Flex Friday

Wednesday this lingering cold I've had kicked my ass.  I sat upright (because I couldn't lay down) on the couch and watched TV the entire day.  I kid you not.  I thought my head would explode!  Thursday was miraculously better, but I decided not to tempt fate and took another rest day.  Today I feel like a million bucks compared to Wednesday.  I am still a little congested, but went about life as usual.  Hooray for getting well!  Oh, how I love leg day!  I need these puppies nice and strong to carry me 62 miles in October.  Beef up, stems!

Leg extensions

Hip abductors & adductors

Leg curls: PR alert!  

Box squats

V squats

23 minutes elliptical

Happy Valentine's Day to me!  A leg curl PR of 95lbs.  

A day in the life of...

People often ask me how I do it all.  Well, sometimes I don't.  Sometimes there are dirty dishes, and laundry, and general chaos.  Usually, I run around like a bat out of hell trying to get stuff done so that I can get my run in, or get to the gym.  Today, I documented my mania.

6:15am wake up and lay in bed until my alarm beeps at 6:30am

6:30 make breakfast for myself and the kids

7:00 wake girls, get them dressed, fed and ready for school

8:00 get dressed

8:10 take girls to school

8:20 come home and do some crazy fast house cleaning & start a load of laundry from the pile from hell

9:15 drop off Lila's lunch

9:20 Gym

11:00 pick up Clarissa

11:15 make & eat snack #1

11:30 shower

12:15pm eat lunch and pack snack for Clarissa

12:20 run errands- Bank, Costco, Wal Mart

2:30 unload groceries

2:40 eat snack #2

2:50 Pick up Lila from school

3:00 make Lila snack, orchestrate homework, finish putting groceries away, finally switch that load of laundry to drier 

4:30 sit on arse and fool around on the computer

5:25 make dinner, eat dinner, clean up 

7:00 take Kurtis to craft store to buy him origami paper so he can make sweet paper roses for his girlfriend for Valentine's day (what a guy!)

8:00 make snack for girls, help them get ready for bed

8:15 read stories

9:00 snack #3, more computer time 

It is now 9:53 and I have to finish up this computer nonsense so I can finish cleaning the kitchen and change the laundry over & get ready for bed!  So, there you go.  That's how I "do it all."  Not really very impressive, just busy!

Transformation Tuesday! 

9:15 head back to the girl's school because someone forgot her lunch box

9:20 gym time!

135# straight leg dead lifts

20 minutes elliptical

Straight leg dead lifts

Barbell shrugs

Dumbbell bench press

Overhead dumbbell press

Machine biceps curls

Wide grip lat pull down

Overhead rope cable triceps extensions

Donkey calf raises

Hanging leg lifts & oblique twist lifts

Suck it up, buttercup

Well, since I made all my kids suck it up and go to school with a cold, I decided I should also suck it up and head to the gym.  I didn't push it too hard as I wasn't feeling top notch, but it felt good to be working. I'm really jonesing for some long distance running.  This break from intense mileage has been a very good thing.  Today, it's in the 40ºs and all I could think of was a nice long sunny run in a pair of shorts.  I can't wait to be running long runs every weekend again!  I love those days!  In fact, the next couple of weekends I'm going to go for a bit longer as I need to prep a bit for the Buffalo Run.  Exciting stuff!

10 minutes elliptical
Bench press
Standing barbell military press
Box squat
Pull ups
Single arm dumbbell rows
Glute machine
Russian twists
Bicycle crunches
Crunches

Week in Review

Monday Chest & Triceps + Stair mill
Tuesday 8.26 trail miles
Wednesday HIIT
Thursday Whole body weight lifting + 30 min elliptical
Friday REST
Saturday 8.36 trail miles + Leg Day + 1 mile walk treadmill
Sunday REST

16.62 miles

New Lifting Friend

Remember last week when I went to that crazy Powerflex class with Courtney, who I met at the girls' school?  Well, I talked her into lifting with me on Thursday.  It was great!  We did a whole body routine and this girl is seriously strong!  She goes to the gym a lot, but had never lifted free weights before.  She put up 65# on the bench press, her first time ever!  Go Courtney!  We had a great time sweating and chatting and sounds like she wants to go with me again next week!  I'm super pumped to have another lifting buddy, especially another woman!  I really hope she continues to join me.

Our routine:
13 min elliptical
Deadlifts
Bench Press
Wide grip cable lat pull downs
Military barbell press
Barbell bicep curl
Back extensions
Hanging leg raises
17 min elliptical


Then Friday I was planning on going to yoga, but felt the overwhelming urge to stay in my jammies and watch scandalous television and drink tea.  So I did!

Fabulous Flex Friday

Back and shoulder day rocked my world! I have gotten so much stronger. I actually lifted (just over) my body weight today.  I did two sets of 135# dead lifts! I also tried two new moves, military press and wide grip upright rows. I loved the military press! That one will definitely be added to my weekly routine!

Dead lifts

Pull ups

Barbell shrugs

Close grip seated cable rows

Machine lat raises

Standing barbell military press 

Wide grip upright rows

Back extensions with 30# kettle bell

Hanging leg lift

20 minutes elliptical

There it is! 135# of total body strength!

And no gym session would be complete without me flexing it up in the locker room afterward!  

Happy flex Friday all!

Time to rest up for a nice morning trail run!  

Daily Mile & Lift

Today I conquered the world!  Muah ha ha ha ha!  Well, maybe not.  But I sure as hell felt like it!  I had leg curl, glute machine, barbell squat and v squat PRs!  I did my first hundred pound squats- two whole sets! I can envision myself crossing the finish line of my first 100k feeling strong! 

10 minutes elliptical

leg extensions

leg curl (95#)

glute machine (110#)

barbell sumo squat (100#)

v squat (124#)

leg press

donkey calf raise

hanging leg raise

2.5 treadmill miles

25:39

10:15 pace

Leg extensions to start the day.

There she is.  100 pounds.  Isn't she pretty?

murder was the case that they gave me

Yeah, I killed it lifting this week!  Back day on Tuesday and leg day today.  I had two PRs at the gym today.  I squatted 75 pounds and did 70 pounds on the leg curl!   Murder!

Back day:

Barbell row

Lat pull down

Seated cable row

Hammer Strength high row

Delt rope pulls

1.2 treadmill miles

14:03

11:42 pace

Leg day:

Squats

Leg curls

Leg extensions

Calf raises

Hip abductors/adductors

20 mins elliptical

My personal trainer. <3

70# on the leg curl machine!

If you dare wear short shorts!

I'm pretty sure I won't be able to sit on the toilet tomorrow.  Good thing the old folks who lived here before us installed safety handrails next to both the toilets.

WOD

Yesterday I felt amazing.  Even better, I'm starting to see my hard work paying off.  I can lift more and am seeing more muscle definition.  I'm feeling really strong and positive.  I haven't run at all this week, but as it's been about 7º out when I would go running, I'm not really all that sad about it.  I think come spring I'll be ready to kill it on the trail.

Weight lifting:
Stiff leg dead lifts with shrugs
Incline dumbbell press
Upright row
Skull crushers
Leg extension
Leg curl
Wide grip tricep dip
Pull ups

-20 minutes elliptical

Ab workout:
100 Russian twists with 10# weight
100 crunches
1 minute plank
100 bicycle crunches
50 Spiderman planks
25 side plank right
25 side plank left
25 hip thrust with 10# weight
50 reverse crunches

One month belly fat difference.  Who wants to go bikini shopping with me?

WOD

Monday:
stiff leg dead lifts
overhead dumbbell press
incline bench press
leg press
lat pull down
hip abductors & adductors
close grip tricep dips
pull ups
4 sets of 8-15 each

20 minutes on the elliptical

Tuesday:
Katherine and I were originally going on a trail run today, but it didn't work out for her and is probably best as my knees are hurting a bit.  It also looks like the north pole outside today, so I wasn't motivated to run in the snow by myself.  Here is what I did instead:

I modified this just a bit, because of my sore knees.  I did any squats very minimally and replaced lunges with high knees.


This afternoon, Jeff was home early so he and I hit the gym together.  I figured I had better add this on to today's workouts! Here was our evening routine:
Incline bench press
Incline dumbbell press
Low cable flies
Wide grip Hammer Strength press
Tricep pull down
Bicep rope hammer curls

Lift Heavy, Ladies!

Today was chest and triceps at the gym.  My husband Jeff has taught me a lot about weight lifting, but one thing that has really stuck with me is not to be afraid of lifting as heavy as I can.  There is no point in half-assing it!

Bench Press 45#X1, 55#X2, 60#X1
Decline Bench Press 55#X3, 60#X1
Tricep Dips, Wide & Narrow X4 ea.
Incline Fly Dumbbell Press 10# dumbellsX4
Overhead Tricep Press 15#X4
Plus 20 minutes on the elliptical & 300 Abs

And here is a little fitness motivation for you! Happy Monday folks!  Lift heavy ladies!





We actually have this Lego.  She's hella buff!  I think she'd make a great gym partner.

Leg Day

I finally gave in and headed to the doctor's office to get some treatment for my asthma.  A girl just can't go on running and working out if she can't breathe.  Long story short, I am mostly breathing well now!  I decided that yoga might not be great today, since I am still having random coughing fits.  So, leg day it was!  After murdering my legs so that they felt like lead weights, I hopped on the elliptical and whined for twenty minutes, all the while thinking what great training it had to be!  To push your legs on a hamster wheel after lifting for nearly an hour is no small feat.  Then I headed home and did a bit of ab work.  It feels good to work muscles to complete exhaustion!  Oh, and don't forget... Never skip leg day!

Here is what my leg day looked like:

Hamstring curls- 4 sets

Straight leg dead lifts- 4 sets (20#, 30#, 40#, 40#)

Squats- 3 set (barbell only 45#)

Leg press- 4 sets

Leg extensions- 4 sets

Hip adductors & abductors- 4 sets each

Standing calf raises- 4 sets

better than nothing

30 mins bike trainer
30 mins elliptical

This is very boring. I have nothing to say about this except I'm very much looking forward to a nice long run this weekend!