Fighting Against Nature?

I love to dance. Am I any good at it is another issue altogether.  My favorite form of dance is Zumba though I really enjoy hip hop as well.

Today’s cardio was my favorite Zumba class at my gym. I’ve been taking Zumba classes off and on at my gym for a couple years now. I had to really work to memorize a mechanical version of the moves before I could even begin to attempt something resembling dance. It took well over a year doing the same dances again and again to learn to be mechanical.

Then teachers changed. Though choreography stayed the same, it was done as a dance instead of simply moves strung together. It wasn’t very difficult to adapt because I already knew the moves.

But I took a break to focus on running (my knees weren’t liking doing both) and when I came back the teacher had changed about 90% of her songs. One class a week for 1-2 months now. Some of the songs have been easier to get the hang of than others but I’m still fumbling a lot. Now she’s added 2-3 brand new songs today and I feel like I have 2 left feet and perhaps 2 left arms as well.

Sometimes I feel as if I’m defying nature by trying to dance. It doesn’t come naturally or even easily to me. I’ve spent the last several years practicing different kinds of dancing and I still suck big time. I have to learn an awkward mechanical version of the steps and memorize them in their entirety before I can even hope to turn it to some clumsy form of dance.

I’m not going to give up dancing just because I suck at it – it’s way too much fun. But I wonder if it’s just not in my genetic makeup to dance.

What kinds of skills don’t come naturally to you? Did you ever want to do/try something but given up on it because you weren’t good at it?

Bored with the Treadmill?

Winter is still upon us, more so in some places than in others. The running elite (and many other crazy people) may insist on continuing their running regime outside, but for the rest of us there’s the treadmill. In fact, I’m more of an all-year-round kind of person with that but that’s for other reasons I couldn’t avoid. Things are different this year so I’ll be able to move my running out of doors this Spring when the weather gets warmer. Warmer for me means at the very least in the 50s preferably in the 60s but I think I’d be waiting a long time for that to happen.

I’m a wuss when it comes to the cold.

After running a lot on treadmills, I can get pretty bored with the whole thing. I mean, no scenery change, no varying difference in incline difficulty…Just staring at the same place on the wall the entire time. Very boring. Thank goodness for  music, ebooks, and audiobooks! Total lifesavers there.

Maybe you’re still bored with the treadmill though. In that case, try taking a break from it. Here are some great pieces of cardio equipment you can find at your gym and some plans to go along with them:

I’m currently loving the Stairmaster (called Stair Mill here in the above routine). It gives a great workout to my butt and my hip flexors. My gym’s new Stairmasters turn it into a kind of game with high scores and stuff. I got to 2^nd place one day with how many feet I climbed. Out of all the options I can choose from on the Stairmaster, I enjoy matching a certain distance the most. So I’ll set the machine to keep going until I’ve climbed to the top of the Pyramids of Giza or something. It’s awesome fun! The best part is when I get to put my initials on the high score board. Woo! It seriously appeals to the competitive side of me without annoying complete strangers by staring at their machines to do better than them.

Sexy Back

Upon perusal of the millions of workouts I cut out from magazines, I came across one entitled “Shortcut To A Sexy Back.” What a misleading title but everyone’s looking for a shortcut so I can see why they named it that. My husband looked at the short-haired model in the picture and was completely stumped. What did short hair have to do with a sexy back? You know, a “short cut” instead of “shortcut?” English isn’t his first language.

To be fair when my son was a baby, a friend once gave him a onesie that had “Amazing” written across the front. Since the buttons down the front cut the word in two, I read it as “Ama Zing” and wondered what on earth that meant. I don’t have my husband’s excuse. It’s actually become a lasting joke between the two of us.

Back to the article. It was the featured express workout from the November/December 2013 issue of Fitness Magazine. Tracy Anderson (celebrity trainer and creator of popular exercise DVDs such as Tracy Anderson Method: Mat Workout) demoed her go-to moves for a great back/butt. I’ve tried out DVDs of Anderson’s before and posted about them – The Perfect Design Series—Level 1—Beginner and Tracy Anderson Method: Dance Cardio Workout. Both give great workouts but she does take some getting used to. I’m still getting used to her actually.

In fact, here’s a quick follow-up to my post about trying her Dance Cardio Workout DVD. It’s not for me. I learned the steps to the first dance combination but I could never quite manage to get my body to move the right way in the middle while actually dancing. I was hoping to learn more than one combination but I obviously have two left feet that think otherwise. So the search remains for the Anderson DVD that speaks most to me.

“These moves not only tone your back but also lift your posture so you appear taller and thinner,” says Anderson. They are deceptively simple and, when done correctly, should strengthen your back/core and give your butt a lift. Free butt lift! Sign me up!

Equipment Needed:

• Pair of 3lb dumbbells
• Hand towel

Do the following circuit of 6 moves twice. It should take about 15 minutes. Anderson works a lot of muscles at once to cut down on time. She tends more toward a streamlined look rather than bulging muscles so don’t expect to wow anyone in a body building competition with this moves. You should, however, look pretty good in one of those skimpy spaghetti-strap yoga tops.

*DISCLAIMER: Do these moves at your own risk. Always consult your doctor before trying a new exercise program. Always, always, always listen to your body and stop if you feel pain*

30DS Lvl 1 Finished!

Finally! Having 2 cardio days and a rest day every week made the whole thing much easier to finish. 2 days of 30DS made my shoulders ache. Add to that the Circuit Fusion classes and Zumba and my right shoulder was killing me for a little while there. Luckily, the cardio and rest days afforded me the down-time I needed to heal.

I probably should’ve been keeping track of how many times I did almost every move but I didn’t think of it. In fact, it only occurred to me on Day 4 that I should count how many push-ups I was doing in the two 30-second intervals. Here’s my overall progress:

# of (Modified) Push-Ups:

Day 4: 15, 13

Day 10: 26, 20

Here are my current measurements after 10 days of lvl 1 30DS (16 days total):

Weight: 166.2 lb (+.8)

Upper Arms: 11.25 in (L) 11.6 in (R) (-.25 L)

Bust: 38 in (+.5)

Chest: 30.6 in (-.9)

Waist: 30.5 in (-.5)

Below Belly Button: 38.5 in (+.5)

Hips: 40.75 in (+.25)

Thighs: 22.5 in (L,R) (-1 L, -.5 R)

Calves: 15.25 in (L,R) (+.25)

When I would take measurements before I’d round to the nearest inch or half inch. I decided I wanted more accurate numbers this time so I refrained from rounding. Since measuring tapes don’t have decimals, these have been guesstimated from fractions. My right arm might have seen improvement but the original number had been rounded so I can’t tell. My calves will never be wholly accurate because I’m still new at measuring them and I doubt if I’m hitting the exact same place every time. I’d like to believe I was wrong with my original measurements but I can’t say for sure.

Why is there not a greater weight loss? Probably due to my lousy diet. It’s been stressful. Not the workouts, just life. There’d probably be more physical change had my diet been better too. Still I’m stronger, have higher self-esteem, and believe that I look better even if the numbers don’t agree. I’m happy!

In all I’ve lost about 3.15 in and gained about 1.5 in. Can I claim that extra 1.5 in to be water retention? Maybe but probably not. Makes me laugh to even think it. What excuses we give ourselves!

Don’t Get Left Behind—Strengthen Your Glutes: A 30-Minute Glute-Building Bodyweight Workout

Don’t Get Left Behind—Strengthen Your Glutes: A 30-Minute Glute-Building Bodyweight Workout.

This is an awesome post from blogger Candies & Crunches for working your butt. Let’s face it, most of us need a good butt lift. It tends to droop more and more the older we get. Traitorous Tush!

It includes moves likes deadlifts, hip raises, hip extensions, and squats. Looks like your core and shoulders will get a good workout at the same time. You have to scroll down a ways to get to the routine. Happy burning!

*DISCLAIMER: You do these moves at your own risk. Always consult your doctor before trying new exercise programs. Listen to your body at all times; if something hurts in a sharp way rather than the good sore way, stop. Injuries are no fun.*

via Don’t Get Left Behind—Strengthen Your Glutes: A 30-Minute Glute-Building Bodyweight Workout.

30DS Lvl 1 Finished!

Finally! Having 2 cardio days and a rest day every week made the whole thing much easier to finish. 2 days of 30DS made my shoulders ache. Add to that the Circuit Fusion classes and Zumba and my right shoulder was killing me for a little while there. Luckily, the cardio and rest days afforded me the down-time I needed to heal.

I probably should’ve been keeping track of how many times I did almost every move but I didn’t think of it. In fact, it only occurred to me on Day 4 that I should count how many push-ups I was doing in the two 30-second intervals. Here’s my overall progress:

# of (Modified) Push-Ups:

Day 4: 15, 13

Day 10: 26, 20

Here are my current measurements after 10 days of lvl 1 30DS (16 days total):

Weight: 166.2 lb (+.8)

Upper Arms: 11.25 in (L) 11.6 in (R) (-.25 L)

Bust: 38 in (+.5)

Chest: 30.6 in (-.9)

Waist: 30.5 in (-.5)

Below Belly Button: 38.5 in (+.5)

Hips: 40.75 in (+.25)

Thighs: 22.5 in (L,R) (-1 L, -.5 R)

Calves: 15.25 in (L,R) (+.25)

When I would take measurements before I’d round to the nearest inch or half inch. I decided I wanted more accurate numbers this time so I refrained from rounding. Since measuring tapes don’t have decimals, these have been guesstimated from fractions. My right arm might have seen improvement but the original number had been rounded so I can’t tell. My calves will never be wholly accurate because I’m still new at measuring them and I doubt if I’m hitting the exact same place every time. I’d like to believe I was wrong with my original measurements but I can’t say for sure.

Why is there not a greater weight loss? Probably due to my lousy diet. It’s been stressful. Not the workouts, just life. There’d probably be more physical change had my diet been better too. Still I’m stronger, have higher self-esteem, and believe that I look better even if the numbers don’t agree. I’m happy!

In all I’ve lost about 3.15 in and gained about 1.5 in. Can I claim that extra 1.5 in to be water retention? Maybe but probably not. Makes me laugh to even think it. What excuses we give ourselves!

One thing I do need to take into account is the fact that I’m retaining water. Part of it is from my diet and there’s no excuse for that, but the main part is from being female and I can’t help that. Here’s to hormones! May they rot in peace.

Tracy Anderson Method: Dance Cardio

Despite being a terrible dancer, I love to dance. I have little rhythm and even less coordination and what I do have of each was earned with grueling hours doing the same exact dances numbers over and over and over again. Well, not really but it would’ve seemed grueling had I been able to watch myself learning the steps. My husband came home one day, saw me doing a belly dancing DVD and laughed outright. Another night I was doing hip hop. More laughter. He said later I was cute. Hmph.

The Tracy Anderson Method: Dance Cardio Workout DVD

So this week I’ll be practicing The Tracy Anderson Method: Dance Cardio Workout DVD.

There are 7 different song combinations. First Tracy goes through each combination without music and teaches you how to do them. She starts off slow verbally and visually pointing out each step with her back to you so that you mimic her exactly. Then she’ll show you what it looks like performed faster and standing face-to-face. Lastly she’ll go through the entire combination at the normal pace with her back once more to you.

She highly recommends learning the combinations before you attempt the actual dance cardio section in order to get the best workout you can get. Since I have the DVD for only a week, I’ll endeavor to learn only a few of the combinations given.

I started learning this morning as my son was eating breakfast. At least he doesn’t laugh at me when I attempt something new. In fact, he tells me I’m awesome. He gives me my best self-esteem boosts. Let me remind others who are thinking of taking up dancing because I forgot what it was like to dance at home.

I was barefoot…on carpet. Ouch. My poor little toes. Can we all say “rug burn?” Always wear shoes.

Anyway, the first dance combination wasn’t hard to learn, even for me. However, walking through the movements without music is very different from dancing the moves with or without music. Actually, it’s probably harder without music because you have no beat to match your moves to, but that’s neither here nor there. I sucked. Big time. But at least the moves themselves were simple so I have high hopes of being able to learn it by tomorrow (or today depending on how much time I put into it).

Heart Rate Monitor

I recently acquired a HR monitor in order to track my HR whenever I exercise.

Duh. What else would I use it for?

Okay, so maybe I walked around my apt that first night marveling at how the numbers fluctuate when I do different things, but really I’m going to use it when I exercise.

Timex Ironman Target Trainer Heart Rate Monitor – Men’s – $129.95 at REI online. My husband had a member refund saved up for some time or else I never would have been able to afford it. A men’s watch for a woman you say? It was the best we could afford and the women’s HR monitors sucked. Besides, when the package came it said it was actually a unisex watch so that made me feel better.

It’s black with a thin yellow band around the face. That’s not why I think it’s a bit on the ugly side though – it’s because it’s big. I mean, REALLY big. I don’t think I have small wrists, though they are smaller than they were before I lost weight, but this thing dwarfs them! It’s not complimentary to go from big hands to a big watch and on to big arms. Initially I thought I looked silly with it. I found out, however, that it has TAP technology and that’s probably why it’s so big.

If I want to keep track of my miles while I’m running, all I have to do is whack my wrist. I hear a loud beep and know that I’ve switched laps (meaning miles in this case). No fumbling around for small buttons, no faltering in my stride to look at my watch. The numbers, too, are really big so I don’t have to peer at them while my arm bounces along and while I wait for my eyes to adjust.

It’s awesome.

But this isn’t just a watch. This has a chest strap that the watch connects with digitally to get an accurate reading of my HR. I heard that monitors that were only watches weren’t accurate enough so I looked at the chest strap/watch models. With my HR tracked and the workout saved afterwards, it figured out my calorie burn too!

WOO!

No more guessing at how many calories I must’ve lost during an exercise class. And you know when I say “guessing” I mean, “way over, completely wrong guesstimating.” I have yet to see how many calories I burn in one of my normal Circuit Fusion classes – and I’ll never know how many I burned when Kelly kicked our butts when she was teaching – but I now know all about my HR during the 30-Day Shred DVD I’m currently doing and how many calories I burn during those 20 minutes. It’s fun to see the numbers fluctuate with the exercises I’m doing and how hard/easy I push myself.

For example: I tested it out Thursday during 30DS while working at my normal pace. My HR peaked at 166bpm during the first round of ST and CARDIO but was always verging on recovery (around 100-110bpm) whenever I had to move into ABS. Then my HR never got above 140bpm for the rest of the DVD. My calorie-burn was around 285. BOO! I tried it again on Saturday and pushed myself harder throughout the entire DVD. My HR peaked at 177bpm and again dipped toward recovery whenever I went into ABS. My calorie-burn this time was 349!

Double WOO!

I also found out when I ran with it on a treadmill at the gym that the treadmill didn’t give an accurate calorie-burn. I don’t remember how far off it was but it was way off. Not surprising as it can’t take my HR while I’m in the midst of sprinting my little heart out and these new ones don’t take my weight into account…which is just weird. No weight? No HR? How can they tell me how many calories I might be burning? Well, they can’t really which is why they’re way off.

There are lots more features on this HR monitor and I highly recommend it for people who want one but can’t afford the $400 HR monitors. Just be prepared to sit back the first 20 minutes or so to read the manual and to adjust your watch to your specifications. Then, if you’re a geek like me, get ready to have fun!

30-Day Shred Week 1

My first week of Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred can be summed up in one word:

Exhausting.

I do whatever workout is called for on that particular day and fight to use my brain the rest of the time. Due to this exhaustion, I’m not digesting well and my heartburn is flaring back up on a regular basis. This is understandable though as I’m not eating well ($ problems), am dealing with stress ($ problems), am not sleeping well (enough?), and am probably doing more than my body can currently handle on the physical side. This last reason I don’t like to believe though as other people do more than me and have no problems. Maybe my lack of energy is also caused by the current lack of sunlight where I live.

Winter. Ugh.

Here was my schedule:

W: 30DS Day 1

Th: 30DS Day 2, Walking – 25min 1.45mi, Running – 37.26min 5k

F: Stairmaster – 23.57min 853ft (80floors)

Sa: 30DS Day 3

Su: 30DS Day 4

M: Circuit Fusion Class – 30min, Walking – 5min .32mi, Running – 11.12min 1mi

Tu: Zumba – 45min

When I write it out like that it doesn’t seem like a whole lot anymore. Then I have to remember that I’m no longer used to running at all much less running a full 5k and the single mile I did was pushing myself as hard as I could without getting sick because I no longer had the 30 minutes of running time I had planned on taking. That may seem fast for some but I was consistently getting single 10-minute miles without trying before so it’s slow for me. Still, it’s faster than I what I was getting at the end of 2013 I guess.

I’m also still new to the stairmaster and getting as far as I did was a feat for me. The first time I used that machine, no one had shown me proper form and I jumped into a super hard routine that I had gotten from a magazine. I discovered the pain of the sciatica and afterwards treated the machine as if it had leprosy imbedded in its evil metallic plastic body. Since then I have learned proper form and no longer shun it like the demon it is. In fact, my gym got some new ones in at the end of 2013 and these new ones have high score charts on them. My 24 minutes on it ranked 2^nd on the scoreboard both with floors climbed and with calories burned. I’m still quite proud of myself. I’m determined to try again on Friday. I think if I had finished a full 30 minutes I could’ve definitely made it to first place. Sweet!

30-Day Shred Challenge

Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred dvd isn’t a new thing by any means. I’ve had the dvd for some years now. I’m not quite sure how long Jillian Michaels had been popular when I got the dvd but it’s about 5-6 years old by this time.

I attempted the 30-Day Shred twice before when I was around 190lbs a couple years ago. The first time I gave up after 4 days. The second time I gave up after 7 days.

This is the plan I was told to follow:

• Lvl 1 – 10 days
• Lvl 2 – 10 days
• Lvl 3 – 10 days

No rest, no breaks. Just keep on truckin’. My body was so sore and I was so tired of pushing myself to do the exact same thing every day that I would ended up getting quite sick of it and quitting.

It is, however, my belief that

Every failure brings some success.

That should be a famous quote or something. I do believe I said something intelligent and, dare I say it, inspirational.

Woo! Go me!

This time will be different though. It always bugged me that I was doing strength training every single day with no rest. I had always been taught your muscles need time to rest to get the most benefit and to decrease your chances of injury. This is why we’re supposed to do exercises every other day.

So I looked up more info on 30DS and found that Jillian Michaels never meant for people to be doing this program a full 30 days with no rest. She instead recommended people to do

• 2 days DS
• 1 day Cardio
• 2 days DS
• 1 day Cardio
• Rest

I still wonder about doing 2 days in a row of the dvd but I’m not going to quibble. Unfortunately these cardio and rest breaks, while enjoyable, mean that I’m going to have to stick to the plan nearly 60 days instead of 30. Ouch.

So far I’ve done my first 4 days of DS at lvl 1 with little to say. Given how much fitter I am now, lvl 1 is much easier than it used to be. Even so, after 2 simultaneous days, my shoulders were extremely sore and I was relieved to have a cardio day. The first couple days I was sure I had broken my back. Side lunges with front raises and modified bent-over rows (your arms are pointed somewhere between the wall in front of you and the floor so your shoulders and back get more of a workout) killed my back afterward so I wanted to hobble around like a grandma who’d spent her whole life working in rice fields.

In addition to the 30DS, I’m continuing with my running (which will probably get moved to the cardio days now) and D’s Circuit Fusion class twice a week. Measurements, weight, and pictures will be posted at the end in late February. Naturally, I also recently found out that my favorite Zumba class changed to a time/day when I can go. Of course it falls on my rest day.

If you’re having fun, it doesn’t really count as exercise…right? I REALLY want to go again. I miss dancing so much that I’m dancing in my chair while I eat and while I sit at red lights in the car.

It may turn out that I have too much on my plate what with running, Circuit Fusion, Zumba, and 30DS. I guess we’ll see how well I can juggle and what part of me falls off first. My fingers are crossed that it’ll be the fat.

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