Tag Archives: stairs

Catching Up

Today my 43 ended up being my work-out, too.  I decided to use our stairs to really work my legs.  I went up the stairs sideways skipping every other step:

push off bottom leg
push off bottom leg

On the way down, I stayed sideways but didn’t skip steps.

down (slight hold on rail)
down (slight hold on rail)

Because I didn’t want one leg to get more work (or be stronger!!), I did 2 sets of 43 – one leading with my right leg (left leg pushing off) and the other leading with my left leg (right leg pushing off).

The move is like a sideways squat (just on an uneven surface) and it took 7 “squats” for each trip up the stairs so I did 301 “squats” with each leg!!!  Not too shabby – plus I kept the pace pretty quick so I got my heart rate up!!

Then I decided to try a plank hold on my elbows instead of with my arms extended.  For some reason, this one was harder – 3:30 today.

Since getting home yesterday around noon, I feel like I have been going non-stop and today is jam-packed!!

Last night Hunter played in the district string fest – 6th, 8th and high school orchestras.String FestIt was pretty cool to hear the difference a few years can make!  Plus the 6th graders are from 6 different schools in the district and only had 1 practice all together – pretty impressive!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rh1DF4duNg’]

The finale was God Bless America (love that song!!) and all of the orchestras played together on it – I just recorded part of it since it was long.

I missed a lot over the weekend with the sleepover and all but thankfully Chris took some pictures of the cake making and birthday celebrating!!Rubik CakeLooks like fun was had by Jordan during the afternoon and Hunter and his pals that evening!!

Now I’m off to tackle a mile-long to-do list which includes a dentist appointment, DR appointment, afternoon spent subbing PE…….

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

Pure Joy

Today’s 43 worked a muscle group that I rarely spend much time on – my calves.  I guess I just assume that running and plyo work is enough for them.  (Weird, cause I use to always add in calf work.)

Anyway – I did calf raises on my bottom step (on a separate note – I really need to vacuum the stairs!).  I held 15 pound dumbbells for added weight and tried to work all angles of my calves.  I did a set of 43 just straight up and down:

drop
drop

I really tried to focus on holding not just the drop portion but the raised portion of each rep.

up - this is the real work!
up – this is the real work!

Then I turned my toes out for a set of 43.

toes out
toes out

A third set of 43 with my toes in.

pigeon toes
pigeon toes

Then I thought I might as well go ahead and really work my calves to fatigue by doing each leg by separately.  (For these, I held one 15 pound dumbbell in the hand on the same side as the leg I was working.)

43 on the left leg.

left leg only
left leg only

Final 43 on the right leg.

right leg
right leg

Yikes!!  I really should start doing these more often.  I think it would help my problem Achilles a lot!!  The hold at the top of each rep is where the true burn comes in!!

Today was a Les Mills Combat day – HIIT Power.  30 minutes of high intensity strength and plyo moves.  There was a brief moment during the last segment where I questioned why I was putting myself through such torture pain an intense work-out.  Then I remembered – I LOVE IT!!!!

Since the work-out was short, I decided to get in some extra cardio – Hello, treadmill!!!

Screen shot 2013-02-19 at 10.51.47 AM

Today was maybe the best run I’ve had since sometime last summer.  Not because of the speed or distance – it just felt so great!!  I felt like I was running simply because I LOVE it.  Screen shot 2013-02-19 at 10.51.33 AM

Such a great feeling!!  I ran 6 miles (41:38) and then did and easy 1.5 to finish an hour of running.  I don’t know what was different today but I will take it – Pure, 100% joy from the run!!!Screen shot 2013-02-19 at 10.53.39 AMThis babies expression sums it up beautifully!!!

Happy Tuesday – I hope your day has a great deal of true joy!!!

Kim