Tag Archives: leg-lifts

Stretching – Good for the Body, Great for the Mind

November 21, 2013 Kim 74 Comments

Today’s 44 was fun because it is primarily an arm move but it also works the core! This move is from Allie @ VitaTrain4Life. She did an awesome arm workout for us yesterday and I borrowed one of the moves for my 44.

The move is a bicep curl with your legs lifted (that’s why your abs get involved!!).

I think the hardest part of this move was to try and keep my arm movements controlled.

I pulled out a DVD that I tend to forget about today – Exhale Core Fusion Body Sculpt. I forgot how great this workout is. It is 5 10-minute sections (although a couple are a little longer) of slow moving work.
Upper body
Thighs
Butt
Abdominal
Stretching

I’m not sure which of the sections was the hardest – they all seem like they should be easy and innocent but they really work the designated areas!!!

The final section – stretch – is one that I tend to skip in lots of workouts. However, today I decided to spend the 10ish minutes and tried to completely relax into it.

Usually I will spend about 10 seconds in the corpse pose and decide I don’t have time for that. Today, I don’t know if my body was telling me it needed the time to relax and prepare for the day or what but the stretching was awesome!!! I enjoyed the entire time both physically and mentally!!!

Lately I’ve read several posts about stretching – Kris on Fitness had a great one yesterday talking about stretching to help prevent injury and how as we age it is a vital part of fitness. Abby @ Change of Pace wrote a post about the “torture tools” that are available (foam rollers, sticks, balls, etc.) to help with preventing injuries and the value of taking the time to use them.

Even knowing about the importance of stretching to help prevent injuries has rarely been enough to make me stop and do it.

However, today I discovered that being willing to spend a few minutes calming my mind after working out can be very enjoyable – who knows maybe next time I will do 15 minutes!!!

Do you enjoy stretching?

Happy Thursday!

Kim

Butt, Fitness, Thighs

Sunshine Award

August 17, 2013 Kim 14 Comments

Today for my 43 I did a move that was inspired by the only Barre workout I’ve done – Cathe Friedrich’s Barre DVD. I used my “bar” –

I did a 2-part leg lift.

First, I lifted my leg to the back –

I brought my leg down (without swinging it!!!) and without touching the floor I lifted it out to the side. I continued lifting back and side in a slow controlled manner until I finished all 43 reps.

And, because I don’t want my left leg to feel left out, I had to do 43 more with the left leg.

I have been working on adding extra moves to strengthen my hips lately since I’m running more often and more miles right now – hoping to stay injury free at least for the next couple of months!!!!

I also did my 3rd round of Taylor’s challenge for the week – The Race Is On. I’m not gonna lie – this week’s workout was tough!!! Even though it took less than 15 minutes, it was very intense and hard-core! My time on Monday for the entire workout was 15:46 and today I did it in 12:55!!! No breaks, no rest – just high intensity for almost 13 minutes!!

Heather @ Run Like a G! nominated me for the Sunshine Award.

Because I’m super lame, I asked her if it would be OK if I answered the questions without doing the rest of the award requirements (picking 10 other people to answer questions from me). She said it would be fine – thanks, Heather for nominating me and letting me be a 1/2 participant!!!

Questions from Heather:

1. What is your favorite thing about running?
I love how strong and free I feel when I run. Some runs are good and others not so much but I always feel alive after completing a run. And, my calves almost always look like I’m wearing heels!!!

2. What FRIENDS character are you more like?
I’m probably the most like Monica – I am very type A and sometimes fairly obsessive!!!

3. If money wasn’t an option, what country/island/place would you explore for a week?
Australia – my number one place that I want to visit and haven’t yet!!!

4. Bodybuilding – yay or nay?
Not for me just because I don’t have the discipline required (especially as far as the nutrition goes!). But I love seeing how others can transform their bodies through hard-work and discipline.

5. What do you LOVE about your body?
I’m happy with my body 95% of the time – mostly because I love how strong it is. I know that I can push myself harder now than I did 5 years ago and that makes me HAPPY!!!

6. Tell me your favorite season and give two reasons why it is your favorite season.
Summer – always!!! I love the heat and days spent at the pool or beach with my family. I also love the slower pace that we enjoy during the summer when we aren’t tied down with a school schedule.

7. Do you believe in love at first sight?
Yes! My husband and I met on a Tuesday night (at a bar). I didn’t see him again until the following Saturday when he picked me up and we drove 7 hours (each way) to go to a concert. He told me several months later that he knew on the way to Austin (for the concert) that I was the person he was going to marry.

8. If you could have an exotic animal as a pet, which would you choose?
I’m not a huge pet person but I would probably go with some type of snake – maybe a dwarf boa.

9. Have you read Harry Potter?
No. My oldest son (14 now) read all the books the summer after he finished 2nd grade!!! I have only seen the first 4 movies – I enjoyed them but sort of lost interest.

10. What is your favorite cereal?
Ohs – no milk!!!

I would nominate all the blogs I read for a Sunshine Award so I’m not doing that part. Feel free to pick any (or all) of the questions and share your answer(s).

Happy Saturday!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

Struggling

June 26, 2013 Kim 46 Comments

Today’s 43 was a plank with a leg lift using my band for extra resistance! I wrapped the band around my foot –

After I had the band secured, I got into the plank position.

From this position, I lifted and lowered my right leg 43 times.

The sad thing on this move – after I finished 43 with my right leg, I still had another set of 43 with my left leg!

The band really made this a tough move today!!! Besides the leg lift, I had to hold plank for quite a while!!

I did another hotel friendly workout this morning – Les Mills Combat – Combat 45.

combat gloves - make you feel powerful!!! — combat gloves – make you feel powerful!!!

I put on my gloves and kicked and punched and jumped (tried to make sure and land soft so the people in the room below me didn’t complain!!). It’s been awhile since I did combat and I enjoyed it as much as ever!!!

Yesterday I mentioned that I had a completely awful run. I’m not sure why but I know that the problem didn’t have anything to do with my legs!! It was all about my breathing. I spent the entire run trying to settle into my breathing but it never happened!! I felt like I was gasping and panting the entire time!!!

If I had been running outside, I could have chalked it up to the heat/humidity. However, I was on a treadmill in a climate controlled environment.

I know that dehydration can make it hard to run and cause breathing problems but I’ve made sure to keep drinking plenty of water even though we are on vacation.

The boys and I always take the stairs at the hotel (we are on the 3rd floor) because we need all the extra activity we can get!!! 2 different times in the past 3 days I’ve felt like the little man in the above picture. Really?!! I shouldn’t have any problems going up a couple flights of stairs.

I’m not sure why I’m having such a hard time this week – all of my workouts have been harder than they should be. There are several factors that could be causing this – I’m just not sure what it is exactly.

Over-training? Maybe – the past few weeks I’ve pushed myself pretty hard.

Stress? Quite possibly. Even though the boys and I are having a great time, being away from home as a “single” parent is always a little stressful. Plus the fact that I haven’t talked to Chris since Saturday!

Fatigue? Pretty sure this is part of it – lack of quality sleep tends to add up!

Well, tomorrow is another day and I will have another run – hopefully after a relaxing day and a good night’s sleep it will be better!!!

Do you ever struggle with your breathing while doing what should be an easy run or other simple activity?

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

Butt, Fitness, Thighs

I WON SOMETHING!!!!! but I had to give it back

June 11, 2013 Kim 52 Comments

Today’s 43 was to work my hips, thighs, butt – all of it!!! I did 4 moves 43 reps of each (on both sides!)

All of the moves are done in the table-top position:
1. leg straight back – small lifts x 43
2. leg out to the side – small lifts x 43
3. leg out to side with knee bent so that heel pushes to back – small lifts x 43
4. leg straight back with knee bent and heel to ceiling – small lifts x 43

4 moves x 43 each!!! Right side — 4 moves x 43 each!!!
Right side

I guess my shoes have reflective stuff on them and the flash kept hitting them – oops!!!

And, I still have almost 2 weeks of Insanity Asylum (sort-of ready to be done with it but I’m going to finish the program!!). Today was Strength (still seeing improvement so that’s good!) and Relief (stretching!!).

After my “home” workout, I headed to the swim beach for Boot Camp. I really like the mornings on the beach – it’s so peaceful (even if we are working hard and sweating buckets!!). And, Jordan always goes with me to the beach and joins us for the workout – I love seeing my boys enjoy fitness!!!

Yesterday morning, I was going through my Bloglovin’ feed and when I got to MizFit I clicked on the first unread post and saw – “winner winner chicken dinner! Kim of Day with KT” (THAT’S ME!!!!) I won her giveaway – a ticket to Fitbloggin!!!!

Not gonna lie – I picked myself up off the floor and did a little jig! Happiness and excitement were at max levels!!!!

I immediately googled Fitbloggin 2013 so that I could start planning – booking a flight and hotel were next on the agenda – I had my trusty Visa and I was ready. I can’t even believe how many times I’ve commented on different blogs about Blog Meet-ups and how I hoped to be able to go to one sometime! And now I was going to get to go!!!!!

I headed over to the FitBloggin website to get the dates so I could make my arrangements and at the top of the page I saw this:And just like that, my bubble burst!!! I went from being over the top excited toI sent this text to Chris even though I shouldn’t have because it made him feel bad – he called me immediately!

The problem – Chris is a pilot in the Air National Guard and he will be on a trip before, during, after the conference (not a fun trip like mine would be – his is actually work!). Which means that I’m doing double duty as a single mom and can’t go to the conference. It’s how our life is and I wouldn’t change anything (except maybe the timing of Chris’ trip!!!).

I know that there will be other conferences and other opportunities to meet many of the wonderful people that I only know through cyber-space but I think the fact that I won (Carla picked me!!!) the ticket and then had to decline makes me feel a little like this – So, many 100s of thanks to MizFit for allowing me to experience the happiness and excitement of winning and planning to go to FitBloggin’ and many apologies that I had to decline (but I didn’t know about the conflicting dates when I entered to win). I will just have to plan further ahead and make sure I get my dates on the calendar first for the next one!!!!

Have you ever won something and had to give it back or decline?

Happy Tuesday!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

Fun Friday!!!

March 29, 2013 Kim 12 Comments

For my 43 today I did a move that Gina (the Fitnessista) had as part of a really cool 2,4,6,8,10 workout earlier this week.

To do the move, start in plank (arms extended) – lift your right leg and tap it down across your left leg then switch legs to complete 1 rep.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssXX7WA8Ewc’]

It took me 3:20 minutes (holding plank the whole time) to complete 43 reps! The hard part was trying not to rock my body or drop my hips (or stick my butt too high). If you add a boost to a normal plank – try this move!

Because I’ve sort-of slacked on workouts the past couple of days I decided to step it up a bit with Cathe XTrain – Tabatacise. I did all 5 Tabatas (killer!) then I did the 100 Rep challenges – 100 flat bench triceps (I used 8 pound dumbbells) & 100 bicep curls (10 pound dumbbells) – UGH!!! I finished with the Bonus Core #2.

When I finished Jordan said, “That looked hard – I’m never gonna do that!” (no school today & Chris is off so the gangs all here!!) OK, Jordan, whatever!! I did convince him to go for a walk with me yesterday afternoon so there is that!!

I’m looking forward to the weekend! The weather is supposed to be nice for a few more days (and then maybe snow on April 1 – what is that about?!), the NCAA basketball tournament is going on, Easter – time with all 3 of my boys – what more could anyone ask for?!

Happy Fun Friday – I hope everyone has a great weekend with family and/or friends!

Kim

Day With KT