Fitness Blender

Thursday Workout:

Walk with my dogs and sister (1.5 miles)

Friday Workout:

2 short Fitness Blender workouts

• Cardio Kickboxing HIIT Routine (8 Minutes)
•  Abs and Obliques (10 Minutes)

Ran 2 miles

I recently heard of Fitness Blender and decided to give some of their workouts a try yesterday. I was pretty happy with them. They have a wide variety of workouts that are all free!  I want to try some others out soon. The only thing I can say that I did not really like was that they did not fully explain the exercises before they had you do them, at least they did not it the ones I did, but it was not too hard to figure out from watching them. They did, however, sometimes have a little video box in the corner previewing the next exercise. I was still really impressed with the videos and they seemed to know what they are talking about.

HardCORE Wokout

See what I did there? B)

My workout today:

Part 1:

*Repeated 3 times with 30 second break between repeats

• 20 push-ups
• 1 minute plank
• 30 bridges

This part nearly killed me. Doing a plank after push-ups is hard. On the last repeat, my push-ups were so hard to finish and they were definitely not as deep as I would have liked them to be. I tried to keep good form though! I was shaking by the end of this!

Part 2:

*repeated twice with 30 second break in between

• 15 read the paper exercise
• 30 side oblique crunch
• 15 roll-up/ V-ups
• 15 seated crunchy frog
• 15 wide leg sit ups
• 30 crunches
• 30 vertical crunches

I think my abs got a great workout today! Some of the exercises that I used today are P90X exercises taken from Ab Ripper X, the first one is from the 2 Week Workout that I did a while ago, and the others are just a few that I do regularly. I have a feeling I’m going to be sore tomorrow.

The Cherry on Top: Ran 1 mile. I just wanted to get a bit of cardio in tonight. It was a very easy, short run, but it felt amazing.

Another thing that made today great:

Today I found a pair of 5 lb dumbbells at Goodwill. I bought them both for a total of $5.25! I recently acquired some 2s and 3s from a family friend-I was a bit disappointed because I thought they would have heavier ones since they have 2 teenage sons at home-so I have enough to work with for now. I really want some 10s and 15s, but I do not have the money to go out and buy them so I have been looking at thrift shops and will soon look around at garage sales to see if I can find some. I am really missing the luxury of a gym, but I can make due without one!

 

Abs + Arms

My family ran again this morning. Our loop is very short and it only took me 3:34 minutes to run it today since I was not trying to stay at the same pace as my mom and sisters. The rest of my family made it back in the next 1-2 minutes. I am proud of them for getting out there. They want to do it every day. I am taking my rest day tomorrow so they are going to as well.

What I have to work with: My dumbbell-free exercise equipment

Today I decided to work primarily on abs and then see what I wanted to do after that. I ended up doing abs, some core, and resistance for my arms.

My workout:

Excuse the poor handwriting

I did the whole  ab workout 4 times, for a total of over 600 abdominal moves. For the Russian twists I used 3 lbs in each hand. When I finished my ab work, it was a lot harder to do my core work than it usually would be. Before I started I was considering doing repeats of the push-ups and planks, but it was hard enough finishing just the 20 push-ups and 1 minute plank. I didn’t think I could make it through anymore, so I moved on. I was pretty shaky during my resistance workout because the ab workout took a lot of effort. I used my resistance band for all of the exercises.  I got through 20 reps of all of the exercises except for the last one. I tried to make it 5 more, but my arms just gave out on me. My whole torso is still shaking. It was an awesome workout.

Funny quote from my sister today: “You should join the Olympics!” HA! It made me feel good that my sister thinks I am doing such a great job, but I am nowhere near Olympics material. Even if I was, I do not think I would want to be in the Olympics. Too much work and pressure. It was cute of her to say that though.

Countdown Workout

I am done with all of my finals! Today I had my last final at 2:30. It was for psychology and it was 21 pages long. Let’s just say I was pretty much dead once I finished it. I went to my room and just collapsed until I had to eat dinner before going to church. I have been studying and studying and studying since Sunday, so I am really glad to be done! My workout today was only 30 minutes long (seemingly a trend for this week), but it was a good one! I found it on FitPsychology’s facebook page and I wanted to try it out!

Here it is:

She suggested repeating the whole thing 3 times, so that is what I did. It was great! It was just enough of a challenge and just long enough to make you feel like you had a productive workout! The only thing was that the push-ups made my wrists hurt even though I was using a mat. They feel fine now though!

Good news: My mom is going to be here tomorrow!

Sad news: My best friend is leaving tomorrow 😦 Buuuut my mom and I are taking him to the airport so I will get to spend a little time with him at lunch and in the car before he leaves. I am going to miss that kid so much. We grew up together and I feel so blessed that we got to share this year of college together. I do not know how long it will be until I see him again, but hopefully not too long. He is also really into fitness and clean eating. In fact, he is one of the main reasons I got into working out. He is way better at the clean eating thing than I am (he doesn’t like chocolate so it is easier for him!), but he helps me to keep with it.

My best friend and me!

Yesterday and Saturday Pinterest Challenge

So both today and yesterday I went to Busch Gardens with my cousin (and yesterday our friend came with us). Yesterday was my last day of classes for the semester and we left for BG at 1. We had a great time and spent 5 hours there. After walking around the park for 5 hours, I was pretty exhausted so I counted that as my workout for yesterday. Today, however, we went from 10-2, so I did workout a bit later on today.

My Saturday Pinterest Challenge Choice:

Abs and Legs Mini Circuit

• 25 sit-ups
• 25 mountain climbers
• 25 leg raises
• 1 minute plank

repeat 3 times

( I am having trouble with the picture uploader tonight)

This was not a super long workout, but it was still good nonetheless. With these exercises it does not take a long workout to feel them working.

I am very happy that today I got to have a lot of fun, work out, and spend a good amount of time studying for one of the 2 final exams I have on Monday. It was a very productive day!

Tuesday and Wedesday

I was going to post last night, but I had a rather horrible unexpected allergic reaction to something (still don’t know what I reacted to) that I had to take care of until about 1 Am. This week up until last night has been really busy with me finishing up my last projects before finals. My goal for Tuesday and Wednesday was basically to try and get some sort of exercise in. I did manage to both days!

Tuesday:

Tuesday was my busiest day this week. I was so tired by the time I had gotten everything done. I decided to work on my abs for about 25-30 minutes.

My workout:

• 30 crunches
• 30 reverse crunches
• 30 bicycles
• 30 vertical crunches

I did that routine about 4 or 5 times

• 1:30 minute plank
• An exercise where you write the alphabet in the air with your legs without bending your knees
• 50 bridges

It was a nice workout. I wish I could have done more, but I needed to study for a test.

Wednesday:

I missed my running on Tuesday and last night I only had about 30 minutes of workout time because there was a mandatory meeting I had to go to so I decided to just do running. It was a great run. I decided to increase my speed for 1 minute every 5 minutes just to see how it went. I was running at 5.5 mph and every time I increased speed, I increased it to 6 mph. Surprisingly, I really liked it. I thought it would be hard, but actually I felt like it made the time I was running seem shorter and it gave me something to look forward to. It was also a lot less boring. I wasn’t necessarily bored on previous runs, but increasing speed made me feel more engaged rather than just mechanically moving. It was fun.

I have not decided what I am going to do for my workout today, but I should have more time to work out than I did yesterday and Tuesday.

A Little Bit of Everything

I was pretty tired today. I lacked motivation both in studying for my upcoming test and in working out. I eventually got around to doing both though.

My workout today:

10 minutes stretching

Abs:

• crunches- 30 reps X2
• reverse crunches- 30 reps
• vertical crunch- 30 reps with 3 lbs
• roll up v-ups- 10 reps

Walked 5 minutes

Ran 1 mile

squats- 30 reps, 10 lbs

bicep curls- 20 reps, 10 lbs

1 minute plank

It was an okay workout considering that I really did not feel like doing much today. I am hoping I will feel more motivated tomorrow!

2 Week Workout Day 3

My workout today was essentially the same as the one I did on Monday (Strength Plan A and Speed Ladder). I think It went more smoothly today though.

The exercises:

• Hip Drop- X 10 each side
• Beach Ball Hug- X 6 each leg
• Full-Body Roll-Up- X 12
• Breast Stroke- X 10
• Read the Paper- X 12 each side

I like most of these exercises a lot, but I am still having trouble with the beach ball hug one. I just don’t feel like I am getting it completely right. I have the basic gist of the exercise, but I would like to do it correctly. I am trying to get the most out of this workout and still follow the instructions on the website so whenever I am given a recommended amount of reps to do, I always aim for the higher reps (like if it said 8-10 reps, I would do 10 if possible). I have noticed this about myself in other workouts too. I just feel like I need to put forth as much effort as I can in order to feel successful. It usually works pretty well.

I also did the Speed Ladder cardio workout. I don’t mind it, but I would like to run a bit. Just walking all week makes me feel a little lazy, even if it is for a half an hour each time. I really like walking, but running makes me feel accomplished. I might add some running in next time or maybe just bump the incline up.

Tonight I was so excited because I bought some grapes and some Mini Babybel Light cheese and I thought to myself “This is gonna be so great for a snack tonight!”, but I ate a grape and it was not a very good grape so I ate another grape and another and none of them tasted very good. It was so sad. They didn’t look bad and they weren’t awful, but I was really looking forward to some nice, crisp grapes. However, I still enjoyed the cheese and I made some nice blueberry tea to drink so it ended up being a fairly pleasant snack after all.

2 Week Workout Day 1

Today was my first day trying this new workout I found on Pinterest. For the first week I am supposed to alternate between Strength Plan A and Strength Plan B. Both have a 30 minute cardio workout following them.

My impression after the first day:

It seems like a good plan so far. I felt my muscles working throughout each of the exercises and it uses a slow-motion method to engage each muscle and fiber. The only thing with this that I can see as a slight problem is that it is really hard to keep track of repetitions because you do each exercise for so many “counts” so it is hard to keep track of how many you have actually done. Also, some were a little bit hard to understand how to do properly, but I think I managed alright.

Today’s workout was Strength Plan A with Speed Ladder (the cardio part):

• Hip Drop- X 8-10 ( I think I did 10)
• Beach Ball Hug- X 6
• Full-Body Roll-Up- # of reps not specified on the website, but I think I did 10-12
• Breast Stroke- X 10
• Read The Paper- X 12

Then the Speed Ladder was a 30 minute mostly walking interval cardio workout. It was alright. I will include a link so you can see descriptions of each exercise, the cardio workout, and everything else about the workout.

The Link: http://www.prevention.com/print/26102

Day 48: Mini Relay for Life + Other Workout

Today my college was holding a mini version of Relay for Life at our gymnasium. I was not really sure what to expect of it, but I went anyway. It went from 2-8 PM, but I went at around 4:25 and stayed until 7:15(ish). It was not as populated as I thought it would be, but then I was not really sure what it was in the first place. All I knew was that it was to support cancer. It ended up being pretty fun and I walked about 5 miles or so. I think my school could have done a better job at explaining what it was though. Don’t get me wrong, they advertised it quite well with posters all around campus and announcements and they even set it up for dinner to be served at the gym instead of the cafeteria. However, not many people had a good idea of what it was all about and most people showed up just to get food because it was the only option for people who don’t have cars to get dinner.

The other workout I did today was at about 12:00 PM. I stretched for 10 minutes and then did some ab work followed by a few other exercises.

Abs:

• 100 sit-ups
• 30 side crunches each side
• 30 vertical leg crunches
• 30 reverse crunches
• 2 minute plank

Other:

• Lat pull down- 20 reps, 90 lbs
• Chest press- 20 reps, 50 lbs
• Squats-30 reps, 10 lbs
• 1:30 minute wall sit

I worked out a lot today! I am very happy. And it was fairly low intensity compared to running, which I am hesitant to do for a few days because I do not want to throw up! I think I am all clear to start the new 2 week workout I wanted to try next week! That should be an interesting experiment!

If you want a new yummy breakfast idea to try, check out my recipe for cold oatmeal on my Food page! It’s better than it sounds!