July 28, 2008 - Cardio and full body weights

I started out on the elliptical trainer for 30 minutes and burned about 355 calories. I'm never too certain how accurate these things are with the telling of the burned calories...

Did a circuit for about 45 minutes with weights and plyometrics. I lunges, jumped, stepped up, squatted, and anything else I could think of. Nothing was consistent except that I tried to keep moving, and have a weight of some sort in my hands while I was doing it!

I ended the workout with some abs and 12 minutes on the treadmill doing sprints. 1.18 miles and 171 calories later, I was done with my workout.

For some reason I don't feel like I got a good workout in unless I'm drenched with sweat and have completed a few sprints at the end. Something about seeing the treadmill read "10.0 MPH" that gets me excited about working out. I've gotten up to 11.2 MPH and I felt like I was flying! It was an amazing feeling!

July 27, 2008 Active Rest Day

Well, we're in beautiful Lake Tahoe (actually Olympic Valley if you want to be technical about it) and I love the smell of the forest in the summer. Something about the pine trees that really awakens my senses and gets me relaxed. We fell asleep last night with the plan to go running in the morning. We got all ready and headed out on our run around 10 a.m. with Reese in the jogging stroller.
Unfortunately, the smoke, from all the wildfires ripping through northern California, was against us! We barely ran for a mile and we were huffing and puffing with burning lungs. Partially from the elevation (6200 feet!) but also from the thick smoke that lingered in the valley. Well, at least we got out of the hotel room, which was amazing, by the way! We met some friends for lunch (a salad to make up for my lack of exercise this weekend) and headed home. It was a great weekend with friends that are more like family, great scenery, delicious food, and the serene feeling of getting away from the daily grind and city life. Why don't we come up here more often!?!

Rest Day - July 20, 2008

I hate rest days. I am very aware that in order to make progress, we must have these rest days in our workout routine, however, I am not a fan. I feel like, once I've hit my stride, I need to stay with it, or my enthusiasm is going to start fading. I've started to see results, which is great. It makes me want to keep going, push harder and workout longer.

In fact, my glutes are still sore from all the lunges and squats I did a few days ago. Now, I know that I need to rest them, but I absolutely love this soreness. I call it my sweet pain. Make it hurt so good! Call me crazy, but I love the feeling because it is the mark of a sincerely serious workout that is helping me to build muscle, in turn boosting my metabolism, which burns more fat when I'm doing sedentary things. You know, like typing on a computer!

So even though I hate rest days, I am well aware of their importance. Because, while I love the "sweet pain" I need to be able to walk up my stairs to go to sleep, eventually. Besides, that just means I'm resting my muscles for another serious beating!

July 19, 2008 - Cardio

Well, 40 minutes on the elliptical at 485 calories burned, then another 15 minutes on the treadmill with almost 200 calories burned. at this rate I can burn off a pound every five days in the gym!

Unfortunately, this victory over my evil caloric enemies was short lived when I failed to plan time for making lunch and came to work starving. Only to ruin all my hard work in the gym with a Sirloin Bacon Cheeseburger from Jack-in-the-Box. Complete with medium (um how is 32 oz of anything considered "medium"?) Dr. Pepper and curly fries. Evil temptress that you are, cheeseburger. I will live to fight you another day, cravings!

July 18, 2008 - Weight training

Today was my "PULL" day. I was to work my back and bicep muscles.
I started off with 25 minutes of cardio on the treadmill with intervals. 4.3 MPH/7.0 MPH
According to the treadmill's computer, this burned almost 300 calories.

My weight training:
Lat Pull down:
75 lbs X 12 reps ............. 3 sets

Cable Row:
60 lbs X 12/12/10 reps

This was supposed to be followed by two bicep exercises, but I ran out of time and had to jet home so I could take a nap before work! Better luck next time, I guess!

July17, 2008 - Weight Training

"PUSH" Day = Chest and Triceps, with some legs mixed in just for fun!

Cardio: Treadmill Intervals (4.3/7.0)
36:05
448 Calories Burned!!! Woohoo!!
3.16 miles

Dumbell bench press (high reps)
10 lbs X 25/25/25

Dumbell Flye (high reps)
10 lbs X 25/20/20

Lunge with dumbell press (shoulders)
10 lbs X 20/20 (each leg)

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise (shoulders)
10 lbs X 12/12/12

Dumbbell Extension (Triceps)
10 lbs X 12/10 (each arm)

Kettle ball (substitute one dumbbell) swing with Squat (full body)
10 lbs X 20/20/20

V-Ups (abdominals)
25/25/25/30

Wow! This was quite a workout! With the running and everything it took about 90 minutes. Afterwards I went home, mowed the lawn and relaxed a little. Then I took my mom and my daughter for a walk around the reservoir, which is about 2.75 miles. Unfortunately my munchkin didn't like the stroller too much, so I held a 17 pound baby for about 1.5 miles of the walk! Man, did I sleep good!!

July 16, 2008 - CARDIO sessions

Yesterday I weighed in at the gym at a whopping 188 pounds. This was on the scale downstairs in the women's locker room where I can generally weigh-in in peace and some privacy. Plus the scale upstairs in the weight room shows that I'm a few pounds heavier. So, we're sticking with the downstairs demon of weight-loss tracker.

This was, of course after spending 20 minutes on the stationary bike and another 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, I burned a total of 400 calories.

Today is weights. I always feel very powerful after a good weight training session!