So yesterday after my training session with Michelle, she said so i think you have a good cardio base so now we have to increase cardio. I’m thinking what? I already get my cardio on 4 times a week. She tells me to do fat blaster workouts on the elliptical and the stairmaster-UGH! She said that will make me sweat the fat out. So we shall test that theory out. I have to say one of her clients came by during my session to tell her she lost 5 pounds. So she does have some success stories. Tomorrow is my next training session with her and tonight I will get some cardio in as I just couldn’t wake up this morning-too tired.
Category: Other Cardio
Today I was on my own and normally do a 60 minute run. Instead, I worked my Bi’s and Tri’s since yesterday we just did abs. Then after 20 minutes of that, I jumped on the elliptical for 40 minutes. I triedx keeping my pace between 12 and 14 minutes, since it is the only way I can monitor my intensity.
I was extremely tired after my workout and needed some caffeine. Dunkin Donuts to the rescue! I felt energetic after my coff coolatta. I know I shuld be going to DD, but it’s too much restriction. I don’t drink coffee, I quit soda, so I am basically not drinking any caffeine except for the snapple or two i am drinking each week. So this week I was just done and wanted my caffeine. And the weight watchers is great if you don’t go out. I feel like a big dejected loser when I have some scrambled eggs and ONE pancake and find out it is 20points+ like seriously? there is just no point. Anwyays that is my WW dieting gripe of the week.
Last Night after my 5.75 miles I felt like I ran a marathon. I was a little surprised at the feeling. I can’t explain it either. I went to bed early and got started at 5:30 this morning. I trained with Michelle for 30 minutes. We worked with the Bosu and exercise ball. We also started working with the medicine ball. She stood about 3 feet away from me threw me the ball, I caught it squatted and touched my ankle and then threw it back to her. That made the squats interesting. She also had me go on that double crunch machine as I call it. She put 30 pounds on it, I did 2 sets of crunches, then did side crunches by shifting my legs. I notice I have no problem feeling my obliques when I work out, but my abs not as much. Maybe it is due to the extra layer of fat that the frontal abs have compared to the side abs. I could be wrong.
Anyways I finished my workout with 26 minutes on the elliptical. What’s funny is the thing that was motivating me was earning the activity points. I felt like I was yelling out mama needs a WW ice cream, let’s earn it in 15 minutes. Too funny. I tried doing the points before but it was just a hassle remembering my points for the day. I even went out of my way to create this excel spreadsheet, with the formulas for activities and logging in my food points. But I’d have to remember to log all the food in. Now, they upgraded the WW calculator app to include the activity points calculator as well as a daily tracker. So I can look at my phone at 12pm and know how many points i have left etc. The new app has the new PLUS points calculations which take protein into account int he formula. So much easier now! It is definitely worth the 99cents!
6:00 am-im at the gym apparently the gym isn’t aware that 3 inches is nothing! I sit in my car waiting with others beside me hoping someone will own the place soon. My plan was to do 5 miles but as each minute ticks by my run gets shortened. Worst case maybe I can get 3 miles. Cross your shoe laces.
6:30-Ok as upset as I am I think 30 min wait is enough. Headed back home.
So the day after my thursday workout I woke up with neck pain. The pole behind the neck ab exercises flashed through my mind. I went to the Chiro for a mini scolding about how 3 car accidents in 1 yr equals ligament damage hence I am not allowed to do any an exercises without neck support. Monday night I informed Ally of the latest news and she sighed but then said don’t worry we will make adjustments. So our 30 min ab session began. :O
Planks were first then a variation of going from elbows to palms and back to elbows in plank position. I was doing well. Then I sat on a bench and did sit ups while Ally pushed down on my shoulders as I pushed up. This was hard on my lower back. Then we moved to the floor for 45 degree leg raise holds, this was kind of easy holding my legs up for 30 seconds I think. Next was the roman chair, the machine that has been giving me problems since I started this She-ra journey. Well guess what? I was able to do 15 reps holding a weight with my feet totally suprised myself. The second set was another story, I started sliding to the grown and couldn’t hold myself up to lift my legs up. I started getting a little frustrated that maybe this is too challenging for the newbie that I am, but then I thought well I am sure this chick has trained tons of people and knows when enough is enough. So I dragged my feet to the last machine, which was basically that crunch sitting machine but the angle was adjustable so i was practically laying down having to defy gravity and lift up. I was hating these, because I felt it a lot in my shoulders and upper back. Ally said relax your shoulders, yeah easy for her to say. I really don’t feel these were at all beneficial. After I complained about my shoulders back she brought me to the ground where I did leg lifts. Much better than that previous exercise.
So Wednesday night I go for my almost one month evaluation. I am excited to see if I lost any inches and any body fat %. The scale has been playing games going up or down the same 2 -3 pounds. So I am hoping for the inches since I know I haven’t lost any poundage.
This post is for ladies only. So I had a conversation with a group of friends a few weeks ago about bras.The conversation was about how many bras one takes on a weekend getaway, which turned into sweaty boobs. Gotta love girltalk. It was funny because I was telling the group that my boobs only sweat when I exercise, but apparently women with larger boobs sweat around the clock in the summer.
So anyways fast forward to 2 weeks ago. I got out of the shower and I noticed a red spot below my boob, when I went to check it out in the mirror I was horrified. I had 2 red blister circles, one under each boob. HELLOOOO when did this happen? how did this happen? and a big fat UGH because it happened. OK so this is when I shared and my friend said she gets these all the time because she has big boobs. OK first of all I feel for all you big chested ladies, and for the runners out there who are getting these not so nice looking badges of sweat!
My fear for getting an outbreak under my cute boobies I started powdering my girlies up for the last 2 weeks, which seems to be fading the red color. But then when I go for a run, the red returns. So I did further research and found that vaseline apparently works because its making the skin glide and not chaffe. Side note: this reminds me of my friends grandmother who used vaseline for EVERYTHING, it was like the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding with the windex 🙂 .
I also found the article below about getting the right fitted sports bra which could be causing the chaffing.
Assignment tonight:
- Do the trunk twist on all my sports bras.
- Find new sports bra for running.
Imagine you are on a long run and everything feels right. The pace is strong and steady. Your strides are comfortably long. Breathing is carefree. The last thing you want is a painful distraction, like chafing. Redness or sore spots on your skin can be evidence of chafing. Most of the time, chafing is the result of clothing repeatedly rubbing on your skin. Both men and women are susceptible to chafing, especially in the nipple area. However, the potential to experience chafing is greater for women simply because a woman typically wears a sports bra while running. Every woman should know about fabric and fit when it comes to wearing a sports bra for running. A little knowledge in these areas will help you prevent painful chafing interruptions. First, avoid sports bras made with cotton. Cotton traps moisture, resulting in a soggy bra. A soggy bra is more likely to move and shift back and forth during a run than a bra that wicks or pulls moisture from the skin. Second, the sports bra must fit your body like glove, for lack of a better analogy. The band or piece that goes around the rib cage should be very snug. If your bra band moves back and forth while doing trunk twists, chances are it will do the same on a run. The cups should fully encase each breast. If your cup “runneth over” with breast tissue, you are exposing yourself to potential problems. The bra will not support like it should, allowing the breasts to move up and down or back and forth during a run. This movement in itself can be painful. It is also a common cause of chafing. Is chafing still a persistent problem even though you’ve managed to avoid cotton and you are confident you are wearing the best fitting sports bra? If so, try applying a commercial product like a petroleum jelly on your skin where chafing occurs prior to your run.
Yesterday with the rain I didn’t feel like going to the gym. Luckily my hatred of watching my DVR shows live with commercials encouraged me to get my row on. It was x-training day and I selected the rowing machine program.
I warmed up for 5 minutes at an easy pace then did 1H(Hard), 1E(Easy), 2H, 1E, 3H, 1E, 4H, 1E, 3H, 1E, 2H, 1E, 1H, 1E then a 3 min cool down. For Hard I upped the resistance and rowed fast, easy rows had lower resistance and I did at an easy pace. I haven’t rowed in 10 yrs, and hope I don’t get blisters on my hands. The new gym location in Clifton has the row upstairs in the corner by the treadmills so I don’t feel like all the weightlifting dudes are eyeing me.
Today’s assignment is to warm up with 1 mile and run 3 miles at a short tempo pace and then cool down with a mile. Happy 3 day weekend!!!
Last night I had the night off from running, so I tried some on demand exercise shows. First up, 10 minutes of Dancer Abs. I was doing the moves properly, just didn’t feel anything last night or this morning. Next was the 10 minutes of Arms with Attitude. This is where I had a little snafu with the exercise ball, I think I need a bigger one. When it came time to lie over the ball and balance one arm and opposite leg off the ball I rolled off the ball and my hip banged on the hard wood floor. I am sure I will get a bruise from that. Then I went to the basement to inflate the ball, but that didn’t really seem to help. I finished with 6 minutes of yoga, i couldn’t do the whole 20 out of boredom and wanting to see American Idol, poor Lee choked. Anyways,walked around the neighborhood with the stench of grass clippings in the warm air. That was my evening. Today I plan to do some running and not sure if i want to check out the new gym nearby for a class. Off to work in the 94 degree heat, yummy!
Yesterday was a rest day on the running so I just went to my BodySculpting class. I survived through the class, but those damn squats and lunges! I wish they would do more abs because I feel like they aren’t getting the attention they deserve. I may check out an ab class on exercise tv on demand. Today I completed my training during lunch, even though I was tempted to drive to the CVS and kill time. I ran 2 min/walk 1min 5x, then I did 5 cycles of run 1/walk 1, total of 28 minutes. The first half was a little challenging but definitely doable, and after running for 2 minute intervals the second half of the workout was easy. It’s nice to know my running is complete for the day! Apple cider vinegar apparently has many benefits that helps: cholesterol, bloodpressure, and most importantly FIGHTS FAT. This girl at work came in with the article and her apple cider vinegar, lemons and shot glasses(found in dollar store.) We did a shot of 2 tablespoons of the stuff in the morning. I have to say I chased it down with a huge glass of water, and a few Tums. It didn’t seem to sit well with me, but a few of the others were fine so it just depends on your system I guess. The link is below on just a little 411 on this fat fighting liquid. Don’t forget to suck on the lemon it helps!
http://www.homeremediesweb.com/apple_cider_vinegar_health_benefits.php
Just got out of my body sculpting class, those lunges are killing me but I am doing my best and i actually think my butt is lifting. I love when I spot the one guy that decided to take the class that day. This one had a superman baseball cap on and the facial expressions were priceless as he tried to keep up with us while we did inner thigh work.
So as most of you already know losing weight is a life-long process for some and we just have to start out slowly and stick with it. Today, a friend was down and out today about how she can’t lose weight. She doesn’t eat breakfast, doesn’t eat well, and doesn’t workout and she wishes she could do everything right away to lose weight. None of us are superwoman. Unfortunately, it takes time, but I think the more time it takes the odds are good that it will stick in the long run. Just start doing something and add on and before you know it you’ll be rocking the fat off!
Slow is key, take me for example, end of January I started taking the body sculpting classes to build more muscle. Mid-February I added the running and walking to the mix. At the start of March I started curbing the junk food from my diet and going back to my old ways of having a good snack every 2 hrs instead of my weakness-M&M’s-dark chocolate, thank you very much. Wow haven’t had an M&M in a few weeks, but ok let me stop fantasizing in candy heaven. lol.
So on a side note, I was at the park this weekend and noticed this 12 yr girl’s legs and couldn’t get over how smooth they were. I am not a perv but I couldnt’ stop staring at the backs of her legs and thinking wow at one point my legs were like that-pretty so to speak. When did it breakdown and become all icky and bumpy. Skinny women aren’t immune to this either, which is nice 😉 But seriously we age and just fall apart. How does Demi do it? She looked AMAZING at the Oscars. Must be that Raw food diet she’s on. That is a bit extreme though. Ok that is it for me tonight. Gotta see who is getting booted off AI. Adios!
War on the Muffin Top 