Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Everything is SORE!

My brother's wedding was last weekend. It was great! I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did but I don't know what I was thinking. Mix booze with my family and the fun never ends...until the next morning. I was paying the price with an epic hangover! I had to drive home too. I don't now how I made it. I am just feeling better today!
Me and my brother. I basically walked around with booze in my hand all night.


Needless to say, I didn't have time for my workout on Saturday. It was a plyo challenge and I was really looking forward to it. I had a hair appointment in Corpus Christi at 9 am, which means I had to leave my hotel by 8:15 am, which means I had to shower at 7. I am not a morning person. I do not do morning workouts. You can't make me! When I used to sub for 9 am pump, I hated every minute. I know that is not very early, but it felt like that to me.

This week, my coaches have turned up the dial on our workouts. Not only are we required to do the WOD, we have to add 30 minutes of cardio. The cardio has to have our HR up to about 130, which means the elliptical machine at work won't cut it. Twice a week, they are incorporating HIIT. I do love HIIT workouts. Did the first one yesterday. Not too bad. I went right in to the WOD, which was back.

The HIIT workout was simple but effective. Three sets, 90 seconds long, three rounds. I did 9 total rounds of exercise for 90 seconds. The exercises were body weight based, so it was stuff like skaters, jump lunges, squat thrusts, high knees in to a side lunge and planks. We would do exercise 1 for 30 seconds, exercise 2 for 30 seconds and then exercise 1 again for 30 seconds.

Set 1:
Skaters (30 seconds)
jump lunges (30 seconds)
Skaters (30 seconds)
[90 second rest]
Set 2
Walking plank with jack (30 seconds)
squat thrusts (30 seconds)
Walking plank with jack (30 seconds)
[90 second rest]
Set 3:
Side jump with 90 degree turn (30 seconds)
8 high knees with side lunge (30 seconds)
Side jump with 90 degree turn (30 seconds)
[90 second rest]

Repeat twice - 9 sets total

I. Am. SORE! Every muscle in my upper body is hurting. The only saving grace I had were my legs, and guess what today is....LEG DAY! Can't catch a break.

I need to eat so I have energy to do this workout but I am not hungry yet. Who am I kidding...I am ALWAYS hungry. But I want a hamburger, not this turkey meat with asparagus!

I had my fun this weekend. Back to the grind!

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Leg Day!


I got home from work last night at almost 1 AM. I have been walking around like a zombie but today was LEG DAY! 

I caught a glimpse of the exercises on our Facebook page but I didn't pay attention to the reps.

Second to the last exercise was 2 sets of 45 degree leg press, 100 reps! That is after squats, leg curls, extensions, front squats and isolation lunges. The workout finished with 100 backward stepping lunges, 2 sets. WHAT THE WHAT?!?!?

I really wanted to quit and had every excuse to since I barely slept all week (got home and my son was in my bed. didn't move him). I went to the gym. I did every rep even when I wanted to stop during that triple drop set of leg curls. :)

Love my Beetlejuice pants!
This whole outfit is from Athlete. I love these pants. 

100 reps of leg press.
I did every reps. I definitely had to stop in between to catch my breath but I kept going. I did every reps of this workout. I was so proud.

Then came dinner. I blew it. I had french fries. I know better. I know I should NOT celebrate a huge accomplishment with food. I had a few moments of weakness. I was just happy to get my work stuff complete and so happy to have pushed myself through that very difficult workout. I know what my coaches will say....30 minutes of fasted cardio tomorrow. I will do it. I deserve the punishment. HA!

Until next time, no more fries for this one!

Side note...

My daughter is playing in the City Championship Saturday at 11 am at St. Pius! I am so happy for her. This is the second year in a row her team plays for the championship. We are ALL going to miss the game! My brother's wedding is Saturday at 3 pm in Kingsville. :/
Send her some good vibes and prayers! I will be there for you in spirit Biggs. Love you so much!

90 Day Challenge

On October 3rd, I started a 90 day challenge. It is focused around building a better physical "you" and it includes nutrition and exercise. I have been looking for something like this for a long time.

I found this through Instagram. As a Bodypump instructor, I am a "fan" of several master presenters. One of them is Jeremiah Evans. I have been following him since I saw him present on both Grit and Bodypump master class videos. I noticed a while back that he had a workout partner...a woman...and I loved her legs!! Their workouts were intense and I wanted a part of that. They advertised that they were starting a winter challenge and I decided to take the leap.

I taught my last class in August and I was anxious to use that time I had to make a better "me". I was really tired of not looking and feeling my best.

I want to put myself out there but I am so anxious and nervous to do so. I have been committed to this challenge so I expect the results to show that. I am going to reluctantly post my "before" pics. UGH! I took them the night before I started the challenge.

October 2nd. 

Husband taking these so bad angle

Hard to see but back of my legs need work!
I really hate these picture. It is a good reminder of all the work I have to do.

One week in, I took this picture. I could see progress already!
Finally some definition
Have I slipped...yes! It does not help that this has been the month from hell at work. That is over, and I can refocus in November. My diet is ALL OVER THE PLACE but I am doing my best. This means I am not eating enough. I am trying, but I am not doing my best. I need plan better.

My brother's wedding is this weekend and there will be many temptations but I am not worried about that. I did slip today. I was tired. I had french fries and dinner. :( I am upset about it but I was in "I give up" mode. I will bounce tomorrow and be better.

I plan to update my progress as I go and then my readers (if I have any) can try it out for themselves. I really like the group of participants. They are from all over the country and a few from other countries. They are inspiring and I am desperately just trying to keep up!!

My leg workout on the next post...

Friday, July 15, 2016

Hanging up my mic - Connecting my heart and head

I have been considering taking a break from teaching at the YMCA for a while.  I have been debating this in my head for quite some time.

PROS -
I love my members
When I am up there, I love teaching.
I love motivating people.
I love when people come up to me after class and say this was a tough workout or that they are progressing to new levels.
It is a community. It is social. I started as a member and now I have a group of people I enjoy seeing all the time.


CONS
Time - My time is being stretched way too thin.
Kids - their schedule is killing us. With Alexis excelling at 2 sports and Joaquin also wanting to play 2 sports, we are constantly on the go.
Prep for class - It takes a while and I don't put the effort in to it that I should, which is a disservice to my class.
My fitness...

My fitness is suffering. I have no time for my personal fitness and it is starting to depress me. I am not in the physical shape that I want to be in and the more the time passes and slips away from me, the more I get depressed. It is hard to be in front of a class and not be in model shape. It is not good and I think I do my members a disservice. This is important to me and I have goals. When I don't reach my goals, I get upset and I am not too pleasant.

Two weeks ago I went in to the Wellness Center Manager's office and told her after July 11th, I would come off the schedule. I am going to be around to sub for classes here and there but I could not commit to a regular schedule. My manager was sad. I was too. She wants to revisit in 6 months but I think I know the answer. I won't be coming back. I have stayed late at work this week and extra hour at work has made some significant progress for me in several situations.

I am going to miss it. I already do. But I don't miss it enough to go back. This was about connecting my head and my heart. That took a while. My head knew the right decision. My heart was nostalgic and staying for old reasons. As my family and career changes, I have to adjust priorities. This is on a small scale but it is also about finding joy. I had to ask myself that tough questions...am I still finding JOY in teaching? There used to be a lot of joy. The joy has faded. It is a distraction to other things that are more important.

JOY. One of my mentors brought that up to me and I knew that answer right away. I know I made the right decisions. My members are sad and disappointed but I am still around via social media and as a member to give them the motivation they need. The last 10 days have been really good for me. I am so much more focused and happy. I have been able to do 2 HIIT workouts for myself this week and I feel great. That is a tough one. I forgot about my happiness. I do that a lot. What I didn't realize is that the lack of JOY in my life was flowing in to other areas. It was spreading like a virus. Ten days and I can already tell the difference.

Find the JOY in what you do.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Extra Curricular Activities

I know the title of this post seems like I am talking about cheating, but I am not. I am talking about my kids and all the stuff they do outside of school.

I love that they are so active. I would not have it any other way. But it is killing me! I am stressed all the time about getting them to practice on time, especially my daughter.

I really hope, from her perspective, it does not seem like I am trying to live through her. I am not. I did all of this. I STILL do extra stuff outside of just work and family. The schedule is wearing me out a little. I am glad school basketball is over but now starts extra basketball to go along with club volleyball. In an effort to give her opportunities, I am pushing her and putting pressure on her. I have to. I see that in other successful people. She will regret it one day if I don't push her...if WE don't push her.

It has been a couple of days since I started this post and I am feeling better. Not stressed. This goes in waves. I am headed out of town today. I will miss her practice and training Thursday. My son had flag football practice and he did so well that they made him captain for his game. He loves it. I think she loves it too. She is having fun, which is the most important thing.

I need to keep telling myself they are young and having fun. The most important thing is that they are both getting better as time goes and working hard. Sometimes I get wrapped up in the attitudes of the other parents and I don't want that.

Speaking of parents, there are some shady parents at my kids' school. TA and I have decided to go around some of these people and do what's best for our kids. If that means we move schools, so be it. At the end of the day, I want them to value hard work, no matter what they do.