Get 'Er Done!

I've been feeling a little... sloth lately.  It's been difficult with the cold weather and abundance of yummy holiday treats to get motivated to keep with the workout instead of curling up on the couch and eating chocolates, and I've got to admit that the couch and chocolates have been winning the battle more and more lately.

I talked to T about my lethargy this morning and she reminded me that it's those days when we'd just rather stay in bed that we need to get out and do something the most.  With a heavy sigh, I agreed, and because of our chat I pulled together all the energy and determination I could muster.  The result?  20 minutes of Yoga on my "done" list for the day and a healthy dose of sweaty reminder that I can do this stuff!

Now I'm off to battle the rest of my day, but wanted to pass my exercise endeavors onto the internet before I forgot.  If you're having the same problem of getting your workout going, fear not! You are not alone.  Together we can fight the flab and win!

Getting the Most from My Mile

It was a pleasure to wake up this morning without any back pain for the first time in a couple of weeks.  I decided that getting back into the workout one mile at a time is certainly working without aggravating my current bumps and bruises so Pooch and I headed out for another mile around the neighborhood this afternoon during one of my breaks.

Since I knew that a mile is comfortable for me now, and I'm hesitant to do much more than that at once for fear that the twinge in my back isn't quite ready for more, Pooch and I decided to get as much as we could from our one mile trip.  Once we had walked a couple hundred yards and I was feeling in the groove, I spent a block jumping over cracks in the sidewalks, a second block doing grapevine sets on the even strips between driveways and a third block jogging at a comfortable pace.  Although none of the three exercises were overly strenuous, they sure did get my heart pumping (and kept the neighbors entertained) and I was able to focus the rest of the walk on simply maintaining the sweat that was forming and watching my breathing.  

It surely wasn't a workout to match the herculean efforts of many of you who head to the gym several times a week, but it was a great test of my activity level and a "wake up!" to all the muscles that have laid dormant over the last month or so.

I'm looking forward towards the Adidas Shamrok Run (March 15th in Portland) with anticipation, wondering if I'll be in good enough shape to participate this year.  Perhaps just the 5k to wet my whistle and make me feel accomplished?  We shall see...

The Pooch Walk

This morning, Pooch awakened to the day like a puppy let out of his mother's pen for the first time.  He brought me several bones in bed, barked at me through the bathroom door, bounced on Dummy to say "hello" and generally ran amok through two episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (don't you judge me).  I finally gave in to his hounding and got myself up and dressed for a walk around the block.

I was hesitant to take him on a walk earlier this week because of my back, but his flamboyancy this morning warranted risking the possibility of pain just to gain some peace and quiet!  Luckily, once he was on the leash and out the door he behaved himself and refrained from pulling too hard on the leash to inspect tantalizing shrubbery and barely-contained trash cans during our stroll.  I decided, partially in an effort to make sure he'd nap the rest of the day and partially to see just how out of shape I've gotten since my workout hiatus, to jog a portion of the way and was relieved to be able to make it from one end of the block to the other without feeling out of breath or pulling some vital muscle group.

We only went a mile, and I'm glad I didn't push myself further because as I type I can feel my back tensing as I sit here.  A nice hot shower and some extra strength Tylenol are in order to keep it from getting worse, I think.  But back pain aside, it was a great walk - and Pooch... is already asleep. Peace!

Ah, My Aching Back!

Well, the back saga continues.  I made it out of the house for a short romp around the neighborhood, about a mile and a third, but by the time I rounded the last corner my upper back was achy from all the swinging and strutting of my hips and shoulders.  Oh yes, I swing and strut.

The little adventure got me out of the house for a bit though and loosened up the rest of me.  I'm going to have to rest a while, but who knows - the joys of lifting laundry and folding it energetically may just be in my future.

Back in the Saddle Again...

After taking a 3 week vacation from the workout circuit, I have slowly begun feeling like I'm moving a bit slower and having a more difficult time getting going in the morning.  The need to get up and do something has been building like a pot about to boil over on an unattended stove and finally today I gave in and got outside.

I didn't dive headfirst into a "too much too soon" workout though.  I've done that in the past and have finally learned that doing so leads to disastrous results.  The last thing I want to do now that I'm ready to get back into my workout is to pull a muscle or stretch a tendon.  No, instead I headed out the door with Pooch (he looked far too comfortable sleeping on the couch) at my side and the two of us plunked along on a mile walk around the neighborhood.

The walk was amazing despite the cool weather and foggy mist that left my sweatshirt drenched after 15 minutes of moving around in it.  Just being out and moving coaxed my body into releasing some of that pent up energy and now I'm feeling ready to tackle the rest of my "to-dos" with gusto.

If you have gotten back into the rut of taking too much time away from your workout... take heart.  You aren't the only one feeling the guilt and shame of replacing afternoon walks with 5lbs. of fudge.  Now that the holidays are over, it's time to put down the ladle of gravy and put on those sneakers!  Let's get back in motion before Valentine's Day rolls around.

Shakin' it LIke a Polaroid Picture

I've gotten my steam back for this 30 day fitness challenge, and todays goals were 20 minutes of core and 20 minutes of lower body.  The heat the last couple of days has been insane, and even with air conditioning I've been sweating out my days so M and I waited until just before bed to do the workouts so that we'd be less likely to overheat.

We turned to Cindy Whitmarsh's Incredible Abs for our core workout, and there is absolutely no way that anyone doing this workout regularly would not have an incredible waistline.  It was a difficult feat, and Cindy kept us rolling all over the living room floor moving from laying on the back doing a variety of modified crunches to getting on all fours for planks, stretches and some kooky moves I've never done before.

Once we caught our breath, M surprised me yet again by asking if we could re-visit Kendal Hogan's Cardio Challenge.  I was up for the challenge (at least I thought I was!) and before long we were marching, grape-vining and leg-lifting.  It became apparent around minute 13 that we were both a little more tired than we thought we were though and our aerobic dance-moves got sloppier and sloppier as we went along - but we kept at it anyway!!  Amazingly, we made it to the end of the workout intact with just enough energy left to get cleaned up and go to bed... and blog of course!

By the way, Mr. Kawaii says my new shoulders are awesome ;)

 

10-10-10... It's Like Being an Olympic Champion!

We made it to day 11, and to the dreaded Total Body focus of our 10 Pound Slimdown program.  I'm loving my total body, tired muscles and all.  M and I decided to find a workout today that moved at a bit of a slower pace, and so we turned on the 10-10-10 (beginner) Fat-blasting Formula with Jessica Smith.

Jessica's workout is a snap to follow along with because the moves are all familiar, and are done at a slow pace so you can really focus on the way your body is moving and work on mimicking Jessica's perfect form.  One thing we discovered rather quickly though is that slower doesn't necessarily mean easier.  Although we didn't walk away from the workout dripping in sweat, our shoulders, abs, glutes and thighs all felt like they had spent the morning wrestling Ninja Snails (slow, powerful and deadly).

The workout showed me that I'm ready to kick things up a notch and start using water bottles instead of soup cans though.  I have a couple of really nice 24 ounce bottles that are narrow and easy to grip that should work well for some added resistance... I can't believe I've outgrown the soup cans... they were so hard to use at first!!  Or maybe I'll look into getting some weighted gloves instead.  Those things are just cool.

 

10 Pound Slim Down Revisited

True to procrastination form, M and I put off looking at the 10 Pound Slimdown calendar until late this evening. Day 1 of the workout plan is a 20 minute upper body workout.  No sweat!

We flipped on our On Demand selections expecting the workouts to be there, but all of the Exercise TV On Demand options had been removed!  I immediately began cursing Frontier, our new internet/phone/Fios provider and scanned through all the possible combinations of "exercise", "fit" and "workout" that I could possibly think of.

Disgruntled, and further determined to find the workout, I went online and searched through www.Exercise.tv  to find it.  For some reason I couldn't find the actual 10 pound slimdown free videos, just the download for $14.98.   Although a month of exercise instruction for $15 seems like a decent deal, I'm already paying for Fios tv and not reaping its benefits so rather than doing the download I searched Exercise.tv for another 20 minute upper body workout.

After about 20 minutes of searching and snubbing ExerciseTV personalities that I have deemed unworthy in previous televised exercises, M and I settled on 20 Minute Upper Body with trainer Dove Rose.  Finally, we began working out!

Very quickly it became obvious that we haven't focused on sculpting and toning our shoulders, triceps, biceps, elbows, forearms, wrists, neck, upper back, lower back or middle back.  5 minutes into the workout, M had to drop her weights and do the exercises without them.  10 minutes into the workout I had to swallow my pride and follow suit.  11 minutes in we were both ready to give up and call it a night, but for some reason I fought through the burn in my shoulders, triceps, biceps, elbows, forearms, wrists, neck, upper back, lower back and middle back and urged M to keep going with me through the end.  No matter how bad I wanted to give up, I couldn't let a 20 minute workout get the best of me after all the work I've done in the last two months!!

Finally M, I, our shoulders, triceps, biceps, elbows, forearms, wrists, necks, upper backs, lower backs, and middle backs made it to the end of the workout.  We sat down with the calendar and plotted out the rest of the workout week, making sure that we'll have time to meet up in my living room at least once a day to complete the prescribed exercises.  There was no joking around though - we've discovered that this exercise plan means business.  And tomorrow when we walk with K we'll follow up with her to see how all her various muscle groups held up.