Weekend fitness

Anyone who even occasionally reads my blog knows that I am a huge fan of Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body dvd series. In fact, I wrote a review that waxed enthusiastic about it for Her Active Life. Check it out here. Basically, I love it for its simplicity. It's broken down into three segments: abs, arms and buns---that pretty much covers the entire body. Each body part comes with a choice of Chapter 1 of 2, depending on how advanced you feel. Each chapter is only 15 minutes long. Seems short but it packs a strong punch!

I feel that I have mastered the abs and arms segments but always the buns portion was the most challenging for me. I have never had 15 minutes feel like such an eternity's length of time. And her sumo squats---yow! This weekend I threw the dvd in and I, once again, felt the powerful results of Body Pump. I actually made it through the entire 15 minutes without stopping to breath, stretch or just rub my legs in agony. And two days later my thighs are still burning. That is what I call a proud success.

After that 15 minutes segment, I pushed myself through my own version of upper body weights and abs. I'm still on a roll with the 100 a day until Reggae Fest. I did them for five days in a row last week and only skipped Sunday. I figure my gut needs a day off if the muscle fibers hope to heal and grow stronger.

Keep on keepin' on!

On the horizon

Our upcoming 2008 Reggae Fest takes place in about two weeks. The spectacular festival hosts a great combination of music, camping and swimming. Does it get any better? No, not for me. Having this on the calendar ups my desire to get in some fresh workouts before the big par-tay. My new goal is to do 100 sit-ups every day leading up to that weekend. I don't think doing them is as hard as remembering that I have the goal. I also want to stay steady in my balance of overtime, sleep and exercise. I've been doing great this whole week. Well, actually looking back to last weekend in Chicago, I biked and walked plenty. Monday I took a necessary day off for sleep. On Tuesday I managed my commute so that I park and walk for 30 minutes to work and then back to my car afterwards. On Wednesday I went to Body Pump. Thursday I did the same driving/walking commute. This morning I was up at 6 to get to the gym before a long day of sitting on my butt (ie, work). Hopefully I can keep up the streak while being realistic and listening to my body. Happy Friday!

Body Pump. It works!

I woke up this morning for an 8am Body Pump class. I'd never been to a morning class but since I have plans this evening it was the right time for today. Apparently, this time slot is quite a popular one. I'd never seen such a crowded class. Oh well. It's been a week since my last session with weights and I was eager to feel the burn. I upped my weights for a couple of different body parts. It was a serious struggle but I know I need to push myself to keep improving. Being comfortable can be the same as being complacent.

Anyways, I was in the kitchen at work when I first goto to the office and another co-worker happened to put her hand briefly on my shoulder as we were talking about the weather. (What else do coworkers discuss with enthusiasm?) After that brief exchange she showed up at my desk to tell me that she could feel how strong my arm was just with that quick grazing of her hand. I was thrilled! She asked me if I worked out to get like that. I mean she called me strong! Hallelujah! I quickly fired off an email to say how her words made my day so bright. Then she sent me this long reply about how I am an inspiration to her. And she was serious. She said that I look amazing. That was the most unexpected thoughtful precious moment of my recent days. It is very reassuring to have those reminders that there is a reason to stay on track and try to be healthy when you can. Sure I love my hash browns smothered in cheese and eggs and avocados or nachos towering with cheese but that's why I get up early and drag my tired buns in for some exercise.