Tag fitness

Fitness at HOME – Getting creative with a concrete block, mucking out stables…

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Concrete BlockI admire people who are driven to exercise — NO MATTER WHAT! They find creative ways to reach their goals. My daughter was out walking with her friend and came across this concrete block. Any normal person (like me) would have walked past it. However, my daughter saw exercise potential in this block, so lugged it home.

Good deal – concrete block is $2.00 versus a purchased weight ranging $20-80.

Spring is here… gotta step up our exercise routines even in quarantine.

This made me think of walking. Years ago, when I lived in California, I called a horse stable and asked if they needed volunteers. I was getting BORED with walking. Sure enough, they needed help. I was excited. I would be outside, be around people/horses and exercise all at the same time!

Every weekend, I went to the barn and they gave me different chores to do. This gave me a full body work, while getting fresh air. Well, hold on, mucking out stinky horse stalls does not give fresh air, but it is an excellent work out.

For those of you, who have never mucked out a stable before. Here is a YouTube video from “This Esme” on how it is done. She’s super funny, she loses her GoPro camera in the truck where she is throwing out all the “poop.” THEN has to go into the poopy truck to retrieve the GoPro camera. This made me miss being at the barn for a couple of hours.

Being quarantined, has me thinking about outdoor activities.

Can you tell I have cabin fever!

Spin class… the Do’s and Don’ts

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4055CEDC-3ACF-4128-B897-7C8B702568B3I’ve always wanted to take a spin class, but it is very intimidating. Take a look at the photo, that’s how spin class looks.

If you are a beginner like me, it looks like everyone is a major athlete.

I mean… I know how to ride a bike, but this is different. This is hard core, it’s not like Dorothy riding her bike with Toto in a flower basket.

This weekend though, I went to my daughter’s spin class. Since she is the instructor, she told me to come early. She’d set me up.

Set me up she did. She adjusted my seat for me, gave me some water, explained the gears and got me one of those wrist bands that tracks how you’re doing. YOU KNOW, the dreaded wrist band that shows your name up on the TV screen, so everyone can see how you/they are doing. I tried to resist putting it on, but my daughter held it out — she gave me a look of “just put the darn thing on.”

Actually, it wasn’t too bad. During our training session, I wasn’t always the slowest ranking biker. We did a lot of hills, my knees and thighs were burning.

After class, she told me that I wasn’t doing Position 2 properly. I guess I was supposed to be straighter with my legs, not have them bent. That explains why my knees were hurting. Perfect form is critical.

Overall it was good. Do I want to do that again?

Hum… I think I prefer dance class.

Fitness: Weight lifting routine

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Exercise - weight liftingHow do you remember YOUR weight lifting routines? I’ve been working out with a personal trainer. When we’re going through a routine, I think I’ll remember everything he taught me.

Then I get to the gym on my own…

NOPE, NO MEMORY –  I think, “How did he do that, what size weight, did I bend up or down?” You get the idea.

So, I smartened up, after each session, I started doing quick stick drawings.

Guess what, I’m becoming a PRO.

AND I have a start of a new exercise book!

SPECIAL NOTE: Never tell your trainer you don’t like a certain exercise. WHY?? Because he will MAKE YOU DO the exercise you HATE every single time, i.e., planks!

Fitness challenge 2020. I’ve been thinking…

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Thanksgiving Confused Man

This is a new year. Exercise is important. I’ve been wanting to join an athletic challenge of some sort. Welcome Walkingspree.com. It’s an App that a company uses to challenge employees to exercise. We have a challenge at work right now. It’s for a month. We are walking around the Island of Hawaii. The goal is to walk 8,000 steps a day. They have different prizes at the end of the one month challenge. I signed up a week late… so, I’m already behind for winning prizes, but I signed up in an effort to challenge myself.

FitBit

I bought a FitBit to track my step count. I decided on a bright purple watch band. It’s hard to miss and keeps reminding me to step up my game and WALK, walk, WALK! After a few days, I found that it is not so easy to get 8,000 steps a day in with a desk job. This is a good eye opener for me. While it is a “small exercise challenge,” it is a challenge, because at least for now, I have to get 8,000 steps a day in. I looked at the map of Hawaii. I’ve made it to 2 stops… ONLY 5 more stops to reach the FINISH LINE!

Already thinking, after February, WHAT will be my next athletic challenge?

Climb a mountain in Canada, Austria, Seattle? I am not a runner, but I like hiking. Hum?!

5K Mud Run in 90 degree temps

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Mud Run 1I did it! I survived my first 5K Mud Run in 90 degree temps. Run started at NOON hottest time of day — insane. I ran the course, did some of the obstacles, not all of them. See the medal I received.

Mud run 3Sorry, I don’t have good photos of me climbing structures, etc. I didn’t have a GoPro camera, plus at 90 degrees with face bright red from the heat, I was LUCKY to make it to the end. Seriously, I have fair skin, we don’t do well in hot weather, let alone at NOON. Picture me during the Victorian era, strolling the park with my fancy umbrella, that is where I needed to be from 12-2 pm. In Italy that is when they take a siesta.

Questions, “Is it hard and how muddy do you get?”

It’s hard if you are not in shape and have a fear of heights. I was surprised that they didn’t have that many obstacles. You had to run the course twice to make it a 5K. Muddy, it depends on if you are rambo and embracing the mud or like me avoided the truly muddy areas and walked around. Ok, do I deserve my medal? Yes, the 90 degree heat made up for the “few” obstacles I walked around.

Mud run 2There were a few obstacles, like this one (Pixabay.com stock photo), where you see the lady climbing the wall. If it is overly muddy and there are a ton of people, why there is a chance you could fall and hurt yourself.

However, if you are looking for a quick athletic challenge versus a hard to train for triathlon, this would do it! Lots of nice fun people.

BONUS – How can you resist adding a medal to your wall of fame?!

It’s summer, exercise motivation…

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Workout ShirtInspiration to exercise comes in many ways. For example, it’s summer, I love walking outside. I went to the store to find a new workout shirt. Something light colored to wear, I tend to have a lot of black workout clothes.

As I was perusing the clothes rack, I saw the most amusing shirt. I immediately smiled, thought of Ireland, leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, sitting in a pub… you get the idea. I was “tempted” to buy the shirt, because it made me feel HAPPY; unfortunately, I have never in my life worn a shirt that is cutoff and shows the midriff. Even if I wore a tank top underneath, I would keep trying to pull the shirt down. It just wouldn’t work.

So, a picture was the next best solution.

I’m still on my job hunt, which is not fun, so I need little bits of amusement like this to keep me motivated. YES, I need to have charm in my interviews to seal the deal!

Hope this gives YOU all a big SMILE today!

OFF TO WALK… I do have an extra big smile today, need to be charming, NEVER know who we might meet at any time. The other day, I met a red-winged black bird at lunch, not the Prince Charming I was looking for, but he was a very regal looking lunch companion! Gotta love surprises.

Exercise – The Boxing Grannies of South Africa, age 60+

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Are you lazy, not wanting to exercise? Well, take a look at this YouTube video “Meet the boxing grannies of South Africa.” The women are aged 60+ and meet twice a week. What I loved about this story/video is the excitement and energy these grannies have for boxing. They are up for a fight!

This is a such an inspiration!

I’ve never boxed, but watching this video brought back memories of “Muhammed Ali.” Like these grannies, I’ve gotta give it a try. They are proof that it’s never to late to try anything.

Exercise, going to the gym… WHY do I resist?

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0F0940F2-A9CB-46EC-915C-1EBB132D0C60For over a week, I have resisted going to the gym. I enjoy exercise when I am outside, walking/hiking, I love the fresh air. BUT going to the gym, just hearing the word “gym” makes me resist. Every day, I have good intentions; yet, fail to follow through.

Why? I dislike the extra work of carrying a gym bag, getting there, changing clothes. You see, I am exhausted thinking of this. If it is in the morning and I need to shower, then I have the added stuff (makeup, deoderant (heaven forbid I forget that), work clothes, work shoes) that I need to carry, it gets heavy. At night, if I go home and THINK I will go to the gym after I eat dinner — that does not happen.

Yesterday, I beat myself up over this. I had the self talk conversation in my mind saying, “STOP with the nonsense, get to the gym.”

I’ve been tired lately, so the rebuttle from the “other side” of my brain was being lazy. Take it easy, rest today, go tomorrow. I started to fight those negative thoughts.

As I was deciding which way I would go, my daughter sent me a text, it said, “Look what is on TV at the gym, it’s Brunetti!”

WHAT?? I SMILED REALLY BIG, not CNN, not ESPN, but MHz! Donna Leon’s books have been turned into a mini-series, and “Inspector Brunetti” was on the television.

THIS WAS A GAME CHANGER. I could work out while watching an Italian detective show that takes place in Venice!

Suddenly, my brain did a switch over. Amazing, my mind was “now focused” on the positive aspect of exercising (Inspector Brunetti), which made me forget about the drudgery of carrying my gym bag.

Hallelujah, a major break through!

Hello gym, here I come…

My First Race – Dragon Boat Racing

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IMG_3594I heard a team captain say they were “short” one woman to be able to form a team for the Dragon Boat races that were coming up, so I shyly raised my hand.  DONE – I was part of the team!

Our day started at 5 AM on Saturday. We had to drive to the location, set up and prepare for the day’s events. A group got there before us and set up our tents. We all brought food for a pot luck and stored our bags, paddle, etc.  FYI: Never forget your towel and change of clothes. You do get wet, it’s fun, but not if you can’t change your clothes on a cold day.

IMG_3601When we practice we do not have a dragon head on our boat, so I was curious to see how this would look.  I didn’t realize that there is a real drum on the boat too. For those of you who do not know much about dragon boat racing I’ll fill you in. There are 20 paddlers to a boat. The first two paddlers at the front of the boat are called, “the strokes,” they set the pace for the boat.

The drummer uses the drum to set the pace of the strokes, so this person must have a loud voice for all of us to hear. When we are paddling it’s easy to get distracted by the boats next to us and their drum beats. I also learned that you lose time if you look up to see “how” you are doing in the race, best to stay focused and give your strokes ALL you’ve got. Finally, there is the steerperson at the back of the boat, who steers the boat and also gives IMG_3609commands to the paddlers. Here is a glossary of Dragon Boat terms.

We raced about 500 meters in 2.5 minutes. There were four boats racing at once and it took a little time to get us ALL lined up. I know 2.5 minutes might not seem long, but imagine how you feel when you are doing “planks” at the gym. You start out strong and then your arms get tired and it takes everything you’ve got to keep in the plank position. Same with paddling, you force yourself to continue paddling through the pain and finish STRONG. That’s where the drum beat comes in, it keeps the team focused.

BAD NEWS – We didn’t win!

GOOD NEWS – We had a lot of fun, we worked as a team and after our 3rd time out, we improved our time, and we finished STRONG!  It was a great day!   GO TRY IT!