...exercise every day!
Headless Mom had a GREAT idea in the comments section. Is anyone interested in exchanging exercise dvds or videos? I've got a bunch I'd let someone borrow for a week or two. This is a great way to try out something new, see if you like it, and not have to buy it.
Anyone interested?
So, in order to try to break myself out of a slump, I've vowed to work on my ABS. That's probably the weakest part of my body, and the one that could use the most work.
I bought my husband a set of dvds for Christmas - P90X, a super intense workout. I've done a few of them and they are REALLY tough. I'm doing the Ab one every day, and whoa, do I have a lot of work to do.
Core work is essential to fitness. A strong core will help you run faster and farther, improve your posture, make your clothes look better, and help with a host of other situations.
What do you do for ab/core work?
In an effort to get ready for our exercise challenge, which will begin on January 1, let's talk about exercise clothing.
I took a tour around the sporting goods store today. My primary goal was to locate new running pants. I'm fairly particular about what I wear. I don't like pants that flap around the ankles, pants that are too tight, pants that sag around the crotch. I don't like long sleeve shirts, but I know that I have to wear them if I go out below 45 degrees. I don't like turtlenecks, tight shirts, especially in the arms, or insulated wear.
Yeah, I'm pretty high maintenance. What of it?
I needed new running tights because the ones I have are too big. There is NOTHING more attractive than me, running down the street, yanking my pants back up every other step. I have to stop periodically and shift everything back to where it goes. I am SO pretty - don't hate me. I make people chuckle, and so my life is complete.
Where I live, it rarely drops below freezing until much later in the winter, and it hardly ever snows, so I don't need much in the way of winter wear. Typically, I wear the Under Armour running tights - think tight skinny leg lycra pants. I often wear the lighter version. I wear a long sleeve Under Armour or Nike shirt, an ear wrap if it is below 60 degrees, a beanie if it's below 45, and thin Under Armour gloves. Oh, and shoes and socks. Duh.
That stuff isn't cheap - I have slowly gotten it by asking for it for gifts and buying a piece here and there. I also have a few polarfleeces to wear if it gets really cold, but I usually don't need those. I get really hot quickly. My favorite thing would be the gloves and the ear wrap.
What do you find necessary for your exercise? A certain type of pants, a special shirt? Do you have the ability to treat yourself to something new? If so, do - it'll make it that much harder to drop out of the challenge.
I need to know who is on board for this, so leave me a comment and tell me what exercise you plan to do for our challenge. You can choose one, two or more forms - just make it something you can do on a consistent basis.
Check out my review of Ryka runners, and then enter the drawing to win one of FIFTY pairs given away EVERY day, between now and Oct 25. All the info you could want is either at my site, or on the Ryka website.
Good luck, and let me know if you win!!!
I was, once, a long time ago, a ballet dancer. I was at a pre professional school for years and took three hours of class four days a week, with rehearsals all day Saturday and Sunday. I took classes for years, up until I was pregnant with my son, who is now 7. I have always had luck picking up dance routines fairly easily, thanks to the years of class, where the teacher shows the combination once, maybe twice, and you have to know it. I've had good luck taking exercise classes, like aerobics and jazzercise, just because I have a knack for grabbing the routines and putting them in my head. So when I saw the reviews for Rock Your Body with Jamie King, and saw that it was billed as the best all over workout available right now by Shape magazine, it went to the top of my Netflix list.
It came last week and I went nuts. Right away, it went into the player. Wait, let me back up - here's what the cover says:
Jamie king - a noted choreographer and video director who's developed routinues for pop superstars including Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Ricky Martin - leads this hip-hop infused workout designed to help you look your best and look good while you are doing it. Developed for everyday people who aren't professional dancers, the routinue incorporates elements of cardio and dance to promote flexibility and weight loss and increase strength.
So, um, yeah, it sounds like it'd be good, right?
I tried so hard to like it. I really did. But it was HARD. Too, too hard for me, and I can't believe I said that. Idon't say that often. On the plus side, I DID sweat. The workout is broken down into six sections - warm up, rehearsal 1, rehearsal 2, dress rehearsal (where you put the two sections together slowly), the performance (where you put the two sections together more quickly in front of an "audience"), and a cool down. I made it through rehearsal 1 but got stuck on rehearsal 2. He does break down the choreography, but I had a hard time following it. There is an option to hit the enter button and see it in slow motion, and I think I'll do that next time.
The routine is done on a stage, with a dj mixing live music, and everyone is clad in various street outfits. Gah, I sound old just saying this.
I'm going to try it again, but I'm not thinking it's the dvd for me.
Why walk? Daily brisk walks can halt osteoporosis, lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, cut your risk of certain cancers, and even lengthen your life. University of Virginia researchers recently found that older men who walked more than two miles a day had half the risk of dying of cancer and other causes as men who walked less than a mile a day. (credit - findarticles.com)
What you want to do is see exactly how much you move. A basic pedometer - there about about 500 choices on Amazon alone - should be able to do the job adequately. The simplest pedometers only count your steps and display steps and/or distance. Set a goal of distance or steps for each day. The magic number that you want to shoot for is 10,000 for weight loss when you count all steps during the day. The Google Map Pedometer is incredibly cool, and free to boot. Free is always my favorite way to be. I've also been known to use my van to figure out distance and using this formula (only for the truly geeky and weird like me!) One mile is equal to 5280 feet. Most people say it takes about 2000 steps for every mile. Of course everyone's stride is different. An average stride is usually somewhere between 2 and 3 feet in length. So on average it takes between 1760 and 2640 steps to complete one mile. To measure your stride mark a distance of 50 feet. Now walk this distance and count your steps. Divide 50 by the number of steps and that is your stride length. Now, divide 5280 by your stride length to find your "average steps per mile".
I use the Garmin Forerunner. The ONLY reason that I'd EVER use something so expensive is that I didn't pay for it, lol. We cashed in points at my husband's job and that was in the (incredibly cool) product catalog. I really like that it tells me not only distance, but time walked or run, pace, laps, and keeps a log for me. It uses the GPS system. I try to beat my last time every time I go out.
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Thanks for the info re: feedburner and the like. Apparently, you can only do that when you use the direct address here, which is long because this blog actually runs off my other one. I bought the domain name and everything else is directed here, but not the feeds, which are published - I checked. So, try this address and see if it works, and if you have any ideas, I'm open to them!
