Tag Archives: stability ball

Proud Mama

October 25, 2013 Kim 67 Comments

Today I did a 44 that was all about the core (and a nice stretch for my back!!). I used my stability ball – and did a roll-over.

Start with the ball between your feet and your legs in the air.

Slowly, without using your hands to push off the floor, lift your hips and roll back.

Then, bring your legs back to the start position in a controlled manner – don’t just let them flop back down. Great for the whole core – back included!

And, because it makes me happy, I did Turbo Fire – Fire 45! There is no way to be in a bad mood working out with Chalean. The music is great and her energy is contagious!!!

Last night we went to Hunter’s Parent/Teacher Conference at the middle school. The middle school is set up in teams so the core teachers rotate in and out of the room during your conference time. It’s a great system because in about a 20 minute conference, you are able to meet with all of the teachers!!

Hunter is actually on the same team that Jordan was in 7th grade.Only one of the teachers is new this year so they all remember Jordan.

Last night, every single one of the teachers said such nice things about Hunter and Jordan!!! They complimented Chris and I on how we have raised them.

One teacher said she really wished we had more kids coming through.

The teachers were all happy with how Hunter does in class (he had all A+s or As) but even more pleased with the fine young man he is. Every one of them mentioned the fact that he greets them by name when he walks into their classrooms each day and says “bye” or “have a nice day” or something when he leaves their room for the day.

They also said that both boys seem to be very happy and emotionally stable (which is a big deal in middle school!!!).

Even when you think you are doing a semi-OK job with your kids, it is always nice to hear from their teachers that they think the same thing.

And, just for fun, here is a picture of Hunter last night for his cello group. They all decided to wear costumes since they won’t have group next week on Halloween. See if you can figure out Hunter’s costume.

Happy Fun Friday!!!

Kim

PS – do you get it? Hunter is supposed to be his cello and his cello is “dressed” as him!!!

Fitness, Push-Ups

Favorite Exercises

October 20, 2013 Kim 47 Comments

Today’s 44 was another push-up variation and it was hard!!! I used –

Step Stability Ball — Step
Stability Ball

To do the push-ups, I put my toes on the step and my hands on either side of the ball.

Just getting in this position was hard – I don’t think you can tell but my arms were shaking!!! From here, I just did normal push-ups.

I couldn’t get my chest all the way to the ball without killing myself so I went as low as I could. Using the stability ball for push-ups is always super hard for me!

It’s no secret that I like to workout and try new moves! Today I thought I would share

Push-ups: As few as 5 years ago, the only way I even attempted push-ups was on my knees. Quite honestly, I never even considered trying them any other way. Now I like to try all sorts of push-up variations. Here are just a few:

Alt. sides of the BOSU - walk over in between — Alt. sides of the BOSU – walk over in between

Squats: Squats have always been one of my favorites!! I used to do 100s of squats at a time way back in my 20s!!! There are so many ways to do squats but I’m just picking a few today!

lift and hold — Start on ball – lift, hover, hold before lowering back down

single leg squats – right toe is barely touching floor

Burpees: Burpees are one of those moves that many people hate. This is another move I used to dread. There was a time not many years ago that when I did workout DVDs and burpees were included, I used that time as a water break!!! Now, I have all kinds of fun with this move!!!

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

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thv3mJioVSA’]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCSfRRoiuA4′]

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQT6e33BNuM’]

Burpees with rotating squat jump:

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtBPSB1xiDo’]

I could actually go on and on with my list of favorite exercises because I like to work every part of my body and there are really only a few moves that I still don’t like – JUMPING LUNGES!!!

What are some of your favorite exercises? Do you like to do different variations?

Happy Sunday!

Kim

Back, Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Desperately Seeking Advice

October 8, 2013 Kim 80 Comments

Today for my 44 I did a single arm lateral raise with a leg lift while on a stability ball. (It’s not as complicated as it sounds!!)

After I finished 44 I had to switch arms and legs and repeat.

left arm and right leg - lots of balance work!! — left arm and right leg – lots of balance work!!

Garage boot camp started off chilly but we warmed up quickly with our Turbo workout!!!

So, nothing like waiting until the last minute to realize that I need some advice!!!

I don’t have a clue about how to approach the race that I’m doing this weekend. I know when packet pick-up and the race briefing are and that it starts at 6:00 pm Saturday night.

Drop bags –

Not a clue what the point of these is and since you can’t pick them back up till after 10:00 am on Sunday (16 hours after the start) and I’m hoping to be home in bed by then, I think I will just skip this step.

Fueling –

Still not a clue about what is going to work here!!! I’m just going back to my high school track days!!!

I prefer to run in the morning and I never eat before or during my runs so I sort of hate changing it up a lot.

Pacing – After a lot of trial and error with my training, I think I’m going to go with a 4:1 run/walk effort. As much as I would like to run the entire distance, I’m afraid if I don’t start off smart then I will have a repeat of my 44 miles!!!

My main plan is to just show up and run until I’m done – 50 miles!!!

Not sure how great my plan is so please share any tips, advice, hints, words of wisdom, experience or jokes that you have – all will be much appreciated!!!

Happy Tuesday!!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Words

September 25, 2013 Kim 77 Comments

The 44 today was one of those moves that seems like it’s going to be fairly easy until you start and then you realize that it is a challenge!!! I did a torso rotation with a dumbbell (12 pounds) on the stability ball.

On the rotation, the goal is to keep your head and shoulder on the ball.

I counted a right and left rotation as 1 rep. This move is great for your core and also your shoulders and upper back!!! 44 reps were more than enough for me to feel this (for the rest of the day!!).

Today I pulled out a DVD that I haven’t done in awhile – one of my TaeBo workouts – Billy’s Bootcamp, Ultimate BootCamp. This workout is 55 minutes long and it works every inch of your body!!! There is plenty of cardio and plenty of toning using these bands –

The nice (if you want to call it that) thing about these bands is you can add a weight in the handles (1 pound in each). Today I used them without weights and that was plenty of resistance for this workout!!! In fact, I struggled with some of the moves to complete all of the reps!!

Colloquialism – what an odd word. But when you think about the definition of the word it is appropriate because a lot of our sayings come across as odd to other people.

Yesterday I was talking to Jordan about his day and he started making fun of a couple of the things that I say all the time so I thought it would be interesting to see if y’all say the same things or what you say that is different.

My top 2 colloquial sayings:

I have said this for as long as I can remember. It is a natural phrase for me and I always forget that most people here in Kansas (and elsewhere) don’t use it.

When I was in grad school I was sitting outside on a bench one day waiting for a friend so we could go running. Another friend walked past – here is how the conversation went:

Him: Hi, Kim. What are you doing?
Me: I’m fixin’ to go for a run.
Him: You mean you’re getting ready to run?
Me: No – I’m already ready (running clothes on, shoes on, stretched). I’m fixin’ to go.

He just sort of looked at me and walked off – weird!!!

My other common saying –

This phrase makes perfect sense to me but apparently not to most people. I get lots of comments when people here me say this.

I spent 5 years working in the office at the boys elementary school after both boys were in school. When we did monthly fire drills, I was the one who stayed in the office and kept the timer, shut the drill down and then called everyone (over the intercom) back to their classes.

The very first fire drill we had I got on the intercom and said – “All y’all can return to your class rooms now.” When the principal (we are actually good friends) came into the office he looked at me, shook his head and said, “Really?!”

It took me a few minutes to figure out what he was talking about. Then he said – “All Y’all?!”

Ummm…..yes!

So, those are 2 of my common sayings that very few people around me (since I’m not in TX anymore!) say or get.

Do you say fixin’ or all y’all?
What are some things you say that earn you weird looks or comments?

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

No Excuses Allowed!

September 19, 2013 Kim 62 Comments

I love Nellie’s (Brooklyn Active Mama) Weekly Wednesday workouts!!! She features some really great moves and a lot of them are new to me so I can turn them into my 44. Yesterday Nellie had a stability ball V-up so I decided to go with that for today!!

I love moves that start like this - I can close my eyes for a few more minutes!! — I love moves that start like this – I can close my eyes for a few more minutes!!

Keeping my feet on the stability ball took this move to a whole new level!!! I had to work very hard to contract my core and not let the ball go rolling off!! Great move!!

Today was also another day of Garage Boot Camp – we did a version of the workout that I did for my first boot camp this summer. This workout had 10 moves and in the summer we did 3 rounds with 1 minute of each move. Today, we did 10 reps of each move and repeated the circuit 5x – 50 burpees by the end!!!

I have a ~~little~~ huge confession today – I have been playing around with all kinds of excuses to not run my 50 mile race which is 3 weeks from Saturday!!!

I think that my confidence was really shaken the other night when I did my 44 miles! I thought that I could run further before I had to walk and then I thought I would be able to do a run/walk combo. NO & NO!!! I was completely miserable after 28 miles and the thought of even attempting to do more than walk was making me feel sick!!!

So, for the past couple of days I’ve tried to use being too busy as a reason to not run the 50. We do have a wedding change-over that night which means that someone will have to switch the set-up from ceremony seating to reception and since my race is 100 miles from here, it probably can’t be Chris.

I was going to let that be my excuse – it seemed like the perfect solution – but this morning I finally asked my neighbor if her son would like to help my boys do it.

I decided that I need to remember that this was a commitment I made and suck it up and make it happen.