This Crazy Life

Wow it's been a while!

Work has been getting way busy, which is one excuse for the length of time since my last blog entry. Also, family life has gotten extremely complicated recently. These are only excuses for not writing. I do not have any excuses for not working out, because I have kept that part up.  Yay me! It paid off too, because my team recently beat our biggest rivals, the No Coast Derby Girls of Lincoln, NE. It was a great game ending with a score of 154-151.

I have still been doing at least 2 workouts a day including stairs, agility, running, strength and of course derby.

I hope this winning streak continues, and I hope the winning motivates the rest of my team as it has motivated me to keep up the good work!

On the weight loss end, I HAVE HIT MY GOAL WEIGHT! Meaning, I lost those pesky last 10 pounds I have been hanging on to for more than a few years! I utilized My Fitness Pal online, which also has an app for electronic devices. I have a Blackberry and the app works great for me. This website keeps track of your calories, exercise, weigh-ins, and goals. It is capable of graphing your progress and lets you make changes to settings. For example, it lets you decide how many grams of protein or fiber that you want to take in each day, and how many pounds you want to lose each week and adjusts your calories accordingly.

As complicated and difficult as family life has become, I continue to work out because it helps me relieve stress, stay positive, and focus on the real issues.

Here are lyrics from a song that completely describes how life can knock you down but you just keep getting back up and giving it all you got:

Whoopsi-daisy, whoopsi-daisy, whoopsi-daisy

Come, we gonna catch that

Whoopsi-daisy, call me crazy, whoopsi-daisy

Come, we gonna catch that

Fire, takin’ it from warm to hot

Fire, gonna give it all we got

Fire, whoopsi-daisy, call me crazy, whoopsi-daisy

Come, we gonna catch that


I am going to continue to give all I have, even on the days I feel I'm losing it or have completely lost it. Call me crazy.

Still Hard at Work...

Just a quick update...

I have been getting super busy at work with not much time to blog!

I have been keeping up on my hardcore regimen of 2 a days plus practice.

I do cardio on the weekday mornings for up to 20 minutes plus push-ups and pull-ups. I do stairs or agility work with a friend every day at lunch. I still run, but my new running shoes are not breaking in well and are causing me pain. I have to do something about that. I am still attending practice 3 times a week for at least 2 hours each time.

I realize I need to do more yoga as I have been having more aches and pains the last couple of weeks. Hopefully I can incorporate this on the weekends.

I have been doing okay with eating, with a few weak moments for those sweets. Damn those sweets! Especially those Girl Scout cookies! I am down a total of 5 pounds with 4 pounds to go for my goal.

To my girls who have been keeping up with me...Keep it up!

Making Progress...

I have been a machine the last 2 weeks! Watch out!

I didn't keep track of the exercises I did last week, but I did exercise 6 out of 7 days.

With the new year, I don't typically make resolutions, but I am focusing on being as healthy and fit as humanly possible going forward. To aid me in doing this, I got a composition notebook and made a fitness plan for each day of the week as well as a food chart. 1 page=1 day. On each page I note the day/date and keep the food with calories, protein, fat, and fiber. I also write down my exercises and glasses of water. Each Friday I weigh in. I also use myfitnesspal.com app on my Blackberry to help me keep track when I can't write in my notebook.

Starting with Saturday (NYE) I ran 4.08 miles in 40 minutes. I took NYD and the next day off from exercise. Starting with Tuesday I did 780 stairs, 30 push-ups, and 3-1 minute wall sits at lunch. In the evening I did pull-ups, which I can only do a maximum of 3. I am working on increasing that number.  On Wednesday I did 17 minutes of elliptical with arms burning 193 calories. At lunch I did 30 push-ups, pull-ups, and 3-1 minute wall-sits as well as a short run. I had a 3-hour derby practice in the evening as well.  Today I ran for 18 minutes in the morning and did the Deck O Cards workout using planks, push-ups, V-sits, and mountain climbers.

I also stuck quotes to motivate me all over the front cover and throughout the pages of the notebook. I have a partner, my derby wife, working right along with me everyday to encourage each other in our dedication to this healthier and more fit lifestyle. We also wanna kick some ass this season and we know from experience that it takes a lot of hard work to be at your best performance level.

I encourage anyone to follow in my footsteps and would love to share my notebook with anyone who wants to make one of their own.

Happy health! And Happy New Year too!

The World is My Gym

Friday I did stairs in the morning before work and Deck O Cards workout at lunch.  Saturday I rested. I think rest days are needed.

Sunday I ran for 25 minutes.

Yesterday I did the Deck O Cards workout with a change up doing alligator pushups, scissor jump lunges, squat jumps, and mountain climbers with jumps to change up from my last blog entry.

Today at lunch I went outside and did box jumps (jumping from middle to front right corner to middle to front left corner to middle to back right corner to middle to back left corner first on both feet then repeat on right foot and again on left foot) followed by 10 bench jumps (jumping from ground to bench). I repeated each of these exercises 3 times.

I then ran down the sidewalk on the campus at the med center. I did a quick feet exercise running sideways crossing right leg in front of left leg and then behind and repeating going the other way crossing left leg in front and in back of right leg. I continued running on the sidewalk to the next bench where I did 10 more bench jumps. I ran from there to a set of stairs where I jumped up each single stair. I then ran for another 10 minutes repeating the sideways run quick feet exercise 2 more times.

I only get a half hour for lunch so I don't overdo. I will do push ups and pull ups at home this evening as well.

I hope everyone has very happy holidays!

Stay active to keep those extra pounds away from eating all that yummy holiday food!

Busy Time of Year...

I have been so busy with the hustle and bustle of the season I haven't gotten on here to post what activities I have been doing.

I will start by explaining what Nic Leiting's Deck of Cards workout because I have been doing this frequently over lunch as I get maximum results with very little time. I only get 1/2 hour for lunch so I like to spend only 20 minutes or less exercising.

Deck O' Cards Workout:
Items needed: 1 deck of cards, 1 or more people

Assign an exercise for each suit. For example I usually do diamonds= push-ups, spades=mountain climber, clubs=prisoner lunges, hearts=prisoner squats. Change it up when you feel the need.

Shuffle up the deck and start flipping cards one by one. The number on the card is the number of reps you do for the exercise. J=11, Q=12, K=13

Very effective and makes me very sore by the next evening. No pain no gain.

I also have been doing running or stairs in the morning, along with the usual practice schedule of 3 days per week for 2 hours.

I will say that I think I was on my game Thursday night, and that this regimen is definitely helping.

Happy shopping!

Back in the Saddle Again

Hello all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hopefully no one overdid and messed up any of their weight loss goals.

I have been on the mend from my broken rib and I am just about right back where I left off before I was injured.

I will begin with today as day 1 of "2012 Kick My Ass So I Can Kick Yours Season."

If you would like to follow along to challenge yourself or give me pointers to challenge myself and others feel free to comment.

I began today with stairs. I went to the 9th floor 6 times. There are 16 flights with 9 steps in most flights but 11 steps in flights for the first 3 floors for a grand total of 156 stairs. 156 stairs X 6=936 stairs!

After finishing stairs I did 3 sets of 10 push-ups, 3 sets of 2 pull-ups (my weakness-I am working toward being able to do 5) and 2 reverse pull-ups. I also stretched the area between my shoulder blades to help strengthen the muscles where my rib was broken.

Over my lunch today I did 3 sets of 10 bench jumps, 3 sets of cone cross runs, and 3 sets of scissor kick hops.

I also have practice tonight for 2 hours, 1 hour on skates and 1 hour off skates.

Tune in tomorrow for 12/01/2011 workout.

Side Tracked

The very night I wrote my last blog I broke a posterior rib at scrimmage. You would be surprised how many of your muscles are connected to your ribs. It hurts a lot!

I will still be running, but the jump training and such will take a back burner for at least 3 weeks to allow time for my ribs to heal.

If anyone can give me pointers on how to strengthen the muscles around my spine I would appreciate it.

I will pick up where I left off as soon as I get back into the routine of my hardcore training.