Making it Count in March

March 1, 2013 Kim 8 Comments

Today’s 43 was inspired by a post I read the other day over at evilcyber. The idea is to make sure that you are strong enough to do squats safely before doing them. Simple squat test – stand without using your hands to push you up.

I decided to use that simple move to do a squat & hold move with my stability ball. I started by sitting on the ball (I kept my hands behind my head for a little added challenge)

from here, I stood but only part-way , so that I was in a semi-squat.

I held the partial squat for a 2-count and then lowered down just enough to barely touch the ball before repeating. 43 of those and my quads were burning!!!

Today I was back with Les Mills Combat for Combat 60 Live – Ultimate Warrior. Like I said the other day, I think this one might be my favorite!!! Then I did some Jillian Michaels – 6 Weeks to a Six Pack, Level 2. Not gonna lie, I thought about just doing the circuit through one time but I gutted it out for the whole thing and I’m glad I did (now that I’m finished!!).

I’m happy that March is here and February is done for another year!! I feel like I always start March on the count-down:

how many days till spring break
how many days till NCAA basketball tournament time (my favorite!!)
how many days till spring
how many days till Easter
how many days till summer

But, in keeping with my goal for 2013 (live in the moment), I don’t want to spend March counting down the days this year. I’m going to spend it making sure that each day, each moment counts.

Jillian Michaels said (in the DVD that I just finished sweating to), “If you’re going to spend your time doing this work-out, Make it Count!!!”

I think that statement can (and should) apply to all areas of life (not just fitness) – make it count!!!

So, my plan is to make every minute of March count!! I think that will include:

finding the positive in every day
less complaining
being spontaneous
working towards a goal (for what to do with my life now that I don’t work full-time)

Because it is March and March Madness is quickly approaching I figured a basketball quote would be very applicable: You only have one shot – make it count!!!

How will you Make March Count?

Happy Fun Friday!!

Kim

Core

406 Wall-Sits (1 minute each) – DONE!!

February 28, 2013 Kim

Today was a Pilates kind-of day! I even did a Pilates move for my 43. Double-leg drops – great for about the first 15 then….

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ6Lp38H-Dk’]

I tried to do a smooth 2-count down and 2-count up until I reached finally reached #43.

This was a rest day for Les Mills Combat but I didn’t want to take the day completely off. I did a Crunch DVD – Fat Burning Pilates. I’m happy with my choice to do something but I knew I wasn’t up for a hard-core workout!! I needed a bit of a break!

At the beginning of February I started a new self-challenge. I decided to pick an exercise and do it every day for the month of February equal to the day of the month.

For some crazy reason, I choose to do 1-minutes wall-sits. Fine for the first few days but the past week and a half have been HARD!!!

Some stats – 406 wall sits = 406 minutes = 6 hours 46 min

February: 24(hours) x 28(days) = 672 hours 672(hours) x 60(min) = 40,320 minutes

406/40,320 = 1%

That’s right!! I spent 1% of the month of February sitting on the wall with my quads burning!

I had to make tally marks to keep track!! So thankful for my phone to use as both timer and entertainment!!!

Chris and Hunter have also participated in the February daily challenge – Chris with push-ups and Hunter, burpees. They still have 28 for today and then they will be challenge winners!!! Way to go, guys!!

Time to think up the next fun challenge – love having little goals!!!

For now though, I have a school newsletter to pull together, type, print and get 400 copies made before 3:30 today!!! Gotta get busy!

Happy Thursday!

Kim

Back, Fitness

Using Muscles in New Ways…

February 27, 2013 Kim 21 Comments

Today for the 43, I decided to take some advice from MizFit and be a superhero. Well, sort-of. I did 43 supermans today. This is a great exercise to strengthen your back – and it actually feels pretty good!

Start by laying facedown with arms and legs fully extended.

Lift your legs up and at the same time lift your arms and pull them back so that you are really squeezing your shoulder blades.

Today, I held the above position for a 5-count (you can vary the amount of hold time). This really was a nice 43.

The rest of my workout today was Les Mills Combat Combat 45 – this one has some really fun moves!!! Besides my 27 minutes worth of wall-sits, I decided to let that be the extent of the workout today because yesterday about did me in!

It’s funny that you can think you are fit and strong but then you do an activity that you don’t normally do and BOOM – not so tough now!! Yesterday I experienced that when I spent and hour and a half shoveling snow.

Today muscles I didn’t even know I had are sore! Who knew?!?!

Jordan used some different “muscles” yesterday, also. He cooked dinner for us! He wanted to do a Mexican bake and planned to just make stuff up. I recommended that he try to find a recipe to at least partly follow. I told him that as he cooks more he will learn to just “wing” it!!

So much fun to work with him in the kitchen! And, of course, part of cooking is the clean-up!

He did a great job and dinner was delicious!

Thanks, Jordan!

Hunter uses his “mental muscles” to solve his Rubik cube:

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua8q8lPUuM0′]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIVS7KXTAOg’]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3gfoaloSKc’]

3 attempts – all in under a minute!! His fastest so far is 35 seconds! Crazy.

What muscles have you worked in a new way lately?

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

Cardio, Fitness, Plyo

Plyo, Plyo, Plyo – Just Jump!!

February 26, 2013 Kim 6 Comments

Today I did a little bit of plyometrics (also known as jump training) for my 43. Years ago (over 20 now) when I ran college track, we used to do a little bit of plyo training. After college I pretty much quit that ~~nonesense~~ type of activity. However, several years ago when I realized I needed to do more than just run to maintain my ~~hot body~~ desired body size (and shape), I started Insanity! Hello, plyo!!!! Now, I actually enjoy the act of jumping a lot!!

So, for the 43 I did a series of 4 jumps:

air jack
forward hop
backward hop
tuck jump

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZZicZ1KWYQ’]

All I had to do was repeat those 4 jumps 43 times! I was ~~dying~~ panting hard but I did it!! (Not sure why I have a hard time keeping my balance on tuck jumps but who cares? Just Jump!!!)

And…Great News! Today in Les Mills Combat it was time for Plyo HIIT – 30 more minutes of jumping!!! After that I decided to pull out a workout I haven’t done in a while – Jillian Michaels 6 Weeks to a Six Pack. Today I just did Level 1 – 35 minutes of both standing and floor core work. I think what I really like about all of Jillian’s programs are that she uses basic moves and just combines them in different ways! I always feel like I’ve worked hard after completing any of her workouts!

Another snow day here in Kansas! I’m beginning to feel like I live in the mountains! OK – maybe it’s not quite that bad but I’m having to work harder this week to be pleasant about the snow!!

One nice thing – the boys are home from school AGAIN!!! Hopefully they will want to hang out with me. Maybe a game of

Happy Tuesday!!

Kim

Back, Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Exercise: Fun or Dreaded?

February 25, 2013 Kim 14 Comments

Today’s 43 really made me push myself!! I did plank rows – which means I stayed in the plank position while I did 43 rows with each arm (for a total of 86 rows)!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A631XqSoj4′]

I wanted to maximize the core work so I tried to keep my body as still as possible during the rows – not easy!!! (but done)

Today was Combat 60 Live – Ultimate Warrior (fun, fun, fun!!!) which is part of the Les Mills Combat program. I sort-of wish that particular work-out was even longer than an hour – so much fun and yet when I finish I always know that I have gotten a great work-out!

I’m forcing myself to take a week or two off of running to see if my Achilles will heal up. I have had Achilles problems (not that kind of Achilles!!!) since grad school and my days of heavy road racing – it comes and goes but usually if I will give it a bit of a break I can push on through!

I tried a quick new work-out today – LOVED it!!! I did work-out #1 on Zuzana’s (from BodyRock) new DVD series.

10 burpees (touch your stomach to the ground each time then jump into the air at the top)
10 tuck jumps
10 burpees
20 jumping lunges
10 burpees
30 kick ups (start in crab position & kick legs up – one right & one left = 1)
10 burpees
40 jack kicks (jack your feet out then in, kick leg high to the side – alt. legs)
10 burpees
10 burpees

Next time I think I will set my own timer – I stuck with Zuzana today but I had some down time and I would rather push the whole time!! Either way – less than 10 minutes to a great work-out!

Do you enjoy your work-outs or are they just something to be endured so you can check it off the list?

People that know me know I love to exercise. I don’t know if I’ve ever said I “have” to work out. Usually, if I have a day where I feel like that, it means I need a day off!!

But, I’ve had many people say, “I wish I liked to work out like you do.” Why??? Don’t work-out like me if you hate it!! Find something that YOU like!

Anytime someone tells me they wished they liked to run or lift weights, I always ask them what they do like to do. If it’s not something you like then it will just be work!!! I don’t ever swim for exercise because I hate swimming (I think the pool or lake should just be used to cool off while tanning). If that were to be my work-out I would dread every second of it and it wouldn’t benefit me much at all.

I always feel bad when I can tell someone is going to the gym just because they feel like they “should.” Even with my boys, I would love them to be runners but I don’t think they really enjoy it – no problem, but find something you like and do it!!

I know that MizFit is a big advocate for making fitness fun – she calls it Playout (instead of workout – get it?). I love her approach to making it FUN!!!

So, any of you who dread your work-out times, maybe it’s time to make a change! Make it fun so you will enjoy it (or at least not dread it!!).

Happy Monday!

Kim

Day With KT

Making it Count in March

406 Wall-Sits (1 minute each) – DONE!!

Using Muscles in New Ways…

Plyo, Plyo, Plyo – Just Jump!!

Exercise: Fun or Dreaded?

Fitness – Food – Fun