leg workout #1

Okay, let me just be 100% transparent.

I hate leg workouts. I would love to do arms all day. 

But legs? I'll pass. 

And that's why my legs look the way they do. Lol. 

Thankfully, I have boot camp to push me to do them anyway, 

or else I'd probably give up. 

There's something about having a dozen other people doing it with you 

and a trainer telling you 

"it's not how you start it's how you finish" 

or tricking you into holding a squat for 5 extra seconds 

because she has the stopwatch and you just wait for her to say "up!" 

Then she chuckles and says, "I made you stay down for 5 extra seconds. 

Don't you love me?!"

Yeah, you'll love (in that "hate" sorta way) me too after doing this workout we did on Wednesday. 

Oh, and some of the things we did I have no idea what they are actually called or I couldn't find a video/description, so I'll just put an asterisk (*) next to them and describe them after the workout list 

Run 2 laps around a neighborhood (just to get heart rate up)

3-minutes of:

 30-seconds of high knees + 5 jump squats

Grap a stability ball and a 5-lb dumbbell (or more if you can)
and do 4 sets of the following exercises:
15 leg extensions with weight*
15 wall squats with ball**
15-sec of one-leg hold***
30-second wall sit

3 minutes of: 

walking lunges with weights, with a 15-sec hold (down in a lunge) 

every 30 seconds

Grab a jump rope and crate (box that paper comes in will work) 

and do 3 sets of the following:

50 jump ropes
15 squats with butt touching the crate/box
30 mountain climbers

3 minutes of: 
squat jumps across a room + 5 jump squats

backwards run across a room + 30 mountain climbers

3 minutes of: 
sprint across a room + 10 jump lunges

backwards run across a room + 30 mountain climbers

30 seconds of lateral run**** + 30 seconds of jump squats

30 seconds of lateral run + 30 seconds of jump lunges

30 seconds of lateral run + 30 seconds of mountain climbers

3 sets of:

15 squats + hold last squat for 15 seconds

3-minutes of:

 30-seconds of high knees + 5 jump squats

**********

Description of exercises:

* Leg extensions with weight: Sit on floor with 1 dumbbell between feet. Lean backwards on tailbone, hands supporting on floor behind you, and extend legs up and outward. 

** Wall squat with ball: Place stability ball against wall, back touching the ball. Assume a squat stance and squat, rolling the ball down the wall. Stay on your toes to get maximum range of motion.

*** One-leg hold: Place one leg in front of the other, bring hands to the ground to balance. Align back knee right behind front knee (will have to twist a bit) and lift back leg off ground. Balance on toe of front foot and hold. Alternate which foot is in front for each set.

**** Lateral run: Stay low and run sideways in a line (or circle if you have room). Stay on your toes and keep your steps light. You'll like of look like you're shuffling to the side. DON'T HOP! 

**********

A tip/note about squats:

Make sure you are driving through your heels at all times (unless doing wall squats with a stability ball, which are done on your toes) - you should be able to wiggle/lift your toes off the ground if you are doing it right. Normal floor squats should look like you are about to sit in a chair: keep your back straight and push your butt back/out. Your knees should never come further out than your toes. 

arm workout #1

Hi lovelies! 

Today I'm sore. So sore. It's a good sore, but still. 

Monday was arms day and boy did I feel it!
I was feeling pretty good until I woke up yesterday and could.not.move.
Rigor mortis had set in.

You know you wanna feel it for yourself... go on, give it a try:

Run 2 laps around a neighborhood (just to get heart rate up)

3-minutes of:

 30-seconds of high knees + 5 pop squats

3-minutes of: 
30-seconds of butt kicks + 15-seconds of push-ups (or modified on knees)
2 laps around a neighborhood

Grap a stability ball and a set of 5-lb dumbbells* (or more if you can)
and do 3 sets of the following exercises while sitting on the ball:
15 bicep curls
15 hammer curls
15 concentration curls
30 mountain climbers (with hands on ball)

3 minutes of: 
30-seconds of high knees + 5 pop squats

Sit on your ball, do 3 sets of the following exercises:
15 seated tricep extensions
15 lying tricep extensions
15 dips

3 minute crab walk with your hands turned inward toward your back
2 laps around a neighborhood

Sit on your ball, do 3 sets of the following exercises:
15 side lateral raises
15 front raises
15 shoulder presses
15 rear delt raises (you'll need to roll forward on your ball a bit)
30 mountain climbers (with hands on ball)

30 high knees
15 jumping jacks
15 push-ups
15 diamond push-ups

That's "it" folks! Bahaha... you will hate me (and love me).

Warning: Do not attempt to blow dry your hair the day after this workout lol.


*Tip from my trainer to me and now to you: 
If your weights get too heavy after doing many reps, switch to lower weights or drop them altogether for the remaining reps. It is more important to have good form and complete all the reps/sets than to push through with the 5-lb weights and have crappy form or only squeak 5 reps out. Pace yourself, but don't give up! You should be struggling by the end of the sets. Stick with the weights as long as you can while keeping proper form. 

back to boot camp

So almost a week has come and gone since declaring my re-commitment to healthier living. Last Monday I started working out again consistently {3x a week} for the first time in many months. It was hard, but I loved it. Are you surprised that I loved it? I know... it sounds weird, but when you find a workout that you actually look forward to doing, it's much less "work" and much more "empowering."

For me, that workout is boot camp. Last summer I started taking a boot camp class {this one} after getting a $30 Groupon to take 12 classes {3 classes a week for 4 weeks}. I figured if I hated it or didn't stick with it, I wasn't wasting an arm and a leg. But, to my surprise, I actually fell in love with it. 

It was so empowering to see muscles form, be able to increase weights, do more reps, run faster, etc. I ended up becoming a boot camp junkie and went for about 4 months. My trainer, Lisa, even nicknamed me 

"Amanda Hard Core." 

Then the holidays came so I "fell off the wagon" for a couple months. I was ready to start back up again in January, and I got sick for three months. {You can read about that here and here on my other blog}. I got out of the swing of things and just kind of put working out on the back-burner. 

But another Groupon came along for the same boot camp and I was inspired to go back. I started last Monday with a different trainer than last summer and it was a totally different experience. I wouldn't say it was bad, per se, but it definitely wasn't Lisa. And I didn't feel like I worked out as hard as I did last summer. I mean it was hard, but not 

I-think-I'm-going-to-puke-so-I-better-sit-down hard. 

Plus, it was a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday class from 6p-7p {which is what I did last summer}, but with my schedule much busier and needing my weeknights open, coupled with my lack of enthusiasm for Ray, I knew something would have to change or I wouldn't be committed. I knew that Lisa taught the morning camp at the same location, so I tried out the 5:30am {yikes!} class last Friday. I was hooked again! I immediately emailed the owner of the company and asked to be switched into Lisa's a.m. camp. Yesterday I got the OK, and this morning it was up at 5am to get to boot camp! Woot!

Here are some things I've learned since starting boot camp:

1. You have to drink plenty of water daily while doing a workout plan. About half your body weight in fluid ounces is usually pretty good. 
2. Relatedly, if you're like me and still get light-headed even if you're well-hydrated, add a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt to each glass of water you drink. It puts good minerals back in the water that filtration/purification takes out. Don't worry, if you only do a pinch, it won't taste like you're gargling saltwater. 
3. Your knees will tear open and bleed a little if you do 300 girl push-ups in one hour, with half of them done on an asphalt parking lot.
4. Your scabbed knees that you've been applying Neosporin to all weekend will break open during the first run of Monday's class.
5. You should not wear high heels to work the day of/after a leg-day. 
6. It is possible to get up at 5am and do a workout!

Thanks for following me on this journey. I really hope you join me... 

follow me on the left! 

I'll be back on Wednesday to share an awesome arm workout that we did this morning. Get ready!

it's a daily choice

Hi blogworld!

I've decided to start this new little blog endeavor as a way to share my journey {however that looks} to living a healthier, more balanced life.

Let me first start off with the reason behind the blog title:

Daily Choice

I don't believe in diets. When you set out to "lose weight," you end up "finding it" again, and sometimes more!

I've dieted before. I mean, I've dieted quite a bit. I've struggled with weight issues since I was about twelve years old. Luckily, I didn't get into the fads of yo-yo dieting or develop any eating disorders, which I'm very thankful for. But, I did Weight Watchers for a while in high school and it {sort of} worked. I mean, after all, it is simply portion control and not a diet when you really look at it.

That brings me to what I do believe in. I believe in lifestyle change. Making choices everyday to live better. I call it DAILY CHOICE because that's what we have. We have a daily choice to do differently. It doesn't really matter if you had a "bad day" yesterday. So what! You didn't work out and you ate a piece an entire cake {no I've never done that, but it sounds good, right?}. It's a new day and today you can choose to act differently. Why put it off until Monday or the start of the month? We all do it... We make excuses. But there's no better time than right NOW.

This blog won't be perfect, because I'm not perfect. There will be days that I flat out don't follow what I suggest on here. So don't hold it against me. I can choose differently the next day... and so can you!

So who's with me?! Want to make the Daily Choice to live better? 

"Follow" me and my blog {on the left} and comment on this post, letting me know what you want to hear about! My plan is to include workouts, recipes, tips, etc., but I'd love to write about what you really want to hear about!