Cardio Day -- Shoot me now!

Every day in Fit Camp our heart rates are up and we're tired and we work hard, but cardio days hold a special place in my heart -- not! I'm always especially exhausted when I'm done with the cardio hour. I'm already planning on squeezing in a nap this afternoon.

I had to get some new gym shoes as I had worn a hole in my old ones. I hope that will help my sore knees and ankle. We'll see how that goes.

We do have a few new ladies crazy enough to join our class. It is nice to look at them and think "that's where I was six weeks ago." Don't get me wrong, the class is still very hard, but I can do a lot of things now that I couldn't do before, like 30 modified push ups and 10-12 military style.

One of my original goals for Fit Camp was hoping it would help with getting off the anti-depressants. Exercise is supposed to help with that, right? Well, I tried for a few days and I'm just as nuts as always (prone to fits of irrational anger, etc), so I'll stay on the drugs for awhile longer, at least until all the kids are away in college. When even the neighbor children don't want to come over to play, you know there's a problem. Maybe by the time "2" goes, there will be a "crazy" patch I can stick to my forehead and be done with it.

At least I'm in good company. Famous people with depression.

Race for the Cure updates

We participated in the Race for the Cure on Saturday. It started out a bit chilly, but the weather was perfect later in the day. We had 14 walkers plus two babies along for the walk.

While we did finish near last, right in front of a lady on crutches, we had fun anyway! We started at the very back of the pack and therefore finished at the back as well. Not to mention thinking we were finished already and making some pit stops along the way before realizing we still needed to cross the finish line! Doh!

Our team raised$1700. Thank you to everyone who donated. Team "Girls Step Out" really appreciates it!

We're still happy to have your money if you'd like to donate.

I must be crazy!

This was our week off, so the Halloween candy can't be accounted for. The mini bars don't have many calories, right? Yeah, right!

We had a great Halloween. The kids each got about two pounds (including the plastic pumpkins) of candy. They got to eat a few pieces and keep six more and trade the rest for a toy. I stole that idea a few years ago from a lady at Toys R Us.

I've decided to sign up for another six week session of Fit Camp. I have an arm wrestling rematch to train for! Watch out, Christy!

My "drunken" flexibility increased, but I'm not sure if that was Fit Camp or 10 or more Whiskey Sours at a crazy "Moms Only Weekend." I'll keep those pictures to myself. At least I didn't do any drunken cartwheels and split my skirt (Regatta 1988). Thanks for the jacket, Brenda!

The good news is that almost everyone from this session has signed back up. The bad news is that I don't think there is anyone new, so the trainer won't be cutting us much slack and I'm sure she'll have even more creative exercises for us to do. We'll be spending one day a week in the pool and some time doing yoga to get some more flexibility going. I still can't touch my toes, but I can do 30 pushups (modified)!

Our group did awesome! The totals FOR THE GROUP OF NINE were:

FAT LOSS - 16.8%
WEIGHT LOSS - 49.25 lbs (that's about the size of my eight year old daughter!)
INCHES LOST - 36.25"

I actually gained a couple pounds of muscle and my body fat percentage was down 2% or so.

Four more days

Fit Camp is winding down to the last four days. It went really fast and I was able to keep up better than I thought. Our trainer has done SUCH a good job coming up with different things for us to do each day. Each day has been harder than the one before, with more sweat per minute being produced as we wind down.

I still can't touch my toes, but I can lunge down and back in the gym while holding 10-15 lb. weights in each arm, as well as suicides and planks and all sorts of things I had no idea I was capable of. It has been a rare day I haven't woken up a little bit sore somewhere I haven't been sore in a very long time!

I'd really like to sign up for the next round, but financially it would be too much. I'm really worried that I'll more easily be able to talk myself out of working out four times a week. There are some really great classes offered at the same time and hopefully, I can sign up again after the 1st of the year.

A great sacrifice...

I took one for the team, so to speak. In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and our Race for the Cure team, I bought a bag of Pepperidge Farm Double Fudge Milano cookies. It was a terrible sacrifice, but I feel I should do all I can to support the cause!

Komen Race for the Cure

My friends and I have put together a team to walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on November 3 in Nashville. I'm sure this Fit Camp experience will make the 5K easier. The last time I did a walk like this was in South Carolina in 1992.

If you'd like to join us or donate to our team "Girls Step Out" go to this link.

It is $25 to sign up or you can donate as little as $1.

Cakes

A couple of weeks ago, I did a birthday cake for a friend's one year old's birthday. I think they came out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Are we exercising or giving birth?

Yesterday, there was a lot of heavy breathing and moaning and groaning going on. And for some reason, there was a case of the giggles going around, as well.

We were working upper body with various exercises, but everything was also done in a squat position, so legs were shaking and quaking, as well.

1) Throw the medicine ball against the wall WITH POWER, catch, repeat, pant.


2) Sit on the Pilates ball and do bicep curls with the stretchy rope thing, repeat, sweat profusely.

3) Balance on back on the Pilates ball and do arm lifts with the 12 or 15 lb. body bar, repeat, keel over.

4) Hold the medicine ball with the handle in one hand, squat touch the floor, raise it to the air not going past your line of sight, laugh at the image of yourself doing this, switch arms, repeat.

5) Swing the medicine ball on a long solid stick up and down from one side to the other. Okay, I'm making that up, but I don't remember what we were doing with that.

6) Plank or running in place pumping arms while cursing the trainer under our breath. The planks were done on the little rubbery half ball with spikes on the other side. They look a little like a dog toy.



7) Spider push-ups on more strange looking floppy rubbery ball things. I wasn't able to do this because of my wrists hurting, so I did more planks.

8) Sitting tricep I couldn't really do this one either. I really need to work on my wrist strength.

I think I missed something, but you get the gist.

One not commonly known fact is that the medicine balls increase in weight AS you are doing the exercise. I'm not sure how this phenomenon is accomplished, but I know it is true!

Swimming along.

I missed class yesterday because I had to stay home with a sick child. My ankle was hurting from our work-out on Thursday, so it was probably a good thing.

We worked out in the pool today and I realized I am not a very strong swimmer! At least when it comes to trying to keep my face out of the water to keep from getting water in eye and contacts. It was definitely very HARD work, but sort of fun in a sick way. We did a lot of the same exercises we do on "land" but with the resistance of creating currents in the water to work against.

With my ankle still a little tender for whatever reason, I'll be taking it a little easier at cardio tomorrow. I'm sure our trainer will come up with something VERY fun for me to do, though! I believe I hear her cackling right now.

I plead the fifth!

We went to dinner Friday night to celebrate a friend's birthday. Let's just say I won't be admitting what I had to eat and drink as it may incriminate me! We had a good time, though, even if I had a whopper of a headache all day Saturday.

Friday

My exercise (in insanity) today is getting ready for our last minute yard sale tomorrow and getting the house cleaned up a little before the babysitter comes tonight. The kids are doing a Brownie and Lemonade stand, too. They made a killing last time we did this.

Eight is planning on selling some of her things so she can save up more money for a new Webkinz. I usually have to edit when she deems yardsaleable because it is oftentimes some of my things from my childhood I've been hanging onto!

I'm SO glad we live in a one-story house.

I feel that I will probably not be able to walk very well in a day or two. We did all lower body today. I can barely lift my right arm, so if I can't walk well, it will look very interesting.

We used the BOSU combined with the full size ball today. That was interesting. And I discovered that Pilates isn't as easy as it looks. We did bridges (back on floor with feet resting on the ball in a plank form) and froggers today as well as a lot of other "fun" things!

I think if I ever did this, I'd never walk again!

What happens when you leave a two year old alone with a cup of pudding?

Two definitely needed a bath after this! I had a video clip, but the camera messed it up. It was pretty funny, too!

Cardio Day

We did an intense circuit training day, a few "suicides" and abdominal work. It was exhausting to say the least. I did enjoy the punching bag, though! Our county schools were out today due to Parent-Teacher conferences, so Eight was with me today, too. She got a big kick out of me doing the various exercises,especially the one where we lifted our knee and met it with our elbow, but only moving our neck, just the shoulders. After a few, we all felt like there were sandbags tied onto our legs.

Homework tonight: 100 crunches and 100 rocket somethings, lying on our backs then shooting our legs up in the air using the butt. That should be interesting! Five sets of 20 each. I'm too tired to think what they are called. Doh!

I won't be in class tomorrow due to working at Merry Market -- basically a vendor fair for early holiday shoppers. I promise to make up for the day missed!

This is good stuff!

I wasn't feeling great when I got up. The whole family has been dealing with sore throats and runny noses and I guess I can only wipe noses for so long before catching something myself. This is where Fit Camp pays off because if it were just me going to the gym, I would have dropped Two and Five at school and come straight home and dropped back into bed. Two has been getting me up every day at around 5:30, which wouldn't be so bad if I had fallen asleep before 1 a.m.

I popped a Naproxen for muscle aches from yesterday's class and sucked it up and went to camp.

Arm circles: 100 in each direction (feel the burn)



Balancing on the BOSU ball (round side down) while holding the body bar (started out at 15, but had to drop to 12). We did bicep work and tricep torture. I finally had to stand on the floor for awhile because my feet were hurting. Well, to be honest, I fell off and just didn't have the coordination to climb back on.

We also did the pelvic exam exercise, but with the BOSU instead of the regular ball. I definitely felt much more comfortable that way.

We also worked out with a couple of different medicine balls. There is a ball attached to a rope and you swing it side to side and hit the wall. This is great for getting out aggression! And for getting ready for the spring Tether Ball Championships.



I look forward to cardio again tomorrow. I know the trainer is sitting at home rubbing her hands together thinking of ways to make our workout harder tomorrow!

I'm going to take a nap before picking up the boys so I don't fall asleep sitting up watching Dragon Tales with the kids later!

Is this what a heartattack feels like?

I can honestly say that I have never worked so hard in my life as I did today. My heart rate was definitely higher than it has ever been except perhaps at times where it went up if the kids were about to get hurt.

I had sweat dripping from every pore possible and had bright red cheeks for an hour afterward. No blush necessary today!

Our cardio workout was a killer today. Our wonderful trainer had set up four corners with activities we had to do. We had mountain climbers (down on all fours bringing one leg up by your arms and then switching feet), thrusting lunges (sounds a little obscene), one where we have to jog on the balls of our feet with fists up with thumb pointing skyward, and ski something or others where you look like you are going down a ski slope.

Then we did a bunch of up and down the court in various ways like high kicking, etc. The funnest one was taking a towel and getting down and pushing it across the entire gym floor. Think Swiffer here. That wasn't actually that bad. I may try it around my kitchen this evening. Then we had to run to one end of the gym, do 10 push ups, run back, etc. Oh, and how could I forget the squat position with arms at the sides as if you were running for your life. That is for the abs as well.

My favorite (ha) was throwing a heavy ball back and forth with a partner while in a squat position and going down the length of the gym.

We wrapped up with the old stand by -- bicycles. After giving birth to three good sized babies, things aren't quite as tight as they used to be, so I worried about those, but thank goodness everthing was okay.

Homework today is 3 sets of bicycles and 3 sets of crunches.

Upper body again tomorrow. Yippee skippy!

Lazy Saturday

I stayed home with Two today because he's a little bit sick. I think it is just the pleasant allergies of middle Tennessee. Benadryl cleared him right up and had the added benefit of a nice nap this afternoon (him, not me unfortunately).

We were supposed to play volleyball today and I was counting on that as my two hours of cardio workout for the weekend, however the event was canceled.

I'm decorating a couple of cakes for a friend's one year old's birthday party tomorrow. I'm not sure it is advisable to work up a sweat over that. DH will be taking Two, Five and Eight to the gym tomorrow (hopefully) so that I can get the cakes decorated.

Charlie Chaplain? Tickers?

Yesterday was a great, but tough, workout! We started with lunges across the gym (about the length of a basketball court, I guess) up and back a couple of times. Then we moved onto "Charlie Chaplains" which is spreading your feet wide with toes pointing out and taking little steps on the balls of your feet. Man, is that hard!

We also put a band on our ankles and did lunges up and down the gym. At one point we have a bar behind our backs to help with the right form. If you've seen a kid walk with his shorts around his ankles making a run for the potty, you've seen the form!

After that, we moved onto the BOSU ball. We stood on the balls of our feet and did calf raises, then moved onto balancing on one leg. Talk about burn!



We also did bridges on the BOSU. The first few seconds aren't bad, anyway. We also reversed this and had our feet on the ball and arms on the floor.



We also did "tickers" where you have one leg on the middle of the BOSU and lunge with the other leg at the "hour" on the clock, so basically 12 times around and then we went backwards. That was interesting.

I've always (well recently, anyway) wondered what BOSU stands for and here is the story from it's inventor:

"It was a Friday night in 1999. The Knicks had just lost game seven of the eastern conference finals and I had taken another nasty spill jumping on my stability balls.

As I lay in bed contemplating how I could continue to Bounce On Something Unstable and thus continue to feel the amazing results in my body - like no more back pain and no more pain in my feet first thing out of bed, I had an Ah-Ha moment and an Idea was born."

I'm taking today "off" and doing housework. Maybe I'll skip around while I do laundry. I'm sure Two and Five will get a kick out of that.

Fit Test

The only part I was really disappointed in, but not surprised was the flexibility test. If you've never done this, you stretch your legs out straight and then lean forward and push this little slide doohicky to see how far you can reach.




You get three pushes and then have to hold it. I was at 7.25 which according to this chart is average for women. I have short arms and long legs. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

average

0 to +5

+1 to +10

We did a squat test and the majority of us got 60+ and she made us stop. Tomorrow's lower body workout will be tough, I'm sure!

Sit up were around 20 and push ups were around the same. I think I could have done more push-ups, but my pectoral muscles are sore from the upper body yesterday.

The saddest/funniest part of class is that we were only using 1/2 the gym, so they pulled the curtain and the kids played on the other side. "Two" saw me through the curtain and lay there crying "Mommy" until the childcare instructor came and got him. So pitiful!

We had 20 minutes left of cardio after the fitness test. We did laps around the gym lunging and running and skipping. Who knew skipping could be so hard! Go out and skip up and down the street a few times with your kids and I promise you'll be breathing hard by the end.

Upper body workout

We started out on the exercise ball, herein known as the torture device! We had to roll all the way forward until our neck and back was supported by the torture device, butts in the air and stomachs flat. I copied these pictures from http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/l/blballworkout.htm. This is not me! LOL!

I will call this the pelvic exam position from now on!

Then holding an 8 lb. weight in both hands, we did various exercises with the arms. Making sure not to let the butt sag!

We also did bicep and triceps curls with an arm band. Those weren't TERRIBLE, but the thing holding the band into the handle wasn't terribly comfortable. It kept poking me in the hand.

I'll check back tomorrow as to whether or not I can lift my arms to wash my hair!

Now, onto the floor and abs. Laying prone, stretch the arms behind the head (did I mention the weight in your hands?) and lift forward and then stretch out one leg. Our trainer recommends feeling as if there were an apple below your chin to help straining your neck.

And last, but not least, we found a balance point behind our tail bone and pulsed forward to work the abs.

Tomorrow is our fit test and cardio day.

Non-fat cheese? Bleh!

We went over the diet plan today. Diet as in "good eating habits" not as in Atkins or Zone or any of that. We are urged to have one "splurge" item at a meal once a week. So, that would mean fried chicken would be the splurge and have it with a salad.

We were also weighed and measured. None of the women in the class I would think of as obese or needing to be on "Biggest Loser." We're going to discuss our goals tomorrow. That should be interesting to hear.

The trainer recommends eating non-fat cheese and if we can't manage that, eat the lite or low fat kind. Bleh. I think I'd just rather skip the cheese altogether. My son, Five, loves those low fat string mozzarella cheese sticks, but they aren't too exciting to me. I did use one to make mini pita pizzas the other day and they weren't too bad.

I'm keeping my food diary on fitday.com. It is a great site for meal tracking and it is FREE! You can add foods from dietfacts.com for foods that aren't contained on Fit Day.

Tomorrow is our first strength training day. Lord, give me strength!

How unfit am I?

Today is the day for weights and measurements. According to the scale at the gym, this is the most I've weighed since the Freshman 15 gained courtesy of fried food and sweet tea at the University of South Carolina and when I was pregnant as well.

Fit Camp Here I Come

My husband was signed up to take a boot camp type fitness class at our local gym and it was canceled due to not enough sign ups. Since we had already spent the money, we are transferring the class to me! I've done three preview classes this week and can barely move, but it feels good to get out and workout anyway.

We joined the gym a few months ago and I had been going to workout several times a week while my kids were in swimming lessons. Nothing too difficult, just 10 minutes or so on the treadmill and then my own combination of exercises on the weight machines. I'm not really one for doing free weights, laying on the floor or trying to balance on an exercise ball. I've used one in all three of my labors and have a hard time thinking of anything but being in pain while sitting on one!

Anyway, I am not overweight, just the opposite, and most people think I'm crazy for signing up for an intense four sessions a week for six weeks, but it isn't just about losing weight, it is about being able to carry my two year old, or go up steps without breathing hard, of not being so exhausted everyday that I have to take a nap with aforementioned two year old.

My goals are to be able to touch my toes by the end of six weeks and to get some energy back. If this could help me get off of antidepressants that I've taken for years (Lexapro and Wellbutrin) then that would be even better.

So, the weighing and measuring and food logging begins on Monday. That may just be the hardest part for me. We shall see!