Category Archives: Lunges

Fitness, Lunges, Running, Treadmill, Triceps

A Big Dose of Fun Friday – just the thing to cure the February Funk!!!

February 16, 2013 Kim 3 Comments

I don’t know what I was thinking when I picked my 43 today!! I dug out my Tae-Bo bands:

Sometimes I forget about these but they are really cool. You can see the loops that slip over your feet and they have 1 pound weights that you can take out if you only want to use the resistance from the band itself.

For my 43 I left the weights in! I did a triceps extension in a static lunge (why I thought I should hold a lunge while I did 43 of these I don’t know – cause you know I also had to do 16 wall-sits today at 1 minute each!!!

bend arm - elbow still! — bend arm – elbow still!

I know this seems like an easy 43 but the resistance tubing is no joke!!! And, 43 reps (or even 10) is something you will definitely feel!

You know I can’t be unbalanced, so I switched sides and did another set of 43.

For the rest of my work-out today, I decided to run. This week I have done a long run and a short easy run so today I decided to do a hard run. I kept the treadmill at 1.5% incline and did 6 miles in 30:50 + 2 cool down miles.

It felt good to get in a hard-paced run but I am really trying to keep my focus on just putting in the miles. I think that between now and mid-October (50 mile race) I will spend more time working on nice easy runs and even some long runs that have a run-walk pattern to get my body used to that. I’m also focusing on making my legs as strong as possible (wall-sits, static lunges…..)

Yesterday was truly a

Hunter and I met a friend of his, Zach, and his mom, Renee (who is a friend of mine) at one of my all time favorite places –

We ended up hanging out for 3.5 hours – catching up on each other’s lives while the boys entertained each other!! At one point we moved into the cafe and ate lunch (they have great sandwiches). Fun times for sure!

Yesterday evening, Chris and I went out with friends. We met up with 7 other couples for dinner at a Mexican food place which means – Margaritas!!!Then we all headed to the theater to watch Identity Thief. I haven’t laughed that much at a movie in a long, long time!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO12W35DpsQ’]

After the movie we talked about going somewhere for a drink but figured every place would be too loud for conversation so we just invited everyone over to our house for awhile!! So much fun to just hang out and talk!! (no pictures – just fun)

It was a great day and the perfect cure for

What movies have made you laugh loud and long lately? Do you laugh uncontrollably at movies?

Can’t wait to see what today has in store!!

Happy Saturday!

Kim

Fitness, Lunges

50-mile race, Firm in February, 5th graders & Fun Friday!!!

February 1, 2013 Kim 23 Comments

The letter of the day is F!!!

My 43 was an alternating lateral lunge with 5 pound dumbbells that I picked up one on rep and put back down on the next rep. (Picking up and putting down the weights is a great way to make sure that you get maximum benefits from the lunge because it forces you to get low!) I counted a right lunge and left lunge as 1 – so it was 43 lunges on each side!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRsW4MVzmWY’]

(Poor planning on my part – early morning and no video so I got Chris up at 6:15 when I finished my work-out so he could make a demo before I showered!) He got to sleep in because he is off today – I was up at 5:00!!!!

The rest of my work-out was Les Mills Combat. I doubled up today!! I started with HIIT Power – always brutal!!! Then I did Combat 30 – good but easier than the first!!

Registration opened up today (and I signed up this morning!!!) for the Heartland Ultra-marathon!! There is a 100 mile race and a 50 mile. I’m just going to do the 50 (hopefully next year I will be ready for the 100!). The race isn’t until October but I wanted to sign-up on day 1! WooHoo – 50 miles!!! (Anyone want to pace some miles on October 12, 2013? Let me know!!)

For the short month of February, I thought it would be fun to add in a challenge move every day. I love all of the challenges that different people offer in the blog world but it is hard for me to follow them completely in addition to doing my own work-outs and running. I decided to just do something new for myself by picking 1 move and doing it each day in the month of February for the # of reps that goes along with the day of the month.

My move – Wall Sit for 1 minute!!!

Look – I can even do it after my shower. Really, that was my whole idea – something that I could just do at different times in the day not just during my sweaty work-out. By the end of the month it will have to be at a lot of different times of the day – no way will I be doing 28 minutes worth all at the same time!!!

If you decide to pick a move of the month and play along let me know!!! We could motivate each other!

Today I have a full day of 5th grade!!! Reading, math, science, social studies……Friday!

So many things (all starting with F) – but one of the best – Fun Friday!!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o1dJqRpmP8′]

Have a great Fun Friday!!!

Kim

Let me know if you want to play along on the daily February move!!!

Cardio, Fitness, Lunges, Running, Squats, Treadmill

Warm or Cold?

January 24, 2013 Kim 6 Comments

Today I decided to come up with another circuit-type 43. This one was great because it had some toning combined with cardio moves to target the same areas – BONUS!!!

I did the following circuit:

I liked it a lot – got my heart rate way up and took about 15 minutes to do all 43 reps. (I didn’t set my timer.)

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-K_ByqVuJg’]

Today is a true example of what a total dork I am – I could tell that my arms were off during the ski run. Who cares??? Just make big movements with your arms to get your heart pumping – the goofier the better!!!

After my 43 I ran. I truly planned to run outside this morning but the temp on my car said 11 when I took Hunter to school. Ummmm….no way – please don’t make me go out there!! Treadmill – here I come!!!

I did 10 miles at a fairly steady pace with a 1.5 % incline. Time – 72:49 (only let the last 2 miles drop under 7:00)

I actually felt really good running today. I tried out some new shoes that I got last week on my Dick’s shopping adventure – the Brooks PureFlow 2.

I like them OK – not sure I like them as much as my Mizunos! I do love the color though!!!

Warm or Cold – so many choices!

Left-over pizza – I like it either way
Apple crisp – Warm!!!
Wine – Cold!!
Baths – HOT
Weather – the warmer the better!!!

I know that there are many people who like weather like this:But my happy spot looks more like this:

What about you – Warm or Cold??

Happy Thursday!

Kim

By the way, the answers to yesterday’s trivia challenge:

the Beattles
in the bones
a mile

Fitness, Lunges, Triceps

Are You a Trivia Master?

January 23, 2013 Kim 5 Comments

Today the 43 was another multi-joint exercise!!! The lower body portion was static – I just held a lunge:

The upper body was to work my triceps. I did kickbacks while staying in a low lunge for the entire 43.

Umm...elbow higher?! — Umm…elbow higher?!

Jordan - take the picture - I'm dying here!!!! — Jordan – take the picture already – I’m dying here!!!!

And, you know, that I have to make sure things stay semi-balanced so I did 43 on each side!!! I used a 12 pound dumbbell for the first 33 with my right arm and then dropped to 10 pounds. On my left, I only got to 28 with the 12 pound weight and then I had to do the last 15 with a 10 pound so that I didn’t sacrifice form. Staying in the lunge the whole time – brutal and awesome!!!

Today was another day of Combat!!!! I did Combat 30 (cardio) and then I decided to try a new one – Core Attack. WOW – 20 minutes of solid core work. By the end when one of the people on the DVD said it was awesome, I’m pretty sure I used a different choice of words for how I was feeling. This was an intense 20 minutes!!!

Last night, Jordan and some of his friends/classmates were recognized at the school board meeting. In the fall, they competed in a National academic competition – Knowledge Master Open (KMO). They placed 1st out of 38 teams in the state of Kansas and 29th out of 508 teams in the nation!!!

Pretty awesome!!! Way to go guys (and girls)!!!! (and did you notice that Jordan is wearing something besides a white T-shirt and white Nike shorts? Rare!!)

The competition is broken into categories – law, government, history, even “useless trivia.”

So, let’s see how many of y’all are current on random facts (you never know when you might need some useless bit of knowledge!).

What quartet arrived in New York City on February 7, 1964?
Where are the Haversian canals?
What distance did the Romans once define as 1,000 paces?

If you can answer any of these I will be super impressed!!! (You thought there was a prize didn’t you?!) The prize is just knowing that you know “stuff”!!!

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

Biceps, Butt, Core, Fitness, Lunges

Back to Reality!

January 3, 2013 Kim 2 Comments

This morning when my alarm started screaming a little after 5 – all I could think about were the words to this song.

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

I, however, was not dancing around like Will! (Cannot lie – I always liked Will Smith in The Fresh Prince!)

So, I ~~jumped out of bed~~ rolled slowly out of bed, and got on with my daily 43. Today I used my kettlebell again – love it!!! The sequence for 1 rep:

right knee lift with KB pass under
left knee lift with KB pass under
right lunge with KB pass under
left lunge with KB pass under

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72jW0_PWL6U’]

Hunter helped me out with the demo yesterday afternoon. We took a couple of plates out for him. This morning I did all 43 reps with the 20 pound kettlebell and I tried to lift my knees to chest height and go into a deep 90 degree lunge – I was sweating for sure!!! What I really love is the number of muscles that I could feel working – legs, butt, core and arms.

Today was day 9 of the 12 Days of Fitness. (I sort-of have to sing the song to remember how many of each exercise, especially when I’m doing this at 5am!!) Today we added in lateral lunges (I used 25 pound dumbbells for this move.)

For the rest of my work-out, I pulled out an old classic – TaeBo! I did the Ab Bootcamp DVD from Billy’s Bootcamp series. It is 35 minutes of solid core work and I’m sure that tomorrow I will remember the work-out!!!

Gotta get moving – boys back to school today and I’m back to my long-term library gig! First though, Hunter has an 8:00am orthodontist appointment – who scheduled this thing?!?!