Wednesday, December 8, 2010

bodyrock.tv

For those who haven't checked out this site, I highly recommend it! Zuzana has creative, fun, and short-but-effective workouts. She also has a great section for food and life and her body is totally inspirational. I got today's workout from her site, it's an older one (June 8, 2010) that she called "Sexy Pain Train Workout"

The exercises:
18 rounds of 30s:10s

1) Sumo High Knees
2) Reptile-on-the-run
3) one-leg switching squat
4) push-up and knee-tuck
5) forward/backward jump and touch down (like frog hops forward and back)
6) oblique burpees

my scores:
1) 53, 38, 42
2) 21, 17, 22
3) 11, 11, 13
4) 10, 11, 10
5) 26, 23, 25
6) 6, 6, 6

zuzana's score from June:

1. 77, 36, 27

2. 22, 19, 17

3. 6, 6, 5

4. 12, 9, 8

5. 23, 23, 21

6. 7, 7, 6



whoops!

I've been really bad about putting up my workout every day, so now i have another HUGE catch up to do. My next post will try to explain each of the moves in the workouts - you'll notice I do a lot of the same moves over and over again (because they work!). My very shot term goal is to get a picture (possibly even a video) of each exercise. at some point I may be able to do full videos of my workouts (but I'll probably need some help). In the meantime, I HAVE been working out, sleeping plenty (I now have the luxury to be able to do that), and trying to eat better - the hardest part for me.
I have also been planning on becoming a licensed personal trainer, I just have to get through money spending for Christmas and my wedding before I can forsee a budget with which to pay for the schooling :).
So - here are the workouts from the past couple of weeks:




(you'll notice in that one ^ that I changed the workout halfway through - I do that sometimes if an exercise is bothering one of my old injuries...)





(this one was another i took from bodyrock.tv - it was awesome and a great choice because i didn't need a tabata, just a stopwatch. I'm still working on getting a gymboss timer...)



(and here you can see me supplementing after the workout because it felt so good I didn't want to stop!)


one of my own - this one focused a lot of core strength to maintain balance - so i called it the 'ab killer'!


finally we are to yesterday's workout. I changed some of the moves (high knees and ninja jump tucks) because my ankle started 'shouting' at me about the high impact of landing.

this one is from womenshealthmag.com and I usually barely make it through and then am incredibly sore (muscles) for several days. I decided it was time to give it another try, so I did it after yesterday's workout when I felt I could keep on working. :)
I'm a little sore now, but not nearly as much as I have been in the past... touch wood! :)

Hopefully, I will be back with more blogs, more frequently, in the future!
Let me know if there are any topics you're interested in, but don't have time to research... I will happily research and report to you!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Workout Catch up!










Breakfast

Your mom always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Would you believe that she was actually right?
There are plenty of studies, and stories from personal experience that prove the truth of that statement. When you eat breakfast you kick start your metabolism for the day. When you skip breakfast, or any other meal, your body goes into 'starvation' mode and stores calories rather than starting the process of burning them. Along the same lines, by the time you reach lunch you're starving and can't stop eating when you're full because you inhale your food rather than eating slowly to experience your food and a full feeling when your stomach is comfortably full.
Your breakfast will last you best if you have balanced proportions of protein, carbohydrates, and plenty of fiber in your breakfast.

Today's 'moral of the story' is take the time to eat your breakfast! and not just a pastry, make it balanced!

Happy breakfasting,
Katie

Friday, November 5, 2010

Workouts for the last two days...


Bad picture, sadly...
This is one of my own workouts

time challenge - 2 rounds

1) one leg pushup/crossed leg pushup (20 reps, 10 per leg)
2) v-ups w/ side crunch (20 reps, 10 per side)
3) pike press- pike jump- jump up (20 reps)
4) star crunch and reverse crunch (20 reps)
5) Plank knee tucks (20 reps)

It took me 18 minutes to do this two times through...

Today's workout (Friday 11/5/2010)

This workout I took from www.bodyrock.tv
I love Zuzana's workouts and good solid advice, so check it out!

the workout is the one she called "earn your shower workout"

2 rounds:
30 walking lunges
15 squats w/ weights [I used 8lb dumbbells]
30 side lunges w/ weights
50 mountain climbers
15 pushups
30 step ups w/ weights [15/ leg] (you'll need a surface that allows your leg to be at a 90* angle, i used a sturdy coffee table)
30 backward lunges w/ weights
15 plank rows w/ standing up shoulder press

this took me 25 minutes

just for fun i did a supplemental workout of:
3x through:
15 bicep curls w/ tricep extentions (8lb weight again)
15 tricep leg lifts (from the lower end of a pushup you hold the position and alternate lifting your legs)
15 chair leg lift (sitting on the edge of a chair, hold on with your arms and lift your legs from the ground)





Wednesday, November 3, 2010

AND... today's quick workout! Cardio Blast

i set a tabata timer for 35 seconds on; 5 seconds off
12 rounds

1. mountain climbers
2. switching side lunges
3. Reptiles
4. jump squats

my scores:
1) 45, 42, 37
2) 33, 33, 36
3) 27, 25, 22
4) 29, 31, 32

Sleeping... really?

So many people are sleep deprived these days. Between work, school, after school activities, kids, housework, and life 'needs,' people are getting less and less sleep. And, hey, I get it. There aren't enough hours in the day sometimes to get everything you need to get done. I am a proud graduate of not one, but TWO, vocal performance programs. I had so many semesters of burning the candle at both ends. Between performances and morning classes I often felt like I was going through life in a daze.

Good sleep helps our bodies work better.
crazy, right? I'm sure you've all noticed that you function better after the right amount of sleep for you each night. I do. My ideal amount of sleep is 8-9 hours of sleep a night. Studies have shown that adults should be sleeping 7-10 hours a night for optimum health, and your ideal number of hours is individual within that. I'm guessing that most people out there are getting WAY less than that. I know when I get less than 8 hours of good sleep at night, I'm like a zombie. Focusing on tasks at hand gets more difficult and I am always kind of scared getting behind the wheel when I am tired. For good reason, according to this article on CNN. ( http://articles.cnn.com/2000-09-20/health/sleep.deprivation_1_sleep-deprivation-impairment-researchers?_s=PM:HEALTH )

Where am I going with this?
Weight gain. Or, more accurately, the lack of weight loss. How many of you are trying incredibly hard to lose weight, but can't seem to drop a pound when you're doing everything correctly? I bet there are a lot of us out there. Here is the scoop as I've been reading for the past couple years:

Sleep is crucial to your health. Lack of sleep gets your hormones all out of balance, including several key hormones to weight maintenance. A study done in Chicago measured the levels of two hormones groups of men; leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone that tells you stop eating. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells you to keep eating. During the study, 12 healthy men were deprived of sleep for 2 days. The result of the study was that leptin levels went up while ghrelin levels dropped and the men experienced proportional appetite increases. Uh oh. Appetite increases. It is hard enough to keep your diet balanced and healthy while avoiding overeating when you are NOT sleep deprived. Now studies are showing that sleep deprivation makes you hungry.
Moral of the story? It's time to start monitoring your sleep as well as diet and exercise.
I am therefore calling out for a challenge!

In the next 2 weeks watch and record how much sleep you're getting and how you feel that day - hunger and health wise. See if you can get at least 7 hours a night. It's worth it.


Some of my sources for today's topic:




Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Catching up

I've recently taken to writing down my workouts, taking pictures, and posting them on facebook.
This is what I write my workouts in. it's a small notebook that I can carry around with me - easy to take anywhere!


Here are the Workouts!:





So- those are the workouts i've done in the past couple months. You'll notice that there's a good break and then the workouts are being called "gimp workout." at the end of September I sprained my ankle really badly and had to take a break from working out... but i'm back on and all is good! I'm not doing many high impact workouts for the foreseeable future because the ankle still isn't fully healed, but i'm still getting amazing workouts without the harder workouts.

Starting the blog!

In the past 8 years that I have been working out regularly I've built up a repertoire of workouts and exercises that allow me to workout at home. Indeed, they allow me to workout anywhere I want! I'm not alone, I'm sure, in hating to go to the gym. I don't like the feeling of being watched while I'm working out, and working out at home allows me to fit in a workout whenever I have time and I don't worry about having to find time to get to the gym. How great is that!?!?!
Anyway, one of my friends noticed me posting all these workouts on my Facebook and suggested I blog them. I'm not a nutritionist and, while I am seriously contemplating getting my CPT license, I'm not there yet either. Everything I do and follow I've learned somewhere - either through practical application (workouts i've been led through or gone to classes) or research I've done through various sources. I will try to credit each and every one, because I wouldn't be where I'm at without them!
Anyway. I hope you enjoy my blog and if you decide to follow my workouts, I hope you enjoy them too!