Christmas Troubles

Hey there ladies and men!

 

I know- you all think I've been slacking, but I can tell you that I have been working my little booty off (quite literally.) I would have been blogging but, unfortunately, my older sister had a little accident with a glass of water and my computer took the brunt of it.

 

Computer down or not, I have been going to the gym every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday morning with my dear mama (with a few occasional exceptions), and some of the teachers at her school. So far, we've been doing Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30. That's what I was doing over a month ago, but so far I've been seeing results and I would like to see what else I can get from it.

 

Since I began Ripped in 30, I've seen a drastic decrease in my waist. I still have a little bit to go on my stomach, but my thighs and (oddly) ankles have also slimmed down and its just a matter of getting in some cardio. After not running for so long, I won't lie- cardio kind of kicks my butt.

 

The plan is to start running in the school gym in the morning, directly after my workout with Jillian. (Still can't stand her.) Hopefully that will get this pouch to slim down because this girl is getting sick of having it.

 

How is everyone doing when it comes to snacking on all of those yummy holiday goodies?? I have so far been able to ignore the platefuls of cookies, brownies, and toffee. I'm unsure how much longer my self control will last, so if any of you have any tips on how to NOT stuff my face, I appreciate you. :) I have not done such a fabulous job when it comes to holiday parties and the delicious drinks being served... hence the cardio :)

 

Until we sweat again!!

No Amount

*Please note that exiting this post is an option at all times*

Hello fitness friends!!

As you all (might) know, I have been blogging for about 3 years now. I have had my fair share of people saying how silly my blog is, as well as people telling me how much my blog has helped them, and let me tell you something...

If I only ever received negative comments about my blog...

If people told me it was trash and to give up writing about staying fit...

I would still keep blogging if I knew that it was helping even ONE person stay on track.

I would keep posting about my workout results, both good and bad, if it meant that even ONE person reached their workout goals.

It is going to take a hell of a lot more than being called "an attention seeking whore" to get me to let down the followers of this blog, however small that number might be.

It will take so much more than someone calling me that grotesque word beginning with the letter C to get me to say, "well I guess working out is useless. Time to give up."

No amount of bullying (which makes you SO cool, especially over the internet) is going to make me change how I help others reach their fitness goals. If someone hates my blog so much, the option to exit this blog is always available.

For my loyal readers, thank you so much for any kind words you've had to say about this whole mess. Your support seems endless and I cannot tell you how very much you are all appreciated. As long as you're reading, I'll be here writing.

Until we sweat again.

Oh Holy Calves

Hey y'all!

So I realized I hadn't blogged for a couple of weeks (I've been working a ton lately- right after my morning workout), so I thought I'd get all you guys and gals caught up to speed!!

I have been doing Jillian Michaels' DVD Ripped in 30. (If you follow my blog on the regular you will have already known that!!) I am presently on week 3 of 4.

A few things:

1) I hate Jillian Michaels

2) With a fiery passion

3) No seriously. If I could deck her in the face without the fear of getting punched back, I'd totally knock that chick out.

*End Rant*

I have also been doing some interval training. My mom has a lovely friend, Jesse, that used to take some Cross Fit classes (is that a class??) and we may or may not be copying some of their moves.

All is fair in love and fitness, am I right?

I also have this crazy obsession with having muscular calves (Sibling rivalry thing. If you're not the unwanted other sibling from your childhood years, you wouldn't understand... unless you saw my sister's calves in high school. Then you'd understand.)

I want, like, super muscular, look-like-I'm-wearing-high-heels-all-the-time calves. I want people to look at my legs and be like "Day-um. Girl has got some great calves."

I can't really explain this weird, crazy quirk about me. All I can say is "OUCH." I have been working my calves like crazy. I read somewhere that calves respond to slow, high reps, rather than quick reps with lots of weight. With that knowledge in mind, I have been using my own body weight on the edge of a step (preferably at the base of the stairs since we all know I'm a giant klutz), and do 50 reps, pausing when I'm at the peak of my calf raise and holding for 2 seconds before lowering my heels. (I stretch out my calves at the 25 mark. Because calf raises are hard.)

I then come back to calf raises throughout my workout 1 or 2 more times. I did it yesterday (Only I came back like 3 or 4 times) and my calves have been SO SORE all day. It's like God is on Britney Spears' side with having to work to look good or something.

Which is awesome. 

I've also been working on toning up my bootay. Lots of rear and side leg extensions, squats with hip thrusts, lunges out the holy wazoo, and in general lots of butt squeezing :)

I want to hear what everyone has been up to! Tell me what body part you're currently obsessed with and what you're doing to make it look amazing!!!

Until we sweat again!!

Jillian Michaels is the DEVIL.

This woman. This one right here. I hate her. Not because she made me work hard, or because she yelled at me in that SUPER manly voice the whole video. I hate her because she just yammered on the Whole. Time.

Let me back this up for you.

I did Ripped in 30 with my mom this morning, a video that boasts that its users will see "Ripped" results in just 30 days! Jillian even says "I wouldn't lie to you."

My issue with that statement is an entirely different story. (Even P-90X and Insanity don't pretend to offer those results and they are 4 times more difficult and 3 times longer.)

My issue with Jillian is that, while her two lovely little helper gals are busting their buns, she is walking around them, shoving her boobs in their faces and saying "Come on you can push harder!!"

At least when Shawn T was yelling that at me, he was also DOING THE WORKOUT.

I don't have only negative remarks about Jillian. (I'm not a Negative Nancy yet.)

I did enjoy the amount of work necessary to successfully complete today's video. I could feel the burn throughout my entire body and I was definitely sweating up a storm.

See? Sweaty McSweaterton

I also loved the fact that even though Jillian didn't participate in the workout, she acknowledged how difficult it was and how much work we put into it. No bull honky smiles about "Now wasn't that FUN!?!?"

No. No it wasn't fun. This is a workout, not checkers. If I felt like it was fun, I would feel like I didn't do my workout correctly. I want to be collapsed on the ground, struggling to catch my breath, and cursing the monster that talked me into getting fit. (It was Fat Me, btw.)

Jillian isn't all that bad... I guess.

Until we sweat again!!

Cold Weather, Hot Bods

So its the end of October and holy canoli is it fa-reezing. But that doesn't mean that working out is behind us. If anything, it should make you push harder!

Summer 2014, but you get the picture.

I had honestly never thought of it that way, but really if someone can make another human being in 9 months, you should be able to make YOURSELF in 9 months. (And now I have Incubus stuck in my head.)

As I was about to step outside for my morning run today, my sister said she thought I was crazy for wearing capri workout pants because its just downright cold outside. She may have had a point, because I was chilled to the bone within minutes, but it only made me push harder- to warm myself up. If I ran faster and pushed harder, my blood would get to pumping and I would feel toasty in no time. And that worked for me! For the time that I ran this morning, I pushed myself until it felt like my lungs would burst from all of the cold air I was sucking in, and then I pushed myself some more. I pushed until I eventually was stumbling forward, the car passing me looking at me like they thought maybe I was dying, and when I got turned around to head home, I picked up the pace again and pushed myself all the way back. Even when Pandora stopped Britney Spears midway through her song, and I cursed and threw a miniature fit as I was forced to listen to classical music on my run, I still ran.

Fact.

Its true that your body can generally do way more than your mind wants to believe. I will be completely honest- I stopped running not when I was exhausted, but when I thought that running any farther would just suck. So I stopped. And it seriously ticked me off. The plan is to workout again later today because I'm upset with myself for not sticking it out and running longer. I could have been more worn out when I quit. I SHOULD have been. And tonight when I workout in my sister's basement and slowly take her stairs 2 at a time over and over and over again, I'll think "I could be doing this as a bonus to my day, not to finish my first workout." I won't think of it as a punishment, because a workout should never be thought of as a punishment. I'll think of it was extra credit work because I didn't do it right the first time. Extra time that could have been used the same way- but for better results.

You only ever regret the workouts you don't do- or the ones you don't do to your full potential.

Until we sweat again

Colorful Shenanigans

Hey hey hey!

(More emphasis on the second "hey"... I'll wait while you try it again.)

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All better? Good!

I ran my very first 5K!!!!!

Okay, so I walked about half of it, but I got my booty off the couch and that's a whole lot better than nothing! And it was so much fun!!!! Let me tell you all about it with PICTURES!!!!

I ran with my beautiful friend, Rachael. Her momma came out (with all of her kids AND Rachael's!!!) and supported us!

What a champ. Seriously.

We met some great people before the race even started..... Like these lovely ladies...

Sorry its all crooked faced!!

Then we waited in registration to get our cute new v-necks (my brother would be SO jealous), our race numbers, tattoos, and COLOR PACKETS!!!! Then we took turns making each other all pink and purple-y.

Mmmmm. Mouthful of chalk :)

We almost missed the race because, well, we were rushed and a gal's gotta potty when a gal's gotta potty, but we booked it out of those portapotties and we flew past all those slow pokes with baby strollers (Yay for those mommas!!!).

Aaaand here we are running!!

At this point, we had gone through 2 or 3 color stations, one of which was liquid dye... wasn't quite ready for that one. But look how colorful we are already!

We ran for what actually didn't feel like that long. We got to pass a Clydesdale Horse (or some leg warmers that looked like one), we passed princesses and Superman, Moms, Dads, wee ones, old ones, and of course- People of every COLOR!! (Pun intended.)

That's right. We're gorgeous.

That final stretch of grass to get to the finish line made me feel like I was going to roll my ankle just yards away from that final blast of color, which admittedly made me run slower and more carefully because let's be real- I have to run another one of these things this weekend. I don't need to be rolling my ankle just yet. (Or ever. OW.) But we made it to the end, Rachael faster than I and me apparently getting pelted with more chalk (I was told I looked like Shrek's Wife).

All in all, this was a blast! I can't wait to run it again in Sioux City this weekend and of course I recommend doing it- whether you've done it once already or not. I'll post more pics of my next Color Me Rad run soon!!

Until we sweat again!!!

Work B****

Britney Spears recently came out with a song that I think everyone should just take a moment to go listen to. Yes, it does have some swear words (Bitch being pretty prominent), but its pretty darn awesome.

In it, she just happens to say "You want a hot body?... you better Work Bitch."

(She also says a lot of other stuff you have to work for, but for all intents and purposes that's really the only one relevant to my little blog)

Why am I telling you this? Because I have been saying it for forever now! (About 3 years now. Holy crap.)

I went through about a 4 day slump during which I just couldn't bring myself to run or lift weights, I couldn't even eat decent because I just couldn't get myself to do anything other than lay in bed and watch Merlin on Netflix (there are 5 seasons and I'm in love).

However, I was inspired by none other than the beautiful and oh-so-talented Britney Spears to get off my ass (pardon my language) and kick it into high gear. I have a 5K to run in only 2 weeks and I have been acting like I'll just wake up on game day and be all ready to go!!

That's right. Even the Grinch has something to say about this.

What I'm getting at is its really nice to sit there and dream of what your hot body is going to look like when you're a size 2 and are wow-ing everyone in your designer-esque clothes and heels; a real show stopper. (Which, by the way, will never be reality for me. Have you met these hips? 6 is about as small as I will ever get.)

HARSH REALITY

You will never fit a size 2 if you don't get your ass off the couch/swival chair/recliner and WORK for it. Too many people complain that they are overweight, or at least heavier/more unhealthy than they'd like to be, but are unwilling to make the life changes necessary to make anything turn out differently. I don't mean dieting either. Dieting is about as effective as staring at your ass until it shrinks down.

I'm not saying that eating healthy won't help you. What I am saying is that eating healthy is a life change; a diet is not. A diet lasts, what, a few months if you're REALLY good? But even then, you deny yourself little things to help get you by. If you're eating healthy on a regular basis, and indulging in small treats every so often, you'll have so much more success than if you do a crash diet. (They call it a CRASH diet for a reason, people.)

Crash diets just deprive you of things you're used to having. Its like quitting hard drugs cold turkey. You're cravings are going to get ten times worse and you're going to end up telling yourself "no I can't have that at all EVER" for so long that you're going to cave and binge. (That's when that one little bite of chocolate doesn't look like it would have been that bad.)

I'm rambling!

My point of this whole blog post? Get up, get out there, and work it out!! The weather is gorgeous and so are you, so you really owe it to yourself to get a move on!!

Until we sweat again!