Bleh!

Texas has not been a very good friend to me today.

Let me say, first and foremost, that there is an astronomical difference between running on a treadmill and running outside. Plain and simple. Today, that lesson was officially learned. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are now my "running" days, allowing me to spin on Tuesday and Thursday and then have the weekends off. Sweet. Well, even if you run at 9:45 in the morning, it is already upper 80's and this Minnesota girl cannot handle it. S-U-C-K. I couldn't even do a full 5k, because my heart rate wouldn't stay below 178 unless I walked. Bad news for me and my little heart. Then I went into the gym and did the lat pull down machine, because I really need to begin to strengthen my back. Afterwards I went and asked one of the trainers what another good exercise would be for my back and he told me pull ups. I thought to myself, as my eyes were huge in disbelief and uncertainty, "he can't be serious". Yep, he was. So I seriously said to him, "what if you can't do a pull up?" To which he told me to do these jumping pull ups, where you take a box that brings you to the proper height where you are able to reach the bar while standing, and then you are to proceed to jump up as high as you can, while pulling your body up, aiming to get the bar at about chest level. Can I just take a second to explain where these pull up bars are located in the gym? RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING! There would literally be people on almost every side of me, able to watch me probably die trying to do this... not to mention all of the awesome-ly hardcore Crossfit women sitting at the base of the pull up bar, having just finished an hour long workout. Not a chance, Mr. trainer dude... I'll stick to the pull up bar that my husband hung in the doorway at our house.

Another thing... sweat and electronics do not mix. I think I might have nearly ruined my ipod today.

Here is a healthy tip for making your personal fitness goals. If you are looking to make some sort of physical goal, such as fitting into certain clothes or dropping x pounds, one of the best ways to judge the appropriate range for your body to be in is to take your height, in inches, and then cut that in half. Take that number, and aim to have your waist measure that number or less. Not your hips, as most people measure, but your waist, right where you belly button is, or where your side bends when you lean to the right or left. Mine is 33", so I have about 3" to lose... and I WILL do it!

Of course, Dr. Oz showed me this... I guess he's not all that bad.


Alright, the couch is calling me, and I can't seem to ignore it.

Peace, love & air conditioning

P is for Peace. and Pants. and Push-Ups.

Today was my "strength training" day, and I am proud to say I actually did some strength training, without any wandering around the gym involved. Score! Probably because I just stayed in the yoga room, pretty much by myself... but still, I did some pretty moderately hardcore stuff. Prior to going to the gym I was having a conversation with a friend who has had some amazing successes in changing her lifestyle and her health by becoming more active. I came away with a lot of encouragement and conviction through our time and I am excited to move forward.

Here are some things I learned today...

# One) As you all know, I usually sign off with "Peace, love  & compression bras", and today I thought a lot about peace. As a woman, I am not sure that I will ever meet the goals I set for myself if I do no learn how to have peace with what I currently have. Peace is a pretty rad thing, if you really think about it. There is personal peace, which I am sure we all hope for for ourselves and those we love. Being able to look in the mirror, despite everything and know that deep down, you not only accept what you see but you have peace about it, knowing that who you are is always changing. Then there is what we will refer to as "outward" peace. This, people, is something I have learned that quite a few individuals lack. As human beings, we have the right to affect others around us by the way we present ourselves, the way we carry ourselves, and the way we communicate to others around us. This can refer to the way we dress or simply the greeting (or lack there of) that we give to others as we pass by. I am ridiculously sad to say that I have seen and heard of people who have taken it upon themselves to disrupt others' peace about themselves by sharing their opinion about what they think of them. Does that make sense? Ok, so here's a scenario (that is completely made up, but represents what I'm dealing with here): Sally is your average woman, exercising on the elliptical at an average pace, when June hops on the machine next to her. Sally has just started working out, and has finally gotten herself to a place where she is confident enough to workout at the gym. Sally is pushing herself, and really working hard. Meanwhile, June is striding at the speed of lightening on the machine next to her. June, who has been exercising since she was in sports as a child, is very impressive in her capabilities, from an athletic standpoint. As Sally finishes up and is wiping her machine off, June leans over and says to her, "Guess you'd better stick to the couch, huh? You seem to really have a hard time with that. Thats too bad." and then puts her earphone back in and keeps striding away. Now let's be honest. Was it necessary for June to disrupt Sally's new found peace with herself just to tell her that? Not one bit. I mean, come on June! Just because it comes easily to you doesn't mean it should be a make it or break it situation for others. June, you had a chance to build Sally's personal peace by giving her a smile or chatting with her while you both "ellip-ed". What is it that stops us from encouraging one another while we are all working so hard towards the same goal? I ask this question because I had a chance to do that today and I didn't take it. There was another gal in the room with me, who was working really hard and seemed very nice. I could easily have said hello, and shared some exercises with her. Instead, I kept my "peace" to myself and opted for some Metro Station on my ipod. "L" is for Laura and LAME. And Lesson #1

# two) You really need to wear the right pants when you go to the gym. Man, have I failed at this far too many times. You'd think I would get the idea, but alas, I have not. I have a drawer (and a big one at that) F-U-L-L of "workout" clothes, and I think I have one single "bottom" with the proper functionality that I need to get the dern job done. What's the deal? Well the deal is, when I'm running, don't look when I relieve the bunch of shorts that has built up between my legs (stupid thighs). When I'm doing crunches on the BOSU, don't mind that with every crunch, a slight wedgie begins to form and I have to pause every 7 or so crunches, just in time to prevent an embarrassing situation. AND (my biggest pet peeeeeeeeeve) things such as "Chami Butter" (or other sorts of friction preventers) are unbelievably necessary when I'm running or walking long distances in shorts. Ouch.

# three) I suck at push-ups. It's just that simple. You would think, that after six months of continually doing push-ups and hovers and other chest/arm/back exercises that I would be able to pump out more than 15 girl push-ups. Well, I can't. Ok! Don't judge me. And yes, I still can't do more than two real push-ups. Geez. I guess "P" is also for pansy.

So remember, you ain't never gonna get that booty you desire, or get rid of that juice pouch until you bring a little peace into the mix. And while you're at it, help a sister or brother out and give them some props... you're both working towards the same thing anyways.

And please, please get the right kind of pants. I'm telling you... it's worth it.

PEACE, love & compression bras

ATTENTION MOM!

MOTHER: The following pertains to you. I have now allowed comments to be made on my entries by "anonymous" people, so now you (and anyone else who would like to) can comment on my entries with little to no confusion. Phew! Glad we got that worked out.

Moving on. Today I tried out a new(ish) gym on post. I've been to Burba a couple of times to do spin and some weights, but had not had the chance to use their treadmills. You see, I always run at the Functional Fitness Center, and according to one of my lovely friends, their treadmills are repulsive. A couple of weeks ago we went to Burba and she showed me their lovely, pretty, clean and technologically advanced treadmills. I  became quite excited to try running on one of those. They have a place to plug your ipod in, a screen with four different views of your run, and even a trainer to guide you through your workout. Awesome! Fast forward to today. Since my workout on Tuesday showed me that my calf was good to go on a run, I planned to give those deluxe treadmills a shot. First let me tell you, Burba is awesome simply because they keep their air conditioner up really high. Soo refreshing... except I noticed that when it's cooler in the room, I don't sweat as much and having become a "sweater" only recently, that is something I very much look forward to. So these treadmills face the wall, that has mirrors covering them all around, with the weights located in the center of the room. After running for about ten minutes I realized the downfall to these treadmills and I think you will agree with me. At the F.F.C. I face a red and blue painted brick wall with a tv located just above me that is usually streaming footage of the Casey Anthony Trial (which usually distracts me long enough to make the 5k run a little less painful mentally). While I am running, I am able to stare at that blank wall, and focus my thoughts on what my goals are. Where I want to be, with this body, weeks, months and years from now. I can visualize myself running in my first 5k. I can visualize my husband running in 110 degree heat. All of these things help my mental run, because to be honest, that is the part that is even harder than the actual run itself. I struggled today. I struggled physically, somewhat due to it being my first run in a week and a half, and also because I was able to watch myself as I ran... I was able to see my skin flush, watch my compression bra not compress as much as I would like it to and basically observe the gym etiquette taking place behind me. All of this leads me to the height of my struggle today. The mental struggle. Oh I got so bored! Yes, the cool little "track" that you can watch while you run is neat, but when you are a woman who loses interest ridiculously fast, it's almost torture. It seemed to take FOREVER! Also, I decided that someday I would really enjoy going to the gym with blinders on. I think that if I could just focus on why I am there, and not allow myself to be affected by the others around me, I would have an incredibly different workout than usual. The gym is like a dog show. Everyone is trying to look the toughest, the most bad a*$ or the hottest... or simply the most like they know what they are doing (guilty).  Not to mention, when has it ever been a good idea to take a normal looking woman, with average qualities and complete (well, almost) satisfaction in who she is, and then shove her in front of a mirror for 45 minutes? Um, hello! Even the most content woman in the world will begin to question certain attributes of herself when she is forced to look that close for that long. No thank you. All this to say, I almost let the gym get the best of me today, folks... but I've learned that writing about my workout endeavors and being completely honest with you all has really helped me to evaluate where I want to take myself with my thoughts. And today, I just didn't want to go there. So miracle of the day: I stopped those self-deprecating thoughts dead in their tracks. And to celebrate I will enjoy an indulgent  night of quesadillas  and the Bachelorette. It's the little things in life.

On another note, I am a Malt-o-Meal fan. I always have been. I will say, that as an adult I add significantly less brown sugar than I did as a child, but it is still enjoyed never the less. I decided to finally make the "Magic Muffins" that they advertise on the side, substituting 2 bananas for the 3/4C of milk, and let me tell you... they are pretty magical. Delicious. Not too sweet. Just plain Yum!

                                           So this, my friends is the way to start your day.

Peace, love & magic muffins!

I Want to Pump You Up

So I conquered my fear (sort of) and hit the free weights (kind of) today. I was able to try out running today on the treadmill, and my leg seemed to handle the ten minute warm up alright. I got to the gym about 45 minutes before it closed so I knew I didn't have much time, but since I am determined to make my arms awesome I knew I had to utilize that small window and go for the weights. Yeah, it was a little lame. What is it about boys that allows them to scare us off so easily in the lifting area of the gym? Do they know they have that power over us? Or me, for that matter? Why do they have to make us feel so lame? Well I guess that question can be asked in more realms than just exercise, but since this is an exercise blog we will not journey down that road.
So I did the chest press, then moved on to one of those lame ab machines (I hate those. They are so awkward and I'm pretty sure they don't do much for my abs), did one set and then attempted to find some sort of lat machine. I couldn't find one right away, and in order to not risk embarrassment by wandering around looking like an idiot, I held my head high and headed for the yoga room as if that had been my plan all along. I literally walked to the back, picked up a stability ball, attempted to do some tricep extensions and then I thought of this blog. I thought of how often I have the attitude of conquering your fears and insecurities and how I am trying, with all of my might, to do the things that I feel the least comfortable in, and here I was hanging out in a vacant room in order to not be seen by others. Hypocrite? Maybe just a little. So I put the equipment away and walked straight to the free weights (*GASP!*). Yes, people, I picked myself up a ten pounder (big money right here) and bent over on the bench (an exercise I HATE because I'm not the kind of girl who enjoys sticking her rear end out for all to see) and rocked three sets of tricep extensions. Bam. Then, I went over to a bench with a back rest, and did those overhead press things, rockin' the ten pounders again, and I finished her off with some bicep curls... yep, thats right, I felt like a hot body builder from the '80s pumpin' some iron... I really felt like I needed some black and hot pink spandex shorts and possibly a mullet. Anyways, after that it kind of went down hill because I attempted to go back and do some abs and such on the stability ball but couldn't. You see, I was one of those people, today, that ate a really bad ice cream bar about 30 minutes before I hit the gym. Dumb, I know. Anyways, just for your future, might I advise you, to not do that? It's one of those things I guarantee you'll regret. (I will have you know, at my husbands leading, I later went to my freezer and threw out that last ice cream bar, in order to avoid this in the future).

So there you have it, people. My sincerest gratitude to all of you, for being the motivation I needed to help me conquer my fears and pump up these guns like the big boys do (at least for today).

Peace, love & compression bras

Under the Weather

Let me tell you, making your workouts partially a social event is quite a benefit on days like today. I woke up not feeling all that well today, but still managed to make it to Core Dynamics. Knowing that I had some great ladies to see when I got there was basically the only thing keeping me from talking myself into staying on the couch. But hey, we are all allowed days like that, right? So today's lesson: Make friends at the gym! It helps, big time.
On a different note, does anyone know of a good way to get rid of flabby arms? I mean, I have some killer bi's and tri's in there... it's just the lovely cushy padding I am looking to get rid of. I do biceps  and triceps regularly, and I do cardio, but alas, they seem to be changing ever. so. slowly. So any insight on that lovely topic would be appreciated.
I am not a fan of daytime talk shows, or really any show other than Bones and the Bachelorette, but I found myself watching Dr. Oz yesterday because the topic perked my interest. He was going to introduce us to the "ONE FOOD WE ALL HAVE TO GET OUT OF OUR KITCHENS"! I thought, for sure, I can't have this horrid food in my kitchen. But it turns out that it is my favorite food of all. Sugar. I watched it, and I must say, it has gotten me thinking every time I crave some Lucky Charms or a cookie. I've always known sugar is bad for you but seeing what it actually does to the body really has made me think twice. You can watch the video on DoctorOz.com, and he has a Sugar Detox Challenge, which is pretty simple, not incredibly informative, but still interesting.  I understand that every day of our lives is about making decisions that will affect our futures. I do not want myself or my husband to end up with Liver problems or high blood pressure because of our love of sugar... but at the same time I am torn because at this point in my life, if I am being honest, food is a bit of a comfort for me. So shoot me. Ohh well, one day at a time, right?
Well ladies and dudes, take your sore little hineys and hit the sheets. We can sweat this out tomorrow.

Peace, love & compression bras

The Way I Are

Today began with the daily battle between my ever so comfortable bed and whatever class was being offered at the gym, depending on the day of the week. I can proudly say that Spin class won out today. Abrams gym offers a plethora of spin options, one of which is the M-W-F class from 12-1 with Millie. I have never attended this class, but have heard a lot about it... most of which are reasons why I have yet to attend this class. Who ever heard of going to spin class and then ending up running laps around the track out back?! Ludicrous! Anyways, even though my leg is rather gimpy, I decided to at least try it out and resort to sitting and spinning if necessary. In spin class you do a lot of standing and up and down movement, which is awesome for the abs, back, glutes, legs, arms... ok, so basically everything. A perk for a potato like me is that I have become fairly decent at spin, so I can go and not look like I am near death... always a perk, ladies and gentlemen... find what you can do and keep doing it in order to avoid the banter back and forth in your head.
So I walk into "the Spin Zone" (cue the "ooooooh's") and noticed rather quickly that pretty much all but 2 bikes had been claimed by multiple water bottles and towels. So I quickly found the most moderately workable bike and hunkered down. I had my bike shoes on, towel ready, and arm band with calorie burner set to jet... except for one little problem. Spinning requires more calf use than anticipated. Needless to say, I only lasted about half of the class. Let me tell you, there is a very good reason why instructors have you alternate between standing and sitting so much. If you see me standing an awkward amount tomorrow it is simply because as of about 12:40 this afternoon, my hind quarters are out of commission until further notice.
I consider today's class to be a blessing because of a very interesting lesson I learned. As we began to warm up, the song, "The Way I Are" by Timbaland came on. So there we all were, spinning, warming up, and for most people, chatting. I went by myself and didn't know anyone so I kept to myself, but could not resist my ever present urge to people watch. I noticed not one, but multiple conversations between women regarding the different things they want to change, or the size they just can't quite seem to get down to, or the size dress they are wearing to said formal event (all of which were numbers and sizes I could only dream of becoming). So with my head down, focusing on my spin, it was as if I had this funnel cloud of thoughts and words and ideas spinning 'round and 'round, all coming down to one conclusion. That conclusion is this: There is no such thing as "just the way you are". If someone says to you, "I like you just the way you are", do you really believe them? Or has it become more about you liking just the way you are, and not so much them? Or, when you tell someone "I like you just the way you are", do you really mean that, or are there things you would change, if you could? I think what is most important is to ask yourself two questions: Do I like myself just the way I am? Do I have someone in my life who likes me just the way I am? Because at the end of the day, you can bust your butt trying to get from a size 6 to a size 4, but what difference does that make? Are you a happier individual because the number on the back of your pants, that no one can see, says 6 instead of 8, or 15 instead of 10? I mean, let's be honest here, people. We are incredible beings, who are capable of incredible things. The saddest thing to happen in our daily lives is that we spend more time focusing on such an unimportant aspect of who we are, instead of the sheer marvel that is our bodies. Spin because you can. Run because you can. Walk because you can. Lift a 5 pound weight or a 50 pound weight, it doesn't matter, just do it because you can! So, could I have left that hard core spin class feeling lame because I could only do half of it, and sat down for all of it? Yeah, I definitely could have. But I didn't. That, my friends, is a perfect example of being proud of the choices you make, whether big or small, in your day to day life. Be proud of who you are for all of the amazing things you are capable of, and dive in. Don't let talk of size 2 dresses and after baby pudge make you feel inferior. And most importantly, like yourself for just the way you are.

Peace, love & compression bras

Core Damn-namics

Abs. I have some. Somewhere in there. My husband and I were talking about "6-packs" today, or any sort of pack for that matter, and I informed him that I will never have a pack, but will always have what I recently coined a "Capri Sun pouch" or a "juice pouch". Basically implying that it will always be squeezable. Always be moveable. And will always be squishy. Thankfully for me, he finds that to be delightful instead of repulsive. He's a good man.
Today is Tuesday and Tuesday is Core Dynamics day. I haven't been in a couple of weeks due to the instructors schedule and mine but today was the day I returned. Last Thursday I had a very mild surgery on my right calf, and it's taken a couple of days to get back and walking normally, since my muscle was hacked into pretty significantly. I am still haunted by what sounded like scissors cutting into raw chicken, knowing that the chicken in the scenario was my precious, perfectly formed calf muscle. Anyways, moving on. Today was my first Core class back, and I figured it would be just fine, considering the core is a mighty long ways away from the calf. And I was fine. There was one exercise (out of many) that slightly hurt, causing me to take it a little slower, but other than that it would have been considered the perfect exercise for a calf cripple such as myself. My little brain, on the other hand, had an entirely different take on the matter. Remember how I said I have mastered the power of persuasion? Yep, even on myself. Crunch after crunch, push up after push up, I kept searching for the slightest twinge of pain as a way out of the exercise. What is the matter with me?! Am I not the one who complains about having a juice pouch! Days like today remind me just how much health and well-being are found almost entirely in the mind. Core Dynamics has been rightfully changed to Core Damn-namics today, because the damn class kicked my derrier. But really, you should try it sometime!

Now I'm off to go make some banana oatmeal cookies. I know, I know. It doesn't make any sense.


Peace, love & compression bras