Category Archives: Hamstrings

What’s Your Minimum?

February 28, 2014 Kim 74 Comments

I used 2 of my small wobble balls again for the 44 –

This time I stood on them and did dead lifts.

This was a good challenge – staying balanced on the little balls was tricky. Dead lifts are one of my favorite moves and I loved the challenge with the balls!! 15 pound dumbbells was plenty today since I was trying to balance.

Finished the February challenge – 50 push-ups and 50 walking lunges today.

Today I did another old DVD (remember I’m trying to go through my DVD workout library this year!!!) – The Firm, Dangerous Curves Ahead. This workout uses a small band for some extra resistance!

I actually didn’t do the entire workout today. About 30 minutes in I was dragging and thinking about all the things I needed to get done before taking the boys to school so I just stopped.

Not gonna lie – it is rare for me to cut a workout short!!! And, it made me wonder – what is the minimum length to work out and count it as a workout?

I actually read a post earlier this week that was talking about running and what is your shortest distance. Now, I’m wondering about your shortest time to call a workout a workout! (Sorry, I can’t remember whose blog!!)

(Update – Miss Zippy wrote a post called When is a run a run? asking a similar question about running.)

I track all of my workouts (not just my running) and I like to keep up with how many days I actually workout. If all I do is my daily 44 then I don’t count it as a workout day. Normally I get at least an hour (or more) of working out on the days I count.

However, today I stopped the DVD around the 30 minute mark.
So, does it count??

30 minutes has always been my minimum!! I see tons of workouts that can be done in 12 minutes or 14 or 17 or 20 and I think they look like great workouts but I always feel like I have to combine several of them to actually count it as a true workout day.

I don’t have a set number of miles that I’m trying to run this year because I have learned by now that if I try to push too hard I end up injured. But, I do have a goal to workout over 300 days this year and I do use my 30 minute minimum as part of the criteria on what counts.

Do you have a minimum time that you use to count a workout – weather it’s a DVD, something from Pinterest, a walk – whatever? Or do you even track how many days you workout?

Happy Fun Friday!!

Kim

BTW – I have worked out 52 out of 59 days so far in 2014.

Butt, Core, Fitness, Hamstrings

Dallas Buyers Club and The Biggest Loser

February 19, 2014 Kim 80 Comments

Today’s 44 really worked my hamstrings!!! I did a single leg dead lift (starting with the right leg) followed by a right kick. About the time my right leg was jelly, I switched to the left for a second set of 44!!

Yikes – I should have sucked in my stomach during this move – oops!! I used 15 pound dumbbells for this move and I know that I will feel this in my hamstrings and butt later!!

Still trying to juggle Michelle Bridges with other workouts. I’m pulling out parts of some of the daily MB workouts to do in addition to other workouts and that is working well for me. Today I did TaeBo – Extremely Ripped. This is 60 minutes of fast pace TaeBo with weights for the 2nd half!!! I started with 8 pound weights but because of the fast pace had to drop down to 5s!!

The other day Chris and I watched this movie. It wasn’t at all what either one of us were expecting!!! I truly thought the premise of the movie was gambling – WRONG!!!

The basic premise is that Matthew McConaughey’s character has AIDS. He is given 30 days to live – goes to Mexico finds a DR that is using medicine that hasn’t been FDA approved yet and 3 months later has improved. He sneaks the drugs in and instead of selling the drugs/vitamins he sells monthly “memberships” to the Dallas Buyers Club with access to unlimited meds.

Beyond the movie itself, I think what really got me was the drastic weight loss that McConaughey underwent for this role. Depending on what source you read he lost approximately 38 pounds and went from being fit to a skeleton.

He is about 5’11” -6′ (again depending on the source) and went from 170ish pounds down closer to 130 for this movie.

Actually, several of the actors in this movie underwent drastic weight loss to play their roles.

Here is my problem – actors do this kind of extreme weight loss (or weight gain) for roles fairly often and aren’t criticized by the media. In fact, often they are praised and rewarded by nominations for awards.

However, for 2 weeks now, Rachel from the Biggest Loser has been blasted by the media for her weight loss. Whether she lost too much or not isn’t up to me to judge – I think that she played a game (because that is what The Biggest Loser really is all about) to win and she did just that.

I don’t think she looks any worse than McConaughey and he lost the weight much quicker than she did!!

I guess my whole point is that the extreme weight loss happens in lots of areas and while I don’t think it is ever healthy, I don’t understand why in one case the person is overly criticized and in the other case they are praised.

Have you seen The Dallas Buyers Club?
Do you think that it is more acceptable when actors go through extreme weight changes (very quickly) to play a role than when other people do the same thing?

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

BOSU, Butt, Fitness, Hamstrings, Triceps

Is Curling Really a Sport?

February 12, 2014 Kim 94 Comments

Today’s 44 is a move that Kristin (Stuft Mama) did with her class and showed on her blog. I had to try it because it uses my favorite piece of equipment -the BOSU!!! It is a triceps dip with alternating kicks.

Start with your hands on the BOSU and feet on the ground –

Dip (triceps) and kick right leg –

Go back to start position –

Dip and kick left leg –

Since I counted a right kick and a left kick as 1 rep, I had to do 88 tricep dips to complete the 44!!! My arms were shaking!

The February challenge with Taylor (Lifting Revolution) is a fun one! Last week we did 100 walking lunges every day. This week it is 400 push-ups split however you like. Yesterday I did 135 push-ups and today I did 80 so in 2 days I’m over half-way!!!

And, I added in Les Mills Combat – Extreme Cardio Fighter today. 60 minutes of kicking, punching, twisting and just plain fun!!!

Curling – is it a sport or just a past-time? I don’t even get the concept. Chris keeps saying it is like Shuffleboard. Well, I’m pretty sure that shuffleboard is a game they used to play on The Love Boat so I’m not convinced it is a true sport.

pushing the stone

Here’s what I’ve figure out about curling – one person pushes the stone.

The rest of the team does a sweeping motion to speed up (or maybe it slows it down?) the stone. Pretty sure the object is to get the stones into certain parts of the ring or something and try to knock your opponent’s stone out of the circle.

What I do know is that there is ZERO cardio involved and I’ve never seen any of the participants even come close to working up a sweat.

In the 2010 Vancouver Olympics one of the competitors was actually 6 months pregnant – So, if you compare curling to some of the other events in the winter Olympics, is it really a sport?

Ski jumping – look at the strength required to hold the body in the jump position!!!

Snowboarding – Half Pipe: These guys (and girls) are flying up to 15 feet in the air on some of their flips. And, then they have to land the jump and do another and another and another….

Have you seen how fast these athletes guy down the mountain while still dodging the gates?! Look at the leg strength required to hold the position without falling!!!

The amount of athleticism required to perform some of the jumps, holds and other tricks that the ice skaters perform is amazing!!!

All of the skating races seem brutal – short ones, longer ones – just staying in the low position requires tremendous lower body control!!

Then we go back to curling – at least they can wear “fun” pants!!!

So – what do you think? Is curling really a sport or is it just a hobby?

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Hamstrings, Lunges, Plyo, Quad, Running, Treadmill

500 Days of Activity!!!

January 28, 2014 Kim 99 Comments

Today’s 44 was a challenge!!! I did a back lunge – front kick – back lunge (all right leg) – jump lunge to switch sides and then repeated the moves on the left side for 1 rep. Between all 3 moves (lunges, kicks and jumps) I was definitely breathing hard!!!

I liked this move but 44 reps was a lot!!! Sometimes I don’t think these things through very well!! Oh, well – it’s good for me!

It was also a run day – 1.5% incline 7 miles (51:04) + an easy cool down mile.

I probably won’t run again until Friday – big run on tap!! I’m doing a virtual race as part of Kristen’s (Stuft Mama) STUFT Challenge for Run Sixty Feet. Kristen is raising money for Run Sixty Feet with her run on Friday (she’s running 37 miles since it is her 37th birthday – what a great way to celebrate a birthday!!). I’m planning to do the same (37 miles) on Friday in support of both Kristen and the cause (Run Sixty Feet).

Today is my 500th day of daily moves – 365 days of 43s and 135 days of 44s!!!

I started this adventure on September 16, 2012 when I turned 43 with a goal of doing some form of activity every single day. Using my age is a great (although sometimes not so great) way to have a set goal for each move.

After a year of Daily 43s I enjoyed it so much that I decided to continue with Daily 44s.

There are occasionally days that I’m not as motivated to do 44 reps of anything (so I usually pick something fairly easy and just get it done) but most days I love the challenge of doing something 44 times!!!

I plan to continue the rest of this year and when September rolls around again I will decide if a year of Daily 45s is on tap or if it is time to do something else. Who knows?! I might still be doing Daily _____ when I’m 75!!!!

Oh, and I guess this is also my 500th day in a row to write a blog post since that is sort-of part of my goal, too!!! At some point I might switch to weekly updates on the daily moves but for now I enjoy posting everyday so I’m just going to keep going!!!

Do you have any Daily Streaks?

Happy Tuesday!!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Hamstrings, Running, Treadmill

Sinking

January 23, 2014 Kim 1 Comment

Today I used my small band –

small - tons of resistance — small – tons of resistance

and worked my hamstrings for the 44. I started with the band around my ankles and moved it to cover one foot –

From the start position, I pushed my foot (keeping it flexed) straight back –

As you can see, it is hard to stay straight up but part of the work was a balance challenge!!! And, I don’t want my hamstrings to be unbalanced so I had to do the left side, too!!

I love small moves like this that are so effective!!!

And, today was another running day!!! Of course, I’m a wimp and don’t bundle up and hit the streets like so many hard-core runners (it is currently 3 degrees!!!) and I needed to catch up on Dance Moms anyway!!!
1.5% incline – 8 miles in 61:37 + 0.75 miles super easy

Currently, I feel like that ship represents me!!! I feel like I have toppled over and am just barely staying above the surface!!!

I’ve talked about the fact that I have sleep issues (meaning I rarely sleep more than 2 hours at a time) and lately I have been averaging around 4 hours of sleep a night.

Last night I woke up at 2 and never fully went back to sleep before my 5:00am alarm!

My mind is constantly spinning these days!

I have a booth this weekend at the local Bridal Fair and I feel like I’ve put a lot of energy into this and still don’t have a clue what I’m doing. Lately, we haven’t had a lot of bookings at our venue but the expenses (thanks to numerous issues with the apartments) are out of control!

I’ve made several commitments involving other things (some guest posts, personal stuff……) and I’m excited about all of them but they churn around in my brain during the night, too.

Factor in the extreme cold and my complete dislike (hate) of winter and I just feel myself sinking more and more.

Maybe I will just imagine myself right here –

for the next few days (months – whatever!!!).