Life Plans? Haha

Is there ever really a plan? I'm not so sure.

I have plans. I have plans to get in super awesome shape. I took a little over a week off with the vacation and a really excessive amount of yard work. Plan was back to it today but we had a parents group event that could NOT be missed! It was the Big Rig Gig in a city really close to us. Lil man got to "drive" semi's, a fire truck, dump truck, garbage truck, and even a police car! He had a great time climbing in and out of all the cool trucks. We missed going in the Humvee but he was way more interested in the semi's.

So tomorrow right? Back to the gym? But nope, I'm doing something way more important. Bringing my son to see his brother. I can't wait for them to have some time together! With their dad being basically absent they really don't see each other ever. It's good that my son's brother's mother wants to hang out with us too! 

Saturday night maybe. After little guy goes to bed, it's pole time for me. Put on the music and just dance. Especially now that my skin is feeling much better from last weekend! A bit burned on the belly, thighs, and chest. No peeling yet so I think I'm in the safe zone :). 

And I have plans to be financially ok. Which is sort of the case. I owe a private loan of a lot of money and a slight amount on my medical that would have been paid off first I didn't have my car break down twice in the last couple months and secondly I could have not gone on my very much needed vacation. 

And I have relationship goals. Well I've had relationship goals since I was 5. And that's probably the most significantly stressful part of life. There is one person in charge of my workout routine generally other than the small ways of activities getting in the way. There is really only one person in charge of my finances other than the unpredictable breakdowns on the car or random home repairs. But there is one thing you will never ever fully know, the mind and heart of another person. I want safety and security in a relationship. And hopefully that is how things will play out but really even after ten years with one person I thought would always be there, he left without warning. Everything can seem doable to you when the other person just wants to walk away because that's what's easier to them. I want what most people want. To wake up next to someone who loves you as much as you love them every single day. Someone who drives you nuts in all the right ways and puts up with your pet peeves and knows the little things that make you smile. Someday maybe. Until then, dating will suck and I'll keep planning my life around me.

San Diego!

I've got my trip booked, going to San Diego for an extremely reasonable price in a few weeks! Can't wait! I've been wanting to go for at least 5 years. Planned with people and it always fell through. Well, I'm going! Me and my little guy are going to see the ocean and have a relaxing few days away from home.

I know I have other things I should be spending my money on. Or saving it. I've kind of come to realize every time I get caught up something else happens or there's another project. So, all future projects are on hold and I'm going to take my trip! And after my trip I'll worry about the financial repercussions. I can afford it but I don't like having debt. And I don't have a credit card so this is all being bankrolled by yours truly. I really should get a credit card for the trip though. Just in case I need one for rentals or other things. I don't want much of a limit. My current credit cards are store cards and gas cards with the gas card having the highest balance I'm sure. They all get paid off monthly but this month, I'm thinking it'll be a minimum payment month so I have extra cash for the trip. Only big debts I have is my house and a consolidation loan and I know I can get caught up on the rest of the cards pretty quickly if I don't take on any more large household projects and my car doesn't break down again!

In preparation for this trip I'll be switching to a fairly strict Paleo eating plan. I've always cheated with an ounce of cheese on my salads and that wont change. I'd really like to be as fit as I'm able if I'm going to be wearing a bikini for 3 days. My workout is also changing. I was supposed to switch next Tuesday but now that I have the new plan I'm too excited to wait and I'm switching tomorrow to my new plan.

New Plan:
3 days per week
Super Set 1: Side Lunges and Bulgarian split squats 3 sets 8 reps
Super Set 2: Incline press and Upright Rows 3 sets 8 reps
Super Set 3: Pull ups and Dips on the assist machine with 40 lbs assist 3 sets 6 reps.

Then off to the Kettlebell for 5 min of Get-ups. Then three ladders 5-4-3-2-1 of KB snatches. Because that's what my rant was all about the other day :).

Swimming x3 days per week. Monday and Friday tempo swims and Wednesday an easy swim or water aerobics.

Monday and Thursday after work running. Wednesday after work Pole Dance Party! And Friday after work Boxing. And one last run on Saturday.

Sunday and Wednesday are my "rest" days. Technically Tuesday evening till Wednesday evening is rest other than the super easy swim. And my Sunday will include Total Yoga by Gaiam.

The Snatch

This post, all about my old friend the kettlebell. A bit of back history, a girl I had in classes has a husband who is a personal trainer. I demonstrated KB swings, snatches, cleans and presses, TGU’s, and stuff a while back. Apparently her hubby (who has never as far as I understand picked up a KB) feels that kettlebells are dangerous, particularly the snatch because of the “risk” of hyperextension.

So, here I am to say that a kettlebell snatch is safe and quite unlikely to cause hyperextension. In fact, in my half hour internet search I couldn’t find one documented (or even commented in passing) case of hyperextension of the shoulder with a snatch. My classmates husband decided he didn’t like them because of a description she gave of the KB snatch. A mere description of an exercise is really not a good way to decide safety. As a former physical therapist assistant myself, I’m a tad disappointed that a person would decide KB snatches are unsafe without any research of a quite well versed exercise. The KB snatch has been around for centuries. I think it’s going on it’s three hundredth year. If they were so very unsafe, I think by now we’d have a quite a bit of evidence to prove that.

Why is a snatch safe? Well, any exercise can be unsafe, just use weight that’s too heavy for you to control (like a guy who did an overhead press with a barbell, dropped it on himself and snapped his upper arm in half). The kettlebell snatch doesn’t  pose much risk of breaking the humerus in the arm. If a person can’t control the bell, the best thing to do is let go of the handle. Unlike other weights, because of the swinging motion, it’s unlikely to drop down onto your arm if you let go. 

In fact, I accidentally let go once and it flew about 8 ft then bounced off a wall and landed on my tiled floor. Being made of iron, yes it did break the tile. But I was unhurt :). 

With the snatch, if the arm were to start to hyperextend letting go is option one. But the chance of hyperextension is nearly non existent in my mind. First of all, when swinging the bell up to snatch it, there is a slight bend in the elbow at the top of the arc. Hard to hyperextend the shoulder when the upper arm is not more than perpendicular to the body. That’s only 90 degree’s of 180 degrees of normal extension. Once the upper arm is about perpendicular to the body, instead of continuing the swing, the arm shoots upward as if punching toward the ceiling. Again hard to hyperextend when the arm is shooting upward and not arcing backward.

So, in closing, the kettlebell snatch doesn’t pose much (if any) risk of hyperextension. So, snatch away 

Snowing Again

So I live in Wisconsin. Which means one day it's 60 degrees and the next we're having a blizzard. Yay!

What that really means for me is that the schools will probably be closed in my area which means no childcare at the gym. What to do with the little person? I'll be working out at home I'm sure. I have all I need to do my full workout at home. Just takes longer because the lil man gets underfoot and wants to play. He has his own area in the basement but he wants to play with me and lift weights with me and hit the boxing bag with me too.

Which on another note, I ordered kid boxing gloves for my lil guy and a blow up boxing bag. It should be here in about another week and then he can box with me and hopefully wont be so bored during my workouts. Working out with him when he was smaller was easy. Just toss him in his play area and he'd happily play alone. Now though, he's at the age he wants someone to be playing with him. I'll give him tons of attention before hand and hope I can get my workout done in an hour and a half.

I'm considering at week 12 to also switch to a mostly paleo eating plan. The food in my house is basically this anyway so it wont be too much of a change. I'll miss my occasional donut and my tortilla chips. My "cheat" will be one ounce of cheese a day just like last time. And last time I never cut the Diet Pepsi. This time, that will be gone too. I was an addict, seriously. The Diet Pepsi was at 3 Liters a day at one point. At the end of last year even it was still close to 2 liters a day. Now I have one soda a day but not even every day anymore. It's time to cut it completely except for family gatherings and going out to dinner.

Hoping for a good drive home tonight in the foot of snow!

10 Weeks Today!

Surgery was ten weeks ago at about 11 am. It's so hard to believe that this is me from who I was ten weeks ago! Things are amazing still. Well, of course they are, I can walk again without pain :).

Since week nine only big change, I am allowed to run again. Half mile this week and I can up that by a half mile a week. I did my first half mile last night after work. I tried at 5.0 mph and I was shocked I couldn't do it. Why I was surprised, no idea. I guess just because everything else is going so well I thought I would just fall right back into running. I bumped it down to a 4.6 mph pace at the 1 incline. That I could do. Finished up my half mile with barely a sweat despite the perceived difficulty level. I'll be running a half mile again on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

At the gym I'm up to 20 lb dumb bells as of today. I feel slightly less wimpy now that I can at least squat a total of 40 lbs. But still...

Yesterday also more good things. I was planning on an easy swim since I was working on tearing up my bathroom floor and had some help taking down the rest of the glue over the weekend. The floor is not done, but what I did was hard work anyway. So yesterday was going to be just a relaxing swim. By lap ten of my mile swim I saw that my time was actually pretty decent so figured I'd go for it for my last 23 laps. And I killed my last PR by 29 seconds! Even though for the first ten laps I wasn't even trying :).

I'm really happy with how I feel physically. Emotionally since surgery I am so much happier. Just life seems good again. I wish I would have done this years ago rather than waiting as long as I did.

Now just for everything to align perfectly at work since one position was filled and one is still vacant. I'd just like to be on a general day shift eventually and that at least is looking like it might happen. As long as no one else retires or leaves!

In Recovery! Return to Blogging!

So some of you may have been wondering where I went. I spent about a year being nearly unable to walk but still managed to get to the gym a little anyway. So this January I had back surgery. A microdiscectomy at level L5-S1, herniated by 14mm. I'm seven weeks post op about and at week six I was allowed back in the gym!

Most important thing, despite pain and agony and near death, I still did the Tough Mudder last year. Biggest priority of the year and only thing that was going to stop me was death itself :).

I'm back at the gym and swimming 3 days a week. I managed to maintain swimming last year till about October before I couldn't do that anymore either. My mile record pre-surgy was 39:00 in a saltwater pool. This Monday, 6w6d post op, I was only 40 seconds shy of my pre-surg PR!!! 39:40
Three days a week will be spent in the pool indefinitely. Two days swimming a mile, mid week water aerobics.

Other awesome news, I'm allowed to lift a total of 30 lbs, though I started with 20, two ten pound dumbbells for my first week and decided to stick with that for week two. Upping that at 10 lbs every two weeks though my doc said never with the bar across my shoulders at more than 50 lbs as a lifetime restriction. For this first 6 weeks, Super set 1: wide squats, narrow squats, and deadlifts. Super set 2: Bench press and chest fly's. Super set 3: Split squat, shoulder press, and overhead tricep extension (with just one dumb bell for that last one). All at 15 reps of two sets. Then of course the pull up/dip station with a 70 lb assist for now. Taking it easy you know ;). After that over to the stepper and doing boring boring step ups forward, backward, lateral. My right hip is much weaker than my right and it will take time to get that rebalanced strength. Those are also all 2 sets of 15 reps. 

Followed by the stationary bike for 30 min steady state or intervals depending on my mood. Then stretching for 10-15 min. I used to end with yoga but the scar tissue is currently too irritated to do that. So basic everything stretching. 

At week 10 I'll be allowed to run again starting at half a mile and upping no more than half a mile a week. Training will begin for my 10k this summer and my first half marathon this September followed by the Tough Mudder two weeks after that! 

In more personal news, I was in a great deal of pain nearly all of 2015. I left my very verbally and emotionally abusive ex in 2014. I made some bad choices and attempted to work things out with him very briefly this past year. Part of that was giving up. Depression caused by the pain made me have very little motivation or care much about what happened to me. He threatened to punch me and the police were called. He'd been physically violent with me before and I wasn't going to end up someone's punching bag. We were done. Truthfully we were done before we started. I knew he was not what I wanted and only tried because I felt like I was supposed to. The only thing I can be glad about with trying again with him is that I kept separation even during the trial, he moved back into my house but in a separate bedroom. It didn't take long even with that separation for him to attempt to control me again. I always want to believe people are better than they are and that they learn from their mistakes and wont hurt me again. Truth is people are who they show you they are. 

I've been doing everything as a single parent since my son was born basically and I met someone who I thought was ok with this shortly before my surgery. That person seemed to be everything I wanted and was looking for. A guy who takes care of his kids and cares about what happens to me. Someone who values fitness and clean eating. Who lives his life in a way that meshes well with mine. Someone I could picture growing with and decorating Christmas tree's with every year. This ended, but confirmed two things for me. I do very much know exactly what I want and I don't have to accept less. Ok, I learned something else too, my son is not a complication, he's the best part of me.

I am for the first time in years pain free! And fully happy. It's a good day to be alive :). 

1000 Islands

Thousands Islands is a nature reserve in Kaukauna. I've been here before. I visited here with Grandpa Muddy and the path in the lower woods I would say is NOT stroller friendly and parts of it are baby carrier friendly. 

This stairway is the way to the "upper woods" of 1000 Islands. The stairway is probably the most baby friendly part of the path. These pathways would probably be best for kids who listen well and can walk pretty well, like the 8 or 9 range or a very well behaved 6 or 7 year old. The outer loop of the trail is about 2.25 miles with a few trails intersecting back and forth so you could make this quite a good hike. 

Who can resist a selfie in the woods???

This is Baby Muddy and myself. I had just gotten done with an overnight shift and figured a quick walk was the best thing to do before going to bed. We did not see even one bit of wildlife because... ahem... someone... ahem baby boy... was being VERY loud! Baby Muddy was very excited the morning of this walk and squealed all the way to the end of the path and back. He had a great time!

Baby and I walked this path below. It's the Valley Bike Trail and runs 1.25 miles. Because even in the carrier, I couldn't walk the trails of the upper woods with Baby Muddy, we stuck to the bike path. The bike path would have been stroller friendly with the very well packed crushed stone/gravel pathway. Though the bike path ran along some homes, it was still quite a scenic walk in the woods.  

Wimpy Arms Part Two

Beginning of August I had some wimpy arms and my goal was to not have such wimpy arms. 

I'm keeping my arm goal for yet another month doing the 30/30, 20/20, 10/10 push-ups/tricep dips on the counter top here at work. 

Here it is after a month:

August Goals

1- Run 10 miles every weekend

Generally met this one. I ended up doing closer to 8-10 miles and this past weekend only four miles but another few with Grandpa Muddy walking. Hip pain got the best of me but we'll keep it up for this month too. 

2- Pictures and posting three trails

I made this :). Sunset, Thousand Islands Upper Woods, and a random third which was the trestle trail all made it into my blog in August. As well as yet again the East River trail. 

3-Pull ups and Amazing Arms

Check! My pull up bar will likely be returning upstairs soon but it was well used this month in the hallway downstairs. Kind of an eyesore though right off the kitchen like that. 

4-nutritional goal was a complete loss. 

5- Carpet

My hallway carpet is down. I need to get the transition strips in but otherwise, it's all set and I can finally stop getting irritated every time I walk through my hallway. It was more of a pain than I expected but it's so much nicer to have it out of the way. 

6- Family Time

I didn't get to spend as much time as I'd like with my daughter since she spent  a lot of time camping and out and about this month. And Mr Muddy and I didn't even get a night out :(. But we did some running and biking together which is just as good to me :). 

So for September:

1- Tough Mudder the first weekend and continue to run as close to 10 miles per weekend as I can. Adding in a 2 mile run every Wednesday or Thursday after my call night.

2- Three more trails. Heesacker Park and Doty Park in Menasha/Neenah on the same day since apparently they are quite close to each other. Memorial Park in Appleton. And a third to be determined close to home. I'm thinking Pamprin Park might be a good one or possibly Humbolt.

3- Continuing the Arm plan from last month while I'm at work as well as the 30 Day Ab Challenge I'm doing with some friends on facebook. 

4- Really got to get a bit better on the whole nutrition aspect and damn it... I'll do it. This month, writing down everything I eat and drinking at least 3 glasses of water a day. 

5- A full top to bottom house cleaning is in order.

6- More family time driving with my teen and a night out watching the sunset with Mr Muddy would be very nice. 

Most Scenic Trail in GB

Okay, technically it's Allouez, and if ya'll know me by now, you know I mean the East River Trail.

I have followed this path now till it's almost end (I could see the end, but my feet could not walk another step). The path does get better after going under Hoffman Ave to wider and less bumpy. And even has "traffic lanes" for those of us who wander from one side of the path to the other.

The trail has a loop at it's end in Ledgeview Park. Ledgeview has multiple play areas (think I saw three but not sure if one of those was a separate small adjacent park). It also has a nice pavilion near the larger play area as well as a gazebo down the way a bit. Going backwards from the end, you'll go through Wiese Park which I think is mostly for playing soccer. I see soccer nets and two gazebos and nothing else here. No play area, but just a short way from there is Kiwanis Park with a play area, pavilion, and a baseball diamond and soccer/football areas. The next park after that is Parkway Riverview Park. From the trail you don't really see this park well, but I believe it's mostly baseball diamonds. No play area here, but just a few short tenths of a mile down is Green Isle Park with a play area, pavilion, baseball diamonds, and tennis courts.

I like to start at Green Isle because the area surrounding this park is so pretty and as it turns out, this is about the midway point. From Green Isle to Ledgeview it's about 4 miles. The total length of the path is about 8 miles according to mapmywalk.com.

Crossing this bridge brings you to the main play area and pavilion of Ledgeview Park as well as following to the end of the East River Trail. 

If you look closely, you can see the ripples on the water from the rain droplets. Didn't quite make it back in time! Beautiful scenery along this path. 

 I still have not taken the path to it's end going north from Green Isle, that will be my goal for next month. I think you have all heard enough of this trail for the time being this month.

Here are the two earlier posts about this trail, each post containing a couple pictures!
East River Trail and Another Trail!

Fox River State Recreational Trail

The Fox River State Recreational Trail stretches about 25 miles from the City Deck in Green Bay to Greenleaf. I have so far only explored the Green Bay and DePere portions of this trail.

This trail is wide enough for two strollers side by side going either direction once you get about a mile from the City Deck. The City Deck area has a brick pathway that is wide enough for one stroller and another person next to the stroller but a little tight for two.

After Voyager Park in DePere the trail does get slightly narrower but still ample room for two strollers side by side. It is kept up very well. No potholes to twist an ankle in (that's a different trail). Following this trail there is also a Fitness Mile that has stations for certain exercises. I plan to head back to do that very soon and make it part of my weekly routine. The past few times I've ran this route, I've skipped the fitness  mile and focused more on my running time. At some point the trail switches to crushed stone rather than asphalt but I have yet to explore that area.

This run I did Monday and ran it alone! It was very nice to not have to push the jogging stroller but there was also no where to put a bottle of water :(. There are, thankfully, two spots along the way with water. One is near the fitness mile about two miles past the start point and another is the boat launch about a mile before Voyager Park.

This, by far, is the most stroller friendly trail I have come across and this is where I typically do my runs that are longer than 4 miles. Extra above and beyond bonus, this trail has markers every tenth of a mile from the 1.2 mile mark to Voyager Park (and possibly beyond the park, but as I said, haven't gotten that far yet :) ).

The landscaping of the houses along this path is also quite amazing. Another house along the way the garage lines up with the path and often the older gentleman who lives there is out in his garage with his band practicing. Gives a nice lift to my run for a little bit anyway. This trail is also dog friendly so MudPuppy gets to join me often on this one :). Some of the others are too narrow to really do well with him and the stroller when passing others.

Baby Loving the Flowers on Our Walk

Little guy had lots of clovers during this run/walk. We walked 0.6 miles to our path. The path is 1.2 miles long. We ran the first mile in 12:09!!! Awesome record for me with the jogging stroller! Then we walked the 0.2 and did a mile back. Then repeated the process. The last mile I timed it again and we got it done in 12:23! I was amazed! I thought my fourth mile would have been slower than that especially with a slight upgrade going back and with the first mile heading out having a slight downgrade. With the walking and jogging we had a total of 6 miles. Pretty good morning!

Clovers are entirely edible. Though Baby Muddy hasn't actually eaten any, I don't want him poisoned if he does put one in his mouth. 

And Catsear, though they look like dandelions and are edible as well, they grow quite tall. These are about 4 feet high and have multiple flowers. There weren't any dandelions along this trail that were suitable for picking for little guy since the path had just been mowed. These looked pretty trying to sneak through the fence but we left them where they were. He had to stick with the clover :). 

I don't like ab exercises.

Long ago a friend and I were comparing workout routines. It’s basically the elliptical or the treadmill followed by ab work for her. She’s not looking any more buff than she did 6 months before asking me about my routine and she does this regularly. She does LOTS of cardio. Still does for that matter and still looks the same as she did about two years ago when we were discussing this. I was pretty damn buff back then. I'm still in good shape, but back then... damn... I had muscles. So anyway, she asked me about my routine and asked for me to show it to her.

There were two huge differences in our routines. Make that three. First, I don’t do steady state cardio unless I'm running and I’m unlucky if I end up having to do more than four or five minutes of cardio during a workout session. Even running, I try to do intervals. My “cardio” consists of tabata or intervals running up and down steps. Second, I lift real weights. I don’t use machines (except the cable/pulley). I lift actual dumb bells (which is anything over fifteen pounds in my book). Third is those ab exercises. I have only one exercise per workout for abdominal. Why? Because if you’re lifting heavy stuff off the floor, you’re going to work your abs anyway stabilizing your back and core to lift the damn thing without ending up in the hospital. So, no need for ten minutes or a half hour a day dedicated to working on crunches.

I tell people not to waste their time on those and they get mad at me. Maybe it’s my tone… I’ll try to say it nicely next time ;).

Pretty much everything we do works our abs. Even running works them, particularly from my experience my weak obliques (no, they’re not really weak, but they hurt like hell after my first few runs of the season which was finally today by the way). Lifting yourself up onto something works them to stabilize your core so you don’t have to fight your floppy self while lifting yourself up. Lifting dead weight (like a potato sack) is much more difficult than lifting a child that will grab onto you to lift. Same thing with your body. If it’s as limp as a potato sack, it’s going to be harder to lift. If your abs are doing their job, it’ll be easier to lift yourself. And your abs will be doing their job, they just can’t help it most of the time.

If you REALLY want to work your abs for a long time, do one ab exercise and then mix one in with another exercise. If you must, do walking lunges with a twist or a lean. Or, skip the ab exercise and just do the lunges with the lean or twist. Course, you should know your limits so don’t do anything that would cause yourself harm.

So two things I don't like in the fitness world- cardio machines and ab exercises.

I’m not a trainer or anything so my advice is pretty useless :D, but hey, it’s my blog and I’ll write whatever useless stuff I want. So there :P.

Go get your six pack! (or a six pack of beer, whatever works).

I've Realized I'm Bored Already

With lifting my dumbells.

I got sick, then had a work meeting so I haven't lifted my weights in a week. Yes a whole week, not really that long, but I don't feel like doing it tomorrow. Which means it's time to suddenly and urgently change what I was planning for the rest of this month or I just won't do it.

So, instead of a program of dumbbells that included squats, lunges, push ups, rows, tricep, shoulder presses, ect I'm quitting.

ENTER THE KETTLEBELL

Shameless plug for me starting the kettlebell tomorrow instead :).

I've read/bought a couple of his books. This is the better of them. Don't bother with Naked Warrior. Basically it's just... do pushups and pullups and yay, you're done. Power to the people isn't bad, but it's basically do clean and presses from the floor to all the way up.

And really the kettlebell book is swings and get-ups. But what I LOVE about the kettlebell book is that it shows pictures of how to do the swings, clean'n'press, and snatches. I used to get lots of "kettlebell kisses" until reading this book.

So...

YAY!!!!

Kettlebell tomorrow :).

Indoor Rock Wall Climbing

This is not last weekend, where I was too busy running from bed to bathroom to do much else. 

No, this was about a year ago. I used to do a lot of indoor rock wall climbing with TeenMuddy. We got pretty good at it. Now, we're all out of shape :(. And with BabyMuddy, we're probably not going to get to rock wall climbing again for a bit. It's really not a safe place for him to hang out. Falling people, falling ropes, falling and falling some more.

TeenMuddy and I would do some mild competition (okay, I'd compete and she'd look at me with the side-eye). TeenMuddy is NOT competitive at all. Not even a little. And me, I love to win. Always. 

I really miss rock wall climbing though. BabyMuddy needs to be 3 or 4 I think to be able to go. And we always used the auto belay system. We'd be there for hours. This particular wall is from Adventure Rock. We used to go once a month and as soon as little man is old enough, we're going back. I just hope TeenMuddy (who will then be a college student) will join us :). 

Along with being FUN, I also had amazing arms and shoulders while doing this. It's an awesome workout that you don't even realize you're getting because it's just plain fun. 

This year, I hope to be more tan than the pasty-ness of this photo. And I want more colorful Vibram Toeshoes to climb with when I get back to it :). 

Old School Xbox, DDR!!!

Some of you might remember the game Dance Dance Revolution, those of you born before the Wii anyway. I was wandering randomly in my basement and there is my ancient Xbox. I have no other games for it, but Dance Dance Revolution 3 was still in there from who knows how long ago!!!

It was an exciting moment :).

So I enlisted the help of Teen Muddy who, alas, couldn't figure out how to hook up old school Xbox to our Smart TV. Who would think you need anything special? Well, Mrs really old MudMom figured it out. I managed to find this adapter thingey (yes I like to spell thingey with an ey. Deal). AND more importantly I figured out how to use it!!!! And that I needed to put the TV on channel 4. Not 3. It was always channel 2 or 3 when I was a kid.

So then I put on the awesome jean print leggings and the non slip socks (Teen Muddy says they're cute) and got to moving. And OMG!!!! I SUCK!!! I have my old scores and I was getting awesome A's and B's and some double AA's even in the Heavy Mode. I barely made it through light! 

So about those (awesome) grippy socks, you can do this barefoot. It is not recommended to do this wearing socks because you can slip and fall. But my feet sweat on this plastic mat so then my sweaty feet stick to the DDR mat. Then I broke out these amazing socks of which I have multiple pairs, one pair is barbie or something like that and another is this black and red pair. I originally used them for yoga (which I also haven't done for a couple years). 

So tonight when I get home from work at midnight I'll probably hop on that dance mat and attempt to be as awesome as I was 10 years ago. Or, with any luck, even more awesome :). 

Power Tower

Power Towers typically include a captains chair, dip station, narrow and wide grip pull up bar, and a couple extra’s such as something to hold your feet for sit ups and usually grips for push ups. I am a big fan of these, if you use it! Like anything, no equipment will help if you don’t use it.

Routines on a power tower are mainly for upper body, but it could be broken up by bodyweight lower body exercises.

A sample routine-

Chin ups,
Lunges,
Dips,
Single or Double Knee to Chest using captians chair- Double straight leg raise with chair, or progress to hanging from pull up bar doing the same.
Push ups,
Prisoner Squats,
Pull ups

Doorway chin up bars are also great if there is no room or a power tower is too costly. Power towers are about 100 dollars. A doorway chin up bar can be bought for about 10 dollars. With a doorway bar the leg lifts would have to be done from a hanging position and dips would not be possible without some adaptation.

Problems- low ceilings. If the ceiling is to low for a power tower to use the chin up bar, then the doorway bar is a better option unless you’re really set on the captains chair and dip station.I have a low ceiling in my basement and to make it work I have it set between the rafters.

Liftin' those weights!

I've been doing three weight lifting workouts a week. All with dumb bells.

Each workout is exactly the same except more weight as I get stronger and more pull ups.

All are 2 sets of 10 reps. Rest between super sets is as long as I need. Anywhere from a few seconds to a couple minutes depending on the day and if Baby Muddy let me sleep the night before.

Superset One:
Clean and press from the floor.
Straight Leg Deadlift

Superset Two:
Upright Rows
Squats

Superset Three:
Chest press without incline
Lat pull-downs

Last- as many pull ups as I can do. Currently I'm doing three assisted pull-ups in a row.

I'm pretty weak right now. My pregnancy and back problems have really limited my workouts this past year and a half. It's sad to see what I'm lifting now compared to two years ago. I used to be able to squat at least my body weight, now it's only about half my body weight :(. I'll get there though.

I haven't missed one weight workout yet but I have missed a lot of my cardio workouts. I spun on my pole the other day and barely made it 15 minutes and did ride my bike one day. But I should be doing cardio 2-3 times a week too. I'm hoping the ground outside will get clear of ice soon so I can get running. I have some catching up to do. My other two team members (who run together) are already doing 10k without rest breaks. Since I don't start running for the year till the ground is clear of ice, it might be a couple more months for me before I start running. Our first run is in May. I just hope I can keep up with them!

Pull Up Challenge Anyone?

20 Pull Up Challenge

I'm going to do a pull up challenge, not the whole thing, but just the first three weeks of one. I'd like to get some good strength in these girly arms and a little definition before starting my training this January.

This program seems simple enough. I can most of the time do 2 pull ups so I'm going to start with the first part of it. By the end of the week, we'll see how I'm doing and maybe repeat the same program or go to the next level. Then come January, I'll just go back to my random pull-ups as I walk through the doorway.

I'm starting this Monday. I'll update at the end of each post how I did for the day.

I hope you join me :).

T minus 4 weeks

Till training time!

Then the countdown to the Tough Mudder begins.

Well, as I've said in a prior post, my January is a raw vegan 8/1/1 style diet.

But did I mention my training? I do have a plan. 3 days a week of weight training consisting of only two joint exercises. Which means I'm not wasting time on bicep curls (sorry to you guys who worship the bicep curl). I find that I get much better muscle building and functional strength from doing pull ups instead of bicep curls. and pull ups DO work your biceps. And shoulders, and forearms, and even grip strength.

Pull ups actually wont be in my weight lifting routine though since technically I don't lift weights with that. But I will be doing press/pull exercises for the upper and lower body. The pull ups are more of a random incorporation. I have a pull up bar that pops into a doorway. I don't have a door going from my bedroom to a small hallway to the attached bathroom.

Don't worry, my bathroom has a door. Otherwise it would make living with a man sharing my bathroom just about impossible...

Anyway, I digress, the pull up bar is to be used every time I pass by it. How many times a day do I use my bathroom? A LOT. Before work multiple times... bathroom, brushing my teeth, to shower, to go back and brush my hair, to go back because I'm so sleep deprived I forgot deodorant :). Yes, I have to go back lots for that. And to check to make sure I didn't put lipstick on for eyeshadow and vice versa.

I can already to one full pull up and most of the time two full pull ups. Just as of right now it's not very consistent that I do this. I'm starting now to get more into the habit so that by January it wont seem like I'm adding everything at once.

Also for cardio I plan three days of that as well. This month will be 10-20 minute sessions of bike riding (indoors), pole dancing, and kickboxing with my awesome heavy bag. Yes, I have a heavy bag. And it's all mine. Though my boyfriend does sometimes put on my super sexy pink boxing gloves and hit the bag a bit too. He does look awesome in pink ;).

And yeah, I said pole dancing and no I'm not an exotic dancer. It's for fitness people!! Seriously, the way some of you think just surprises me. Okay, no it doesn't :).

I hope you all love the smileys today. I maybe used a few of them here n there.