Workout 4 - Cardio & Core Work/Pilates

Today's workout was a little bit of a mishmash of cardio stuff and some additional core work and some Pilates stuff.

I did a nice 5 minute warm up on the treadmill, followed by just a few high knees, butt kicks, and walking lunges.

Then, I hit the treadmill again for about 20 minutes at a higher speed to get my heart rate into the optimal range for cardiovascular health (my range is 120-145 bpm).  At first just the speed wasn't doing it, but, after we added a bit of an incline, we got my heart rate up a little bit higher.

After that we did a little bit of core work again...

First I did Supermans again, but, I didn't hold them for long - I did repetitions instead.

Then I did some bridges.  It was kind of amusing - he told me "okay now I'm going to have you do some bridges..." and, having taken tumbling as a kid, to me, bridges means these:

THANKFULLY, that's totally NOT what he meant.  He meant these:

Which I can TOTALLY handle!  So I did a few sets of those.

Then he had me do what is called the Pilates Roll Up.  Here's a nice video that shows you how it goes:
http://youtu.be/I1pWz27ln-U

It's a little bit hard yet for me to get UP to the sitting position, so, I was doing that part a little bit faster than this lady in the video, but, it can only get better from here!

Tomorrow is more core work along with lower body stuff!

Workout 3 - Upper Body

I had my upper body workout on Monday, and I was SO tired after it that I didn't sit down and write a post about it.

Let me just start by saying that I LOVE upper body work.  While it can be tough of course, it's really gratifying.  Plus, everyone wants to have nicely toned arms and shoulders for summertime!  I have a wedding in June that I'd love to wear something sleeveless or strapless to - that's good motivation!

Monday we did a bunch of things:

Bicep curls - OUCH!  My biceps are by far my weakest upper body muscle group.  I pushed through, but man, it was tough.  By the time I was finished with those, my arms were burning pretty good!

Tricep extensions - I do these quite a bit at home, so, I wasn't hurting too bad after those.

Shoulder work - I did both external rotation and internal rotation.  After having done the bicep curls, my arms were a little bit weak, but I was able to get through these without too much of an issue...a little bit of muscle shakiness though.

Bent over row - I did this with a 35 lb. bar.  A bit of an awkward motion, but, it's really beneficial and it'd be nice if I could someday add some weight to that bar! Good exercise to eradicate that pesky back fat! ;)

Kettlebell swings!  I used a 10 lb. kettlebell for these and we did quite a few of them.  I enjoyed them because they also give you a little bit of a cardio component too.  I think that I could handle quite a bit more weight for these, but, seeing as how it was really my first time doing a lot of them, we started with the 10 lb. one.

Bent over tricep kick backs - I do these a lot at home too, but, by this point in the workout, my triceps were burning pretty good - felt like they were going to EXPLODE out of my arms!

Wall push-ups - I did a bunch of these and by the end, I was beat.  My right elbow clicks a little bit when I do things like push-ups.  Most of the time it's just a little bit annoying, but, doing so many irritated a tendon in my elbow, so it was a little bit inflamed on Tuesday.  Some ice helped calm it down.

The post-workout pain didn't rear it's ugly head until this morning (Wednesday).  I quite literally could not straighten my arms out all the way!  I would try and it was almost like I couldn't even force them to straighten.  I did a lot of stretching (and whining) all day today just trying to work out the tightness.  It's finally a little bit better, but I'm sure once I'm done typing this post, I'll have a hard time straightening them again for a while.  I felt like a poor little T-Rex!

Eating better

Since I got back to working out, I've really tightened up on what I'm eating as well.  Most important for my digestive system is being GRAIN-FREE!

Being grain-free comes with a decent set of challenges.  Everywhere you turn, there's something made with flour, etc.  It's tough!

I eat a lot of steamed veggies, meat, and cheese.  Since I'm allergic to nuts, I can't eat those as snacks, so, I end up eating thinly sliced meats and cheeses as snacks.  I also make my own ground beef jerky in my dehydrator.

When I NEED something sweet, I grab some Dove dark chocolate.  Most primal and paleo folks will tell you to get something even darker, but, I have found that I don't tolerate it very well.  A couple little Dove promises and I'm satisfied.

My newest thing to do is make smoothies (I keep hoping that the weather will warm up a bit!).  My favorite smoothie is made with frozen blueberries, pomegranate seeds, and coconut milk.  Just blend in the blender or if you have a Magic Bullet, that's what I use.  Strawberry + coconut milk isn't bad, but it takes a lot of strawberries to get it to a taste that I enjoy.

Here's my smoothie from earlier:

Even my cats wanted to smell it!

Workout 2 - Cardio!

I'm still pretty darn sore from my core and lower body workout on Tuesday.  But, I met my trainer this morning for a cardio workout.  We incorporated a lot of stretching too for my sore quads, so, that was helpful.

We did a lot of work on the track today - a nice walking warm up for starters.

Then I had to do some high knees...can't believe how much that hurt today!  I felt it in my quads, and I REALLY felt it in my lower abs...holy moly!

Did some walking and had to kick my own butt (literally) for a while.

Then we got into some walking lunges, and some grapevine work.  I remember having to do grapevines as fast as I could for softball practice.  I used to be really good at it and now I feel like some weird un-coordinated beast.  I'm sure that'll get better as time goes on.  Our focus today was to actually do them a little bit slowly to get some good stretching for my legs and hips.

Finished off the workout with a ride on the recumbent bike at about 17mph.  I usually ride 20mph when I ride at home, but, my leg muscles just didn't want to cooperate enough today. 17 was all I could eek out, but I made it!

After that I took another decently paced walk around the track for a while, and then cooled down, and did some more stretching.

Next week and moving forward from there, we'll meet Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  Mondays will be upper body days, Wednesdays will be cardio days, and Thursdays will be core/lower body work days.

I have to say I'm REALLY excited for the upper body workouts, and continuing to work on my core and lower body.  Even though I'm sore, I feel AWESOME.  Of course as you all know, cardio is my least favorite activity, so I hope that I'll learn to enjoy it as much as I enjoy the things that focus on upper and lower body.

I'm also getting more comfortable with the facilities available to me at school, so I can continue to work out there even after my personal trainer finishes this capstone course and graduates in May.  That can only be a plus.  I still want to go work out at the Football House though ;)

Warmer weather HAS to be around the corner - I just ordered new harnesses for my little guys so we can take some nice long walks once it gets warmer!

Workout 1 - Core and Lower Body

This afternoon was my first full-fledged workout with my trainer.

We did a 5 minute walking warmup, some stretching, and then we got down to it. 

He had me do a variety of core and lower body exercises (I alternated between two different exercises for each set, and I can't remember the exact order we did things in, so the pairings aren't accurate here):

Lunges. 4x10 reps.  We worked on proper form for these.  My right knee tried to give me a little bit of trouble, but I was able to get through everything and I'm feeling fine now.

Side lunges. 4x10 reps.  Nothing big here, felt pretty good actually!

Squats.  4x10 reps. We spent today emphasizing proper form for these as well.  I'm pretty darn good at them if I do say so myself ;)

Planks. 4x30 seconds.  I thought I might die after the first one, but, surprisingly, the later planks got easier as my muscles warmed up a bit.

Leg lifts. 4x10 reps. Nothing exciting to say about those, lol.  Lay on your side, lift and lower your top leg.

Resistance band stuff. 4x10 reps.  I am terrible at knowing what exercises are called *blush*.  I had a resistance band around my lower leg and had to move my left leg toward my right and stretch the band, then switch the leg with the band.

Medicine ball lifts. 4x10 reps.  We used a 4 lb. medicine ball for this.  I had to lay on my back and hold the medicine ball between my feet and lift my legs.  I think if any one thing is going to contribute to me being sore tomorrow, it will be this, without a doubt.

Supermans! 4x30 seconds.  I was able to handle them, with obvious fatigue.  I didn't get up off the ground as well as this lady, but, for my first try under supervision I am pleased that I didn't die ;)

Then we did some stretches to cool down a little bit.

Tomorrow evening, upper body.  Thursday morning, cardio.  I am DREADING Thursday.  Cardio is by far my worst area.  I just keep telling myself that I have to go and get through that workout, and then my reward is to watch basketball (March Madness!) when I get home :)

Steamed veggies and chicken for dinner; I'm feeling pretty good about today!

Derailed :(

So...I got sick again.  Everyone in my office has been sick.  One guy had strep throat, two have had a general cold, and one has bronchitis, a sinus infection, AND an ear infection.  I landed somewhere in the middle, with a runny nose, stuffy head, hacky cough, and sore throat.  

I've stayed home from work for the past three days and I'm so BORED.  Thankfully I seem to have turned the corner today, and provided I can stay fever-free overnight, I'll be returning to the office tomorrow.

Of course I got sick right when I was supposed to start my training.  I have an email in to my trainer right now, so we'll start our training sessions either this weekend or this coming Tuesday.

I am itching to get back to work and to get to work on our training goals too!

Day 1: Fitness Test

So, today was my initial fitness assessment with my personal trainer.  Here's what we had to do:

First, we did the embarrassing stuff...weight, measurements, and yes, the calipers came out.  I know that many say that BMI is a completely inaccurate way of measuring things, but, it IS used, and, I'm in the OBESE category as a result.  It's not something that I didn't already know at least.  I mean, I'm doing this for a reason - to get UN-obese :)

Then, on to the physical tests.

First, pushups!  I had to do as many as I could in a row.  I was able to eek out 20.  At 18 I was struggling, but I pushed through to get to 20.

Next - cardio test.  He had a 12" high step aerobics step.  He also had a metronome that ticked at 96 beats per minute.  I had to keep that rhythm as I stepped up and down.  The test was for 3 minutes, or until I couldn't go anymore.  I'm proud to say that I did it for the full three minutes! That works out to 288 steps.

Next up - sit and reach, best out of three tries.  I reached 25 inches, which I thought was pretty darn good considering I have a bit of a gut that gets in my way, lol.

Then, situps.  Had to just do them until I fatigued.  I did 32!

Next was a balance test.  This was for time or until I lost balance, with a max time of 45 seconds.  I had to stand normally and focus on a spot on the white board for 45 seconds.  Then, I had to stand on one foot while focusing on the spot, and I did that for 45 seconds as well (thank you MHS marching band training - I could have stayed on one foot for a few more minutes!).  But then I had to do it with my eyes closed.  Two feet, no problem, went the whole 45 seconds.  But then I had to do one foot with my eyes closed - I only made it 14 seconds!  It's amazing how visual I am.  I am very easily disoriented - I get car sick, air sick, etc...if I am moving but I can't see and focus on the movement, I get disoriented.

Some stretching after that and we were done.  He'll analyze all of my measurements and results, etc. and we'll meet Monday afternoon to discuss the results and make some plans and goals.

I'm pretty happy with how I did today.  Even with a cold I was able to push though on the cardio test.  Certainly there's room for improvement, but, I still feel this was a strong start and a good jumping off point to some good workouts to come!