Tag Archives: shoulders

Treadmill Love (and a coming surprise!)

April 4, 2013 Kim 27 Comments

For my 43 today, I tried a new move that I saw over at Brooklyn Active Mama yesterday. For her Weekly Wednesday Workout post she featured a lateral shoulder raise with an ab twist.

Start holding light dumbbells (I started with 5 pound DB for the first 20 reps then dropped down to 3 pound DB for the last 23 – by the end I almost dropped all DB) down at your sides. Lift your arms straight out to the sides (laterally) and hold arms out while twisting (keeping your head facing the front) to the right and back to the center – lower arms – repeat sequence to left side = 1 rep. So, in order to complete 43, I actually had 86 lateral raises and 86 twists (while holding arms out).

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

I liked this move since it was a combo move but it was hard – probably because my shoulders are still my weakest body part!!

Today I pulled out another DVD that I haven’t used much: Tone with Ten with Rodney Yee, Ana Caban, Tanja Djelevic & Suzanne Deason. I did a 30 minute total body cardio toning segment and about 20 minutes of total body pilates. It was a nice treat for my body!!!

I thought about doing the total body yoga segment but once I pulled it up I remembered why I never do this DVD – Rodney Yee does a lot of the moves in a speedo – PASS!!!

Treadmills – you either love them or hate them!! I think the view on the ones above probably helps some people tolerate them a bit more.

I used to detest running on treadmills – college, grad school – no way would I ever run on a treadmill. I would run outside in (-) temperatures, 50 mph winds, 95% humidity (I went to grad school in southern Alabama!!) – it didn’t matter what it was like I was outside.

And then…..I had Jordan. We lived in Texas at the time and Chris was gone at least 50% of the time. I had already decided that thiswasn’t for me. Running was my thing and the only time I had completely to myself. So we bought our 1st treadmill. I can’t remember the brand but it was a fairly good one – it could go up to 10mph and incline to 10% and it had a nice long running belt (mandatory!). The biggest downside – it was a fold-up treadmill which, at the time, we thought would be great.I’m pretty sure that we NEVER folded it. The biggest problem with a fold-up – it isn’t super sturdy. So when I maxed the speed it would shake – a LOT!!!

In August of 2001, I started training for a marathon – the Walt Disney World Marathon. I was doing the Team in Training (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) thing. 2 things happened:

On one of my long runs (I think 16 or 18 miles) my treadmill quit – burned out!! Bummer since it was only 2.5 years old.
I got a stress fracture in my right hip and couldn’t run anyway.

Once I started back running, we bought our 2nd treadmill. I went to a Fitness store that specialized in treadmills and other home equipment to find one. The sales guy tried to steer me away from the ones I wanted – commercial grade – but after I told him how I used my treadmill he agreed it was the best option.

I ended up with a PreCor (some # that I can’t remember) that looked sort-of like this.This one could go up to 12mph and 12% incline!! Loved it!! And the sales guy said it would last me forever!

Wrong!!! In January (coldest part of the year, of course) of 2010 my treadmill died. Not cool at all! Back to the same place for treadmill #3. I stuck with a commercial grade treadmill and this time got a Free Motion.

This one also goes up to 12mph and 30% incline!

It is my favorite (and hopefully last)!!!

I think I learned to love treadmill running because it was my only option. Chris is a military pilot and was often gone while I was home with 1 then 2 boys. Running on the treadmill was a life-saver to me on 100s of occasions! I have all kinds of ways to entertain myself – music, TV or just the treadmill itself – I play games with the speed and/or incline during lots of runs.

I have done lots of long (multiple hour) runs on the treadmill over the past 14 years – longest was 60 miles in 2 days (25 one day and then 35 the next). Longest consecutive was 42 (should have been 43 this year but I didn’t make it).

I think the biggest downside to my treadmill addiction – I have lost the ability to self-pace accurately. Oh well, if I ran outside all the time I would probably use a Garmin to take care of that anyway.

How about you – love or hate the treadmill?

Happy Thursday!!

Kim

Make sure you check in tomorrow – I have a first (for me)- a GiveAway!!!

Biceps, Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Just Messin’ Around

January 26, 2013 Kim 5 Comments

Today for my 43, I pulled out a piece of equipment that I forgot I even had (and I have no idea where it came from).

It is a Bally disc. Kind-of cool because the disc actually spins so you have to hold your core tight if you want to stay still.

The black part is the spinning part. I decided to just play around with this and see what all I could do with it.

First, I stood on it and twisted. I did 3 sets of 43 twists.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf3pwJT3NPM’]

I’m not sure if it would be possible for me to look any goofier than I do in that demo!!!

Then I decided to stand on the disk and do side-bicep curls (43, of course).

The bands aren’t really very long and they are sort-of tight so this was a pretty good exercise. I decided to try one more 43 – alternate front raises.

This last 43 (on each side!!!) was the hardest!! Gotta keep working on my shoulders!!!

Overall, I’m not sure how often I will pull this disc out – judging by the dust I had to clean off of it this time, not very often!!! It was fun to mess around and do some different things for my 43 today so the disc has some value!!!

After I finished up the 43s of the day, I did Les Mills Combat – HIIT Plyo. This is a great HIIT work-out. It is only 30 minutes but it is super high intensity. Lots of jumping squats, plyo lunges and burpees!!! I also did the Core Attack work-out again because I like to ~~torture myself~~ challenge myself!

Yesterday was a fun girl’s day out (we even had a glass of wine with our lunch) – shopping really works up an appetite!!! The best part of the day was coming home at dinner time to the yummy meal that Chris had all ready!!

Last night, Chris and I watched Pitch Perfect using Apple TV. That Apple TV is handy – all you need is a remote – no DVD player required!!! (The DVD has to be preloaded and….blah, blah, blah…..but that is behind the scenes work on Chris’ part!!!). Chris admitted he thought the movie was going to be hokey but he ended up enjoying it as much as I did!!!

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

My favorite type of movie – funny with a happy ending – a true feel-good movie.

Happy Saturday!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Packing Up

January 5, 2013 Kim 1 Comment

My shoulders are burning from today’s 43 – get a pair of dumbbells and try it yourself!!! The move was fairly simple – hold both arms up at 90 degrees (with a dumbbell if you want to really up the challenge!). Keep the left arm stationary, press the right arm up and twist your body to the left – hold for a 2 count. Return to start.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4teQ6eZJioA&feature=youtu.be’]

In the demo I only did 3 reps per side. You know I really did 43 with my right side and then another 43 with my left. I used 10 pound dumbbells and even just holding my arm at 90 was brutal – the press was a total killer! Now I know y’all want to bust out a few!!!

Day 11 of the 12 Days of Fitness today. The new move – weighted squats. I used 25 pounds and held each squat for a 3-count. Only 1 more exercise to add to complete the series!

Today I also did an amazing ab/core that I got from Tamara at Fitknitchick. It is just 6 abdominal exercises and you do each one for a minute – as many reps as possible. I set my Gymboss timer for 2 intervals – a 1 minute one and a 10 second one.

I love this handy timer!!! After 1 minute, it immediately starts on the 10 second rest count-down and then BOOM – you start on the next 1 minute exercise.

The AB plan:

standing oblique crunches
walking plank
feet elevated crunches
V-sit with alternating side rotations
side plank with hip drop
reverse curls

Tamara suggested 30 seconds per side for the side plank. I changed it a little – I did the entire series 2x and did a left side plank the first time and a right side plank the second set. This was a great work-out!!!

Today is going to be a work day here – time to pack up all of the Christmas decorations and trees for another year!!! It will be a chore – good thing the boys are ~~volunteering~~ ~~willing~~ ~~gladly~~ going to help!!!! There will be 100s of trips up & down the stairs hauling ~~crap~~ all of our decorations and my cookbooks!!! Chris gets to miss the fun – drill weekend for him. I guess I will let it slide since technically he is working, too!! (plus he had to get up at 5:00 again this morning and I slept till 7:00!!!)

Good-bye trees!!! I’m ready to put the stuff up but I really like having the tree lights in all of the rooms. Maybe I should string lights up all around the inside of the house…hmmm.

Happy Saturday!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Going in Circles

December 12, 2012 Kim 3 Comments

Today’s 43 really tested one of my weakest areas – shoulders! Plus, I sat on my stability ball while doing the 43 so that gave me a little bit of core work!!!

The actual move was ~~sort-of~~ totally old school – arm circles!! I sat on the stability ball and held a dumbbell in each hand (I used 5 pound dumbbells today) with my arms fully extended to the sides. Then, I did 43 circles to the front and another 43 to the back. The circle part wasn’t really bad – the challenge came from holding my arms at shoulder height and keeping them fully extended the entire time.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giIxWpjlfA0′]

(for the demo I just did 5 and 5 – those didn’t count as part of the true 43)

I decided to take a little Pilates break today and do a different non-weight bearing work-out. I did a Bender Ball work-out. You do traditional core moves using this little ball:

I know that tomorrow I will feel this in every part of my core!!!

I decided that I was on a roll (ha-ha – I entertain myself sometime!) with core and shoulders today so I thought it would be fun to see how long I could hold plank. (I know some of y’all can hold it a long time!!!) I got in position with my, iPhone right under my face, and hit start. I lasted for ……3 minutes!!! I know that is the longest I have ever held plank at one time – not sure if I want to try to go longer or not – maybe next time I will hold plank on my elbows instead of with my arms fully extended! (or maybe I won’t let my competitive nature take over and push me to try and go longer & longer & longer….hmmm)

Time to go get my nails done! (I know – completely frivolous and unnecessary but it makes me happy!!!)

This afternoon I get to help in the library at Hunter’s school – my favorite!!!

Happy 12-12-12!!!

Kim

Biceps, Fitness, Shoulders

Crutches Suck Mud!!

December 5, 2012 Kim 1 Comment

Today’s 43 was HARD!!! Yippee!!! I’m going to really have to make sure that the daily 43 is super challenging since it is my main work-out for awhile.

I sat on a stability ball (see followed Dr.’s orders!!) and used this kettle ball:

(The great thing about this particular kettle ball is that it is adjustable from 5 to 20 pounds. Each of the 5 plates are 3 pounds and you can remove any or all of them. Handy since it takes up less space than having multiple sizes!!)

I took out 2 of the plates so I was working with 14 pounds. I held the kettle ball in my right hand and curled it up to shoulder height then rotated my wrist and pushed it straight up. I reversed the motion to complete the rep.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97bOZz3FEtI’]

The curl part wasn’t bad but the shoulder press….rough!! I had to stretch my shoulders out a couple of times before I reached the goal. This was one of those exercises that I did 43 with my right arm and then 43 with my left. Sadly, my left arm is going to be lopsided because I got to #30 and had to take out another 3 pound plate in order to finish with good form. I figured form was more important than 100% symmetry anyway!!!

I decided that in order to do some sort of work-out without being weight bearing I could use one of my old stand-by DVDs. It is from Crunch Fitness and called Pick Your Spot Pilates. I did all 3 of the sections – belly, butt, thighs. They are 10 minutes each so nothing major but better than nothing at all!!!

So, the crutches aren’t really working out for me. I can’t get anything done and I’m afraid that I’m going to end up with another injury because of them! I am just going to limit my activity (walking included) as much as possible for the next few weeks and hope for the best! (Plus, it just seems weird to be using crutches when I’m perfectly capable of walking even if I do have a little limp.)

Happy Wednesday!!!

Kim

Day With KT