Yesterday was my first day back to doing Body Pump. It really was great. My legs are killing me, but it honestly feels great.
I honestly love Body Pump because it combines both cardio and strength training. It burns over 560 calories in one hour and really is a challenge.
Do you all do Body Pump?!
Or any other fitness class at the gym?!
I’m thinking about getting into hot yoga… has anyone tried it? If so what do you think?!
Ha! I’m so cleaver.
Today is Day 18… Yup… we are only 7 days away from being done with 25 Days of Fitness.
Abs seem to be a major concern for both men and women. I know they are the second most concerning area on my body, the first is thighs, which we talked about a week or so ago. I want super toned legs, thighs, butt and abs. I’d think I’m happy with everything else. Hence, today I want to spend talking about what the anatomy of the abdominal area are, how to exercise each one so that you can get Absolutely Amazing Abs.
- Rectus Abdominis.
The rectus abdominis is situated at the front of the pelvis, between the ribs and the pubic bone. This is the main set of muscles one often refers to when they discuss "the six pack", due to its several bumpy ridges, which jut out directly in front of the body.
The rectus abdominis serves to move the body between the ribcage and the pelvis.
- Transversis Abdominis.
This muscle is situated deep within the abdominal complex. Its main role is to maintain internal abdominal pressure, and stabilize the trunk.
- Internal Obliques.
These muscles are located just inside the hip bones, flanking either side of the rectus abdominis. Their role is to twist the body, via their contraction.
- External Obliques.
These also flank the rectus abdominus and function to allow trunk rotation.
You should not be spending hours on your abs, but you should make your workouts count. The usual recommendation that I have seen and have used is 15 to 20 minutes every other day, even when it’s a rest day. Since your abs have several different muscle groups, and you work them every other day, they have the days in between to rest and heal up.
Here are some of the exercises that have been proven to be effective according to the San Diego State University and the American Council on Exercise Abdominal Study. Click on the title of the exercise to see the video provided by bodybuilding.com.
Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground. Put your hands beside your head. Bring knees up to about 45-degree angle and slowly go through a bicycle pedal motion. Touch your left elbow to your right knee, then your right elbow to your left knee. Keep even relaxed breathing throughout. (Source)
Stabilize your upper body by gripping the handholds and lightly pressing your lower back against the back pad. The starting position begins with you holding your body up and legs dangling below. Now slowly lift your knees in toward your chest. The motion should be controlled and deliberate as you bring the knees up and return them back to the starting position. (Source)
Sit on the ball with your feet flat on the floor. Let the ball roll back slowly. Now lie back on the ball until your thighs and torso are parallel with the floor. Place hands behind your head (or cross your arms over your chest) and slightly tuck your chin in toward your chest. Contract your abdominals raising your torso to no more than 45 degrees. For better balance, spread your feet wider apart.(Source)
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor in front of you. Lie on an exercise mat rather than hard floor to prevent back strain. Position your feet hip distance apart. Place your hands behind your head so that your thumbs are tucked behind your ears. Hold elbows slightly out to the sides and keep chin pointing upward. Curl up and forward lifting your head neck and shoulder blades off the floor. Make sure you're not pulling your head forward with your hands. (Source)
I hope y’all enjoyed this post. Let me know what are some other exercises you do that are effective for the abs. I have quite a few that I do, but I thought I’d share the ones out of my routine that are thought to be the best out there. SO if nothing else, do these four!!
Today is Day 17 of the 25 Days of Fitness… and wanna know what I learned? Do ya?!
My body HURTS… I’m insanely out of shape, and have become obsessed with getting back into shape. The obsession and my nasty habit of perfectionism have kicked in … hence why the blogs have been lacking. I’m trying to put together the perfect guides, and plans and lists to help my self set up a system. I always need a system, some kind of an outline to guide me, otherwise I fall apart and give up.
When I get obsessed over a topic, whether school, politics, clothing, cars, exercise… you get the idea… I start venting to my grandfather. My grandpa is one of those awesome ones who knows a little about everything, and while he can be grumpy and set in his ways there is always something I can learn from him. So in my insane hunt for a healthier lifestyle and my grandfather’s recent encounter and beating of cancer we’ve talked a great deal about exercising, losing excess fat, staying fit and eating healthy…
To make a long story short, I was bestowed with two new books about exercising. My grandfather stated that they were his “health Bibles” and knowing the kind of health that man is in at 78… I’m going to say these babies are diamonds!
The books are both by Covert Bailey who is the author of four national bestsellers. He also happens to be a nutritionist with a Biochemistry degree from MIT. At the age of 78 he is still running, backpacking, skiing and kayaking and lives his life with the philosophy that “staying in shape should be enjoyable.”
I will be sharing my findings from his books with you very soon. For now I wanted to leave you with the Are You Fit or Fat? List which is the table of contents for one of the books.
Fit people sing. Fat people float.
Fit people are fat-burners. Fat people are sugar-burners.
When Fit people eat sugar, they make glycogen. When Fat people eat sugar, they make fat.
Fit people have lots of fat-burning enzymes. Fat people have few fat-burning enzymes.
Fit people use fat efficiently. Fat people store fat efficiently.
When Fit people exercise, it is usually aerobic exercise. When Fat people exercise, it is often anaerobic exercise.
Fit people “waste” energy in everyday activities. Fat people “conserve” energy throughout the day.
Fit people have long, lean, shapely muscles. Fat people have short, round, fatty muscles.
Fit people can be overweight without being overfat. Fat people can be overfat without being overweight.
Exercise decreases hunger in Fit people. Exercise triggers hunger in Fat people.
Here is to the first weigh in week of the Weight Loss Challenge hosted by the fantastic Lindsey over at Mr. and Mrs. Smith (check out her fabulous blog if you haven’t yet!!)
I am linking up with all the lovely ladies who are participating and trying to lose the last few pounds before the summer season! It’s a great group that helps encourage each other on one of the hardest roads to undertake. Weight loss and fitness are essential to a healthy lifestyle and I am a strong believe that strong and encouraging support groups are the key to staying on track and meeting goals.
Last Thursday was the first week of the challenge and the initial goals were made. You can read all about mine here.
I am 5’7’’
I weigh somewhere around 146 pounds
I’d like to be at about a 125-130
My goal is to lose about 15 to 20 pounds
I am happy to report that when I got on the scale today I weighed 141.2 pounds. Which was surprising, because my weight had not budged at all in the past two months. I’ve been at a steady 145.7 to 146.2. I do have to admit I am really bad about weighing myself continuously, daily or even weekly, so I think my last weight check was about a week and a half (maybe two weeks) ago. Which means that the weight loss might not be all during the last week. However I’m happy with it! *Dancing a little jig and celebrating*
You can read all about what I’ve been doing here, here, here and here.
I have started taking fatty acids and a fat burner in addition to my multivitamins, calcium and protein. I am also looking into some other nutrition methods such as consuming more power foods!
If you want to get more of my tips check out the 25 Days of Fitness!!!
Day 2: Baby Steps to a Healthier Lifestyle – drinking more water
Day 3: The Four Basic Elements of Health
Day 4: Foundational Supplements
Day 5: Performance Supplements
Day 6: Results take some time
Day 8: Reasons weight loss takes time
One of my favorite bloggers (Meghan) is participating in a weight loss challenge presented by Mr.&Mrs. Smith, so I am going to link up with these girls and play along. Since my 25 Days of Fitness are hopefully leading me to a weight loss, I’d like to keep it up through the 8 weeks and see if I will be able to get to my goal weight.
Sorry this is a day late guys!
I’m very excited to have a goal set and have people motivating me to move towards it.
Hello! Summer vacations and new bikinis! Woohoo!
Good luck all!
“You live longer once you realize that any time spent unhappy is wasted” – Ruth E. Renkl
Welcome to Day 5!
We are now officially 1/5 of the way there! How do you all feel?! Have you kept up with exercising daily?! I know I almost skipped out on yesterday, until the Mister pretty much dressed me in my workout clothing and carried me down two flights of stairs and set me right between the elliptical and the treadmill. I must say, my Hub is the best, and the workout made me feel fantastic. I could feel all the grossness of the day leaving my body with the sweat.
Win! Zara –1 Grossness – 0!!!
Today I’m babysitting my beautiful niece, so my workout will be later in the evening when she is handed over to her parents and I have done tutoring. My hair also needs a good washing and some TLC from Kaitlin, my beautiful hairstylist. I’m thinking of turning the red back into an ash or platinum blond… Much easier to maintain and a higher contrast then red and black… What y’all think?!
I don’t want as much blond in it, but what’s the verdict on the contrast. I am debating between going back to a dark chocolate brown or a midnight black as well… Kaitlin will make almost anything happen, hence I just need to decide what I want.
Now that that’s out of the way, I want to talk a little bit more about supplements for health and fitness! The post yesterday (here) covered multivitamins, whey protein and fatty acids which are the foundational supplements. Today, I want to talk about some of the other recommended supplements that I discovered.
This group of supplements is called the Performance Supplements
Thermogenic Fat Burner:
So I had never heard of a fat burner… I was and still am a little hesitant of what this little guy does, but trainers like Jamie Eason highly recommend it. The fat burner supposedly helps maintain high energy levels, enhances focus and helps get you through the workout with plenty of energy.
When shopping for your fat burner, you should watch out for long lists and huge proprietary blends. Ideally, you want to see exactly how much of each ingredient you're getting. Look for quality ingredients like caffeine or other natural stimulants, tea extracts - green tea extract being one of the best, l-carnitine, and herbal extracts like raspberry ketones.
Mitotropin is the recommended brand from Body Building.com, and the company claims that the fat burner does all of the following:
- Promote Increased Resting Metabolic Rate*
- Support Increased Presence of Uncoupling Proteins*
- Encourage Acute Sense of Well-Being*
- Promote Mental Focus and Clarity*
- Support Increased Thermogenesis*
For full details on the Mitoropin click here.
Q: Have you every used a fat burner? Would you recommended? What was your experience/results?
Conjugated Linoleic Acid:
This is another one that I hadn’t really heard about, so I took Jamie Eason’s word for it, and think I will experiment with this as well. Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is stated to be your supporting weapon to get lean and maintain muscle mass.
CLA is a naturally occurring fatty acid found mainly in meat and airy products. It will help gain muscle and drop body fat.
I tried searching for other CLA brands, and it seems that this is the one that has the most reviews. You can read all about what people have to say here. I will be giving this a try as well, so watch for reviews sometime in the near future.
Q: What are you thoughts? Have you taken CLA before? What was your experience?
We are heading out for some pizza and bookstore exploration time.
See y’all soon!
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