Friday Favorites

Today's Workout:
Treadmill Workout (15 minutes of walking/running )
Total Body Weights Workout (circuit-style, 3 sets of 12 for each exercise)
1A: Dumbbell squat
1B: Cable row
1C: Dumbbell step-ups
1D: Lat pull-down
1E: Barbell straight-leg deadlift
2A: Biceps curl
2B: Dumbbell lateral lunge
2C: Dumbbell shoulder press
2D: Dumbbell sumo squat
2E: Ab pull-ups

I thought that each Friday I would post things that are my current "favorites" regarding health, fitness, food and just life in general. So here goes...

1. SPRING!!!
This definitely tops my list this morning. Today is actually a dark and gloomy day here in Maryland, but we've had enough nice days to make me really excited that spring is finally here. We love to drive around and see all the new blossoms on the trees and the flowers that are beginning to pop up.

(Image found here)

2. The PUSH-UP
This is one of my favorite workout moves because it works almost the entire body, can be done just about anywhere and requires no special equipment. I have to admit that these are getting harder and harder for me to do as my belly expands, but I still love 'em!!

(Image found here)

3. My Magic Bullet
Jason got this for me for Christmas and I use it just about everyday. There are lots of things that you can use it for, but mostly I just make smoothies with it and I absolutely LOVE it. It's super quick and easy to clean and makes a perfect single-serving-after-workout shake for me each day.

(Image found here)

So what are some things that you are loving today?

Weekly Challenge (Sep. 13-Sep. 19, 2010)

First things first this morning...

The lucky winner of this bondiband is...

Stephanie T.!!!

Congratulations Stephanie!! Unless you've moved I still have your address so I'll be shipping it off to you shortly. I hope this helps to keep your hair back a bit better during your basketball sessions!!

So how did the challenge go for you last week with increasing your workouts in some way? I was able to get in one bodyrock.tv workout but I hope to be able to do more of those types of interval workouts soon after my half-marathon this Saturday...wait, did I just say THIS Saturday? Why yes, my race is this weekend and I'm both scared and excited about it. Scared because my backside is still giving me issues but excited because I've trained long and hard for it and I just hope and pray that everything somehow comes together for me on race day! Did any of you have any luck in increasing the volume and/or intensity of your workouts this week?

The challenge for this week will be a bit different. It has to do with something that I've wanted to do for myself ever since I started seeing other people make them and incorporate them into their lives. The challenge is to make yourself a "vision board." This will be a visual reminder that you will put up some place to remind you of what your goals are, whatever they may be. Maybe it's to lose 5-10 pounds, build muscle, buy a house, improve a relationship, workout more regularly or to eat healthy foods...whatever your goals may be, you have to envision yourself doing it before you can achieve it and that's what this vision board will do for you. It will also help to keep you motivated when your resolve may be weak!

Here's a description of a vision board that I found here...

A vision board (also called a Treasure Map or a Visual Explorer or Creativity Collage) is typically a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you have torn out from various magazines. It’s simple.

The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.

The Five Steps of Creating a Vision Board:

Step 1: Go through your magazines and tear the images from them. No gluing yet! Just let yourself have lots of fun looking through magazines and pulling out pictures or words or headlines that strike your fancy. Have fun with it. Make a big pile of images and phrases and words.

Step 2: Go through the images and begin to lay your favorites on the board. Eliminate any images that no longer feel right. This step is where your intuition comes in. As you lay the pictures on the board, you’ll get a sense how the board should be laid out. For instance, you might assign a theme to each corner of the board. Health, Job, Spirituality, Relationships, for instance. Or it may just be that the images want to go all over the place. Or you might want to fold the board into a book that tells a story.

Step 3: Glue everything onto the board. Add writing if you want. You can paint on it, or write words with markers.

Step 4: (optional, but powerful) Leave space in the very center of the vision board for a fantastic photo of yourself where you look radiant and happy. Paste yourself in the center of your board.

Step 5: Hang your vision board in a place where you will see it often.

I know that may sound kind of cheesy to some of you, but I think we all tend to underestimate the power of positive thinking and of having concrete goals to focus on in life. By next Monday, I hope to be posting my own vision board. Hopefully this will give me enough motivation to get it done!!

Also, my brother-in-law suggested that I allow for people to check in on their progress on any challenges that they may have started. He's been doing a great job on following the "100 Push-up Challenge." I ended up skipping an entire week (bad Dadra!!) so I am only on Week #3 now. He is scaring me about weeks 4-6 though so maybe it's good that I am a week behind!! So far so good on the plan...I can currently do 30 consecutive push-ups which I'm excited about but wondering how in the world I'll be able to do 100 in just another month. Maybe that's something that should go on my vision board! Anybody else out there that would like to update on their challenges too?

Talking Point: How many of you are going to commit to doing a vision board this week?

Upper Body Strength

Here were the results from this morning's 4-miler...

Average pace: 8:10 min/mile

I was actually really pleased with my time this morning. I woke up feeling a little stiff and sore from the BodyStep and BodyPump classes that I took yesterday. I really just wanted to press snooze and sleep for another hour or two but I groggily rolled out of bed, laced up my running shoes and headed out the door when it was still a bit dark outside. I perked up once I got moving and I was glad that I got up and did my run early this morning. It always starts my day off on a good note!

With these achy muscles, I am really looking forward to my BodyFlow class tonight. I feel like I really need a good stretch!!

Last night I also started the 100 Push-Up Challenge which I posted about last week (Looks like there are four of us doing this now...Me, Jason, Ben and Stephanie!) I am doing it along with Jason so we started on column 3 of week #1. We both completed it (although Jason wasn't so sure he would be able to finish the last set, but he pushed them out in the end!) How's the challenge going for you all?

To me, there are two moves that epitomize upper-body strength...the push-up and the pull-up/chin-up. Both of these moves are great because they work so many different muscles in the upper body area as well as provide an excellent challenge for your core muscles. (Actually can you guess which exercise has been shown to be the ABSOLUTE best exercise to work the rectus abdominus....it's the chin-up!! I was surprise by this too! You can read the entire article here, but here's a brief excerpt:

"Probably the most shocking result of this entire experiment was the level of rectus abdominis activity elicited by a bodyweight chin-up! It beat out any other abdominal exercise, weighted exercises and all, in mean and peak rectus abdominis activity.

Chin-ups are ultimate "anti-extension" exercise for the low back. Some lifters let their lower back arch excessively, which is not only unsafe, but sub-optimal. If they brace their lower back and keep a straight line from their shoulders to knees, the core musculature has to work very hard to prevent the low back from extending.

Another surprise was that using extra weight on chin-ups via a dip belt didn't increase rectus abdominis activity—it lowered it. If you're aiming to get a great core workout via chin ups, I recommend performing slow, controlled repetitions while focusing on keeping the hips and spine perfectly neutral throughout the set."

(BTW: The difference between a pull-up and a chin-up is in the position of the hands. In a chin-up, your palms face you and in a pull-up, your palms face away from you.)

Currently I can do about 25-30 push-ups on my toes without stopping, and hopefully by the end of the 6-week challenge, I will be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups!! However, I also want to be able to do some chin-ups and pull-ups. Chin-ups are a bit easier since your biceps can contribute more to the movement. I can bust out one, maybe two chin-ups on a good day, but I cannot for the life of me complete even ONE pull-up. They are SOOOO hard for me.

But I will DO IT!! And here's how...I will start by doing flexed arm hangs and negative pull-ups. Here's an explanation of both (full article here)...

For the flexed arm hang boost yourself up – either have a friend spot you or step up on a bench – so that your chin is above the bar. Once in this position, pull the elbows down and slightly back, keep your chest up and tighten your lats before you take your feet off the bench. The idea here is to hold yourself in this “chin over the bar” position for as long as possible. At first shoot for a 15 second hold and take a 2-minute rest before your next hold. Four sets of holds is a good place to start. Add time as your strength increases.

When you are hanging, bend your knees so that your feet are behind you and your torso and thighs form a straight line. Don’t lift your knees up in front as this will develop a bad habit that will retard your progress. Work to minimize or eliminate the body from swinging as this wastes precious strength.

Negative pull-ups will help develop the strength necessary to perform pull-ups. Get into the “chin over the bar” position but instead of staying in the flexed arm position, you will lower yourself down to the “dead hang” position. Try to lower your body on a 5-count and don’t just drop and flop. There will be a point just before the dead hang position where there’s the urge to relax, but continue to exert control.

Use the same initial position and form doing the negative pull up that’s used in the flexed arm hang. Lock in with your lats, bend your knees and keep your feet behind you. Maintain control as you start your decent and keep your lats tight. If you have a spotter they can help steady you before the drop.

The goal should be to do four single 5-count negative pull-ups with 2-minutes rest in between each. As you progress – and as your confidence grows – add reps to the routine.

I'm going to start my "Pull-up" challenge this week by implementing the flexed arm hangs and negative pull-ups into my workout regime. I'll keep you updated on my progress. My goal is to be able to do 5 full chin-ups and 5 full pull-ups. Pretty lofty (at least for me!) but now that I've officially posted my goal, there's no turning back now!!

Talking Point: How do you feel about push-ups and chin-ups/pull-ups? Can you do any pull-ups? What other exercises are the epitome of strength to you?

Do you push-up?

The push-up is one of the most simple yet most effective exercises that you can do. It helps to tone your chest of course, but it also works almost your entire upper body (triceps, shoulders, back) and strengthens your core muscles too. And the best thing about a push-up is that it can be done pretty much anywhere...at the gym, at home, at a park, in a hotel room, etc. No equipment necessary!

So how many push-ups can you do? Can you do 100 consecutive push-ups with good form? If not, I have found a program for you. It's called the "100-Push-Up" challenge and it promises to get you to be able to do 100 push-ups in about 6 weeks. All you have to do is commit to doing the program three times per week for a total of 30 minutes (about 10 minutes each day). So are you up for the challenge? If so, check out the program here.

I think I have convinced my husband to do this program with me. We will be doing our initial assessment this week and then officially starting the program on Monday. Want to join along...I think it will be fun!!

Talking Point: Do you do push-ups? How many do you think you could do right now? Are you going to join us in this challenge?