Tag Archives: pilates

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

Fitness, Push-Ups

It’s a Snow Day, Bonus Day!!!

December 20, 2012 Kim 2 Comments

WooHoo!!! I didn’t have to do my 43 at 5:15 this morning. My alarm started shrieking at me at the dreaded 5:15 and since I knew it was supposed to have snowed some, I decided to make sure school was still on for the day. Complete surprise (and pure joy!!!) when I saw that our district was closed today!!!

We didn’t have that much snow but the wind was horrible!!! Chris said on his drive to work (at about 5:40) he had periods where all he could see was white – scary!!!

OK – back to the 43!! Today I did 43 decline push-ups.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d62LsOafqQg’]

In the video that Jordan helped me with the other day, Jordan did a few of these push-ups with just his toes on the stool. However, I had to do 43 and that wasn’t going to work for me!!! I put my shins on the stool (I know – much easier!!).

Either way, a good challenge today! I only had to stop once for a quick stretch (after # 26) so all 43 went really quickly!!

I wanted to do some kind of work-out today. I’ve pretty much decided that the only rule the DR gave me that I’m going to follow is the NO RUNNING (that one is the hardest for me to obey anyway so I figure I’m doing pretty good)!!!

I did another Pilates DVD – Mari Winsor Pilates. I did 3 of the 4 15 minute segments: cardio burn, flat-ab blast and butt & thigh sculptor. Only the cardio broke any rules and the few places where she added in jumps, I didn’t jump!!

I’m hoping that the boys will play Monopoly or some other fun games with me on our bonus day! Jordan is overjoyed that Christmas break started a day early and Hunter is a little bummed about it – I’m with Jordan! (and I detest snow!!!)

Happy Thursday (snow day)!

Kim

Core, Fitness

The Librarian

December 17, 2012 Kim 2 Comments

Today my 43 really worked my obliques! I used my stability ball again. I put my back on the ball and my feet on the wall at a right angle. With my hands behind my head, I crunched to the left and reached my right hand outside my left knee and then crunched the opposite way to make 1 rep. So, in order to complete my 43, I actually did 86 oblique crunches!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db7XC_BLwVQ’]

(The boys helped me out over the weekend with several demos. I wanted to be ready for the busy week ahead so we made the videos and then each morning I can do the actual 43.)

After the 43 I did some Pilates but I actually mixed it up and did some new stuff. First I did the mat segment from Burn & Firm Pilates – 10 minutes. This DVD uses hand weights with the pilates work which is kind of nice. Then I did the mat segment from Fat Burning Pilates – 15 minutes. Finally I did the total body segment from Pick Your Spot Pilates – 10 minutes.

All of these were still non-weight bearing! It was a nice change of pace on the pilates front because all of these work-outs have ab, butt and thigh work all mixed together instead of in separate sections.

Can you guess what I’m going to be doing this week? I’m not technically the librarian but I will be working in the school library. I’m not going to be at Hunter’s school – I will be at one of the other elementary schools in our district. I’m filling in for the library aide – this week and then most of January. I’m super excited!!! I love everything about books and I think this will be a really fun job!

Between spending my days in the school library and my evenings tutoring algebra (finals week for high school) – this week is going to be BUSY!!!

I better get going – still need to get dinner in the crock pot before we all leave for the day!

Happy Monday!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Thighs

Epic Camera Fail

December 15, 2012 Kim 2 Comments

Today I thought I would give my upper body a little break with the 43 and do a leg exercise. (It has been hard to come up with non-weight bearing moves that still offer a challenge for my lower body!!!)

I took one of my Pilates moves and turned it into the 43. I did a leg lift that included complete range of motion.

Lie on left side – body in a straight line – propped on left elbow
Point right toes and place it slightly in front of left foot
Lift right leg straight in the air
Flex right foot and lower leg behind left foot
Point toes and raise right leg in the air
Flex foot and lower in front of left leg

The above is 1 rep. This move should be performed in a smooth, controlled manner. And, of course, I did 43 with my right leg and 43 with my left leg!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXWKEP31WWs’]

(I left my socks on because my feet get cold!!!)

After working my legs – and I felt it for sure – I decided to work on my plank hold again. I did another 3 minute plank – I’m not sure I will ever be able to hold it longer than that. (makes my wrists hurt)

Last night was Hunter’s cello bash (and by bash I mean LONG concert – good but LONG – like 2.5 hours!) and I had big plans to post a video of him playing his duet. Ummm….apparently, if you don’t charge your camera battery in advance then you get a message that says – battery exhausted. I tried using my iPhone but I couldn’t zoom in and blah, blah, blah – no video to share.

Here is a close rendition!

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

Oh, maybe not – but he did a great job as did all of the cellists last night!

Tonight we are going to our first Hanukkah party – I’m very excited!! Love to learn new things!

Happy Saturday!

Kim

BOSU, Fitness, Push-Ups

Favorite Things

December 10, 2012 Kim 5 Comments

The 43 today was another version of the good ‘ol push-up! I love trying all different types of push-ups and today’s was a good one!

I used my BOSU again!

Today, however, I flipped it over for the move.

After Jordan did a few awesome push-ups, I did 43 using the BOSU. I was able to do all of them on my toes – just had to stop and do a quick stretch 2 times before I finished!

I also did my standard (standard for these days – while I can’t do a real work-out) work-out: Pick your Spot Pilates. I did all 3 sections again – belly, butt, thighs.

This morning when I was driving home, after dropping Hunter off at school, I heard the song My Favorite Things by Lorrie Morgan.

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

The song made me think of some of my favorite things (it is an ever-changing list except for the top). Here are some of my favorites on this bitterly cold Monday:

Chris, Jordan, Hunter
seat heaters in my car (even though Jordan always puts on the seat cooler for his seat – even today when it is only 10 degrees – crazy!!!)
hot Chai
crockpot (with tonight’s dinner cooking away!)
Christmas lights in every room!
text from a friend
running (just not today or for awhile)
sappy, predictable Christmas movies on Lifetime
fleece (doesn’t matter what really – shirt, pants, blankets…)
music
pictures

I could go on but I have to get busy addressing Christmas cards!!! Normally I used the kind of envelopes that you just peel off the back and stick – not this year for some reason (oh yeah, the size of the picture). I’m not sure about licking 150+ envelopes.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt8E_27iyOk’]

Maybe I will find a damp sponge!!!