I Didn't Stop!

8.31.12 - I ran a whole mile!  As in, I didn't walk at all. :)  Although my warm up was incorporated into that mile (my first block was a light jog, then a stretch), none of it involved walking.  It was really hard, but I managed to huff and puff my way back to my house by telling myself, 'one more block,' each time I got to the end of the last one. 

What I ate before: a banana and a couple of almonds.  I think this combination was killer, and definitely affected my workout.

What I ate after: a tasty clementine :)

Pilates!

Ba-bam, pilates!

Ok, so I'm thinking about incorporating some pilates into my week.  I've heard it's not a 'sweat session', so it's not something I care to do every day.  Three times a week ought to do it. instructional

8.29.12 - Ran one mile in the morning.  I did pretty good - ran two blocks, walked half a block.

8.30.12 - Did: 10-8-6-4-2 rounds of push-ups and box jumps.  (Got the workout from the usual place ;)) I got it done in 2:04 minutes!

8.28.12 - Did: 1 mile run at 8:30am.  10 rounds of: 3 push ups, 6 squats, 5 burpees, 24 jump ropes.

I'm definitely not in very good shape, because during the 1 mile jog I needed frequent walking breaks.  Since I had to double back for my mom a lot, I ran at least a mile, but I'd like to be able to run a whole mile without stopping.  I'm going to make morning runs a regular thing, though, so soon I should be able to!  :)

Tap push up

This is a great push up variation.  Try incorporating this into your workouts!

Stretch Time

Alright, so as I said yesterday, I have really been wanting to learn some new stretches.  Stretching is great for increasing flexibility and minimizing injury, after all.  I followed up on that by a google search, and found a website that has loads of stretches!  I'm going to post the images here (at the site, the pictures are small and hard to see).  Careful not to overstretch!

Rotation Exercises:

Static Stretches:



Passive Stretches:

For these stretches, make sure you read the website's information.  You'll need a towel and/or partner for these.

Here are a couple extras.  These are some of my favorite stretches.

 

I Took a 3-Day Weekend :)

8.23.12 - Yes, I did go on a two mile jog\walk after my post, although it was more walk than jog.  :x

8.24-26.12 - Took a three-day weekend to let my very sore muscles heal.

8.27.12 (today)- Did: two mile jog\walk.  Unfortunately, I started out strong, but then started feeling really stiff in calves.  I don't know if it could be something that's similar to shin-splints, but I didn't want to pull anything, so after stretching it out, me and my mom just walked the rest of the way.  :\  Oh well. 

I need to look up more stretches.  There are a lot that I learned from soccer; they work really well and give my muscles a good stretch, but I'd like to learn more.  I'm going to try to avoid yoga poses, because most of them aren't as deep a stretch as just reaching down to your toes and such are.  But who knows?  Maybe there are some really good yoga stretches!

Cross Fitting it up!

8.23.12: Did five rounds of: 10 deadlifts with a 15lb kettle bell, and 10 burpees.  (crossfit mamas)

I am so bad at burpees!  I didn't think it would be so hard on my leg muscles.  I did real push ups, though, not 'girl push ups', so I have that in my defense!  Hah, but honestly, my legs were shaking.  I skipped the push up part altogether on the last four of my last round of burpees.  :\  Ahh, well.  The deadlifts were pretty easy because I had such a light weight.

Hopefully I can get a run in tonight!  If I do, I'll say something in my next post tomorrow.  Peace!

(ps. I don't suggest eating Killer Brownies before doing burpees.  They don't sit too well in the stomach. :P)

Volleyball and More Cross Fit!

8.21.12 - Played volleyball for two hours, and it got pretty intense sometimes!  Lots of fun, though not hard enough to make me sore today.



The one in the air was me.  ;)

8.22.12 - (I got this workout from the same place as last time) Did 15 minutes of as many rounds as I could of: 10 kettle bell swings; 10 box jumps (I modified it a little after the first 2 rounds and just did step-ups); and 10 bench dips.  I used a 15lb kettle bell, and I'm not sure how high the box was, but it was a pretty decent height.  I did 12 2/3 rounds!  The '2/3' part is because I didn't make the last set of bench dips - those were definitely the hardest ones for me.  This was a good cardio exercise, as I did them (especially the last two sets) fast in order to get as many done as possible.

I know I will be playing more volleyball tonight with my youth group.  Hopefully I'll still do well despite my sore triceps!!  :)

#1: Cross-fit



I wore this shirt doing my workout today.  Talk about some motivation!



Did: 50 'wall-balls', 30 push ups, and 20 jump rope jumps. 

I got the workout from here, a fantastic cross-fit website I found today.  I discovered, however, after I worked out, that I did it wrong!  In the comments below, someone explained that the '50-35-20 reps' meant 50 of all of them, then 35, then 20!  I had thought it was rather easy....



The 35 push ups were seriously hard though.  As you can see, I only managed to eek out 30 - but in my defense, I did them all from my toes, and it's not like I've been doing many push ups lately!  I could hardly finish the last two... well, really more like the last 15.  On the final one, I was literally shaking: straining to get air into my lungs, pushing the muscles to their last effort, tensing my abdominals to their hardest rock form... only to collapse halfway up.  Sheer exhaustion kept me from my total 30.

Now that's what I call pushing it to the next level!

Unfortunately, the wall-balls and jumps weren't quite so rewarding.  I hardly lost any breath doing those, and could have used the extra 50 and 80 repetitions.  Oh well, me and my mom are planning on running tonight, and maybe I'll get some extra jump roping in then.

*(Update!  I ended up running 2 miles with my mom after I originally posted this.)