TBT – Race Time

One of the big local races in my city is the Monument Ave 10K.  For throwback Thursday I dug up my pics from when I ran it in March 2012.

 

To motivate myself to do more cardio I signed up for the race again.  To help me be motivated to train I created a FaceBook event with my friends to run together every Saturday.  Cardio can be fun.  Find ways to workout with others and a little competition can help too.  I ran a 10K on Thanksgiving so  my goal is to beat that time.  What do you do to get some cardio in your workout routine?

Have a fabulous day gorgeous!

Favorite Arm Exercise

Hi there, I’ve decided to change this up a little bit. I still feel new to this blog thing and I want to make sure I’m providing valuable concise content. Also I want to make sure I have enough balance or work life integration with everything going on right now with work, school, and my passion helping us get strong.

So I plan on cutting this back to 3 times a week instead of almost everyday. Let me know what you think.

This post will describe my love/hate arm exercise from last night. Preacher Curls.

 

I love them because they get our biceps really well.  I hate them because they isolate your biceps and are harder for me to do.  However, I know that’s the type of exercise I should be working on so I continue to improve where I’m weak.  We should try to be strong in all our exercises not just the ones we are good at already.

 

Today I got sweaty with a HIIT workout and then will do a chest and back day at the gym with my hubby.  I hope you have a great Workout Wednesday.  Remember We Are Strong!

Busy Weekend

Hi there, did you have a great weekend?  Mine was busy with school and family fun and that’s why I didn’t post anything earlier, but I wanted to make sure I got back to you with the new week.

My husband’s sister drove up from GA to VA to visit for the weekend.  It was also a school weekend for me, so I would go to school, visit with family, and squeeze in a workout to help keep my body feeling good, it’s a reward for me.  The family visit was a lot of fun because we got to witness her daughter being baptized and then celebrate the mother-in-law’s birthday.

Friday I knew we would want to see family as soon as I got out of class so I worked out in the morning.

Friday’s Workout:

HIIT each exercise for 20 secs, 10 sec rest, x3

Tuck jumps

Burpees

Squat jumping jacks

Mountain climbers

Plyo lunges

Burpees

Squat jumps

Mountain climber

Pilates

30 mins With Renee on Grokker

Then Saturday I had class from 8 am – 2:15 pm.  I decided to bring workout clothes just in case, but just wanted to spend the with family since there was going to be a baptism and celebrating my mother-in-laws birthday.  Towards the evening when everyone was just sitting around watching TV, my husband and I sneaked out for a 5 mile run

 

Then on Sunday I needed a day to just hang out with my husband.  We decided to do an 8.5 mile bike ride to enjoy the outdoors.

http://instagram.com/p/tOol6xRfFg/?modal=true

Even with a busy weekend we can make time to take care of our bodies and have fun while doing it.  I hope you see exercise as a reward like I do.

Today, Monday, is a rest day for me, but I still do my push-ups for my challenge.  I was so excited because with the help of the members of my challenge I reached my goal of doing 50 push-ups on my toes without stopping for the first time today.

If you set your mind to do something, we can do it, we are strong.

We are strong

Hi there, it’s HUMP DAY!!  I hope you’re having a great day.  I started out my day with 45 push-ups for my challenge.  It’s slightly starting to get easier, but still difficult for me.  I know that if I keep at it we can reach our goals together.

Today for Wellness Week I decided to post a picture of me walking up the stairs.  I’m currently on the 4th floor of my building and I take them at least every morning.

Do you take the stairs at your job?  Or is there something else you do to keep moving?

After a typical day of work I’m ready to get that feeling of relief and reward with a run.  So I ran 2.5 miles.  I’m training for the 10K Turkey Trot this year for the first time so I’m slowly building up my mileage again.

One of my hubby’s friends was in town so we did a really quick shoulder day.  It’s great to have a supporting partner who makes the time with me to workout.  Then we both feel great and have fun with our friends.

Today’s Workout:

Shoulders

-Dumbbell military press
3×8 @30

-Front raises (I increased this week, yay)
3×8@20

-Side raises
3×8@15

-Cable reverse fly
3×8@80

I hope you had a great Workout Wednesday today.  I appreciate you reading this and working on getting strong with me.

Wellness Week

Hi there, I hope you’re doing well.  Mondays are my rest day so I can have time to meet with my MBA group for our projects so that’s why there was no post on my workout yesterday.  I did bump up my push-ups to 45 for the first time yesterday for my challenge.  It was hard, but I was determined to do it.  It’s great having a group to keep you accountable.

Also yesterday was the start of Wellness Week at my work.  I’m really glad they try to focus on health and getting people healthy.  They are having a competition to have people take selfies everyday of themselves doing something healthy, which also puts that person in a prize drawing.  Well my first selfie won for Monday’s submissions and it got sent out to all of my work.  I’m famous, well just to my company.  Remember to eat your fruit and vegetables.

My selfie for today was attending a lunch and learn about women’s health.

The 3 doctors at this event all said we need to eat healthy, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep.  I agree with all of this and try to do these things myself.  That’s why I focus on having a fruit or vegetable at every meal, exercise at least 30 mins 5-6 days a week, and get 7-8 hours of sleep.

I mentioned in my last blog that I wanted to change my leg day because I was doing leg day, long run, and bike ride all in a row and this was too much.  So I did leg day today, but took it easy to transition to the new day and since I just finished a weekend of leg exercises.

Today’s Workout:

Leg day

-Run 1 mile

-Squat
3×8 @115

-Dead lift
3×8 @115

-Single leg Calf raises
3×8 @90

-Single leg ham curls
3×8 @50

-Walking lunges
3×8 @30

-Single leg hip abduction
3×8 @25

Core

-Bird dogs
Hold 10
15 elbow to knee each side
Hold 10

-Planks
1 min each side
1:30 front

 

I hope you all had a great Transformation Tuesday.

Time to change it up

Hi there, hope you’re having a great Sunday.  Today was a good day for me.  I started my day with my last set of 40 push-ups for my challenge.  I’m feeling strong and ready to take on 45 tomorrow.

Then we took my mother-in-law to the train station so she could see her daughter and new grand-daughter in GA.  We’ll see them next weekend.  Getting excited to see the baby.

Our workout today was a 6 mile bike ride. It was really tough for me.  I think doing 3 days in a row with leg stuff was too much.  Friday was leg day in the gym, Saturday we did a 4 mile run with plenty of hills, and then we did a 6 mile bike ride with several hills as well.  So I think going forward we are going to change the leg day in the gym earlier in the week so we can do our run and bike ride on the weekend.

 

After the bike ride we headed over to a friend’s house to watch some football.  It’s his last weekend here before he moves to SC.  It was nice hanging out and wishing him and his wife good luck on their new adventure.

Aspire to be a servant leader

Hi there, I hope you had a great Saturday.  Did you get your push-ups in for the day?  I got my 40 push-ups in for my challenge this morning.  I can’t believe tomorrow will make the halfway point and I’ll need to increase again on Monday.  Getting closer to my 50 push-up goal.

Then I was able to visit with a good friend of mine who happens to be my hair dresser to get a trim.  She has helped me when I’ve gone through some difficult times in my life and is always there to listen and encourage me to follow my passion.

 

Today was a special day for my mother-in-law, it was her retirement party.  It was great to hear from her boss, co-workers, and patients she worked with.  They all felt very blessed having her in their lives.  I hope that I can have an influence like that with people I work with.  I want to be a servant leader where I can lead people to their fullest potential by helping them get past their obstacles.

Today’s workout:

4 mile run outside with the hubby

 

Then I found an hour long Pilates workout from Grokker.com.  This is only my second time using this site so I’m still learning how it works.  I first learned about it when one of my friends who used to be a fitness instructor at my work’s gym liked it on FB and saw she is one of the instructors on there.  It looks like a social fitness site where you can follow different instructors and their workout videos.  I liked the Pilates classes I’ve take so far on it.

 

I hope you had a great day.

Flex Friday Leg Day

Hi there, happy Friday.  Sorry I missed you yesterday.  I had to meet with my MBA group last night after work and that meeting lasted way longer than anticipated.  By the end of it I was hangry (hungry and angry) and needed to listen to my body.  I needed food and sleep and therefore took another rest day.  I was within my calories for the day and did my push ups and squats for the day so I still felt good for the day.

Today I started my day with my 40 push-ups for my challenge before going to work to present to all the CIOs in our business about the development program I manage.  The meeting went great.  After work I was looking forward to my workout, even if it was leg day.

Today’s Workout

Leg Day

-Run 1 mile

-Squat
Warm-up 1×5@95
3×8@155

-Dead lift
1×5@95
3×8@155

  

-Calf Raises
3×8@230

-Cable Hip Abduction
3×10@35

-Single Leg Ham Curls
3×8@65

-Walking Lunges
3×10@40 lb bar

Core

-Single Leg Bridges
10 each leg

Pilates Roll-ups
10

-Pilates Bicycle
10 each side

-Plank
2 min

 

I hope you had a great Friday and got your workout in for the day.

Working out is a reward not a punishment

Hi there, happy workout Wednesday.  Did you have a good day today?  Work for me felt productive.  I started to make some headway with one of my big projects, so that always feels good.  Even though I felt productive after a long day of starring at the computer all I wanted to do was workout.  I really look forward to my workouts and think of them as something that is a reward and not a punishment.

I first started my workout with a 2 mile run outside.  The weather was great and it immediately relieved my stress from the day.

After my run I prepped dinner as I waited for my husband to finish with work.  I could tell he wasn’t in the mood to workout because he had a long day at work and he had to read an article tonight for work, but luckily we keep each other accountable and got the workout done.  Afterwards he said he felt much better.  Again the workout is the reward, it makes you feel better.

Our work out today:

Shoulders

-Dumbbell military press
3×8 @30

-Front raises
3×8@15

-Side raises
3×8@15

-Cable reverse fly
3×10@80

-Cable External rotation
3×8@20

 

I hope you had a great #WorkoutWednesday and it felt like a reward not a punishment for you.

Work With Passion

Hi there, I hope you had a great Tuesday.  Yesterday was my rest day, but I still did my first set of 40 push-ups for my challenge and continued them today.

This week at work it’s ‘learning week’ where they have optional sessions you can go to learn about different topics.  The talk I attended today was from one of our business presidents and her career path.  I was surprised to hear that her undergrad and master degrees were in engineering.  It’s nice to know that someone technical can move up in business because that is what I want to do.  One of the things she learned was to ‘stay passionate with what you do.’  I really liked that reminder and is getting me to think about what I’m passionate about.  I know one thing I’m really passionate about is helping others getting strong.  This is why I blog and post my workouts.

Tip Tuesday: Jillian Michaels so wisely said at a BlogFest keynote: “Work with passion is purpose, but work without passion is punishment.”

 

Today’s workout:

-Run 1 mile

-Bench
1@95 warm-up
3×8 @115

-Pull ups wide grip
8, 5, 4

-Cable flies
3×8 @35

-Rows
3×8 @140

-Incline dumbbell press
3×8 @40

After our workout we went out to dinner for date night and said good luck to some friends of ours who are moving out of state.

 

I hope you remember to work with passion in all that you do.