beautifullyambitious’s BodyBl

Wooohooo! I am officially back in the game. I have re-found my motivation and now have a plan and a rough idea of where I am trying to take it. Yesterday I skipped training, due to my body being tired and sore ( I have learned to listen and rest) but it means I will be training on Sunday instead of resting. The best news is..I have friends coming this weekend…which means I will have someone to watch Kendra in the morning so I can go running on Sat and Sun (I miss running!). Anyway, with all that said here is today’s workout:

Warm up: 50 Jumping Jacks

Ab’s Diet Ab Workout [I am trying this one out for a few weeks]: 20 reps Modified raised feet crunches; 15 reps Raised Knee-in; 15 reps per side Oblique V-Up; 2 sets hold for 60 sec Bridge

More Ab work… 30 reps stability ball crunches

[Formatted weight/reps]

DB Squats: 10/15, 10/15, 10/15

Bulgarian Squats: 10/12, 10/12, 10/12 (my butt already hurts from these…)

Wide Leg DB Squats: 10/15, 10/15, 10/15

Pelvis Tilt (BW=Body weight): BW/15, BW/15, BW/15

Side Leg Raises (per side): BW/20, BW/20

Notes: On paper it doesnt look like much, especially compared to what I use to do. These days I am going for less weight, more reps and really concentrating on form and feeling each rep where I am suppose to! So far great results!

So day #1 of being back on a workout routine….I sabotaged myself… I LOVE to cook so… giving that I hate not being able to pronounce everything that is listed in even whole wheat and multi-grain bread I decided to make my own. I like to know what it is that I am feeding my 5 yr old daughter! I made whole wheat bread after dinner and woah..I forgot about my bread addiction… 2 1/2 slices later….after dinner and a glass and a half of wine…I feel like CRAP! Never ever EVER again…. now I remember why it is that I stick to a "clean" diet and am on it 24/7… tomorrow it is calorie cutting for me!!!

Last night I wrote out the workout plan for this week and this morning I got up- did the workout and I feel amazing! It is so great to have a routine again! Anyway, here is the morning’s workout:

Warm Up: Jumping Jacks: 2 sets of 50 reps + 50 crunches on stability ball

Weights:

Pushups on the stabilty ball [feet on ball, hands on floor]: [weight/reps] bodyweight/10, bodyweight/10, bodyweight/10

Tricep Dips: [weight/reps] bodyweight/10, bodyweight/10, bodyweight/10

Dumbbell Bench Press [using stability ball as bench]: [weight/reps] 10/10, 10/12, 10/12

Kickbacks: [weight/reps] 5/10, 10/12, 10/12

Dumbbell Rows: [weight/reps] 10/10, 10/12, 10/12

Dumbbell Curls: [weight/reps] 10/10, 10/12, 10/12

Superman Alternating Back Extension: [weight/reps] Bodyweight/10, Bodyweight/12, Bodyweight/12

Hammer Curls: [weight/reps] 10/10, 10/12, 10/12

Alternating Half Military Press w. Dumbbells: [weight/reps] 5/10, 5/10, 5/12

Arm Circle: [weight/reps] 1/12, 1/12,1/12

Notes: Need to invest in some higher weighted dumbbells… 10lbs just isn’t challenging me. Like the definition I see when I do the arm circles for a few weeks so I have opted to count that one back in. All in all good workout!

No access to the gym - so I am working out at home… I need an exercise that can be done at home with body weight or dumbbells… the only one I can think of so far is lunges but that also targets other muscle groups… any ideas??

I think I have hit my breaking point with this one…. Since I moved over to the Big Island (8/30) I no longer have access to a gym per say but have been rather working out at home here and there. I have NO time to myself to go take a long run or do any form of extreme cardio due to having a 5 year old and not knowing anyone who babysits yet. I am instead waking up and before or after work….if I feel like it I workout. The only forms of cardio I am getting in are pilates and walking… not so great types.

Anyway today I decided I HAVE to sit down and create some kind of weekly routine for myself… I DO NOT want to loose all the progress I have made. I have improved my eating wonderfully but without training it doesn’t make sense. This afternoon I am going to sit down and create some sort of plan… wish me luck!

Well this morning I got my body fat tested…the last time was about 45 days ago…

Last report: 24%

Today: 19%!!!! : )

Only 3% more to drop for my goal!

Yeah!!!!!

Today I am tired…I haven’t been sleeping well for 2 days now because my body is getting use to the high dosage of caffeine being delivered to it by Lipo6x. I just started a 6-8 week cycle a couple of days ago… I woke up late…followed by a series of off events… maybe it is a full moon outside that is causing it but regardless this afternoon I wrote it off to lack of sleep and forced a workout in.

I am still adjusting to working out at home, I only have minimal equipment… I am building my little at home gym slowly. So today was upper body… here is the workout:

50 Jumping Jacks (I have never included these in a workout before but figured they would work as a good warm up for my muscles)

50 Crunches on the stability ball (to warm up abs to hold tight while working out)

Ball Pushups: (You place your feet on a stability ball-the kind I usually use for crunches, and you do pushups while holding you body tight and keeping balance) 3 sets of 10 reps

Bodyweight tricep dips: 3 sets of 10 reps

Dumbell Pec Flys: 3 sets, 10 lb weights (going for lighter weight more reps then usual), 12 reps per set

Bent over dumbell row: 3 sets, 10 lb weights, 12 reps per set

50 Jumping Jacks (I decided I like them)

Dumbell Bicep Curl: 3 sets, 10 lb weights, 12 reps per set

Over head tricep extension w. dumbell: 3 sets, 10 lb weights, 12 reps per set

1/2 Dumbell Military Press: 3 sets, 10 lb weights, 10 reps per set

Side Dumbell Shoulder Raises (the kind you look like a bird flapping their wings…ha ha) 3 sets, 5 lb weights, 10 reps per set

100 jumping jacks

Switching from an actual gym to an at home gym is HARD! There is so much more I wish I could do but do not currently have the equipment. All in all it was a good workout and I have decided I will keep up the jumping jacks…

I was brought up on milk. It is loaded with calcium, good for bones, the body..ect ect right? Well since high school I have always drank skim milk, almost 3 cups a day. The other day I read on bodybulding.com about checking out food labels (which mind you I thought I was pretty good at before) in it I learned quite a bit and also saw something that alarmed me… it said that skim milk sometimes has 15 g of sugar per 8 oz. I must admit I was pretty skeptical but giving that I had never read the skim milk label before but I kept thinking…"Its milk! Skim milk! How could it really have that much sugar?!?!"

Needless to say I went straight to the dairy section of the store the next time I went and woah… every brand of skim milk had min. 13 g of sugar. Wow! I was really really shocked (some of you may have known this- but this one is a new one for me)… I thought on this and have decided that now my calcium will come from non fat cottage cheese or yogurt (unsweetened) or spinach. It just goes to show you that there really is a need to read everything that you consider eating…you never know..

Today I spent a long time debating the term "cardio". At first I was dwelling because I thought, "Man, latley I haven’t been getting any cardio in. Then I thought to myself what really counts as cardio? I use to believe the only way to obtain cardio was by spending time (usually bored out of my mind) on the eliptical, treadmill, or stairmill machines at the gym. Then I branched out and decided that hiking counted as well as at home workout videos such as "Tae Bo".

Well, after my long deliberation I have decided that cardio is long walks to the park with my daughter, it is chasing her and the puppy around, it is pilates, it is washing the car, doing some massive house cleaning, washing the car, unpacking lots and lots of boxes counts to… I have decided that anything that gets me moving and my heart rate up counts and I am content with that. Besides…I never really liked cardio on machines…it always felt unnatural and like it lasted FOREVER… I always had to cover up the minute portion of the display with my towel to keep from glancing down.

 Anyway, thats it.. my thoughts on what cardio really is..