WOD

I love to share my WOD (Workout Of The Day) with you guys in hopes to inspire you but it also keeps me motivated and accountable.  I will post them every day so that you can get ideas and please feel free to ask questions.  Please consult your doctor prior to beginning any workout regimen, I am not a personal trainer or a nutritionist, the information I post here is based on my personal experience.

Please visit http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/ if you are not familiar with any of the exercises I post.  This website in general is a wealth of information with several plans you can follow along with meal plans to help you reach your goals.  I think it is very useful especially if you are just starting because it shows you how to properly perform exercises and also tells you what body part your are working on.  

One very important thing to remember when working out is proper form which basically means proper way of performing the exercise.  I shared this website with you so that you can familiarize yourself with doing these exercises properly in order to avoid injury while maximizing results.  Please feel free to share any websites you may find helpful yourself.  

I try to change my workouts as much as possible to keep from getting bored and to confuse my body as well so I look for workouts online, run with friends, play tennis, play basketball, do crossfit, ride my bike and whatever keeps my heartrate going.  Staying active is key to balancing sugar levels and living a healthy lifestyle.   

Tabata Workout and Firefighters

Last week a coworker invited me to workout at one of our local fire stations so I happily said yes, I mean how can I say no to working out with firefighters right?.  When I first got there I didn’t know what I was getting myself into so I showed up with my favorite workout clothes and my matching Polar watch ready to go.  

The workout began with a warm-up run and then we jumped right into the workout which is called a Tabata workout which is a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout.  Basically in this type of wokout you do high intensity movements with very little time to rest in between.  This gets your heart rate going, helps to burn more calories even after you completed the workout.  Here is an article in www.bodybuilding.com for a more detailed explanation of this workout.

Here is how it went down:

1 minute per exercise with 15 seconds of rest in between for a total of 6 minutes and then repeat 3 times

Air Squats

Burpees

Flutter Kicks

Bear Crawl

Push-Ups

Yikes! I know this may not seem like a lot but trust me it was brutal, and I loved every minute of it although I almost passed out mid way through the workout.  By the time I got home my Polar watch read 1,204 calories burned, now that is a winner workout if you ask me.

I like this workout because it is short, efficient, no equipment needed and you can do it in your living room.  Also, please feel free to change the exercises to change it up like sit ups, planks, jumping jacks, the possibilities are endless.  

I hope you try it out and as always please let me know if you do.  Now go, get moving!

Trampoline Fitness

Wow so in keeping with my promise to share workouts that will both get your heart rate up and allow you to spend quality time with your kids, here are some ideas for a great trampoline cardio workout:

Tag - so obviously the trampoline is very small for this game so the rule is you can only run in one direction and closest to the edge as possible (assuming you have a net around your trampoline), then run as fast as you can and make sure they are not taking shortcuts (I know my son Daniel does! smh)

Copy-Cat  - Basically one person does a series of 10 movements and then the other person repeats it.  Here are some of the ones we did:

Jumped like a frog

Touch your toes with opposite hand

Jumping Jacks

Side leg raise

Jump and Spin

Marco Polo - Now this one was Daniel’s idea and I thought it was brilliant, again assuming you have a net around your trampoline otherwise it can be dangerous.  It is very challenging if you play it the right way but very easy if you are a little cheater like Daniel is.  He somehow managed to catch me very quickly every time but he claims he had his eyes closed (blink blink, sure Daniel)

Jump Around - This is a simple one, just jump around as high as you can and laugh, enjoy, sweat, raise your heart rate and love on your babies.

Oh yes and I burned 451 calories in less than an hour.  

Have you worked out with your kids? If so, please share your workout ideas with me.

Happy jumping!!

WOD - Legs and Abs

I am currently working on Lee Labrada’s 12 Week Lean Body Daily Trainer program from Bodybuilding.com.  I like doing these programs because I don’t have to think about what I’m going to do when I get to the gym, I have an app (bodyspace) from bodybuilding.com that tells me what to do and it even keeps track of how much weight I used the time prior.  This is a great tool to have since I forget just about everything these days.  

Because my goal was to begin on Monday, I will post yesterday’s workout today to catch up.  Yesterday’s workout was Legs and Abs and it was very good, I say this because I’m having a hard time getting up from my chair at work and walking like a normal person. Yikes! However sore is good, it’s proof that I did a good job and I love it, it’s a good kind of pain.  So here it is my legs and abs workout:

2 sets of 10 reps and 1 set to failure (failure means going until you cannot possibly do another rep)

Smith Machine squat (90lbs)

Dumbell Lunges (30lbs)

Seated Leg Curl (60lbs)

Stiff-Legged Bargell Deadlift (50lbs.)

Seated calf Raise (115lbs.)

Standing Calf Raise (15 lbs.)

Crunches

Hanging Leg Raise

Please note that I included the amount of weight I am doing in each exercise, I am sure some of you are able to do a lot more than that and some not nearly as much.  Either way, go with what feels comfortable for you and kill it, strive to do better next time, kill it again and repeat.  

I like keeping track of my weight because after a  

WOD

WOD Chest, Shoulders and Tricpes

Great workout this morning, I had a lot of energy and finished it quickly here is how it went down:

Dumbbell Bench press 25lbs. dumbbells

Dumbbell Flyes 20lbs.

Side Lateral Raise 20lbs. 

Seated Barbell Military Press 50lbs 

Triceps pushdown (can't remember weight)

Wake up and live!