High 5 For Friday

 

New tradition…I want to reflect on each week and find the top 5 things I’m proud of or that put a smile on my face. I’m sure this is an “Oprah” type thing (remember the gratitude journal?). It IS a good idea to give thanks to the many things-big and small-that bless us during the week!

1. The highlight of my week is that the kids went back to school and EVERYONE is doing well! Oldest (13 yr old daughter) had a good start. No complaints-and that says a lot! She’s been practicing her make up tricks and planning outfits like nobody’s business! Middle (10 yr old son) is at a new building for 5th and 6th graders. He was SOOOOO excited to have a locker. You forget how important that stuff is! He came home yesterday proclaiming it was the BEST school day EVER. He was chosen to be in the “Reach” program. It’s a faster paced class for the advanced students. He is going there for math. Moving up an entire year! He’s proud. I’m proud! Youngest (6 yr old son) likes it, but honestly, could do without it! He’s all about Lego’s and playing with friends. This is his first year of going all day, and it’s long for him. He’ll get used to it…I hope! He’s so honest and always tells me if he had to move his clip up or down (behavior chart). Only down 1 day…for pencil fighting. Grrrr.
2. After 30 days of Asylum, I did the fit assessment test again. I improved overall! I can tell my upper body is shaping up. The fit test-it left me sore for 2 days!
3. Amazing weather. I know it’s nothing I did personally, but I do love the lower temps we had for several days. There is nothing better than having open windows and falling asleep to the sound of crickets (my husband disagrees!).
4. My little page on facebook has grown to nearly 100 subscribers in a very short time. The best part of that is how many people leave comments. We all learn from each other and help share the circle of health! I love finding little tidbits or gems of information to share!
5. I had my husband home for another week! He travels often for work. When he is able to work from home, it’s a treat. I know the time is coming where we’ll be without him for some stretches of time. I love that he was able to be at our daughter’s first tennis match and work with our son for baseball tryouts. It’s also much easier to cook dinner when he’s around…he’s the one person who doesn’t complain about what I make for dinner!

Try it! I would love to hear yours as well~

Asylum Game Day

“You find the focus at home and you go and you live in it.  You have to push  If you don’t push yourself past your barriers, there’s no way you’re gonna progress!”~Shaun T.

Asylum Game Day is like no other game you’ve played before! This is the longest of the dvd’s that comes with the series. It’s an hour in length and high intensity from the very start! Even though it’s longer, it moves really fast and might be my favorite of all of them!

The idea behind this workout is to do 1-2 exercises that will enable you to improve in 12 different sports. After you complete the sport related exercises, it’s time to move on to another sport. And trust me…you do every sport imaginable! Here’s the low down on the “dirty dozen”:

1. Running-not just running in place, but also doing hill work-you run a little slower and use your core. Oh, here comes a bigger hill…hit the floor, use one arm to stabilize yourself, while the other pumps all while doing mountain climbers!
2. Track-back to the beloved agility ladder! This section includes an agility ladder dash and the long jump (mine is not as long as Shaun T’s!)
3. Basketball-more leg work in this part when you do fake out lay ups and jump shots. I like this part-and I’m short, so basketball is not my “thing”!
4. Wrestling- I know! Wrestling! This was a hard on all down on your hands and knees. It uses your core, stability-and of course, a push up! 2 minutes long. Ugh!
5. Soccer- 2 alternating exercise: pyramid soccer kicks on one leg, then “juggle”-pretend you’re juggling a ball “knee, knee, foot, foot”…repeat the sequence
6. Tennis- using the agility ladder, you practice your tennis skills. Me likey!
7. Speed skating- keeping LOW, it’s a fast speed skate with the alternate hand touching the floor, then you “coast” using wide steps from each end of the ladder
8. Swimming- no water involved, but this is hard! It’s supermans to the “nth degree”
9. Surfing- yes! The only shark you’ll see is Shaun T.! Swim hard, then hop up and surf the wave! Great back and leg work!
10. Football- 2 log minutes of lineman’s drill. Fast feet shuffling and hitting the lineman
11. Rock climbing- I’ll admit it. I fast forwarded thru this section this time. It’s a KILLER! Push ups, mountain climbers…all of it rolled into one hard as heck mess. Good luck!
12. Baseball- some pitching practice, with a quick mountain climb; last was batting practice-in your batting stance, swing and twist to the other side. Holy jump squats!

I really enjoy this workout! Me! A girl who was only on the bowling team is now doing all types of athletics with Shaun T.! Recently gold medalist, Hope Solo, said the Asylum series helps athletes become the best athlete they can be! I know it’s true! I’m training like an athlete and feeling like one too!

I would love to do the Asylum challenge with you! Let me know if you’re in!

Asylum: Strength

“30 second water break…drink your water…you only get 30 seconds people. This isn’t a coffee break.”~Shaun T.

Asylum is the complete package. No workout program is complete without some weight training! I cannot stress enough the importance of weights. This is what makes the body change!

The best part about Asylum Strength…it’s a full body workout. All muscle groups are hit in this intense 45 minute sweat fest. The bad part? Full body weight training needs to be done twice a week. Yes, in order to get some true changes from weight training those body parts need another dose of Shaun T love. I have tears in my eyes right now thinking about it. I got real smart after my first week of Asylum. I leave myself more than one day in between. Right now, I have myself scheduled for strength on Tuesday and Friday. It’s far enough apart that I’m over the soreness.

Breakdown of the workout: Like all workouts begin, this starts with a warm up. Unlike other workouts, this starts with a dumbbell. I use an 8 pound weight. Not a working weight, but it gets me warmed up. Oh, and push ups. He includes those in the warm up too. Yay. After the warm up and stretching, the workout is broken up into 3 sections of supersets. A superset is when you do several exercises back to back, take a break, and then do them again. The very 1st exercise is a bicep curl/squat/burpee/pushup combo. Didn’t know there was such a thing? Neither did I! That set is followed with overhead shoulder presses and rotational squats. Each set changes or builds a bit before it moves to the next section and group of body parts. The 2nd section hits the back, core and chest. I don’t mind that one as much, but am always thankful I don’t have a pullup bar-which is an option! The final section is chest and abs. There is actually one final exercise that I haven’t attempted much. Sad, I know. It’s a frog jump forward/backward into a one legged plank. Huh? Sister’s body don’t move like that!

I know this fast paced workout is making the changes I’m feeling. My upper body is quickly getting more definition. It’s always challenging, but I have goals that I can mark off-fewer rests, heavier weights, better form. I’ll get there. It just takes longer than 3 or 4 weeks!

Asylum: Vertical Plyo

“Sometimes you have to lose your mind to change your body.” Shaun T.~Asylum

Just got my butt handed to me by Shaun T. Actually, that’s a running theme to these workouts! I posted my weekly rotation of workouts. This week I’m completing 4 Asylum workouts. Today was all about cardio-in the plyometic form.

Don’t you love putting in a dvd, and the first thing you see is a big red “WARNING”?! You can’t even fast forward through it. It stays on the screen as a reminder of what’s to come!

If you’re unsure of what plyometrics are, I’ll give a quick blurb about that first. Plyometrics is a type of training involving jumping, bounding and other high impact exercises that focus on maximizing the stretch reflex of the muscles. The purpose? To teach the muscles to produce maximum force faster, which enhances performance for athletes and exercisers alike.

6 Benefits of Plyometrics:

• Better athletic performance
• Develop muscle power
• Enhance your ability to burn calories (YES!)
• Increase your muscular endurance
• No exercise equipment needed (can you say, “Free”?)
• Can be easily modified to meet anyone’s needs

The workout begins with a VERY active warm up. Jumping rope. I don’t know anything that raises the heart rate like a jump rope. I have a jump rope, but I’ve found it slows me down more then anything. I move my hands like there is a jump rope and get all of the benefit. Trust me. At the end of the warm up, I’m already dripping sweat and needing a drink. Have I mentioned how much I love Energy and Endurance (E&E)? I don’t think I could make it through the 40 minutes without it!

Next, stretching. This part I love! Imagine that! I have found that now that I don’t skip through the stretching and have made time to do yoga or a stretching dvd weekly, I am much more flexible. The flexibility will help me avoid injury and improve my overall workout performance. Don’t believe me? Try it!

The workout itself is about 30 minutes. All intense! You will use the agility ladder and bands. The ladder can be folded if leaping across the entire length is not possible yet (me!). You are constantly jumping and leaping. The core is constantly engaged as you do rotational jumps and do explosive jumps that have you twisting and going side to side.

Your down time during this workout? Shaun T. gives you a few rests. Active rests! And no, it is NOT marching in place! Back to the handy dandy jump rope. I guess he figures that’s “low key”! One of the active rests was jumping rope on 1 leg and then using the working leg to hop up to waist level….I’m not recovered just reliving it! Needless to say, a bit of modification was needed!

Remember, these workouts are advanced! Asylum is considered a follow up to Insanity or P90X. It’s ok if you’re not there yet. You will find your own “hard” and get results that you want!

*Step by Step review

 

 

Asylum

 

If you’re wondering if I’ve been committed, some days it feels possible! I have upped the ante and am kicking butt with Asylum workouts with Shaun T.

It was time. Time for a change. Time to push out of my comfort zone. Time to get out of “pause” mode. I think “pause” mode is a good way to describe where I’ve been lately. Kind of teetering in maintenance without a clear goal in mind. I was food prepping, exercising and living a pretty balanced lifestyle. But, I have gotten too comfortable. Remember my severe dislike of sweat? I can’t say I’ve been working myself into a good sweat lately with my workouts.

Enter Asylum. There is no avoiding the sweat! I start sweating before the real workouts start since the warm up is what some people do for a workout! Shaun T. is the same instructor from Insanity. Asylum is one step closer to being an all out crazy workout program! This is a HARD program and not for the beginner or the intermediate. This is an intense workout meant for athletes. Gulp. I just put myself in the “athlete” category. To be honest with you, I was NEVER on a team of any kind in high school. The only team I was on was the bowling team when I was in elementary school, and my husband constantly makes fun of me for that!

Asylum workouts use a ton of body weight and plyometric moves. The Strength dvd is a combination of weight training and cross training. I have not been lifting heavy weights at all. The heaviest for any of the exercises is 12 pounds. Yet, I am already seeing changes just three weeks in! My upper body is getting stronger, toner and more defined. My legs and butt are getting smaller, and my weight is down by a couple pounds. Nice!

Now that I’ve left “pause” mode and moved into “play” mode, I’ve come up with a couple goals to work toward. The first is the blasted ten pounds that I want to get off! Seven of them I put on in the process of going back to work, selling and building a home, then moving 600 miles. The extra three are for good measure, because I think 135 is a nice solid number! My second goal is to complete these Asylum workouts without taking the extra breaks! I am nowhere near finishing one of these without taking an extra drink, marching in place and getting my heart rate back down! They are that intense! I know when I can get through the workouts without taking breaks and make few to no modifications, I have reached a level of physical fitness I have yet to attain!

My workout schedule is a rotation of Asylum and other cardio. Here’s my plan:

Week A: 2 Asylum Strength workouts, 2 Asylum cardio workouts, 1 long walk for 1/2 marathon training, 1 Turbo Fire, 1 Asylum Relief (stretching)

Week B: 2 Asylum Strength workouts, 1 Asylum cardio workouts, 1 long walk for 1/2 marathon training, 1 Turbo Fire, 1 Asylum Relief, 1 interval workout on the treadmill

Basically, it’s 4 days of Asylum one week and 3 days the next. I’ll keep rotating that out.

I’m going to give you all the down low on each dvd in their own separate posts!

My hope is that while I’m working hard, but sharing my struggles, you will choose to push a lot harder too!

 

Exercise On Vacation

 

Yes, I did it! I put a phrase together that most would not think to do…”exercise on vacation”! It seems like such an unlikely pair, yet holding on to your healthy lifestyle habits AND enjoying yourself can be done!

Why, you ask? I think, and this is my opinion, that if you let go of everything-your workouts and go hog wild with your food-it can put you, mentally, on a slippery slope. So much of this lifestyle is in your head. When that ain’t right, nothing’s right! I do give myself a “pep talk” before I take a trip. I mentally tick through some easy food to pack or what I will splurge on while I’m away. I also decide what I’ll do for exercise. My exercise on vacation is NOT to the level or intensity that I typically do at home, but I do SOMETHING. I think through what we’ll be doing, the environment/atmosphere of the place and what, if anything, I can take with me.

So how to do it, you now ask? The options for you to exercise on vacation are endless. This is your chance to do something different and even move out of your comfort zone! I do great when I see a list, so here goes my bullet list of options to exercise on vacation…

• Walk or run. Geesh, wasn’t so hard! You can hit the pavement, the beach or the treadmill at a hotel. Walk anytime you get the opportunity! Use the time to take a “walking field trip”. It doesn’t have to be super fast or break records. Just do it!
• Pack up a few dvd’s. Most of my workouts are beachbody dvd’s right now for both cardio and strength. I can EASILY choose from my TurboFire, Asylum or Les Mills Pump dvd’s and have a variety of 30-45 minute workouts that I can do with no equipment or with bands. Bands and dvd’s…not a lot of suitcase space needed
• Use your parking lot! Parking lots are great. They have lines. Lots of them. Walk the parking lot a few times to warm up. Lightly jog it a few times. Choose several lines from the parking spaces as your start and end. Do a series of sprints, walking lunges, burpees, bunny hops over them, skipping…the list is endless! You could use the parking lot your entire trip and get some great exercise on vacation!
• Find some stairs. I have found nothing to compare to the ability of a set of stairs to burn my legs and butt! They can be indoors or out. Walk them, skip every other one, go sideways. Use the top or bottom for a water break and some intervals with jumping jacks, pop squats, lunges, push ups….I have more. Do you need them?

I have NEVER gone on vacation in the past 5 years and gained weight. My food is “looser”, but the exercise still happens. I find that being creative with my exercise on vacation is almost a way to rejuvenate and get me excited to hit it again when I get home.

Last, I don’t beat myself up if the workouts don’t happen my typical 6 days a week. It IS vacation after all! Keeping your healthy habits through the really good times seems to make it easier to hold on to when times get rough. Because they do. It’s called Life!

In the end, if you exercise on vacation, I can guarantee you won’t regret those workouts you did!

*Vacation Weight Gain

*Vacation Starts When You Leave

 

Been Busy, Not Off The Wagon!

 

Boy, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Honestly, life has been chaotic! I forget each school year how crazy the end of it can be until it arrives! With 3 kids and all of the end of the year activities, sports, and upkeep…I just didn’t make or take the time to get on here. It is what it is.

I AM happy to say that not blogging does NOT mean I’ve been spending that time laying on the couch and stuffing my face! Nope. Still plugging along and living the lifestyle. I’ve moved up in weights a little bit with Les Mills Pump, and I recently started working with a small group of women who have begun their training for the Columbus half marathon in October. I’m excited to be along with them on this journey toward their first 13.1 bumper sticker! I’ve also been playing around with some treadmill intervals and Turbo Fire for my cardio workouts. The scale is trending down so that’s a good thing.

I spent an exhausting, but fun filled weekend at Jen Hendershott’s Phat Camp a few weekends ago. In a nutshell, it is a 3 day “boot camp” that pushes you to work outside of your comfort zone. It always requires me to dig deep, both physically and mentally. My body is beat up and sore when we’re through, but I’m also left mentally drained. It leaves me with a lot of thoughts to mull over. Each time I’ve gone to camp, I take away something different. I never know what the message is that will stick with me, but I know that there will be one that resonates to me. This time the message is…”celebrate who I am and what I can do TODAY”. I have for sure wasted many days…even years, waiting to be a certain weight or size. I don’t allow myself the freedom to enjoy me, my husband, my children or my friends. I’m pretty darn fantastic at this moment! I can do so much more today then I EVER thought I was capable of doing. Go me!

I’ve also been trying to move out of my typical menu rotations to add more variety to my food. It’s taken me awhile, but I’ve finally gotten turned on to the whole quinoa craze. It helped that my dear friend, Amy, who is now a vegetarian walked me around a new health food store, pointing out different foods I haven’t tried. I sampled a few things at the counter and came home with a delicious quinoa salad! The best part about quinoa…it’s a complete protein on it’s own! With the excessive amount of heat we’ve been having, a protein alternative that’s COLD is wonderful! I found a similar salad to the one I bought in the health store, “Apple, almond quinoa salad“. Use the link to check it out! If I can turn my husband AND my kids on to this delicious healthy food, I’m sure you’ll love it as well!

Out Of Bounds?

 

I need to blog about a situation I was in this week….It starts like this:

First, background. We moved into our new home last September. I do not know all of the neighbors who live behind us in the “old” neighborhood. I do know that “Megan”, a girl on my 7th grade daughter’s tennis team, lives diagonally behind us, but I’ve never met her mom. Megan is a very overweight 13 year old girl. Tall for her age too. Hard stuff for a girl that age.

A few days ago, my daughter told me that Megan wasn’t eating with them (her lunch table group) anymore. I asked her if she was eating with other girls. No. She’s just not eating. She sits with them, but isn’t eating. Did she ask Megan why? Megan’s response was they didn’t have any food and she was out of money on her lunch account. Off the bat, I thought this was a load of crap. Being a former chubby adolescent, I immediately wondered if she had been teased about her weight and in an effort to lose weight, decided not to eat. When my daughter came home yesterday, I asked her if Megan ate lunch today. No. Today she told one of their other friends that she was “fasting” for the week. Again, load of crap to me.

I tell you what. This bothered me. A.Lot. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions, but I’ve been a 13 year old girl. I know how that age can be such a struggle with the way they feel about themselves physically. I’m probably projecting my own experiences on this situation, but I couldn’t help it. Plus, coming from the stand point of an educator, I know how important it is for kids to EAT in order to maintain the ability to learn, function, etc. I thought of contacting the school counselor and letting her deal with it. In fact, I was outside watering my plants, and I was STILL thinking about it. I looked up and over…there was Megan’s mom in their backyard. A woman I’ve never met or talked to before.

Well, if you know me at all, then you know I speak my mind. I sort of took this as a “sign” and went for it. I ran toward the fence, introduced myself and told her what my daughter had been telling me. I did it with concern and knowing that she had no way of knowing what was going on during the school day. She told me she would talk to her daughter about it (of course, I asked her not to tell Megan it came from my daughter-I don’t need more 13 year old drama!).

I’m still struggling with whether or not I did the right thing. In my heart, I ache for this girl who is not eating all day long. I wonder what goes on in her head. I hope I approached this in a way that her mom saw my concern. I, in no way, wanted to offend.

Food. The obsession with it, the misinformation about it, the struggle with it starts young. Teach your children well.

Let Them Eat Cake!…Or Pie, Or Baked Apples…

 

 

I’ve mentioned it before once, twice or a thousand times…but I love sweets! Dessert is something I’m not willing to give up, but what I have given up are calorie and fat laden desserts. I’ve learned to satisfy my sweet tooth with easy and yummy substitutions! I DO NOT keep big ol’ desserts around my house all of the time. I can’t. I know I would nibble at it endlessly. I do use these recipes to take to functions or have at some type of celebration. My kids are perfectly happy with these treats too! The single serve desserts are great when you’re needing something sweet and don’t want to break the “calorie bank”.

This first dessert is one I’ve made many times-especially in the summer! It’s light, fruity and a favorite flavor can be found by anyone! (I’ve made strawberry, key lime, raspberry, orange and lemon)

No Bake Yogurt Pie

1 graham cracker crust

Mix together until dissolved:

1/4 c boiling water

1 box sugar free jello (choose a flavor)

Add:

2 light yogurts (use the same flavor as the jello)

Fold in 1 container of whipped topping (can use light or sugar free)

Refrigerate for several hours until firm. Add sliced berries if you want.

I also keep a couple quick, single serve desserts on mind. There are times that we have dessert at home and I’ll have this instead…I usually have to smack the little hands who try to take a few bites or else concede to making extra for them!

No Bake Baked Apple

Wash, core and slice an apple.

Top with 1 TBSP brown sugar and cinnamon

Microwave until soft (3 minutes-depends on the firmness of the apple)

If you have the calories or points to spare, top it warm with 1/2 cup frozen lowfat vanilla yogurt. I swoon!

 

Chocolate! We are the ONLY planet with chocolate! What a great place to live!

Chocolate Pudding To The Max

Prepare one box of sugar free instant chocolate pudding as directed EXCEPT replace 1/2 cup of the 2 cups of milk with either low fat sour cream, plain yogurt or greek yogurt*.

Mix in 1 TBSP peanut butter

Refrigerate to firm (about 20 minutes)

Slice a banana in a bowl and top with 1/2 cup pudding! Yes, people! It is fruit with a side of dairy! So good and BIG! Who doesn’t love big food?!

*Why the milk replacement? I have found that adding in either sour cream or yogurt, the pudding has a thicker, creamier consistency. Plus, you won’t get that watery “pool” on top after a day.

 

Become A Champion!

 

If you’re still not eating breakfast, just what IS your excuse? I know you’ve heard it before…“it’s the most important meal of the day”. It truly is! In the past, I’ve reminded you that the meaning of breakfast is to “break the fast”. Obviously, your last meal or snack of the day was HOURS ago if you’ve slept all night!

Here are a few popular reasons for skipping breakfast:

• Not enough time…I will solve that problem for you and provide you with some simple, quick options
• Cutting calories…well, that’s just dumb, to be blunt. Your body needs fuel and you’re FORCING it to work harder on empty. How does that work for your car?
• Not hungry in the morning…I don’t personally understand that, but I do think you can “train” your body to eat breakfast and find something that sits well with you earlier in the day

I am going to ignore the calorie cutting fools who think giving up breakfast will allow them to lose weight and/or eat more later in the day. To make a successful adoption of a healthy lifestyle, you need to eat your calories pretty evenly through out the day. YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE! Figure out what you DO like to eat for breakfast and do it!

When you’re trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast, think of your meals as a “3 legged stool”. When one leg is missing….it topples over! Your “legs” are: fat, protein, carbohydrates. So what are some options?

1. toasted Ezekial bread with MEASURED peanut butter and sliced banana (I die! Yummo!)
2. smoothie…how about a frozen banana, 1/4 c Greek yogurt, 1/2 c skim milk, 1 Tbsp peanut butter and a dash of nutmeg?Blend it and out the door you go!
3. egg muffins: I don’t have measurements for this, but I throw eggs, egg whites, shredded cheese, thawed spinach, mushrooms in a bowl and mix well. Spray muffin pan and pour it in. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Store this in the fridge. Toast a whole wheat english muffin, reheat an egg muffin and you’re off!
4. no prep…Kashi bar, low fat yogurt with a Tbsp nuts or sunflowers, and an apple or other fruit!
5. toast 2 whole wheat and spread part skim ricotta on top. Lay slices of strawberries or blue berries on top of that!

What are your plans to eating like the  “Breakfast of Champions”?

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