Category Archives: Fitness

Cardio, Fitness, Lunges, Plyo, Push-Ups, Quad

Sunday Deserves Some Sunshine

January 5, 2014 Kim 49 Comments

Today’s 44 took one of my favorite moves (burpees) and added in one of my least favorite (jumping lunges) for a great challenge!!!

The move – a burpee (don’t forget he push-up!) jump up and immediately do 2 lunge jumps.

(FYI – the burpees in the demo actually make # 45, 46 & 47!)

Last night Hunter was trying to give me some more ideas for my 44s and he suggested a burpee with a tuck jump. I told him I did those this summer on the beach in Florida!!! He didn’t believe me so I had to find the video to prove it!!!

While we were looking at YouTube, we came across this video –

44 (must be fate!) of the best burpee exercises ever!!! I can’t wait to try more of these!!!

Mona @ Moxie-Dude was super sweet and nominated me for a sunshine award.

I decided that this bitterly cold and snowy Sunday would be the perfect day to share some sunshine!!!!

I know there are supposed to be rules to these things but I pretty much suck at following them!! I decided to start by answering Mona’s questions and then go from there.

1. If the internet suddenly disappeared and you couldn’t blog anymore, what would you choose as a “release” for your writing and creativity?
Well, I don’t know that I am super creative in my writing anyway – I would probably just spend the extra time on my treadmill!!!

2. What’s a perfect Saturday morning to you?
I would say it is a day that I sleep in but that doesn’t really happen. I do like the mornings when I don’t have to set an alarm and jump out of bed first thing. I would take my time getting up, do my workout, have Chris and both boys home and not have to spend the day running all over the place or doing any errands – in other words LAZY!!

3. Where do you see yourself and your blog in 3 years from now?
I will be 47 so I guess if I can stick with it that long, I will be doing daily 47s!!! As for blogging, I hope to have met in person some of the incredible people that I have met online!!!

4. Is your family supportive of your blogging?
Yes, they are 100% supportive. Chris reads my post every single day (and usually texts me after to make a comment of some sort so I know he read it). The boys don’t seem to mind being part of my blog on many occasions and are more than willing to help me out with pictures/videos!!

5. What’s you fav quick, easy and delicious dinner recipe? (this one made me laugh – if you haven’t read Mona’s blog, you really should check it out!!!)
My favorite easy meal is going to involve the crock-pot for sure!!! Hard to pick just one! I’m going to go with French Dip because it is so easy!!!

Put a frozen roast in the crock pot. Mix 2 c water, 1/2 c soy sauce (we use low-sodium), a bay leaf, some garlic powder, a few peppercorns, rosemary & thyme (just sprinkle some in). Cook on low all day. Shred. Serve on Kaiser rolls with swiss cheese and use the juice to dip.

6. Where is your favorite place to write?
This could read where is your favorite place to ___________? No matter what is in the blank, my answer is the same!!! THE BEACH!!!

7. If you had to start your blog all over, what changes would you make?
I think that I would have started commenting on other blogs sooner. I was a complete newbie in the blog world and didn’t have a clue what I was doing for months!!!

What would you keep?
This one is easy – I would keep all of the bloggy friends I have made because they (y’all) are the best part of blogging!!

8. Vacation…with or without kids?
With!! When the boys were younger I liked it when Chris and I could get away by ourselves. Now, the boys are fun to have on vacation and that is part of the experience. I’m hoping that even when they leave the nest they will still take vacations with us and one day that their spouses and kids will come, too!!

9. What’s your best advice for overcoming writer’s block?
Since I’m not really a writer, I don’t truly deal with this!!! I just make up some random stuff and move on!

And, like I said at the beginning – I’m not good at these the traditional way. So I’m not making up 9 or 10 or 12 new questions and tag people – I can’t tag people because I think it supposed to be just a few and I would want to tag at least 100 people!!!

Instead – I will make up one question.

How do you spread sunshine? What is the temperature where you are?

So I lied and asked 2 questions!!! We are actually at 10 degrees with about 4-5 inches of snow so I guess I can’t complain (but I will!) compared to all y’all even further north!

Happy Sunday!!

Kim

Butt, Core, Fitness, Plyo, Running, Treadmill

One Kind Act Is Worth More than 100 Acts Done out of Resentment

January 4, 2014 Kim 48 Comments

Last night I asked Hunter for some suggestions for today’s 44. He came up with one and it was rough!!! I’m not really sure what to call it – HARD?

The move consists of a jump in the air – roll (fall, whatever) back – crunch – pop up (hardest part for me!) – jump – repeat x 44!!!

I asked Hunter if he would do the demo and he agreed even though he had already taken a shower (so sweet!).

I decided to get in another run today. Since I ran nice and easy yesterday, I bumped it up today.
1.5% incline – 5 miles in 30:52 (then some easy miles!)

The other night at dinner I told Chris and the boys that I was going to try to make kindness a bigger part of my daily life.

I decided that for the month of January (and hopefully longer), I would try to make a purposeful effort to do something kind each day.

I know it’s only been a few days but in that short time I’ve discovered something – the act of kindness is all about the attitude!

Yesterday’s act of kindness was something that I would have done anyway but by changing my attitude and wanting to do something kind I actually enjoyed it so much more than if I had just done it and felt resentful for having to do it at all!!

I think that I’m going to enjoy being more purposeful about seeking out ways to be kind and I can already tell that this is one of those things that is going to make my life that much happier!!!

There are many times that I do things but resent it the entire time – my hope is that by choosing to look at some of these things as an act of kindness the resentment will fade and it will become more natural for me to look for ways to be kind!!!

I think that in the big picture I am the one who will benefit the most from choice to try and perform more acts of kindness!!!

Happy Saturday!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Running, Treadmill

Well, the Break Is Over but There Is Still Plenty to Enjoy!!!

January 3, 2014 Kim 78 Comments

Today for my 44 I worked my abs! I didn’t think the move would end up being much of a challenge but I was wrong!! I did a scissor move with my legs while keeping my head and shoulders off the floor.

ready to start - I like to lay in the sun like a cat! — ready to start – I like to lay in the sun like a cat!

right leg down - crunch to left — right leg down – crunch to left

I counted dropping my right leg then left as 1 rep and did this in a fairly slow controlled way. The hard part was keeping my shoulders lifted, legs up and straight(ish).

I also ran again – a total of 5 miles at a nice easy pace (on my treadmill because it is cold)!!!

The boys have been out of school for 2 weeks and I decided to give myself a break for most of that time, too. Now we are down to the final weekend and then we get back to our regularly scheduled programs!!!

OK – it was a little more than 15 minutes but it sure went by in a hurry!!! It has been so nice to ditch the alarm clock and just take care of the things that have to be done but let everything else go for a short time.

I’m actually thinking that a couple days like this built into every ~~week~~ month would be a really good thing – days spent hanging out, playing games, eating snacks and left-overs and just enjoying life!

Oh, well – I really like my normal life, too. I like the routine and am always happy to have my workout (and daily post) done by 7:30 instead of just starting to get up and around at that time!!

So, we will enjoy these next few days (I even convinced the boys to come with me today when I go clean the venue for tomorrow night’s event!!!) and be thankful that we were able to relax and regroup as long as we did!!!

And, instead of living for the next break, I plan to live each day to the fullest and enjoy all of the little things (like cleaning!!!) as much as possible!! Plus, I’m sure that a day spent cleaning and ironing will help me get in plenty of steps!!!

Do you ever find yourself just putting in time until the next big thing – break, holiday, vacation, etc?

Happy Fun Friday!!!

Kim

Butt, Fitness, Quad

The FitBit Force

January 2, 2014 Kim 86 Comments

Today’s 44 was all about hold and control! I held a chair pose and did alternating side tap-outs.

Because I had to take my own pictures using the mirror reflection, I couldn’t hold both arms up. However, when I did the actual move, I really did keep my arms up the entire time!!!

So, even though the pictures are awful, you can get the basic idea!!! I counted a right tap out and a left tap out as 1 rep.

I think this year I’m going to work my way through all of my workout DVDs – that should be a fun way to mix things up!!!

This morning I did Jillian Michaels Hard Body – Level 1. This is a 45 minute workout that incorporates strength training and cardio – my favorite!!!

Yesterday I mentioned that I scored a major deal on a FitBit Force. I have been wearing it every day this week and so far it has been good as a pedometer but that is about it.

Above is a screen shot from yesterday. I think the steps are probably right (sadly all but about 2200 of them were during my run and then I was a slug!!) but nothing else is accurate.

I ran 8 miles hard yesterday and then did another 2.5 miles (10.5 miles total) – and the mileage for the entire day doesn’t even show 6 miles?!

Also, the active minutes isn’t accurate – yesterday I was on the treadmill for a total of 95 minutes. Right now (after my workout, 44 and other moves) the active minutes is showing 1. Really?!

I know the calorie count is way off which is fine because I don’t really pay attention to that anyway.

The part that is the most disappointing is the sleep tracker. I thought it would really show how much I’m awake and sleep patterns but it doesn’t. Because it is on your wrist, you have to be moving that arm a LOT for it to realize that you are awake. I usually try to lay still even when I can’t sleep so basically the entire time I’m in bed it records as sleep time.

I’m going to keep wearing my FitBit and trying to really increase my daily steps but I’m very happy that I only ended up spending a couple dollars on this since it is really just a pedometer at this point.

Any thoughts on the FitBit and ways to make it more accurate overall?

Happy Thursday!!! 3 degrees with snow covering the ground here – pretty sure I need a beach!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Running, Treadmill

2014: New Year with New Opportunities

January 1, 2014 Kim 77 Comments

Today I did a crunch with a punch for my 44. A pretty basic move but clasping my hands and punching between my legs forced me to come up higher on the crunch part.

This was a fairly simple move but I always need to work my core!!

(Yes, we still have up our Christmas trees – we always leave them up through New Year’s!!! I will undecorate this weekend.)

I’m fixing to head down and hop on my treadmill for a nice easy run to kick off the new year. This has been a tradition of mine for years – even last year when I had a stress fracture in my hip I broke the no-running rule and ran on January 1!!!

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions – they don’t work for me.

However, I do have a list of things that I want to try in the new year. This list will probably grow as the year goes on but a few of the things include:

1. Quinoa – I have seen so many tasty looking recipes for this that I am finally going to try it!!!

2. Spaghetti Squash – This is something else that I have never had (don’t be shocked!) and plan to try out this year.

3. FitBit – I had a special offer savings at Best Buy and a couple of gift cards so I ended up getting a FitBit Force this week for $2.44 (can’t beat that!!). I’m going to try tracking my daily activity and sleep patterns. In the past 2 days I have already seen how inactive I am – gonna work on that.

4. Reconnecting – This past fall I have done a horrible job staying in touch with many of my friends and I am going to make more effort this year to stay connected!

5. Experimenting – I love making new recipes but they are often just a variation of something I already make. This year I want to be more adventurous in the kitchen. One year I tried cooking from other countries and I’m going to bring that back!!!

6. Growing our Business – I’ve had 4 months now to get my feet wet as a business owner. Now ~~I think~~ I’m ready to try to expand the business.

7. Living every day to the fullest!!! Above all, I want this year to be enjoyed. I want to spend time with my boys and Chris having fun and appreciating all of the little things that come along every day!

I’m looking forward to 2014 and everything that this new year has to offer. I’m hoping it will be fun of new adventures for all of us!