Tag: exercise

VideoPlay

A Moment in Time: Exercise Update

Karen

I’m still doing Turbo Jam. In fact, I’ve gotten into the habit of doing the 20 minute Turbo Jam session first and then walking for 90 minutes – so I’ve been working out nearly two hours at a time. I’m literally soaking wet when I finish and my arms and legs are jelly but WOW, I feel so …. ALIVE afterward. It’s quite a high, actually.

I’ve been alternating this routine with doing Punch, Kick and Jam one day and then the sculpting another day. My body is really starting to tone up and judging by the looks the husband is giving me – all of this sweat and work is REALLY paying off. I can’t tell you how good I feel, both physically and mentally – I feel strong and attractive. It’s been worth the time and effort and because I’m seeing such good results, I’ve been even more motivated to keep it up. I’ve been buying some new clothes too, which has been adding to my overall sense of accomplishment.

I try to workout every day, but I do skip days sometimes because I’m just so tired. Oh, don’t forget to eat a lot of protein – salmon, eggs, tuna, etc. I can’t tell you how MUCH that helps when you’re on a work out schedule. First, it gives you the energy to work out and then it helps replenish that energy after you finish.

I taped the part of Punch, Kick and Jam that nearly kills me every time. Luckily, it’s at the beginning of the session when I have the most energy so once I get past that part it’s downhill from there, but WOW, it’s really effective – hard, but effective.

Maybe I’ll tape myself doing Turbo Jam sometime … that’s a big maybe.

If you’ve been thinking about starting an exercise routine, I can’t stress to you enough that it’s really, really, really worth it. If you want to shape up you can’t be lazy – just get in there and do it – no bitching, no excuses – it’s not going to happen if you don’t get off your butt. Find something that is fun and you don’t mind doing. Whether that’s walking, jogging, riding bikes, swimming, aerobics … whatever. If you don’t like doing it, then you won’t continue doing it. I like Turbo Jam because it’s a combination of aerobics and dance and the music is really awesome.

I’ve also been wearing my weighted hand gloves. Not only during Turbo Jam but when I’m walking as well as holding my normal three pound hand weights. That’s a total of about five pounds per arm during my walks. I’m seeing definition in my arms for the first time since my 20’s. I think once I master the Cardio Mix session I’m going to order these next.

I won’t say I’m in the best shape of my life, but honestly? I’m getting close.

I watched three movies this week during my walks:

1. Reservation Road – slow, but pretty good.
2. My Mom’s New Boyfriend – silly, but cute.
3. Nim’s Island – Jodi Foster was absolutely adorable in this film. Her anixety was over-the-top silly and yet, it worked.

Did I mention I LOVE my treadmill set up? Here’s a picture of it if you haven’t seen it.

Treadmill Area

How is your work out routine coming along? Are you seeing results?

Life

Bang for Our Buck, Bad Sunscreen, Take Time for Yourself

Karen

Random thoughts that aren’t quite good long enough to devote an entire post to:

  • We bought fireworks. And we spent $50.00, which isn’t as bad as last year when we spent $80.00. We spent nearly half of that on this fancy-schmancy “Dirty Dozen” package which are these cool balls you drop into a tube and then fire off and watch explode into the kind of explosion you see at the bigger fireworks show. We’ve bought the Dirty Dozen for the past three years now and have never been disappointed. Other than that, we stuck to fountains and roman candles. We tend to stay away from the spinning, shrieking crackers that are unpredictable and inevitably zero in on one of us so that we’re running and screaming down the street in an attempt to get away from it. We’ve had too many close calls these past years and we’ve learned our lesson.

    Also, word to the wise, even though it clearly says on the package, DO NOT HOLD ROMAN CANDLES IN YOUR HAND. Seriously, don’t be tempted to hold it in your hand. We have ignored that advice for years and last year, GD was holding a candle and nearly had his fingers blown off when it exploded in his hand. Heed the warnings folks, use a tube or some sort of bottle.

    When I was uploading a couple of videos to my YouTube account, I stumbled across this video, it’s GD holding a roman candle:

    Vodpod videos no longer available.
    AGAIN, DO NOT DO THIS! VERY DANGEROUS! VERY STUPID!!

    Not one of my more stellar parenting decisions, let me assure you.

  • The boys and I tried to go swimming yesterday. Only when we got to the pool, it was closed – on a beautiful, sunny, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky, hot summer day. To say I was peeved would be putting it mildly. We walked up to the entrance to see what the heck was going on. Apparently, this particular pool wasn’t busy enough to warrant being open every day, so now, it’s only open Thursday through Sunday.

    Swell. I bought swim coupons, people. It works out to be ten swims for me and the boys. I haven’t had a chance to use one of those coupons yet because the weather has been too wet and cold to go swimming. And then we went on vacation. And now we’re back and ready to enjoy summer but our pool is closed. AAARGH. Oh sure, we could go to another public pool, but quite honestly, I hate every other public pool because A. they’re busier than snot (is snot busy?) and B. the kids are mean and I’m spending most of my time trying to get our balls back (because I usually end up throwing the balls at the boys so they can dive for them).

    To add insult to injury, I lathered myself up with Banana Boat sunscreen, which I’ve had for the past two years, and it must be bad or something because I didn’t smell like delicious coconut, oh no, I smelled like burnt plastic.

    UGH. I nearly gagged. But I endured the smell thinking, “Oh well. I’ll just sweat it off.” No biggie, right? Wrong. Since we didn’t get to go swimming, I had to wash it off when I got home because I couldn’t stand the smell of myself. Afterwards, I made a special trip up to Wally World (translation: Wal-Mart) and bought some fresh sunscreen. I never realized sunscreen went bad?

  • I’m still working out to Turbo Jam. I think I’m going to insert the keywords Turbo Jam in nearly every one of my posts because that seems to be what’s bringing people to my blog. I love Turbo Jam. Turbo Jam is awesome! I wish I could do Turbo Jam everyday.

    I’m ESPECIALLY loving the “Punch, Kick and Jam” session. It’s 45 minutes long and a bit more athletic than the other workouts, but MAN. My arms feel like rubber after doing it. And I have to be honest, folks, you really CAN tell a difference in your body after a few sessions. If you can muster up the energy to do it (and remember, your energy comes from your MIND – as Chalene Johnson likes to remind us – love that woman), then by all means, do it.

    This reminds me of an analogy I was going to share with ya’ll: You know when you’re on the plane and getting ready to take off, the flight attendants do their spiel about if the cabin pressure drops, then an oxygen mask will drop from the compartment above and if you have a small child next to you, you should put your mask on first and then help the child? When I first heard this, I was horrified. What?! How selfish! I thought.

    But then I thought, wait. That’s smart. Because if you don’t take care of yourself first, then how can you expect to be CONSCIOUS enough to take care of the child? I mean, if you pass out, then who’s going to help the child, right?

    Well, the same can be said for taking care of YOU. Both physically and mentally. If you’re tired all the time, or feel blah, or ugly, or depressed, or stressed or yadda yadda yadda, then how can you expect to be in any condition to take care of your children to the best of your ability? You say you don’t have time to work out? Make time. Exercise. Not only are you clearing out the cobwebs, you’re giving your body an energy boost AND you’re setting a good example for your children. And just like anything else you don’t want to do, once you start exercising, I’m betting you start enjoying yourself and I can guarantee you’ll feel better about yourself when it’s over.

    And just don’t take care of your body, take care of your mental state, too. Take some time to slow down, relax, breathe, do something you enjoy doing without your kids around. Give yourself a mental break – we all need them. Stop beating yourself up and thinking, “but isn’t that selfish?” It’s selfish to ensure you’re functioning on all cylinders so you CAN take care of your children? Don’t you think they are benefiting from a rested, and more patient, parent?

    I don’t mean to be preaching at ya’ll, but I’m getting a bit tired of reading about how mothers all over the blog’o’sphere are feeling guilty for taking a little time to themselves. Just because you have children doesn’t mean your needs disappear. In fact, your needs magnify ten-fold. But we’re so conditioned to think we’re being selfish or bad parents if we take the time out to refresh and recharge …

    It just irritates me. Stop feeling guilty. Take some time for yourself. Your kids will survive (and in fact probably need time away from YOU, too) and the world will continue to revolve.

    Okay? Okay. Lecture over. 😉

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