Blogs are suppose to have pictures

I really enjoy reading other blogs and marvel over how beautifully so many of them are crafted.  In a perfect world my contributions to the blogging community would be equally impressive visually.  The only problem is you have to make the time to take the pictures....and critique them....and upload them....and then tell the story behind the photos.  That can be time consuming, so usually I opt to just workout instead.  I guess you could say that my blog is on a summer hiatus.

Here's today's picture:

I think it does tell a story as I spend a lot of time in this basement practicing Zumba, lifting weights and doing laundry.  Then my outdoor hours are spent in a frantic attempt to keep pace with the never ending battle against the weeds.  Sure wish posion ivy wasn't such a challenging opponent.  If only we didn't have to spend so many hours at that thing called a job....

So carry on eating clean & working out regularly peeps.   Enjoy all your favorite summer activities and we can swap more photos later when it snows.  Cheers!

Walking funny is a Good Thing

May is the busiest month of the year for me.  Work is absolutely crazy from the minute I arrive until the minute I leave.  The garden beakons, the laundry calls and the dust & doghair might begin to accumulate as I struggle to keep up with a growing list of things that need to be done.  Luckily it is almost June and the pace will slow very soon.  I endeavor to continue choreographing two new Zumba routines every week and now and then I even find the time to give myself the luxury of a pedicure.  However the blog has definitely suffered this past month.  When given the choice of writing/reading about fitness or DOING fitness obviously I have chosen the latter and hope you have as well!

So a customer commented as he noticed me struggling a tiny bit climbing up our little set of about 6 steps into the office today.  Monday I did a very short but intense leg workout & as is customary for me, two days later I am "enjoying" the affects.  (I'll be honest.  I really do enjoy a small amount of pain & frankly am disappointed if no muscle tension is felt after an honest attempt to challenge myself.)  So I thought I'd take a few minutes and share what you can accomplish in only 20 minutes.  Change the weights to your fitness level, but these basic moves will not disappoint!

I set my barbell with 62 lbs.  Without a rack or assistance, I do higher reps and lower weights as this is a challenging weight for me to press overhead safely.  Safety is key - Work your way up to a number that challenges you while still maintaining good form.

Barbell Front Squat - set of 25  (This position is harder for my arms to hold the weight, so I do it first before they might tire. Wonderful version for more focus on the quadriceps.)
Barbell Full Squat - set of 25 (awesome for shaping that booty!)
Barbell Wide Stance Squat - set of 25 (I use a plie stance and it really hits the inner thighs.)

Then I grabbed a set of dumbbells and did walking lunges around my basement.  A trip around the room is 25 lunges.
Set 1- carrying 15 lb. weights (I started light to focus on form.)
Set 2 - carrying 20 lb. weights  (Harder but still not overly difficult.)
Set 3 - carrying 25 lb. weights (Upped the weight again to try and find my true limit.)

I finished with Standing Calf Raises using the same 62 lb. barbell and did 50.

That is ALL I did & my booty has been screaming for the past two days!  Today I focused on chest, triceps and back.  Perhaps I'll share that workout routine in a couple days.  ....You know if any customers comment that I'm too sore to lift a 2 gallon plant....

Pushing your Limits

For quite some time our home gym has had two barbells.  One is Mike's & I don't touch it because it contains a large number of plates.  Yeah, I workout but I'm too lazy to remove a lot of excess plates.  (insert humor here) Instead I use a curl bar for everything that I do.  The other day it was set to 65 lbs. for some wide stanch squats I had been performing.  I was really proud that I'd worked my way up to this weight  after performing:
Set 1 - 30lb / 25 reps
Set 2 - 40 lb / 25 reps
Set 3 - 50 lb. / 25 reps
Set 4 - 60 lb. / 25 reps
Set 5 - 65 lbs. / 25 reps
This was kind of a test after reading several blogs I follow about doing higher intensity.  I was trying to findout what my real limit really was & I must say I did feel this work in my inner thighs the next day.  I'm cautious, as at home we don't have a squat rack & I have to safely press this weight overhead into proper position.  So anyways, I picked this same barbell up again the next day to do some deadlifts at the beginning of my workout.  It seemed heavier than usual & the second set I was unable to do my usual set of 25.  The third set was also limited to only 15.  Then Mike strolled downstairs & informed me that he'd added TWENTY POUNDS to the bar!  Apparently I have NOT really been challenging myself.  I just increased my deadlift by 20 lb. & my muscles felt almost no difference after three sets the next day.  There was a "twing" of fatigue but nothing serious.

So I made a little trip to Dick's Sporting Goods & purchased the 300 lb. Olympic set.

Now we have 3 barbells & unlimited weightplate potential.  Lookout, the Fishers are getting serious.

The turtle wins the race

This is me last summer when the lilacs were blooming and they'll be blooming again soon.

  A year ago my workouts were strictly cardio 3-4 days a week including one day of Zumba toning with light weights.  While maintaining that, now I've added regular free weight sessions about 3 days a week & have very slowly increased the intensity.  At the age of 44 I have finally learned how to properly perform a Romanian deadlift and today I did three sets of 25 with a 62 lb. bar.  I'm beginning to see the allure in lifting.  It's not nearly as fun as Zumba but being a competitive type of person, it gives me an opportunity to constantly "raise the bar" against myself.  Just a month ago I did this same set of Romanian deadlifts with a bar bearing TWENTY less pounds.  I have also improved my diet.  However I have resisted giving up things I enjoy like liquor, which keeps me from truly getting cut.  

This is me today.

The difference is quite subtle but it's enough to keep me focused on the ultimate task.  I'm not sure when I'll be able to show you the "cut" you see on other fitness blogs.  Diet is key and I still struggle with this.  I eat much healthier but this chef still serves a generous portion.  However I will tell you this.  Since I've added lifting to my routine all of my jeans have suddenly become extremely baggy.  I now own several pairs of work jeans that I can take off without unbuttoning.  Yeah most people would just buy new jeans.  Instead I never forget my belt and spend my hard earned rewards on new workout clothes.  While the drops are small to none,  the scale never tips higher and that is perfectly fine with me.  The weight is slowly shifting to new hard earned curves.  

Find your Fitness Partner

I must start this blog with an apology.  Well...assuming anyone's even noticed that I've abandoned them recently.  I'm back to my usual Spring schedule where I work 6 days a week and I'm now teaching Zumba two days a week.  So given the choice between working out/prepping new routines vs writing a blog OR making dinner vs doing a blog OR doing laundry vs doing a blog....I guess it's obvious that the blog has always lost the coin toss of late.  While today's entry will be brief it's just to remind you that while you may not see frequent written reminders that I'm continuing my fitness quest, it most certainly continues.  I also dare to hope you are too busy working on your own fitness goals to read about mine.

I still track my miles everyday & think it's a great tool.

For those that are still looking for some motivation - I offer my best advice.

 FIND A FITNESS PARTNER!

Today mine helped me work my chest.  I've finally reached the point where it is not safe to do benchpresses without a rack.  I can't safely get into positon with enough weight to challenge myself.  So luckily I have Mike to hand me the 62 lb. bar I was pressing today.  Oh & he's really good at encouraging me to work well past my comfort zone with a little of his added assistance.  We did FOUR sets!  I think I will be pleasantly sore tomorrow.  Even if you're not doing weights, I've found a fitness partner to be an invaluable asset to staying on track.  Those who "make a date" to meet at class or car pool are far more likely to actually appear at a cardio class than those that say to themselves "I'll try to get there."  Don't TRY,  just make it happen!!

The laundry can wait.
Some of the best meals only take minutes as it's pretty quick to saute some vegetables.
Make YOURSELF your highest priority & work on you for awhile.
Enlist at least one friend with a similar goal of self improvement.  I think local is best but if you are not able to do so please let me know & I'm happy to offer my encouraging services.  One awesome online fitness buddy far exceeds any plans you have to sit on the couch and think about how beautiful your body could be if you paid it a little attention.  Summer will be here before you know it.

Let's get busy getting fit!

Today's lunch

Tuna Salad stuffed Cucumber and Roasted Chickpeas

While neither of these recipes are my invention, I feel an obligation to share my adaptations of them because it was a delicious lunch!  Luckily two different friends shared these ideas with me.

Roasted Chickpeas

Drain 2 large cans & set aside to dry for a bit

Preheat oven to 350

Toss the chickpeas with a little olive oil, cayenne pepper & oregano.  (You can really use any spices that you like.)  Spread on baking sheet & bake for approximately 45-60 minutes.  They should be slightly crunchy when they are finished.

It's a great simple, healthy snack!

Healthy Tuna Salad

Cut a cucumber in half & scoop out the seeds from the center

In a small bowl mix:

 1 well drained can of tuna 

1 tomato, chopped

pickles or jalapenos, diced to taste

Fill your cucumber boat with the salad & enjoy!

My newest Fitness Friend

I was curious how many calories I burn doing Zumba.  So I bought myself this new gizmo, the Fitbit.  It only set me back $59.99 & I considered it an investment in my fledgling fitness hobby/career.  I thought it would be nice to be able to tell students an approximate number of calories they could expect to burn during class.  While the technology of a pedometer is hardy novel, this new generation is actually pretty cool.  I wear it all day but it's so small that I forget it's even there.   More importantly, I don't have to do anything with it.  The battery is suppose to last almost 6 months.   It shows the cumulative results on the screen all day or you can go to the site at the end of the day to review your final tallies.  It will post how many steps you took, how many miles that equals and the number of calories you burned.  I also like the hourly graph that shows when you tracked those movements and when you were obviously sitting down for a couple hours.  Another feature is the ability to sync with mobile phones, but unfortunately mine is not a supported model.  It has an online feature to track your food & other helpful diet tools.

So today following some household chores, the preparation of one new routine, a brief upper body weight workout, running thru several songs prior to class & then leading a one hour class my report said this:

 22579 steps taken today

226% of goal of 10,000

 10.04 miles traveled today

201% of goal of 5.00

 2463 calories burned

After two days of use it seems I burn about 500 calories in one - 60 minute class.  Hmmm.... that's what I was estimating prior to this purchase....   Oh well...  It's still a fun toy.