Today I kicked my own butt. I pushed myself to my limit. I ran faster for my sprinting speed on my HIIT Run. I got another 12 minute mile in today as well. My thruster squats, were so difficult, I almost could not get through the 12 first set, then by the 8 set, I was dead. The renegade rows I went to 15 lbs so I could do the plank properly.
I Push yourself, its going to be hard. Its going to hurt. Its going burn, you just have to push yourself. Believe me I wanted to stop. But I am happy I did it. I feel great! I feel accomplished. Yay!
I try do this for workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Workout: 50 minute workout
HIIT Run – 20 minute ( 2 minute warm up, 16 minute HIIT run, and 2 minute cool down. I ran faster than last week on my sprint and my active rest jog I ran faster as well. 5. 4, and 4.4)
Thruster Squats 20 lbs each hand, reps – 12, 10, 8 (rack the dumbbells, squat, and stand pushing weights above your head.)
Renegade Rows 15 lbs each hand, reps – 12, 10, 8 (in a plank position row the dumbbells, one row for each hand is 1 rep.)
Individual Leg V Ups, reps 12, 10, 8 ( laying on your back v up with one leg then the other. Once each leg equals 1 rep.)
Bicycle Crunches, reps 12, 10, 8 (laying on your back pull one knee up, and crunch and twist your opposite shoulder/elbow to the knee. Once on each side equal 1 rep.)
Bulgarian Split Squats, reps 15, 13, 11 ( with the top of one food on the bench, bend the opposite knee to do a single leg squat. Do reps for each side. 15 left and 15 right.)
Burpees for 1 minute I was able to get 17 done.
I hope you have a great day. Thanks for Reading. Keep pushing yourself, keep being awesome.
Alright the beginning… that seems a good place to start… Wait… Let me just preface this with. Each persons fitness journey is going to be different. We all are going through ups and downs, and have to start and stop. It took me a while to understand this. But this is normal and it is a part of life. It is what a journey is. Not just a month here and there. But the entirety of your change for the better, and your learning what your body can do for the rest of your life.
Alright the beginning… that seems a good place to start. I was always an athletic person. I used to be a competitive swimmer. My strokes were 200 m Butterfly and 500 m Freestyle. What that meant was I was placed on a Medley Team and I was asked to do IM’s. (Individual Medly – Butterfly, Back, Breast Free) I cannot tell you how much I hated breast stroke. I felt so slow. I digress… being that I was a Butterflyer. I ended up with massive shoulders for a girl. Or so I thought/sometimes think.
Here is a picture of a person doing butterfly.
this is not me but totally what I did
That is what my back muscles looked like. Sigh… I may never get back there again. However… fast forward a few years in college. Life happens. I have problems with family, and end up leaving to be on my own. I jump into the work world and the daily trying to keep up with bills. I was doing well, for a 21 year old with a QA job. Life happens again, and I have to take care of myself. I made some bad relationship decisions and I had to iron those wrinkles out. I end up on my own and going back to school for Culinary Arts.
I meet my now husband, and fall in love. He is loving, kind, understanding, responsible, a sweet heart, soft spoken and a generally great person. All the things my ex was not. I am happy we are buzzing along and we end up having two kiddos. I was not expecting to be able to cause of female problems from the age of 12. I did not workout with the babies because I was scared of losing them. I was told I would never have babies when I was 12. I was scared, thrilled and excited to be pregnant. My baby boy came to us, perfect and healthy. He was 9 months when we found I was pregnant again. Bonus! We wanted a second, and we got one. My beautiful healthy baby girl.
Fast forward 2 years, and I have not been working out at all since college for about 8 years. I finished second college in 2007, and got my degree. Yay! I let myself go since then. I had life, and hazards, and love, and so many other things that people fall into the trap of, and put aside my health and working out.
Baby Gates Be Damned
I have two little ones one 4 and one 5 years old. They are under foot and around foot, and on foot, and on hip, and just need me for everything. I did not have the energy before this to do anything but make sure everyone’s diapers (or nappies for some of you) were changed, and all parties were fed and not trying to kill themselves by going down the two flights of stairs in our home. We lived and still live in a town home that is three levels, and kids whew…they wanted to go up and down stairs, baby gates be damned. I still held my jobs at night and took care of everything else for them during the day.
It was at this point when I finally had a chance to breath and got my head above keeping babies alive to keeping toddlers alive. I noticed in my pictures just how fat I had gotten. I hated taking pictures of myself so I was always behind the camera instead of in front of it. I had let myself go, ho boy had I let myself go.
That is enough of those pictures… you get the picture. Hahah… see what I did there. Eh eh eh…
Health Issues? No, Healthy as a Horse, Just Fat!
I decided I needed to do something. Anything… cause doing nothing was probably going to kill me and I was pretty miserable at this weight. Yeah I could eat what ever I wanted when I wanted, but really I did not like the way I looked the way I moved, none of it. I have been asked if I started my journey because of health issues. The answer is no. I was healthy as a horse as they say. Just fat! I had some criteria that had to be met for me to be successful. I believe in setting yourself up for success. To do so know your needs, and see to them.
Needs:
I had to be able to do it at home. I had kids and no extra time.
I had to be able to do it without a lot of extra equipment at first.
I had to be able to do it when I had little ones under foot.
I had to be able to do it period. I had to get this big body moving. This body that was not used to working out any more moving, and not hurt myself. I could not be down for the count with little ones.
I had to do it on a budget. I don’t know if you all know, but children are expensive. =) I love them dearly but they will cost you an arm and a leg and your sanity.
I found a system that met those criteria. It was from BeachBody.com and it was the Turbofire series. It allowed me to do it from home, with little to no extra equipment, it allowed me to do it with kids under foot, I just had to make sure they were occupied with snack time. I was able to make 30 minutes a day time to get my workout in. Either during the kids snack time, or during nap time. I wedged that workout in where I could. It was important to me so I made sure I put it in. I am not here to sell the workout, just to tell you what I did. It gave me a structured workout, with a calendar of what to do each day. I needed this. I am a type A personality and I need the check marks and lists. It gave me a structure to work from. One that I could do and keep doing. Here is a picture of me on a day after one of the workouts.
I started in June of 2014, and I finished a whole 90 days, or one whole rotation of the system. I even got the tank top to prove it. I changed my food consumption and I incorporated healthy good for me foods. I felt good and I decided I needed to change it up and this is where I added yoga and kettle bell to go with my HIIT workouts.
Kidney Stone
Wanting to get myself to the next level I restricted my food intake more because “that is what you do” and only allowed myself “good for me” foods. I ate spinach morning noon and night. I ate nuts, and veggies, and cut out most meat. I craved and loved things like beets. I would make a whole pan of roasted beets and eat it all for the next couple of days. I was losing weight and feeling great. I had lost about 40 lbs. One day I had this excruciating pain, in my abdomen. I was on the couch and could not move. I called my husband at work and it passed till it felt like it moved again. As the pain passed again, I thought it was just something that may have been temporary. I tried to ignore it, but that level of pain got me scared. That night and the next day I was passing what I found out to be blood in my urine. I was rushed to the hospital the next day and found out I had a kidney stone. It was 5 mm or 1/5 of an inch. So they had to schedule a surgery to get it out. Doctors were surprised I did not go to the E.R., but I have a high pain tolerance. I had to wait 2 days for the surgery and they said it may pass between then but most likely it would not. The surgery went off without a problem. They tested the stone after the surgery and found it was calcium oxalate stone. I had not been drinking enough water, and I was eating all the foods with calcium oxalate. I love them to much it seems. Here are some of the foods with them:
Spinach
Bran flakes
Rhubarb
Beets
Potato chips
French fries
Nuts and nut butters
These are all foods I love. Especially beets, nuts, and spinach. I was shocked because these are “healthy foods”, and supposed to be good for you. But I learned this the hard way. Everything in moderation, and drink your water. Drink lots of water. I drink about 3 liters a day.
I healed up nicely and got back to workout as soon as I was given ok from doctors. I was antsy and raring to go. I was worried I would lose progress. It was about a week till I could do something light. Then the week after that I was able to go back to my regular routine.
By September 2015 I had lost 60 lbs. I was over the moon. I hit a plateau and was upset I was not losing more weight. I kept up with the workouts and eating healthy. I decided to start eating whole foods. Cutting out all processed foods
Hysterectomy
We are at September 29, 2015, and I am scared. I had been having symptoms of cancer for the past 6 months. My OBGYN was concerned it was a tumor that they could not see, and I put my head down and tried to ignore it. Do you see a recurring theme here? I try to ignore my pains and keep going. It is in my nature, and I figure I can just walk it off. I could not walk this off. I was bleeding so much I was in risk of becoming anemic, and I was getting more tired and weak as I went along. I know my husband was worried, and I was sad cause I was thinking of having a third baby. It was a huge decision and I did not want to make it. I ended up deciding to go ahead with my doctors suggestion and had a full hysterectomy. She removed my uterus and my cervix. I did end up having a tumor, and adenomyosis. (“ Adenomyosis is a condition in which the inner lining of the uterus (the endometrium) breaks through the muscle wall of the uterus (the myometrium). “ ) My tumor it turns out was benign but it was one of these. “Endometrial hyperplasia: A condition in which there is an increased number of cells and glandular structures in the uterine lining. Endometrial hyperplasia can have either normal or atypical cells and simple or complex glandular structures. The risk for developing cancer in the lining of the uterus is higher when endometrial hyperplasia has atypical cells and complex glands. “ Find out more information at cancer.net. Mine had atypical cells and could have turned/developed into cancer. So in the end it was the right call to remove my uterus. Cancer is scary and serious don’t be me and stupid and wait. Just go get it checked out.
Here is a post I made on the day of the surgery.
Anesthesia is not a good look on me.
“I am awake and alert. I am doing ok. I am keeping up on the pain meds. I had a slight complication during surgery. They accidentally cut my bladder. Now I have to live with a catheter and bag for two weeks. Wee!
Thanks for all the love and well wishes everyone. =) My H is taking great care of me, and the kiddos are doing awesome.”
Two weeks of bed rest due to complications and cut bladder. I wanted to get up and do all the things but the pain and the discomfort made me listen to my body.
Come Hell or Hysterectomy
Turkey Trot Race I walked in 2 months after hysterectomy.
I had made plans and bought my ticket run a 5 kilometer. It was a goal I had set at the beginning of 2015. It was in November and was a turkey trot. I was not cleared to run but I told my doctor I was determined to get out there and at least do some of it. I was given the go ahead to walk the race, and my family came with me. My two children and husband came out and walked the race with me. I was in pain but I was determined to sort of complete this goal this year, come hell, or hysterectomy.
Three months of only walking and no lifting more than 10 lbs had me biting my nails to get back to my workout routine.
By December 2015 I was gingerly making my way back to my workout routine. I wanted to keep it up and not lose my momentum. I lost some muscle and gained a few pounds but was able to get back to it slowly.
Fast forward to November 2016. Here is the workout I did for that day. =) I still have it, cause I put it up for my friends to see.
Here are the workout details if you want them:
100 squats, no rest 100 lunges, no rest 3 x 1 minute wall sits with 30 second rest in between 100 pike sit ups, 30 second rest at 45, and 65 mark 50 leg lifts, rest at 25 for 30 seconds 50 leg extensions 95 lb dead lifts with olympic barbell, rep set: 10, 9, 10
This is what I looked like then:
If you made it this far, I am amazed. This is already a long winded blog post and I am only up to 2016. But thank you for reading. Keep up the good work, and keep on going. Don’t let little things get stop you and only let the big things stop you till your doc says its ok to get back to it.
1.5 hours of Striking class. I have had a really busy week and I really needed the sleep. I worked till late last night and was up till 12 am. So I slept in and missed Krav today. I am glad I did. My body needed the sleep.
Today in Striking class we worked on the Thai 4 count. However, to mix it up our instructor Kru Krysta Scharlach made us do it with right lead leg. Meaning in the South Paw stance. Just like in Kali, when you have to do something on the side of your body that you don’t normally work with it melts the brain. For instance if you are right handed and you train and make yourself write with the left hand. You have to stop, slow down, and consciously force yourself to make the moves. It is weird to try to force your self and watch your partner go through the same problem. In my case it is my brain telling me to throw my hook with my right hand instead of my left hand. Doing this you will notice several things, or at least I have noticed these things for me:
Your punch, in this case the hook feels less powerful, and it is because you are not rotating correctly. Your body is used to throwing the hook with the left hand and you know how to throw your body into the hook.
Your brain will say to throw a hook, and you will automatically with muscle memory try to throw it with the left hand. The problem with that is the way your body is positioned you will not have the power or the torque with witch to throw it properly so it will feel off.
When you start to throw the hook with your left hand, and realize you are doing it, you stop, so you see yourself and your partner make a jerking motion stopping yourself from throwing it. As your brain says “no no no use your right hand. ”
Because of the jerking motion you end up doing you lose some of the flow you have.
When you go back to your original stance, in my case Orthodox or left lead leg. It takes a minute for your body and brain to sink back up, but then it feels right and you can throw in your hook in a more accurate way. It makes you hyper aware of your body and its movements.
It was a great class and I had fun. We all went out as a group to get tacos at a local taco bar, and it was great fun. The waitress had to bring many carafes of water cause we were all sucking down the water after our workout. We tipped her well for being so understanding, and putting up with 12 of us thirsty people.
Keep being awesome and get out there. Move your body, and do the things you love. Thanks for reading.
P.S. I was talking with one of my friends. I wanted to let people know that I post my info on workouts, my feelings, and such about my workout journey, not to fish for accolades. I am documenting my journey. I hope it does not come across as fishing. Don’t get me wrong like anyone it feels good when people say nice things to me and an about me. But I feel like it might be helpful for people to hear/see that they are not the only one that struggles through their journey. I am not perfect, never will be, but I will try to be the best at everything I do. I try to give 110%, but there are days when I can’t. My body says no, and I am becoming better about understanding that. I am becoming stronger, faster and a little better all the time. =)
I just finished 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. I had a great time and caught a blooper, see below.
while I had a great time. I was having a hard time holding pads for my partner. I was not great. Toward the end I figured it out was able to hold for her. Holding pads or feeding pads is a skill in of its self. Holding pads well will make your partner look like a bad ass. We worked on the Muay Thai 4 count left kick, cross, hook, then right kick. Then we worked on the Muay Thai 4 count left kick, cross, hook, to left kick again. We also worked on the 1/4 step posting our hand on their shoulder and landing a left kick into their mid section to a cross. We then did a 1/4 step posting our hand on their shoulder to knee and right elbow. It felt good when a girl who had not worked with me in a long time, was amazed at the strength of my kicks. She said they were great. Much stronger than the last time I worked with her. Yay!
In Kali, we worked on something I have never done before. Punyo Sumbrada is what it is called. This is one of those days where Kali just clicked. As soon as I was shown it, and we worked a few reps in slowly I had it down. I knew it, and was able to do it pretty well with good flow. This was one of those nights where I was not having a brain melting problem. It all seemed to click. I was able to change from feeding the 1, 3, and 5 attack angles. In turn receiving the 1, 3, and 5 attack angles, blocking punyo attacks, and then also disarming, using the snake disarms.
It was fantastic. Here is a video of me working on the Punyo Sumbrada. =) It feels good when it clicks.
And then there are funny things that happen. These are contact sports/arts so there will be contact and sometimes the camera man gets it too. I was laughing so hard. It did not harm the person, just startled them, the stick landed in their lap, and knocked the phone over. Here is the video.
So tired and dead, did not get off the floor to take photo.
I don’t often post about my Wednesday workouts. Just because they are the same as Monday or Tuesday. However today I had a great day! It kicked my butt in every way and I am going to feel it tomorrow in core, legs and arms. I am dead!
Workout #1: 42 minute HIIT run and core workout. 22 minute HIIT run. I got a twelve minute mile in woot.
V ups single leg V ups double leg Flutter kicks Kick back alternating leg
Workout #2: 1.5 hours of Muay Thai practice training. I left a puddle on the floor. We worked on the Trigg 10, and boxing 20, then did conditioning rounds. Regular conditioning rounds where we do three kicks on right three kicks on left and 4 knees then we push opponent away. After doing that a 4 times I finished off with. Two sets of 3 minute rounds. I did 56 kicks and 35 knees. I will need to get to 60 kicks and 40 knees a year from now if I want to do the Rank 1 test.
Here is a bonus video of me doing the boxing 20. When I stay more static for the first two sets my form and flow is much better. When in the last two sets I aggress I tend to square up my feet and lose my stance, and my flow gets choppier. We filmed so I can see it from an outside perspective.
So yay! Two workouts in. I am tired, and going to be sore tomorrow, but pushing now will give me results in the future.
Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any questions.
Today was 2 hours of Tuesday night training for Muay Thai and Kali. I had a blast in class, and although I think I am horrible compared to my class mates I am still showing up and trying every time. All I can hope is that if I keep showing up I will get better. My coaches/trainers and some of the other class mates that study with me, also say that all we have to do is show up and put the time in.
In Muay Thai we worked on the Thai 4 count. Right kick, hook, cross, to left kick, and also the right kick, hook, cross to right kick. Below is a video of me doing the Thai 4 count. I need to pivot more, I need to keep my left hand closer to my face. You can see when I don’t pivot correctly on my second set, that I hurt my foot on the pads a little. (It was slapping pain, I caught the edge of the pad.) Muay Thai is very much a skill set that when learning it is self correcting. Whether you working the bag, or you are kicking Thai Pads. If you kick them incorrectly it will hurt your foot. Not necessarily in a bad way, but will sting, cause a bruise or it can mess you up depending on how badly you hit the pads or bag.
In Kali, we practiced snake and vine disarms. These are not something you really wanna do with a knife, but when some one is attacking you with a blunt object or a stick these are effective. If you do it right. I have a lot to learn and am not great at this at all. Here I am practicing Kali, snake and vine disarms. Equal sign disarms, and plus sign disarms are the vine disarms that we worked on today. A vine disarm is one that uses a tool to help you disarm in this case we use our stick to create a fulcrum to remove the weapon from our opponent. The snaking disarms are the ones where we wind our arm around theirs and trap the weapon. In snake disarms we do not use another tool to create a fulcrum, we use our own bodies to trap the weapon.
You made it to the end, so thank you for reading. Let me know if you have questions. I must now shower and go to bed. I have an early morning, and it is almost midnight here.
Thank you Kru Krysta Scharlach, and Kru Kristen DeBruycker for great classes.
Do you ever feel like you have aggressively shoved or wedged your workout into your schedule? I do. Today I had to get my workout in before I had to pick up my husband from the metro. I had exactly 55 minutes to get it in, and I did my workout in 40 minutes.
I kicked my own butt in my workout today. Feels good and I am tired. Have to go to work soon.
Workout:
15 minute HIIT run. (Warm up for 3 minutes. HIIT 1 minute push run, 1 minute jog for 11 minutes, 1 minute cool down.)
Thruster squat ( 20 lb weights each hand) – Squat with hands in racked position, then stand and press dumbell reps – 12, 10, 8 ( each rep is squat to extend, to squat)
Plank Low Row ( 20 lb weight each hand) – Plank and do a tricep pull reps – 12, 10, 8 ( each rep is 1 pull on each side)
Running Man reps- 12, 10, 8 ( each rep was 1 knee to chest each side)
Reverse Lunge Curl (10 lb weight each hand) – stand and step back with one leg lunge, then bicep curl on stand up, lunge back with other leg, and curl. reps – 12, 10, 8 ( each rep was one on each side)
V Ups single leg reps – 10, 10, 8 ( each rep was one v up on each side for 1)
I felt rushed, and because of that I did not take rest breaks. Not resting is both good and can be bad. Just make sure that you don’t do it all the time. I was able to get the workout in, and get the other things I needed to do done. My husband was picked up and not left at the metro. I am about to go to work. The family has been fed and everyone seems happy. My work at home for now is done. =)
Thanks for reading and keep being awesome. Let me know what you think.
As I have said before eat the rainbow. It is a great way to get your vitamins and nutrients in.
I thought about whether to show this, as it is not exactly “instagram pretty”. Its a cross between a hummus and a guacamole. You can add any spices you want to it to season to taste. Some of the things I have done with this is, lemon juice, onions, cayenne, garlic, and jalapenos.
Today what I made was canned garbanzo beans, avocado, tomato, pickle juice in absence of lemon, and chopped dill pickles. I stuffed that into a pita and added fresh veggies, and it was oh so good.
Tastey Guammus Recipe
Ingredients:
1 whole pita
1/2 avocado smashed
1/2 or euro 4 oz cup of garbanzo beans canned smashed
6 cherry tomatoes sliced
1 1/2 tbs or euro 30 mls of pickle juice or more to taste
8 slices of dill pickles chopped up or sweet and spicy pickles would be good too
Veggies of your choice sliced up to stuff in pita ( I did cucumber, and bell pepper, cause that is what I had)
seasoning to taste
Directions:
cut the pita in half
prepare the guammus, in a bowl smash the garbanzo beans and avocado together. I did not have lemon juice so I substituted pickle juice for the acid component.
Chop up the pickles, and tomatoes adding them to the guammus mixture.
stuff guammus into the pita, and add veggies
sit in a sunny area and enjoy your tasty guammus sandwich.
Calories 417, Fat 15.9 g, Fiber 17.9 g, Carbs 60.1 g, Sodium 742 mg, Protein 14.3 g
Just think the colors in your veggies are the sun trapped and transformed to make a nutrient dense lunch for you. =)
Thank you for reading again. I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
I sit here writing this after a 2.5 hour training session, we also just refueled with some delicious Thai food. Because it is H’s birthday and we are celebrating. In most Asian families, long noodles are the thing to eat to ensure a long life. =)
I trained Muay Thai for one hour before our striking class. We worked on entries to get in and land our punches. We were working our range management. I am very short, 5 foot nothing, and my range is very short. In a fight I am going to get up close and personal. Where a taller 6 foot person is going to be hit me from further away. I have to get in close. There are advantages for the taller person. They can kick and hit from further out, and I have to eat a hit or kick to get into their pocket. However, the advantages for a shorter fighter are to my knowledge I have a shorter range, which is good cause I can then switch up what I am doing faster than they can. I can change my range with moving a little bit. I can cover up my actions by putting interference in their faces and then kick them without them seeing my legs move if I am executing the move correctly.
In Striking class we worked on JKD (Jeet Kune Do). ” Jeet Kune Do, “The way of the intercepting fist” in Cantonese, abbreviated JKD, is a hybrid philosophy of martial arts heavily influenced by the personal philosophy and experiences of martial artist Bruce Lee.” Wikipedia
We worked on both orthodox fighting and south paw fighting. What this means is we had to change our stances. We had to change our lead leg. Orthodox fighters have left leg forward, and south paw fighters have right leg forward. We had to faint, high, and low jabs, then work on entries into and range management to get the crosses, hooks, upper cuts, and then lead pendulum kicks a.k.a. Nao Tek.
From a technique point of view, this is hard to switch up. When I an orthodox fighter has to switch up to south paw, or right lead leg. It takes all your mental acuity to just make sure your throwing a hook with the right hand and not a cross like you would with orthodox stance. We then worked on a pop the leather practice where we try to use the tools we learned in JKD to asymmetrically spar our opponent. It was a fantastic training session, and I had a great time.
I have rambled on enough. I hope you have had a great day. Talk to me if you have questions or thoughts.
Here is a video of me doing some training on the bag. I was working on some left and right kicks. As you can see I am a orthodox fighter and I have left lead leg.
PSA: don’t listen to the scale alone. This is the best I have looked but the scale says otherwise. I know it’s probably water weight. It does not help I had weird dreams about weight. Off to breakfast then a 3 ish hour martial arts training. Also as your body is changing the right size clothes make a huge difference.
Thinks with Spinks 