At any gym there are always those girls who look very cute the entire time they are there. They have cute workout clothes, fresh makeup and if they push it a little, they may "glisten". I am not one of those girls. On days I workout right after work I walk in with cute clothes on and half fresh makeup. It may even be rubbed off if the work day was hectic. On morning workouts, I am makeup free. Now, lately I have started to wear the "cute" workout clothes but within 20 minutes I am sweaty and gross. I only stopped wearing the IUDM shirt from 2000 and soccer shorts that are 2 sizes too big so that I could actually see the progress I was making in the gym. Not to meet my future husband-which I do think some people do (guys and girls). They consider the gym a healthier happy hour- or preparty.
My thought is that if I am not dripping with sweat at the end of my workout, I am not working hard enough to see the results I want to see. I want to be working hard, building muscle and burning fat when I am there. I struggle with eating healthy more than I do with working out so when I am in the gym for the 60-90 minutes out of the day I am going to go all out.
I read a tweet that said "if you still look cute when you leave the gym, go back in and keep working". I want guys (or girls) to look at me and think that girl is busting her ass instead of that girl looks cute. I workout to look cute outside of the gym-not in it. There are days where I get in my car after showering from a workout and my seat is damp from the drive home after the workout. Yes, it's gross but the dorky part of me enjoys the lingering effect of a strong workout.
How hard do you workout? What do you think of those who make the gym a social hour/dating scene?
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Too Busy to Eat???
I am always amazed by those who can say "oh my gosh, I have just been so busy that I forgot to eat all day!" I always look at them in complete amazement. Never in my entire life can I remember a time where I FORGOT to eat. Growing up, maybe I should have forgotten to eat a time or two but I can guarantee it would never happen. My mom told me that even as a little girl I would wake up first thing in the morning and ask what was for dinner that night. Come on man, a girl has to have things to look forward to during the day, right? And I needed to prepare my taste buds! Come on, someone knows what I mean by preparing your taste buds, right?
Now that I am more into eating healthy and working out I find that there is no way my metabolism or body would let me forget to eat. I eat every 2-3 hours like clock work. It is normally something small like an apple or a greek yogurt or some nuts but it is always within a few hours. I know that it took me a while to get used to eating every 2-3 hours but my calories stay the same because I am literally eating 6 times a day but just smaller meals. When I am out running errands I will throw a banana, a protein bar, a small bag of mixed nuts something in my purse so that I know I can grab something healthy when the hunger hits. I have also been known to bring a protein bar to meetings that are going to be longer than 2 hours. I love when people are like "did you not eat lunch?"...oh no, I ate but I just know I am going to be hungry before this meeting is over. I have had one colleague (and friend-Jen) who understands this and we would literally discuss meetings and if we should bring a bar or fruit or something!
What are some of your favorite grab and go healthy foods? I am always looking for new ideas!
Now that I am more into eating healthy and working out I find that there is no way my metabolism or body would let me forget to eat. I eat every 2-3 hours like clock work. It is normally something small like an apple or a greek yogurt or some nuts but it is always within a few hours. I know that it took me a while to get used to eating every 2-3 hours but my calories stay the same because I am literally eating 6 times a day but just smaller meals. When I am out running errands I will throw a banana, a protein bar, a small bag of mixed nuts something in my purse so that I know I can grab something healthy when the hunger hits. I have also been known to bring a protein bar to meetings that are going to be longer than 2 hours. I love when people are like "did you not eat lunch?"...oh no, I ate but I just know I am going to be hungry before this meeting is over. I have had one colleague (and friend-Jen) who understands this and we would literally discuss meetings and if we should bring a bar or fruit or something!
What are some of your favorite grab and go healthy foods? I am always looking for new ideas!
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Sugar and Spice...Not So Nice
This past weekend I went down to Bloomington for the IU Alumni Leaders Conference. I always enjoy getting down to Bloomington to see friends who are part of the Hoosier family. The staff of the IUAA always do a fantastic job and I sometimes wonder if they ever take time for themselves with all the work that they do.
Part of being in Bloomington includes a trip to Sugar and Spice (after all the meetings are held in the Union) and Nicks. Remember how I said I don't always eat that great? Well, this past weekend was a perfect example. I had 3 glasses of wine Friday night, 1 Special K Chewy, 3 chocolate no bake cookies and 1 piece of chocolate cake throughout the weekend.
I know, gross. Gross is exactly how I felt after eating that much sugar. Yes, the cookies were spread out over 2 days but the effects of sugar and poor eating are more noticeable once someone makes a concerted effort to eat healthy. I felt lethargic and gross until sometime Sunday afternoon as I spent all of Sunday morning drinking tons of water, eating fruit, oatmeal, almond milk and my protein shake. The water has helped flush my system. Once one starts to pay more attention to what they eat, you can tell the difference when you have a day or two of eating bad. However, all it takes is a quick turnaround (so don't make the poor eating a habit) and several hours of eating clean and drinking water to bounce right back and feel better. I rarely have crazy times like this past weekend but when I do I always feel the same- gross, lazy and tired. But, I have to say that sometimes these weekends are definitely worth it and it was. I had a great time.
As you start to eat cleaner, ask yourself how you feel. I guarantee you will start to feel better before you see difference in your clothes, mirror or scale. To me, that is the reason to eat healthy; to feel good. I have more energy when I eat right, get plenty of sleep and don't drink alcohol. I love that feeling even more than being a size smaller.
What foods make you feel lethargic? Have you been able to cut them out of your life? How do you feel when you eat them? Would love to hear feedback!
Below is a picture from the weekend!
Part of being in Bloomington includes a trip to Sugar and Spice (after all the meetings are held in the Union) and Nicks. Remember how I said I don't always eat that great? Well, this past weekend was a perfect example. I had 3 glasses of wine Friday night, 1 Special K Chewy, 3 chocolate no bake cookies and 1 piece of chocolate cake throughout the weekend.
I know, gross. Gross is exactly how I felt after eating that much sugar. Yes, the cookies were spread out over 2 days but the effects of sugar and poor eating are more noticeable once someone makes a concerted effort to eat healthy. I felt lethargic and gross until sometime Sunday afternoon as I spent all of Sunday morning drinking tons of water, eating fruit, oatmeal, almond milk and my protein shake. The water has helped flush my system. Once one starts to pay more attention to what they eat, you can tell the difference when you have a day or two of eating bad. However, all it takes is a quick turnaround (so don't make the poor eating a habit) and several hours of eating clean and drinking water to bounce right back and feel better. I rarely have crazy times like this past weekend but when I do I always feel the same- gross, lazy and tired. But, I have to say that sometimes these weekends are definitely worth it and it was. I had a great time.
As you start to eat cleaner, ask yourself how you feel. I guarantee you will start to feel better before you see difference in your clothes, mirror or scale. To me, that is the reason to eat healthy; to feel good. I have more energy when I eat right, get plenty of sleep and don't drink alcohol. I love that feeling even more than being a size smaller.
What foods make you feel lethargic? Have you been able to cut them out of your life? How do you feel when you eat them? Would love to hear feedback!
Below is a picture from the weekend!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Get by with a little help from your friends
Since starting this blog, some of my friends have been sending me similar blogs, interesting websites, etc and I thought that I would share some of them with you! The first one comes from my friend Peggy-who is heading to Florida in a matter of hours so we should all be jealous of the sun and sand that she is about to have. She sent me the following website via text and I looked at it from my phone immediately. I was so intrigued that later I went home and looked on my laptop.
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
This site lists all the muscles and then exercises that you can do for each muscle! For example, you want to work your biceps...well just go to this page for an example of bicep curls:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/BBCurl.html
They even have kettlebell examples. The site is not pretty-but I think those sites can sometimes give you the best information! No fluff!
Next my friend Monica, who is the mom of 2 cute little boys, sent me some other blogs that you may want to check out as well. Monica is well on her way to being fit and fabulous (she is already fab in my book though). Now, I have to say that these blogs are so much better than mine...so I am definitely encouraging you to check theirs out more than mine!
http://muffin-topless.com/about/
Ms. Muffin as I will now call her as recipes and all kinds of things. I definitely want to try the maple and cinnamon fruit bowl!
Skinny Meg can be found at: http://www.skinnymeg.com/ Disclaimer on Skinny Meg: she is probably more for the girls than the guys. I did come across photos of her at a OBGYN appt and I am not sure that guys would find that appealing.
One of my first posts (at this point they are all first posts) was talking about how I love women in the weight room and how supportive they are. I think it is really just women motivated to be the best self that they can be. I loved getting these tips from Monica and Peggy and had to share them with you too! If you have sites you like and want others to know about, let me know or comment and others can check them out!
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
This site lists all the muscles and then exercises that you can do for each muscle! For example, you want to work your biceps...well just go to this page for an example of bicep curls:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Biceps/BBCurl.html
They even have kettlebell examples. The site is not pretty-but I think those sites can sometimes give you the best information! No fluff!
Next my friend Monica, who is the mom of 2 cute little boys, sent me some other blogs that you may want to check out as well. Monica is well on her way to being fit and fabulous (she is already fab in my book though). Now, I have to say that these blogs are so much better than mine...so I am definitely encouraging you to check theirs out more than mine!
http://muffin-topless.com/about/
Ms. Muffin as I will now call her as recipes and all kinds of things. I definitely want to try the maple and cinnamon fruit bowl!
Skinny Meg can be found at: http://www.skinnymeg.com/ Disclaimer on Skinny Meg: she is probably more for the girls than the guys. I did come across photos of her at a OBGYN appt and I am not sure that guys would find that appealing.
One of my first posts (at this point they are all first posts) was talking about how I love women in the weight room and how supportive they are. I think it is really just women motivated to be the best self that they can be. I loved getting these tips from Monica and Peggy and had to share them with you too! If you have sites you like and want others to know about, let me know or comment and others can check them out!
Sunday, June 2, 2013
My Body Gallery
This post is not really a fitness/workout post but it is a website I want to share. mybodygallery.com is a website featuring real women who share their height, weight, body type, etc. All the pictures are submitted from real women around the world. One thing that I love about this site is that you will be able to see that all women carry their weight different. I find myself looking at girls who I think look great who weigh more, less or the same as me. I also see girls who are genuinely fit and I am in awe of their dedication-not even paying attention to the number by their weight! I say this because I think that as women we have the tendency to get stuck on some number on the scale when it really means nothing in the long run. If you feel healthy, are getting some sort of physical activity most days, and your clothes still fit (or are getting loose!) then don't let a number on the scale determine how you feel about yourself.
Now, I have to admit that I do weigh myself most days. NOT because I want to measure how "good" or "bad" I have been (as many women do) but because I think that it is important to course correct if I start to see the scale consistently go up. Most women can fluctuate 5 pounds from day to day so the scale will change from day to day. You may have an "ideal/goal" weight based on what you think is healthy or what someone else looks like-throw that number out. As you gain muscle your weight will not drop (and may even increase) but if you feel better and like the changes in your body-does it really matter what some piece of metal or glass that is on your bathroom floor says?!?!
I would much rather have a body type that when people look at me they say "she hits the gym" or "she is fit" instead of "she needs to eat a cheeseburger" or "she needs to stop eating something". So skinny or fat...I don't want that. I want fit, strong, healthy to describe my appearance and I think that most people should too!
Now, I have to admit that I do weigh myself most days. NOT because I want to measure how "good" or "bad" I have been (as many women do) but because I think that it is important to course correct if I start to see the scale consistently go up. Most women can fluctuate 5 pounds from day to day so the scale will change from day to day. You may have an "ideal/goal" weight based on what you think is healthy or what someone else looks like-throw that number out. As you gain muscle your weight will not drop (and may even increase) but if you feel better and like the changes in your body-does it really matter what some piece of metal or glass that is on your bathroom floor says?!?!
I would much rather have a body type that when people look at me they say "she hits the gym" or "she is fit" instead of "she needs to eat a cheeseburger" or "she needs to stop eating something". So skinny or fat...I don't want that. I want fit, strong, healthy to describe my appearance and I think that most people should too!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Leg day!
As I type this I am sitting down to an amazing diet coke :) I want to say that I do not claim to be a fitness expert, or a clean eater. What I can say is that I do try to eat healthy but sometimes I just want pizza, breadsticks and a diet coke :)
This morning I got up at 4:30 to hit the gym before work so that I could come home and mow the yard before the rain hit. Now that I have worked out, worked and mowed the grass I am exhausted. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and 45 minutes of weights (leg day) this morning and my legs are killing me. I can't decide if it is the heels I wore or the workout though.
As I have said, leg days are my favorite days. I love squats, lunges, deadlifts, box jumps, etc. I normally do around 8-10 exercises on leg day, but I have been known to do more because I feel good and like to do them. If you do no other leg exercise, squat! It is a great exercise for the entire lower body. I do 3-4 different types of squats (sets and reps depend on heavy or light day) every leg day and they can include: normal squats, hack squats, plie squats, one leg squats, close leg squats, sumo squats. You may be wondering what some of these squats look like so I have included a random picture below.
A hack squat is a machine at your gym. Sumo squats are similar to plie squats, but with sumo squats your toes are not pointed outward like a plie. The smith machine is my favorite piece of equipment for legs. Most gyms have a smith machine so I included a picture of that as well in case you don't know what that is.
You can add weighted plates to each side to do your workout. Eventually, once you dont care what anyone in the gym thinks of you, I strongly recommend weighted donkey kicks with the smith machine. For this exercise you get on all 4's and kick back one leg, lifting up the bar on the smith machine. This is hard to explain so I inluded a picture as well. You have to bring the bar on the smith maching down to about calf/knee height to begin. This exercise hurts so good!
I also love the cable machine at the gym. I use that to do kickbacks, and work my thighs! I have attached some pictures of the workouts I do below.
This morning I got up at 4:30 to hit the gym before work so that I could come home and mow the yard before the rain hit. Now that I have worked out, worked and mowed the grass I am exhausted. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and 45 minutes of weights (leg day) this morning and my legs are killing me. I can't decide if it is the heels I wore or the workout though.
As I have said, leg days are my favorite days. I love squats, lunges, deadlifts, box jumps, etc. I normally do around 8-10 exercises on leg day, but I have been known to do more because I feel good and like to do them. If you do no other leg exercise, squat! It is a great exercise for the entire lower body. I do 3-4 different types of squats (sets and reps depend on heavy or light day) every leg day and they can include: normal squats, hack squats, plie squats, one leg squats, close leg squats, sumo squats. You may be wondering what some of these squats look like so I have included a random picture below.
You can add weighted plates to each side to do your workout. Eventually, once you dont care what anyone in the gym thinks of you, I strongly recommend weighted donkey kicks with the smith machine. For this exercise you get on all 4's and kick back one leg, lifting up the bar on the smith machine. This is hard to explain so I inluded a picture as well. You have to bring the bar on the smith maching down to about calf/knee height to begin. This exercise hurts so good!
In addition to these exercises above you can also do squats with a bar attached to the smith machine (or handles as in the picture below.)
Deadlifts, calf raises, walking lunges (both with a dumbells to my side and a barbell across my shoulders), box jumps, weighted step ups (shown below) are also a part of my leg day.
I don't do every exercise every time but I always have some sort of lunge or squat in my routine and sometimes...a split squat lunge! (picture below)
I may not post for a couple of days but I promise to continue postings! You all have helped me stay healthy! We had two days at work this week where people brought in treats and I passed both days-a decision I attribute to this blog!
Which reminds me...many of you know I work at Butler near Trip and Blue (Butler mascots). Well Trip is a daddy's boy and it is beyond sad to watch him watch his dad leave with Blue or for a meeting. Today he was near the door watching his dad (pops) and Blue leave when I opened the door to come back in-Trip tried to take off, but I was able to hold that 60 pound beast of a puppy in place and wrangle him back inside. I know that it is because I am getting stronger. Ok, one more picture of the dogs..I love those dogs.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Why wait? Pick up the weights!
I want all of you to know that I googled funny phrases about weight lifting and couldn't find one so the title of this post is all mine in its glory (sarcasm). I also want you to know that I have re-read my blog and I need to work on all the typos. I have noticed in a lot of areas of my life typos are becoming more frequent. At work, in email, on this blog...all the time. Thank goodness email does not have the iphone autocorrect function yet.
I have had a lot of feedback on facebook about strength training. The first question I want to answer is how I got started and how "heavy" I lifted at first. I was hands down the weakest person in the world before I got into weight training. My family would make fun of my ridiculous upper body strength. I could not do 1 push up. I had always done some lifting in the gym-you know 10 minutes of something after my 2 hours of cardio. I don't think I got really serious about lifting over cardio until I hired my trainer in Florida. There was just something that clicked at that moment and at 34 I am in better shape now than I was at 24.
When I say lift heavy, I mean lift whatever weight is heavy for you. Pick a weight that you can do between 8-10 reps of with the last few reps being really hard to keep perfect form. An example of this: when I first started I was using 7.5 dumbells for bicep curls. I am now up to 20 pounds. So, just go with what feels comfortable to you. Start out just doing this and then start adding in "heavy" days.
I do mix up my days into heavy days and light/normal days. On heavy days I do 5 sets of 4-6 reps at a fairly heavy weight. So for bicep curls for me that is 25 pounds-I die and I hate it at that level. I then have days where I do 3 sets of 10 reps at the 20 pounds. I do tend to do more heavy leg days because my legs are like tree trunks and I am naturally stronger in my legs. I LOVE LEG DAY. Squats and lunges are my favorite. I will talk about my leg day in more detail tomorrow.
If you feel more comfortable starting on machines, I would start on machines. It helps to get a better idea of the weight that you can do on a machine. I like free weights because I feel like I get a better range of motion and I am pulling in other muscles to do the exercise, where as a machine is isolating certain muscles.
The one thing that I love about weight training more than anything else is the work that it does AFTER I leave the gym. There is no doubt that I have been able to be a little bit more relaxed on my diet from time to time and not gain weight because of the muscle that I have put on. Now, it definitely does not allow me to just eat whatever the hell I want. Trust me, if it did I would eat pizza, frozen yogurt, Mexican and Italian 24/7, but it does allow some leeway. I have had some time where I have not been as clean on my diet and I step on the scale expecting to see a 5 pound weight gain and it is only 1-2. I can easily correct that through cleaning up my diet and I do.
Strength training is probably more important than cardio in my mind (But still do cardio), however a healthy consistent dient trumps both! Thank you all for reading and keep the questions coming :)
I have had a lot of feedback on facebook about strength training. The first question I want to answer is how I got started and how "heavy" I lifted at first. I was hands down the weakest person in the world before I got into weight training. My family would make fun of my ridiculous upper body strength. I could not do 1 push up. I had always done some lifting in the gym-you know 10 minutes of something after my 2 hours of cardio. I don't think I got really serious about lifting over cardio until I hired my trainer in Florida. There was just something that clicked at that moment and at 34 I am in better shape now than I was at 24.
When I say lift heavy, I mean lift whatever weight is heavy for you. Pick a weight that you can do between 8-10 reps of with the last few reps being really hard to keep perfect form. An example of this: when I first started I was using 7.5 dumbells for bicep curls. I am now up to 20 pounds. So, just go with what feels comfortable to you. Start out just doing this and then start adding in "heavy" days.
I do mix up my days into heavy days and light/normal days. On heavy days I do 5 sets of 4-6 reps at a fairly heavy weight. So for bicep curls for me that is 25 pounds-I die and I hate it at that level. I then have days where I do 3 sets of 10 reps at the 20 pounds. I do tend to do more heavy leg days because my legs are like tree trunks and I am naturally stronger in my legs. I LOVE LEG DAY. Squats and lunges are my favorite. I will talk about my leg day in more detail tomorrow.
If you feel more comfortable starting on machines, I would start on machines. It helps to get a better idea of the weight that you can do on a machine. I like free weights because I feel like I get a better range of motion and I am pulling in other muscles to do the exercise, where as a machine is isolating certain muscles.
The one thing that I love about weight training more than anything else is the work that it does AFTER I leave the gym. There is no doubt that I have been able to be a little bit more relaxed on my diet from time to time and not gain weight because of the muscle that I have put on. Now, it definitely does not allow me to just eat whatever the hell I want. Trust me, if it did I would eat pizza, frozen yogurt, Mexican and Italian 24/7, but it does allow some leeway. I have had some time where I have not been as clean on my diet and I step on the scale expecting to see a 5 pound weight gain and it is only 1-2. I can easily correct that through cleaning up my diet and I do.
Strength training is probably more important than cardio in my mind (But still do cardio), however a healthy consistent dient trumps both! Thank you all for reading and keep the questions coming :)
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