***We're In This Together*** (May 2013)

Hello girls!

Sorry I was MIA over the weekend. I hardly got on the computer at all. Saturday was a lot of fun at the cave. Unfortunately because of the snow melt going on the best part was flooded out and we couldn't see it. Niagara cave has this beautiful waterfall area but the whole "room" as they call it was flooded with rushing water. It was still cool to show the kids all the cave formations, stalactites and especially the FOSSILS! :eek: Very educational and fun. :D

Sunday we had Mark's Grandma up (the one with Alzheimer's). It is getting so hard to have a conversation with her...impossible actually. :( Every time she comes up now she almost immediately wants to go home. Katie (DH's cousin who cares for her) says quite often now she'll just burst into tears for no reason. It is so challenging for her and I made sure to tell her last night how grateful we are for her and how amazing I think she is. She used to work in a nursing home so she is acutely aware of the substandard care most of the elderly in there get, even at many of the better homes. :(

Okay, let's see...workouts. Saturday I did To the Max (extreme premix). I enjoyed it, but man it kicked my booty more than usual for some reason. Maybe it was the 9 days off of cardio?? At any rate, with the way my joints felt most of Saturday I realized more than ever it's time to back off the high impact cardio for awhile. With that in mind, I may adjust my planned cardio/leg days a little. We shall see. On Sunday I did the following: Crossfire w/u + firewalker tabata (11 minutes), STS Meso 1 disc 3 legs (minus w/u and bonus section~35 min) and then HC 102 (year 2 101) April (32 min). I have some awesome glute/hamstring DOMS and CRAZY lat DOMS from HC! :eek: Yowza!

I liked doing just the one simple tabata before my legs. It satisfies me by giving me a little endorphin hit without going overboard. Sheesh...listen to me, I sound like a crack addict! LOL yeah yeah, just give me one little hit, yeah, just a bump! :p :eek:

Natty- I am so into these blogs and videos by these strong women like Nia Shanks! Have you seen Go Kaleo?Go Kaleo | Are you as tired of fad diet as I am? I especially like her and the Fit and Feminist blogs, most especially their facebook pages. They both update their pages more frequently on facebook and post lots of interesting articles and links. I am just so inspired and motivated by these bold and brave women!

Sarah- Yes 9 days without any formal cardio was tough to stick to! lol It's all good though, I need the change. I'm determined to switch things up and see what happens here in the next few months. As much as I love my cardio, I know my body just got used to it and I wasn't getting the same returns (body composition wise) that I used to get from it. I remember when I did STS how good it felt to give my joints a break from all the high impact. I do LOVE high impact, but my body regularly tells me to limit it more than I want! ;)

Marie- I'm so glad you had fun in Duluth! Ahh, I remember the "pump and dump" hehe. I did that at New Years Eve and a few other times with the kids. I remember that NYE...it was after Dylan was born. I had so much frozen milk that my mom had plenty to give him while we went out. Then of course, I had to keep excusing myself to go to the bathroom, lugging my breast pump to do my thing. It was hard to dump it down the sink, but necessary! I also have a low tolerance these days...1-2 glasses of wine or beer and I can feel it! :eek:

Jen- Good luck with your first day of work!! :eek: :D Everything is settling in so well. I am SO happy for you!!!!

Better go, have a great Monday girls! :)
 
Sometimes the days just get away from you so easily. So today was the beginning of the May Shape up for summer rotation with GS C&B. What else can I say but the push-up drop sets. Holy cow. I actually did this with my 20 yo niece and my mother part of the time. It was fun. I walked 5 miles today also.

Nat - I absolutely loved the interview with Nia Shanks and Kaleo, it got me all fired up. Thanks, now more than ever I really think changing it up with less cardio and more weights would be awesome. Back about a month ago when I was considering getting one of the Nia Shanks program I was a little nervous about not having the equipment that I might need and the one program that uses bodyweight didn't seem to dissimilar to some of Cathe's, so I didn't move ahead.

Colleen - The cave sound cool. I loved the stalactites and stalagmites when I visited caves when I was younger but haven't been for years. Your Sunday WO was awesome! When should I send you DVD's back?

Marie - I think we posted at the same time for the last posting. I'm glad you had a great weekend. And that your exercising wasn't derailed, thats awesome. I love Bloody Mary's too. ACtually I've never had one with alcohol but I love myself the "virgin" variety. I should try one with booze next time.

So many things have happened recently. I have been getting together with friends once a week talking about opening up a business together like a dessert truck of sorts.

Moving to Alaska, once again. We should be getting another formal offer next week.

My MIL called about my FIL health (Parkinson's and dementia) and doesn't want him being left alone. So apparently my Tuesdays are now going to be babysitting my FIL while she is a church. I have very mixed feelings about this.

Sarah
 
Tuesday.
Filing my last unemployment claim with MI (unless I make it less than 90 days but I KNOW that won't happen).
Company culture is much like those you hear about with Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Plus, not everyone is under 30 too. We had to share. Talking about MI and Canada was very foreign to them. My gut is tellling me that this place will work out.
June 10th, my hours switch to 1030-7pm so I can workout early in the morning.
 
Bulk Shoulder's for me today. OMG this workout is a beast :eek:. I absolutely *heart* the shoulder routines in this program. I don't know about you guys, but when I work with heavy #'s, my HR get's up real high. I'm headed to the park now! BBL for personals :cool:
 
Nat- My HR goes way high too when I lift heavy. I lost another auction for Body Beast : ( I will eventually snag one at a good price. I loved the pics of Bella at the park. So cute. Hopefully the slides aren't getting hot yet.

Jen - Thats a perfect time to start work to be able to get a WO in. I glad you ca trust your gut. I second guess mine constantly.

I am sore today in my tris and chest from Gym Styles. All is good!Although I look back on yesterday and I hardly ate anything because I was so busy. I even made fried rice for dinner but only had about 1 cup of it because I was so hot from cooking over a huge gas flame and wok (my parents house), it just didn't sound good.

Today's WO was Imax 3. I kind of fizzled out towards the 8 and 9th round with the choreography. I was never 100% with this one anyway. And something about getting your brain to work when the body is exhausted makes it that much harder to learn semi-complicated choreography. So I turned it off and did Slide and Glide Tabata from TTM (I think).

I am considering getting Beautiful Badass and doing that until mid July when I would like to start Body Beast.

Sarah
 
I'm back :)

It's hot as heck out there today :cool:. A nice 2hr outing for me and Bella at the park. Did I mention that it's really hilly here? So I always get a great leg workout when I'm walking.

I need to tell you guys about something pretty exciting that happened to me yesterday. I was cleaning out my closet, and I found a pair of jeans that I have not worn since way before Bella was born. At that time, I used to weigh myself regularly, and was always at the lower end of my weight range. Now these jeans were always pretty fitted, sometimes snug when I was PMS'ing. Out of curiosity, I tried them on. THEY WERE LOOSE EVERYWHERE :eek:. Waist, butt, thighs! I was shocked and very emotional at the same time. It really goes to show you that a # on the scale does not truly reflect how fit you are, your body composition, ect. I know if I were to jump on the scale right now, I would probably weigh 5lbs or more than when I used to wear those jeans. I truly believe that if I were to have adhered to that "number", allowing it to determine my progress (or lack thereof) my body would have never changed the way it has. I feel real good today :).

Sarah
I'm glad you liked the video! I knew you would ;).
Great w/o yesterday :eek:. Your mother was working out with you? That's SO good :).
I think you should REALLY consider opening up your own dessert business.
OMG Alaska again?! How do you feel about that? It looks like an almost surreal place to live. Right beside Canada -- the province of Yukon I believe.
I'm sorry to hear about your FIL :(.

Jen
So how are you liking your new place of employment? I'm certain you will have no problem adjusting. Do Texans think us Canadian's live in Igloo's and eat seal fat or something? LOL :D. I swear we are just like you guys...except we love ketchup a little too much:eek:

Colleen
Glad you had a nice time at Niagara Cave. When you first mentioned it, I thought it was near Niagara Falls :eek:.
I'm so sorry to hear about Mark's grandmother :(. Alzheimer is such a sad disease. It must be really difficult for your cousin to be the sole caregiver. I can't imagine how much sacrifice goes into that.
I'm looking to purchase a new kettle bell while I do Nia's program :eek:. What # do you think is optimal for swings? I have a 10lbs but it's just not heavy enough. Do you think I should go with a 20lbs or more?
 
Afternoon ladies!

Today's workout was Gym Style: Back, shoulders and biceps and XTrain Burn Set Tri's. Felt very good!

You guys know how I've been trying to walk more since I got this Fitbit, right? Well, I work in a mall area and since it's nice outside decided to go walking on my lunch break. Welllll...let's just say the activity was nice but it was also expensive! LOL I wound up stopping at the Old Navy near by and buying 3 pairs of jeans. :eek: :p
Also, it's weird but since I've been walking more my darn left foot is bothering me. :mad: I had what I think was some early plantar fasciitis back in December in that foot and it seems to flare up and bother me every once in awhile since then (especially when I do too much high impact). Even though I workout on my puzzle mats barefoot, during my other activities I wear good arch orthotics in my shoes. When I walk around the house I use these ortha-heel flip flops (Amazon.com: Orthaheel Men's / Women's Wave Sandals: Shoes) that have wonderful arch support. It seem the extra activity of walking a lot is something my body isn't used to :confused:. I'm hoping it'll adjust and won't be a persistent pain in my rear. :( It's always this darn left foot! :mad:

Natty- I LOVED reading what you wrote there about the jeans in the closet. It is SO true! Honestly, I read on other fitness sites a lot and I know this is a problem for so. many. women! They let the number on the scale dictate their workouts and eating habits and nothing you can say or do will convince them that they would actually have better results if they just let the scale go!
As for kettlebells, I think you could handle a 25 lb bell for swings honestly. You are a strong chica! TBH, though I really like having all my different weights when I do kettlebell exercises. I use them all depending on what I'm doing. I tend to go lighter for upper body (although I bet you could handle heavier). I don't use my 10 hardly at all though. I use the 15 lb for some upper body stuff on days when I'm not feeling super strong or if the workout is very cardio based and moving quickly. Most of the time, though, I switch between my 20, 25 and 35 lb bells. The 20 is light for me when it comes to swings, but felt heavy when I first started. It might be best, if you can, to go to a sporting goods store and try a few test swings on the different weights to get a good feel for it. Then you would know for sure! :)

Sarah- I bow down to anyone who can do even most of IMAX 3! :eek: My brain just does not want to work that hard when my heart is thumping. ;) I need to be very focused on simple moves or my form goes south and I hurt myself! lol That is very interesting about Alaska! Do you think the offer is more serious this time? I was just thinking the other day how difficult it would be to live up there though what with the 6 months of day and 6 months of night. I can't imagine those dark days...it's tough enough in Wisconsin in November! :eek:

Well, better get going here. Waving hi to Jen and Marie!! :D
 
Oh Sarah- I meant to say before about getting the videos back to me...there's no rush. I was hoping you'd get a chance to try all of them at least once. Anytime you are done doing that you can send them back. Like I said, no rush! :) I'm so sorry about the situation with your FIL...that sounds really stressful. :(

Today's workout will be Butts and Guts standing + 100 rep hip thrusts and possibly a ZCuts to end it with a cardio finisher (not sure about that last one yet) I was going to do Cardio Leg Blast but I'm thinking that may be a little more impact than I want to do today.

Have a great day ladies! :D

ETA: I wound up not doing the ZCuts as a cardio finisher today. I forgot how much of a cardio factor B&G has for me! I did B&G standing portion (wearing my 8 lb weighted vest and generally going heavier than Cathe) + the 3 bonus leg exercises (sit 'n stands, leg presses and glute squeezes on the ball) and then 100 rep hip thrust with 50 lb barbell (resting for ~30 sec at 40, 60, and 80 reps). My goal for this month is to try and do the hip thrusts with only one rest. I'm determined to get there! :D
 
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Well I did it :D. I ordered Nia's 15 week Muscle Sculpting Program AND Go Kaleo's Basic Lifting Routine (super cheap on sale for $13!). They are both PDF files. I was thinking I *might* do Nia's program after BB or perhaps STS again (minus M3).

In Nia's program (which looks awesome BTW) she really stresses on increasing the challenge every week by either upping your weight #'s or doing a more challenging variation of the exercises (ie-1 legged push-ups, push-ups with a vest, ect). For the first phase (5 weeks) you do 2 UB splits+2LB splits. The next phase (5 weeks) is 4 total body w/o's. The 3rd phase (5 weeks) is another 2UB splits+2LB splits. With Go Kaleo, it features a lot of exercises done by Cross-fitter's (box jumps, front barbell squats, jump pull-ups) in addition to your regular squats, lunges, push-ups, rows, ect. All big compound exercises that get the best bang for your buck, so to speak. A little more cardio in her routine, but it is interspersed with heavy weight work. Both programs have w/o's that are max 30-40min each (YAY!). Looking forward to these new challenges :eek:.

Colleen
Check out Nia's version of the hip thrusts (done sans barbell). I tried the 1 legged one for fun :rolleyes: and it almost killed me! Super hard!
Three Different Hip Thrust Variations - YouTube
So the harder versions are great for people who simply do not want to use a barbell.
I'm so sorry to hear about your foot :(. I hope it continues to get better as your body get's used to standing and walking more.
LOL about the jeans :D. I LOVE Old Navy Jeans! Those are the only ones that fit me properly. Do you get the Sweetheart cut? I have the Diva cut also, but the Sweetheart is a bit more tapered at the waist and more relaxed through the hip/thigh.
Thanks for the KB tips! I will test out some #'s and see how it feels.

Have a great day ladies!

Oh ya, today was my rest day but I went for a nice 1hr walk. Tonight I will do some Jessica Smith stretching/yoga when Bella goes to bed. I did one last night and it felt super good.
 
Nat - I did it, I got BB! I got it off ebay for 45.00. Pretty good deal, hopefully. I did get the Lucky seven with it.

I know you do way more reading about fitness than I do. I read that Nia does use intermitted fasting. In her 12 week program does it talk about this at all? I have found out that I can do cardio on an empty stomach but with weights I just get to tired. Also for some reason I thought her 12 week program would require a lot more gym equipment? I got very confused when I ws considering her stuff a month ago.

Colleen - Thanks for letting me take my time. I actually think I'll be done by this weekend trying them all with the exception of Hoco Bootcamp. I will try to work that in next week and mail them back to you.

I never tried Old Navy Jeans for myself. Do they come in Petite or short? I love them for the kiddos though.

Last night I took a 2 mile walk. This moring I walked for about 45 minutes, which is probably about 2 miles also. I just got done doing AB. Boy, I got out of my comfort zone on that one. Now I need to think about when I will start BB. HMMM, now or later?

I have had sicky kids home all week too. Hopefully it will be the last of it till fall.

I also still have Doms from GS on Monday : )

Sarah
 
Sarah
No Nia does not elaborate on IF in her program. I'm not doing her 12 week program, I am doing the 15 week Muscle Sculpting one. She just basically says to eat when you're hungry. If that means 6X/day, then so be it, if that means 2X/day then that's ok too. I WILL NEVER fast! EVER! It's just not for me. But hey if others want to do it, then that's ok too. On Go Kaleo, she actually advises against IF, saying that it slows the body's metabolic rate. But who's to say what's right/wrong? Regarding the exercises, most (about 90%) can be done at home. She says to email her if you need appropriate subs for machines that you do not have access to (cable lat pull-downs for example). The only problem I can foresee, is increasing weight #'s for squats and lunges. I know I could probably squat over 70lbs with good form, but I don't have a rack so I'm kinda stuck at that max :(. She does however, give lots of challenging squat variations on her youtube site. There is always a way to challenge yourself and make the exercises harder without the use of gym machines. Another interesting piece of info about supplements, she only recommends 2: fish oils and creatine. Oh and protein powder if you are short on your daily protein intake.
Congrats on getting Body Beast! I hope you guys really love the program as much as I do. I enabled 2 other girls at my check-in's too! One of them already started and loves Sagi. The other one starts mid-May.
 
Hey all! Just stopping by to say hi. B is snoozing in my arms right now :)

I just finished packing for CO. I leave on Friday to go visit my sister and niece. So excited although I hear it is going to rain the entire time I'm there. Ugh! Fingers crossed we will have a few nice days. I would love to be able to hike everyday and visit the zoo. We have swim lessons planned for Tue. B just loves swimming. We took him while staying at the hotel and he thought it was hilarious to splash around. Beyond cute!

Alright I best get to cleaning.....
 
I would have "liked" Cathe's post on OD, however when I read she did NOT put any type of dressing on her salad (not even vinegar & EVOO) I was like YUCK [enter gross face here]. I would never even think to have my salad bare like that :p.

Today's w/o was Bulk Chest. I really wanted to up my weight #'s for this w/o so I busted out my barbell for the presses :eek:. For the progressive set, Sagi does a pyramid up/down 15R, 12R, 8R, 8R, 12R, 15R. By the time I got up to the 8R, I could only lift 3R :eek:. I was totally spent. Thank goodness he gives you about a 1min break before going back down (starting at 8R again). For some reason, I feel like a champ when I work chest. Must be the feeling of pressing heavy #'s or something :p. I'm also thinking I might want to do a Jessica Smith power walk today since we won't be going outside cuz' of rain.

Marie
Hope you have a wonderful time in CO! I do hope you get some sunny days in. Don't look at the weather channel! I remember when I went to Cuba a few years back, it called for rain the entire week :mad:. I was like "oh great! Just my luck". But guess what? NO RAIN. ZERO. ALL WEEK.
I bet B looked super cute in the pool :).

Have a great day everyone!
 
Last night I went to Zumba for fun. It was super hot in there, so the sweat was flying off me.

Today I did GS BSB and Ab ripper. I went heavier with my weights than ever before. Plus I did some more assisted chin-ups and pull-ups. I hopefully will be able to squeeze in a walk thi evening.

Nat- We have 1 or 2 more nice days then rain including Mother's Day. But thats okay we have had already the nicest spring here in about 6 years. I will have to decide if I should continue on my current rotation once I get BB or have Colleen's exercise ADD ; ) and start BB.

Marie - Have lots of fun with your sister. I will hope the best for the weather for you. I went to Colorado when I was for, I don't remember anything about it. It is on my list of places to go now just because of the beauty of it.

Sarah
 
Today was Bootcamp from Intensity Series. I love that one, so much fun. I am very sore in my butt from AB on Thurs. as well as my bi-ceps from yesterday. So I did different exercises if it felt to uncomfortable.

It's probably going to be a very busy weekend for everyone.. Trying to take care of Mother's Day for everyone. Do you guys do nice stuff for your MIL? I'm not, I used to. But the way I figure it, she's not my Mother ; ) But I do have to come up with some genius idea for my mom.

Sarah
 
If I don't post tomorrow...
​
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO MY AWESOME LADIES!!!
Your kids (AND kitties, Jen) are very lucky to have such amazing mommies :)

I didn't post yesterday because Mark and I went out to lunch for Mother's Day :). I WENT ALL OUT :eek:. We shared an appetizer w/baked goat cheese, roasted garlic, fig sauce, pita slices :p. I had this cinnamon Goldschlager Martini, but I think they skimped on the alcohol cuz' I didn't taste a damn thing :mad:. My main was an Asian salad w/flank steak and noodles. Mark and I shared dessert which was an apple crumble w/ice cream and caramel :p:p. All in all, it was a very tasty lunch :p. Since the restaurant we went to is in a mall, we walked around for about 1 1/2hrs afterwards so our food would go down. We were nice and full :eek::).

My w/o yesterday was Bulk Legs. For some reason I'm not feeling the DOMS I did with Build Legs :confused:. I want to start incorporating some hip thrusts and firewalker's after this w/o is done -- it's only 40min. I'm really missing them!

So I was tempted to do something Thurs. I've really worked so hard to build up my heart stamina with hiit/tabata cardio -- I really don't want to lose that! So I wanted to see if it was still "up to par"...enter CF Triple Tabata premix. For the low impact Tabata, I subbed jump rope (with an actual rope!) while Cathe was doing the disc jacks -- definitely harder that way. Yup, I still got it ;). I think it's because I'm still doing the 1X hiit workout/week with BB. They say hiit/tabata is a good cardio of choice while you are building muscle, so hopefully I didn't screw anything up by doing CF.

Sarah
I actually like my MIL. I would rather do something nice for her than my own mother (sad, but true). We usually just get the moms a card and some flower's, but we don't go above and beyond.
 
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Morning ladies! Quickie post before I gotta go get ready for work. :)

Yesterday, I did Afterburn. Then... something weird happened. I decided to do the Core 2 bonus from XTrain. :eek: Me, crunches? lol :p I figured it's been a looong while since I really committed to doing some so I thought I'd try it out. It made me realize that HoCo has REALLY strengthened my lower abs, obliques and low back but my medial and upper rectus muscles must get a little less direct work since they were screaming during Core 2! :eek: I'm going to try and add a little of that in here and there when I'm feeling tolerant. hehe ;)

Tomorrow my family is going to go visit my grandma (93). She's my dad's mother and is my last living grandparent. She lives in a nursing home now. After that, we are planning to go out to dinner for my mom.

Natty- that lunch sounds fantastic! YUM! Usually Mark and I do breakfast in bed for each other on mother's/father's day and that's about it. We don't like to make a big deal. It's simply too stressful trying to figure out great presents every year for each other. lol

Sarah- I don't do anything for my MIL. Honestly, we barely talk to her...although Mark will usually (out of obligation) call or visit her briefly on her birthday and Mother's day. She has a strained relationship with all of her children, most especially Mark. Unfortunately, she's quite the piece of work. :(

Darn, gotta run...Waving HI to Marie and Jen!
 
Hello Friends.
Just checking in to say Hello. First week of work went good to fair. My stress and pressure showed its ugly face on Friday so ended up apologizing to the trainer. Trainer shows favourtism to one person but that person's performance later on will suffer for it. Other than that, life is good. Many people I know have experienced almost as much anxiety going back to work after a long period of time similiar to being laid off.
My class is mainly younger and think they'll smarter. Oh well. All of them of heavier and with health issues. A guy in my group is 25, almost 100 pounds overweight, intelligent and has fibromaylgia and arthritis much to do with his heaviness.
Have a more positive feeling about next week. Glad the first week is over.
Thanks for letting me vent. Hope to do personals later.

Happy Mothers Day!!


Jen
 
Checking in from CO....

Erin, the kids, and I took 2 awesome hikes today, each about 5 miles. Loving my sister time! And the cousins are loving each other. It's so fun to watch them interact :)

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