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!