Return

I haven't written in this blog in ages upon ages. Why? Not because I stopped working out. No, no, no. Actually, working out was my saving grace during the year that I've had. The reason I was away had nothing to do with backing off on my workouts but everything to do with death and dismay.

By November of 2010, my sister had discovered she had cervical cancer. I began taking her to appointments up in Cleveland - or trying to. There was such a pervading sense of gloom and imminent despair during that time. All my will to write was used up in my pursuit of my bachelor's degree. The stuff that I felt about my sister's suffering - and she was suffering terribly - was voiced and vented in other ways or held inside. We're coming up on the anniversary of her death. In fact, it has been almost exactly one year since the day I drove out to her house to bring her to the cancer center for the treatment she was avoiding...and never brought her home. She was admitted to ICU and then to a hospice house. She passed away on April 14, 2011. Right after her admission, my dad for whom I was caregiver, was hospitalized and in isolation with C. diff. He was able to see her one time before she died and then was too sick himself to understand. I told him he was not allowed to die. He came close, but did not. We could not have her funeral for nearly weeks while we waited for him to recover.

He was never "right" after his illness and Martha's death. Thanks to incompetency on the part of his medical team, he passed away on December 7, 2011. Just 9 days shy of his 86th birthday. I'm still trying to adjust to his absence.

There was life as well. On December 11, 2010 our dog, Sasha, gave birth to 9 puppies beside my bed. She wanted to have them IN my bed, but I refused the honor. After 3 weeks, Sasha decided the puppies were a pain in the neck and I was consumed with the care of all 8. I also worked tirelessly to find each and everyone a good home. Easier said than done! We kept one puppy, Charlie, who has turned out to be beautiful and well-behaved. But I must say that dealing with that many puppies is CRAZY - and with everything else going on, it was brutal.

During the midst of all this...I worked out. I taught my boot camp classes. I ran in 5ks. I did the Warrior Dash. I lift weights, was lazy about my yoga. The only thing that ever kept me from a scheduled workout was illness. Faith, sweat and family, those are the essential elements which kept me grounded.

This week I planning on writing about some of my favorite fitness finds of this past year.

As for today's workout - 72 killer minutes on my spinning bike. Wearing a heart rate monitor showed that I kept my heart rate between 80 - 88% after the warm up. I promised my puppy a jog...so until next time...

Nothing like a bad cold to slow you down....

I haven't been to Crossfit since late last week, Thursday I think. I was getting the feeling something was coming on and then the ear pressure and congestion hit. I held it together and managed not to miss one of my boot camp classes. However, Sunday, I was down for the count. Spent most of the day vegetating in bed or on the sofa.

Yesterday, I wasn't up to running but managed a brisk racewalk. I then managed leading a pretty kick butt boot camp class. Before I went to bed I was hacking and coughing. Woke up that way, too. At least the ear pressure/congestion is gone. I'm sort of sick of saying, "Uh, what? Sorry, can you repeat that?"

Today...we'll see...I'm hacking but I feel good. I'd like to get a run in before boot camp express.

A sweatfest to try

I'm behind again, but less than a week. I've been to Crossfit, taught boot camp class, gone running and basically been kicking it up all week.

Here's last night's boot camp class that I put together. It was a soaker and just over an hour.

Warm Up - whatever you normally do

Circuit #1
20 sec stick up squats
20 sec Pushups
20 sec Press Jacks
20 sec jumping lunges
Repeat 3X

Circuit #2 Ab Challenge!
20 sec mountain climbers
20 sec double crunches
20 sec mountain climbers
20 sec super ultimate crunches
20 sec mountain climbers
20 sec bicycle crunches
Repeat

Cardio interval – running man. Repeater knees, high kicks 3 min.

Circuit #3 legs (need a 12 - 18" step)
10 squats to parallel (touch glutes on step)
10 step ups right
10 step ups left
10 alternating lunges
15 jump ropes
Repeat 5X

Cardio interval – 10 jump rope, 10 march Repeat 6X

Circuit #4
Sgl leg bicep curls
Sgl leg W-presses
3-way bent rows
Alt front & side raises
Repeat

Cardio interval – mummy kicks, football run 2 min
Crawl series

Circuit #5 mats
Thigh raises
Bridge raise w/crossed leg
Sphinx pushup
Triceps pushup
Low plank

Cooldown/stretch - lots of nice yoga stretches

Catching up< DOMS ---- plus a fun workout to try

I've become a lazy blogger. I've been working out regularly, been running, been teaching my boot camp class AND I've been hitting Crossfit 3X a week. I ran in three 5ks on three October Saturday mornings. I've just been too fried to get it all down in writing.

The Vibram Five Fingers are wonderful. The love I have for them is nearly obscene. Pretty soon I'm going to write poetry about them, lol. I haven't had to go to the chiropractor since I've gotten them! My right hip used to get this nagging feeling of being slightly off-kilter, Dr. Stephens would adjust me, and then I'd go get it all out of whack again. Since the Vibrams Treksports, well, I'm just not a regular customer.

At Crossfit last Tuesday, we had to do 100 pull-ups and 3 OH presses for time, everything is for time. I cannot yet do pull-ups, much less 100. The coach hooked me up with one big elastic band and set up a step under me for my toe to graze & to help me push off to "kip" up. I did them in groups of 10 and I did indeedy deed to 100. When that was over, Rhianna & I decided to row 500m for speed. After this, with my rubbery arms, I had to go teach my Boot Camp Express class. Arms still rubbery, I put us through a pretty touch workout.

When I woke up on Wednesday morning OUCH EEK ACH OH YIKES. I have a really high threshold for pain & when I say that my arms were sore, that means they were flipping SORE. My forearm reaching up over the elbow to my biceps did not want to straighten out at all. My lats were hurting, too. Putting on deodorant was a bit of a challenge. By midafternoon, however, I was feeling okay. Headed off for another Crossfit workout. After a long warm up and some skill work, I had to do 15 kettlebell swings (30 lbs) and 10 pushups, 6 rounds for time. I did it in 3 min 52 seconds. By the time we worked out there for an hour, I was ready to go home. And that's when my arms stopped wanting to do anything. Every position hurt. When I woke up Thursday, my arms were all pulled up funky. I ached and ached. I can't take ibuprofen or aspirin, I'm allergic. Tylenol doesn't do squat, plus it lenghtens the healing time for DOMS. Sooooo, I suffered through the day and...had to teach a boot camp class at 6pm. Surprisingly, I not only survived but my arms felt way better. When I woke up Friday morning - MIRACLE - only a dull ache was left!

Here's a fun & tough workout to try. Should take about 1 hour.

Warm Up

Circuit #1
20 sec Power squats
20 sec Pushups
20 sec Press Jacks
20 sec alternating lunges
Repeat 3X

Circuit #2 Ab Challenge!
20 sec mountain climbers
20 sec double crunches
20 sec mountain climbers
20 sec super ultimate crunches
20 sec mountain climbers
20 sec bicycle crunches
Repeat

Cardio interval – running man w/knees, super skater (2 - 3 min)

Circuit #3 –
10 box jumps (at least 12")
15 air squats
Repeat 5X

Cardio interval – Cherry picker in place, 4 jacks, 2 plyo jumps Repeat 5X

Circuit #4
8 each side Sgl leg bicep curls
8 each side Sgl leg W-presses
8 each 3-way bent rows ("suitcase," then palms fwd, then knuckles fwd)
8 sets Alt front & side raises
Repeat

Cardio interval – mummy kicks, football run, high knees (2 - 3 min)

Crawl series - crabwalks, duckwalks, bear crawls, spiderman climbs

Circuit #5 mats
Thigh raises
Side plank
Triceps pushup
Low plank

Cooldown/stretch

A kick butt workout to try!

So I have been a very, very lazy blogger. Life has been so crazy and so busy. I've returned to college and have had numerous papers to research and write. Anyhow, I have not been skipping workouts. Still teaching Body Boot Camp 4X a week. Still running, lifting, etc, etc. I just posted on my other blog about Day 2 in Vibram FiveFingers. I think I'm ruined now, I won't ever be able to go back to regular running shoes. Vibrams are wonderful!

Anyhow, here is a kick butt 65 minute workout I put togehther for class the other night. If you don't have that much time, just cut out a repetition or two of one of the circuits or even a whole circuit.

Warm Up

Circuit #1
Jumping Jacks (16 repetitions)
Deep squat w/knee raise (10 repetitions)
Reverse lunge w/high kick (8 repetitions per side)
3 ct slow, 4 ct fast pushups
Mountain Climbers (8 repetitions per side)
Triceps dips sgl leg(3 repetitions per side)
8 wide-legged situps each side
Tire run (20 seconds)

Repeat 3X

Cardio combo: Speedbag mummy kicks round the clock, 4 flying jacks Repeat for 1 - 2 min.

Circuit #2
20 sec 8 ct body builders
6 reps of: 2 squat thrusts w/pushup & roll into 2 touch-the-sky to Hello! Dolly
20 sec squat w/low full leg raise
20 sec Burpees
20 sec squat & curl
Repeat

Cardio combo: Triple sumo – sumo squat, sumo squat jump, sumo squat high jump REST - REPEAT several times


Circuit #3
8 sets Teradactyl: aquat w/suitcase row then squat w/side raise
8 sets Front & bent arm lat raise
Ugly crunch 8 each side
Repeat

Crawls: Whatever feels right - inchworm, crabwalk, 3-legged dog, duckwalk

Circuit #4
Hydrant Series
Side plank
Bridge w/8 sgl leg lift each side
Low plank
Repeat

Cooldown/stretch

Better late than never

Not going to be a very thorough catch up because once again life has been very busy...but I have been working out.

Today: 6am run - 55 minutes and it was beautiful. Watched the sun come up and mist rise off the fields. Chose to listen to birdsong instead of my iPod. Then it was to the gym for a circuit workout:

Lat pulldown 12/90
Dumbbell chest press 12/50
Dumbbell chest fly 12/50
Cable upright row 12/65
Repeat 3X

3 min treadmill run

Kettlebell swing squat 15/15
Sgl arm cable crossover 8/30 ea side
Seated cable row 12/135
Repeat 3X

3 min treadmill run

Decline chest press 12/80
Buttblaster 10/85 ea side
Repeat 3X

Ys, Ts, Is 12/10 ea
Captain's chair ab raises 12
Repeat 3X

Stretch

~o~
Trying to recall backwards...
Thursday - 1 hr run/walk, 1 hr Body Boot Camp
Wednesday - 1 hr cardio - elliptical & stationary bike
Tuesday - 1 hr cardio - elliptical & stationary bike
Monday - 50 min run, Back/shoulders/arms 35 min, 50 min run w/boot camp class
Sunday - rest

07.24.10

Last three days of workouts:

Thurdsay - 60 min cardio at the gym (elliptical, run on treadmill); Body Boot Camp, 65 min; Insanity Pure Cardio 38 min (burned 350 calories - not bad considering the lengthy stretch periods)

Friday - It was HOT and muggy. Misery! 60 min cardio at the gym. Meant to do some yoga. Meant to do a lot of things. The day caught up with me, too much to do and not enough me to do it in. Ended up just trying to go to sleep.

Saturday - So far, boot camp class 65 min, 30 min on the elliptical. Maybe I will get that yoga in later today...we'll see.

And so it goes... plus review of Turbofire Advanced

Too much to catch up to. I haven't been missing workouts, probably added too many and got painfully sore from it. Boot camp class 3X a week. Running 4 - 5X a week. Insanity 4 - 5X a week.

I shout out a good review for Tony Horton's One on One "Fountain of Youth" yoga. It is awesome. If you don't have 90 minuts to do Yoga X, then 48 minutes to do this one will do the job. Mmmmmmmm, you feel so good afterward. It's work though, lovely break-a-sweat work.

I decided to try out Chalene Johnson's Turbofire, but I only bought the advanced DVDs. Here's what I thought:

FIRE 60 – This is Tae Bo – really – for the most part, it’s the exact moves from one of Billy’s advanced tapes. I’d have to go through my old VHS collection to figure out which one, but I recognized pretty much everything. The difference was it was faster and funkier. It also had four “fire drills.” The fire drills are high intensity intervals where you go all out for a minute. It was fun and I’ll definitely do it again and again. The only downside to this workout was the annoying music. (Wore my GoWearFit to do this the other day and burned 500 calories in 50 minutes...I wish I'd set the trip counter sooner, but that 500 calories was 50 minutes of work. I think if I'd known the moves better, I could bump that up another 100 calories).

HIIT 30 – This was *not* Tae Bo. It consisted of the warm up & cooldown, plus 11 “fire drills” which were a mix of aerobic/plyo/kickboxing moves (just the high/lo punching this time). In between the fire drills was wasted time to “recover” where the class members went around high-fiving each other. It seemed like the rest lasted way too long. You then either did the next fire drill or learned moves for a new one. I kept wishing I’d just done an Insanity workout instead. The recovery time could have been more productive. There was an option on this DVD to turn the annoying music up so loud that it drowned her out.
Stretch 10 – Complete and utter waste of time. Seriously, this was perhaps the most useless 12 minutes of stretching EVER. I cannot believe they called this one of the supposed “five” workouts. It sucked. I will probably never, ever do this again that is how ridiculous it was. If I do, it will only be to do it with my GoWearFit on to see how much those downtimes screw with the calorie burn.

Abs 10 – This was “okay.” Nothing to write home about. Slow. The end was more interesting than the beginning. I'd rather do Tony Horton's AbX or Insanity Cardio Abs any day of the week. Heck, I'd rather do my OWN ab routine than this.

I’m a bit annoyed that I spent $59.95 plus sh&h that brought it to over $70 for “five” workouts. All that is left for me to try is a 20 min upper body and a 20 min lower body. I would never count those 10 min short wastes of time as a “workout” and sell it as such. Basically I ended up paying all that money for only ONE workout worth my time.

I've not yet done the 20 min upper or 20 min lower body DVDs because the other stuff left me so totally unenthused. I can't imagine them being anything wonderful after my disappoinment and pfffftttt, calling 20 mins a "workout" as if you're getting "five" workouts, well, it's just pathetic. I will give them a looksie soon and write what I think about them.

~o~
So anyhow, the latest playlist from Body Boot Camp - and I'll be making a new one for Thursday with some new Adam Lambert and Josh Turner on it.

Round and Round - Selena Gomez
I Like It - Enrique Iglesias
Diary - Tino Coury
So Big - Iyaz
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Shut Up & Kiss Me - Orianthi
Breakeven -The Script
Misery - Maroon 5
Sugar, We're Going Down - Fallout Boy
Little White Church - Little Big Town
Rain is a Good Thing - Luke Bryan
Can't Be Tamed - Miley Cyrus
Gimme That Girl - Joe Nichols
Ridin' Solo - Jason Derulo
Find Your Love - Drake
My First Kiss - Ke$ha & 3OH!3
Our Kind of Love - Lady Antebellum
Billionaire - Travvie McCoy
I Need You - Faith Hill & Tim McGraw

Jun 29 - Jul 2

Tues, 6.29 - I made it to the cemetery for a run (50 min) and that was IT. I felt so crappy all day. In the bathroom a million times, foggy/icky feeling.

Wed, 6.30 - Same thing except when I got to the cemetery, I racewalked half the time. Still running to the bathroom too much, lots of post-nasal drip and general feeling of yuk.

Thurs, 7.1 - Okay, back on track. Racewalked in the cemetery. 65 minute Body Boot Camp. 40 minutes of Insanity Cardio Plyo Circuit. WOOT!

Fri, 7.2 - After training a client, I stayed at the gym for a 45 min workout. 20 min on the elliptical, 25 min working back and abs. My plan for later is to get a real run in and also do Insanity Cardio Recovery.

6.27 - 6.28.10

June 27 - Went to the gym for a back & ab workout, 40 minutes.
Late: Insanity Cardio Plyo Circuit, 41 min; Cardio Abs, 17 min.

June 28 - Running, 50 min (hot and muggy outside, yeech!); Body Boot Camp, 65 min; Insanity Fit Test 25 min (skipped the 5 min warm up, I was already warm from BBC).

Insanity Fit Test - Lots of improvements! Each for one full minute:
Switch kicks - 91 (up 17)
Power jacks - 70 (up 14)
Power knees - 119 (up 29)
Power jumps - 37 (up 12)
Globe jumps - 13 (up 3)
Suicide jumps (Burpees) - 23 (same)
Push up jacks - 40 (up 5)
Low plank obliques - 71 (up 15)

I'm happy I did so well because I'd already done so much today, I didn't think I'd be fresh enough to do a good job. Now I'm BEAT. I'll sleep like a baby tonight!