots of trips upstairs!!
Many hours later, after a trip to the store and more teamwork on the part of the boys and myself, our storage room looked like this:
Many hours later!
Check out the new – STURDY – shelves put together by yours truly!
New Shelves
We might have a bit of Christmas decorations – can’t help it – I love Christmas!!!
6 trees, boxed & stacked 1 $5 garage sale bargain tree left out!
Today I just need to get a few more of the green bins (I decided that if I had to reorganize I might as well color coordinate!!!) and then I think the room will be done!
Last night we had the privilege of watching a friend’s 6 month old little boy while they went to a winter party. Fun times!!! Always a joy to get in a little baby time!
Happy Saturday!!
