Shoulders and Arms

Well good morning... and what a glorious morning it is! The sun is shining but the mercury reminds us that it is still winter (-21 degrees). My heart is feeling like a million bucks but my joints are screaming at me! I am pushing myself beyond my limits to expand them but at the same time my body is MAD. I called my specialist to see if there is something else that he might be able to prescribe for me to help control the pain but I have not heard back yet. In the meantime, I am taking painkillers every four hours and hoping that I will get a reply from my Dr before too long. I am not letting this stall my progress... I just try and put my mind over matter, and so far it has been working.

Last nights workout was shoulders and arms... and I forgot how freaking hard those crouching Cohen curls were!! I was shaking and nearly did not get in the 12th rep in. I was using 15lbs and I can't see myself ready to increase that weight next week neither :P Following the Shoulder workout I stopped the DVD because I did not think that my knees would tolerate the in and outs or bicycle exercises in the Ab Ripper program... so I hoped on my treadmill and did an easy 1.5 mile in 20 minutes. My knees were grinding at first and I thought that was maybe a bad idea too... but then I got in my "good place" with the tunes in my ears and my head clear I was able to get through it and add to my calorie burn. I should mention that I was able to jog (4.5 & 5.0 MPH) for 5 minutes and did not once consider dropping the speed. I was so "in the moment" that I think that I may have been able to do that speed for 10+ minutes but the program I was doing slowed it down and I did not re-adjust it. Overall it was a great night!

Here are the facts:

Shoulders and Arms + Treadmill:

Calories: 652
AvG HR: 127
Max HR: 174

So, the plan today is to try Zumba on our lunch hour. That should be fun... so I hear! Then tonight is my most dreaded night of all... Yoga! I suck at yoga but I am committing 100% to this round, so I am going to conquer that damn thing!!

Make it a great day folks!

Plyometrics + Fire 30 = Great Calorie Loss

Good morning all! I had such a great day yesterday... did Fire 30 on my lunch and Plyo last night. I have to say that I am stronger now than I was at the end of my first round of P90x. I was surprised that I was able to pull through with the strength that I did - yeah me! I suppose it was because of Insanity and Turbo Fire and Hip Hop Abs that I was dabbling in while on my break between rounds. Or perhaps it is because I want it more now than I did before? But whatever the reason, the programs or my desire, I was thankful for a good night.

I would love to have some feedback on my food intake for the day, for those who are well versed in the nutritional component that is so important to my success:

B-fast: 2 Six-grain toast with low fat peanut butter
S1: Banana
Lunch: 3 stalks of celery and 9 baby carrots with 1 TBSP of hummus
S2: Apple
Dinner: Broccoli and Steak stir fry (p90x recipe) with 1/2 cup of long grain rice

68 oz of water

Is that ok? I will be adding a protien drink to my lunch starting Saturday (when it arrives in the mail).

On the stats side of my workouts for yesterday:

Fire 30:

Calories: 445
Avg HR:141
Max HR:174

Plyometrics:

Calories: 820
Avg HR: 142
Max HR: 181

Overall a great day!

Make it a great day folks... keep pushing play!!

As Promised... the gym photos

Sorry for how blurry they are... they are taken with my Blackberry and are not of the best quality

And so it Begins!

Round 2 ... and I couldn't be more excited! Excited about the work that lies ahead of me, excited about the possibilities and excited about doing it with my Mr. Wonderful who will keep me pushing harder. So, yesterday I went shopping so that I may follow the program as closely as possible. I am going to see some great results this round, of that I am certain!

So, since we are scheduled to start today and knowing that we work out at night I needed to figure out a way around my city council meeting. I am a councilor and will be required to attend the meeting tonight so I decided to do my workout last night and when I get home tonight, should Mr. Wonderful still be working out, I will just do a routine on the treadmill and then we will be on to Plyo tomorrow night... so I have my facts to share today:

Chest and Back + Ab Ripper X

Calories: 430
AVG HR: 116
Max HR: 159

Lunch hour workout data:

Hip Hop Fat Burning Cardio:

Calories: 348
Avg HR: 139
Max HR: 168

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Have I mentioned how much I love my home gym?!!! We are all taking our turns and working out... even my teenaged daughter! She has not missed a workout since we installed the equipement and she is feeling GREAT! She even put on Ab Ripper on Saturday night and did really well with it. I think that she may even join us with the X... when she is ready of course (I can't make that girl do anything :P).

I took pictures of the gym completed but left my phone at home. I will bring it in tomorrow and share.

Make it a great day!

Are you thinking about starting P90x???

Well, why don't you start with me on MOnday? We can keep one another motivated and accountable... we can share our successes and stresses... we can be workout buddies!

I AM starting, without fail, on Monday, February 7th. My Mr. Wonderful is going to be starting with me and we are going to KNOCK IT OUTTA DA PARK... we will be a team and I am opening up an invitation to YOU to join us.

Update: I did Hip Hop Abs, Total body today at lunch and it was FUN! I was still sore from Wednesday's ab workout so I can imagine that I will be really sore tomorrow from this one. It takes me so long to recover from these workouts... but I am not using that as any kind of excuse... nope, not me!

Here are the stats:

Calories: 448
Avg HR: 143
Max HR: 183



Leave me a comment and let me know that you are IN it with us.

Make it a great day!

And now there is a treadmill...

So, the home gym continues to come together. Our treadmill is assembled and ready for use. I got on it last night for about 20 minutes while we were allowing the grease to lube the rollie-things and it was nice; however, when I got off I felt like I had been aboard a boat!!?! Is that normal? Anyway, I am going to try and get on it again tonight and see if I can't do a full routine without my dear hubby needing my help with more assembly projects.

Besides the treadmill we also assembled the Smith rack... just the outside of the rack. We have successfully completed four steps in a nine step process... but we are getting it! Tonight we will finish the rack and HOPEFULLY put it in its place and then I will take the pictures. If not Friday night for sure we will have it all together.

One last little thing... I did manage to have a lunch workout with SuperWoman, albeit short. We did the Ab workout due to time constraints and I felt it, for sure. I did get my Mom to burn me her copy of Hip Hop Abs that I think that I will bring to work and try to incorporate in our lunch routines so that we can avoid laying on the dirty floor... but that will have to be next week.

Thanks for reading and being patient with me... next week will be the first week that I will be back on track. I will be committed, motivated and SORE -- can't wait!

Make it a great day!!!

The mirrors are up...

The gym is starting to look like a REAL gym! We have put up the mirrors, have the dumbell rack up and stacked with all our weights and we put the olympic bench together last night... it is starting to come together!! We worked at it until 10:30 and then we crashed. I am doing Turbo Fire today at lunch with Super Woman, it has been too long since I have done anything so I am REALLY looking forward to it!

Stay tuned for pictures ;')

Make it a great day!!