Tag Archives: fitness
Plank Challenge
I recently saw my friend and inspiration, @MariaPaulercio, doing a Plank Challenge on Instagram and I decided I had to join in.
What’s the Plank Challenge, you ask?
Well, everyday you push yourself to hold a proper plank form (see image at the end of this blog for proper form) for as long as you can. By as long as you can, I mean until your core muscles can no longer hold you up. Not, “my mind says I can’t do this“. Your mind is a liar most times. You are capable of doing some pretty epic stuff if you push yourself to your absolute max, which is way past when your mind says “I’m done“.
*Please don’t confuse using common sense with pushing past your mental max. There is a difference here and I’m not telling you to push till you hurt yourself. I’m trying to get you to leave your comfort zone, cause THAT’S when the magic happens.*
Each day I do my challenge, I set my iPhone stopwatch to zero, select music that is going to get me pumped up and in the zone, get into my plank pose, press start and then I zone the hell out. You will shake while doing this. You might not last all that long, either. The important thing is proper form and a positive attitude. Each day you’ll see an improvement and you’ll begin to feel your core strengthen.
Here is what plank should and should NOT look like. I recommend using a mirror or have someone check your form, if you are new to it, until you know what correct form feels like.
I have chosen to post my daily results on Instagram with the hashtag #PlankChallenge. I use a photo collage app to show my time, song I listened usually a pic of myself. There is no need to do all of that, but if you are on IG, you know how fun it can be and I think it’s a great way to stay accountable with friends. If you don’t follow me on Instagram but are curious of my progress with this so far, feel free to look me up. My username is Bronc787 or you should be able to Click Here to view my photo stream via Statigram.
If you decide to join the plank challenge, please let me know! I’d love to keep each other motivated, challenged and to push each other to the next level of fitness!
Filed under Health & Fitness, Quick Workouts
The Color Run
This past Saturday, my husband and I, along with our friends Corine and James (aka The Complicated’s), formed Team Color Us Awesome, and participated in The Color Run here in New Jersey.
All of this was so last minute, as we formed our team and signed up less than a week before the event date. We tried coming up with corny team shirts and Corine wanted us to wear tutu’s, but sadly, we didn’t have enough time to plan things out and show our true awesomeness for the event. What we ended up with up were the t-shirts they gave us, neon sunglasses and colorful nails. (Not too bad for last minute!)
The morning of the race was a little crazy. We had no issues getting into the race venue, but The Complicated’s come from a different direction and it took them forever to enter and ended up in a completely different parking lot from us. Once we finally found each other and headed towards to start line, you were able to see just how many people were there and you could feel the excitement of those around us. We of course took some goofy photos and joked around while waiting.
They were letting people start in groups of 1,000. Yes, you heard me correctly. There was no true shot of running this thing, not that I can last a full 5K without stopping to walk for a bit, unless you arrived VERY early or VERY late. We were all just looking to have fun and The Complicated’s are not serious runners either, so it was all good.
The course was broken into zones and each zone had it’s own color. You would run/walk for awhile, hit a color zone and people who were working the event would throw colored corn starch at you that matched the zone you were in ie: blue, yellow, green, pink or purple. It was fun to see people rolling around on the floor in the color and people trying to scoop it off the ground to throw at their friends.
At the end of the 5K, (which took us about 45 minutes) there was a huge after party. All of the color filled (and not so pleasant smelling) people crowded in front of a stage and DJ booth to dance, cheer and catch additional color packets to be tossed up in the air at 15 minute intervals. They also had photo stations where you could have team photos taken by professional staff. (I’m hoping to have those back soon).
Overall, The Color Run was a fun experience and it is something I would do again. I’m a fan of these group 5K events and if I had the time I’d absolutely attend this one happening next month, because who wouldn’t want do to a 5K, while being chased by Zombies, flag football style?!
Here are some pics from The Color Run…
Top: The Color Run sign with signs of the aftermath. Bottom Left: Color Packets that were in our bags to be thrown at the after party. Bottom Right: The after party with color flying
Top Left: Team Color Us Awesome at the starting line. Top Right: Hubs and I pre-race. Bottom: Color Crawl in full swing.
Top Left: Corine had to a have photo of us by the pretty flowers! Top Right: Princess Rainbow Sparkle and myself, post race. Bottom Left: Hubs and I post race. Bottom Right: Me in all my technicolor glory.
Right: In the middle of the crowd at the after party. Top: In the middle of the color madness. Middle: Mike’s shirt, post run. Bottom: Having the color blown off of me by a guy with a leaf blower. SMH.
Top Left: Me, post run. Top Right: Color Run nails! Bottom Left: The contents of the race packet. Bottom Right: Post run
There you have it, my first ever Color Run! As you can see, it was a lot of fun! What was even more fun was the look on people’s faces at Target when we went shopping there post race, before cleaning up *giggle*
Oh, and for those of you wondering… clean up wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t fun either. I had color in places where I didn’t think color could get!
Filed under Health & Fitness
P90X: Day 7 Round 3.5
A little out of order to finish up the week, but it was truly worth it. Normally I’m not a fan of switching up the routine, but last night, the hubs and I had a wonderful date night that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I usually enjoy Xstretch to start my Sunday morning off but our dinner at a Hawaiian burrito joint followed by a walk on the beach, fireworks and some delicious frozen yogurt at Red Mango was well worth the change up.
Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut!
That was the theme to today’s workout! There is something about kicking and punching for an hour that helps your stress levels to go down. (Not that I was stressed at all today but in the past it has really helped.)
To be honest, I was tired during this routine. My booty and hip flexors are still really sore from Friday nights Legs & Back and my balance wasn’t as good as it normally is. I was also in bum mode since I had just spent 4 hours on the couch watching my Broncos lose a preseason game to the 49’ers. Sigh. Needless to say, I got up, we pushed play and 58 minutes later, we were done, I felt accomplished and I could officially close the book on week 1! I was also done just in time to plop myself back down and watch the season finale of True Blood.
While doing my workout, I received a text from a friend who asked if I would be interested in doing a Color Run 5k next weekend. After checking out the website and exchanging a few texts, team “Color Us Awesome” was born! I’m excited to do this colorful 5k on September 1st. It looks like a lot of fun and it’s an excuse to be healthy and have fun with some friends.
I’m not sure if I will keep up the daily P90X blog entries or do a weekly recap…I guess my schedule and mood will dictate that. I will at the very least have some fit-spiration posts and a recap of my Color Run!
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X
P90X: Day 6 Round 3.5
I had to switch things up a little here today. The scheduled workout for today is KenpoX but since the hubs and I are spending an evening out together, I decided to do Xstretch today (he’s not a fan of it and prefers a full rest day) and move KenpoX to tomorrow so we can remain workout buddies.
I love Xstretch. To me, it’s a relaxing hour that rewards my body for all of the hard work it’s done during the prior 6 days (5 days in this case). The stretching helps to ease all of the soreness of the week and it’s something that helps me to clear my head.
The only move I didn’t feel comfortable doing was Shoulder Stand to Plough. It’s a move I’ve always been leery of and I certainly am not taking any chances since I am still recovering.
Overall it was a wonderful hour of stretching. My booty, hip-flexors and especially my hamstrings are all very happy that I opted to do this today and not just make it a rest day.
Tomorrow will now be KenpoX which means I’ll finally be jab, cross, hook, upper-cutting my way to happiness and hopefully the ab definition I’ve always dreamed of.
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X
P90X: Day 5 Round 3.5
Wall squats, sneaky lunges and skaters….oh my!
Three reasons why I curse on Fridays and walk funny while going up and down the stairs on Saturday.
Tonight was a tough one. I don’t know if I didn’t give myself enough time after eating one of the Gluten-free Brownies I blogged about earlier, if I was just tired or if I was just pushing my body to it’s max, but I was exhausted and wanted to puke when this routine was done.
Now that I’m showered and in bed, I feel great and I’m happy I pushed myself to do the workout. It’s so easy to get tired, feel unmotivated and not want to push yourself to press play. Chalene Johnson had some great advice in ChaLEAN Extreme. She said even on the days you don’t feel like working out, just press play and give it five minutes. If you still don’t feel into it, stop, but she guarantees you’ll end up feeling better about yourself and you’ll complete your workout for the day. So far, she’s been spot on. There have been many days that I haven’t felt like doing my workout, but I get up, get into my gym clothes and press play. An hour later, I’m done, sweaty and feel like a million bucks and that is something to be proud of.
Anyway, Legs and Back is a lower body killer. I bitch about wall squats often, but as a female, the one legged ones have come in handy many times while using public restrooms. You ladies know what I’m talking about. We hover to pee as it is when using these restrooms and there is nothing worse than ending up in a stall with a broken lock… enter the one legged wall squat and give a huge thank you to Tony Horton for being the prick of all pricks by making you do them every week for 90 Days, cause now you can squat to pee AND hold that door shut with one leg!
Tomorrow is my FAVORITE workout in the P90X program, KenpoX! There is something about jab, cross, hook, uppercutting, that makes me very happy!
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X
P90X: Day 4 Round 3.5
Well, as I said in yesterdays post, there was no way I would be doing YogaX today. To be quite honest, I think YogaX gives yoga a bad name and I’d rather spend my time stretching, breathing and centering myself with a DVD from GAIAM.
I chose one of my favorites, AM/PM Yoga with Rodney Yee. The AM portion of the DVD is hands down my favorite and yes, I have done it at night many times. There is something about the sound of the ocean, Rodney Yee’s calm voice and the relaxation techniques that he uses, that makes my entire day just melt into the ground along with all of my stress.
Another plus is that it is about 15-20 mins long so I can squeeze it in no matter how hectic my day gets.
Tonight, I was feeling very relaxed after the hubs and I finished AM yoga (see…told you I do it at night too) so I decided to do PM yoga as well. It felt good to get some additional stretching in since I am very sore from the first 3 days of P90X. I am still partial to the AM segment and felt much more relaxed after it, but that could also be because I know the routine by heart and don’t have to open my eyes to see what he is doing at all during it.
I am currently feeling very relaxed and centered and that is a feeling I don’t mind in the least.
Tomorrow is Legs and Back, which means there will be cursing as I am forced to do wall squats! Fun times I tell you, fun times.
Until then, Namaste.
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X
P90X: Day 3 Round 3.5
My favorite line this workout.
I entered Day 3 with a sore upper body and core, which I absolutely love! Nothing beats that post workout soreness. To me, it lets meknow I am doing something right and that means I’ll start to see some progress before I know it.
Today we worked the glamour muscles with a little Shoulders & Arms.
This is one of my favorite P90X workouts because when I’m done with it, I feel strong and I tend to see quick results in my shoulders.
The workout is broken into 3 rounds plus a bonus round for those of us who really want to Bring It! Each round works the shoulders, biceps and triceps (in that order) and repeats itself before giving you a 30 second water/ballistic stretch break.
Since I’ve done this program a few times, I tend to keep us laughing by reciting many of the Tony-isms that are in each DVD. From “like a Pterodactyl coming for a landing….kaaaaaa!” to his fawning over the “fabulous Dreya Weber”, we toss the lines back and forth to keep the workout fun and help pass the hour.
Tomorrow is supposed to be YogaX but I’m not gonna lie….I’m not doing it. I know Tony LOVES yoga and I know how important it is, but I know my core is not ready for 90 intense minutes of it. I will most likely do a shorter yoga DVD and hopefully go for a walk/run. I guess you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out what I actually end up doing.
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X
P90X: Day 2 Round 3.5
Today I opted to do CardioX instead of Plyo. Since I am easing my way back into a routine, I didn’t want to overload my core, plus I figured CardioX offers a nice sampling of all of the P90X workouts.
My upper arms, chest and back were pretty sore from last nights workout, so despite my dislike of yoga, the first segment of CardioX actually felt good. After a few sun salutations and the Warrior sequences, I was ready for my favorite of all the P90X workouts….Kenpo! There is just something about jab, cross, hook, uppercutting that makes me feel happy.
After Kenpo came a little Plyo, which I find fun (only in CardioX since it is only a few moves). After jumping around like a bunny doing wacky jacks, I entered Superman-Banana-land …aka Core Synergistics. I did all of the moves in this workout until this segment, I didn’t feel ready to attempt the Drea Roll yet. Truth be told, I have always been leery of it.
Overall, it was a great workout! I was proud of myself for completing all of the Superman/Banana’s and I managed to work up a good sweat. Tomorrow is my favorite lifting workout in the program, Shoulders and Arms, so I guess I should finish this recovery drink and get some rest.
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X
P90X: Day 1, Round 3.5
Yep…after a bunch of debating and procrastinating, I decided to give P90X another go.
I’ve been skeptical about what I should do for a workout routine since I am technically not cleared by my surgeon to do ab work yet. At first, I was going to hold off until my next appointment in a few weeks and then start Insanity if he gave me the all clear, but then I was talking with the hubs and he mentioned that he wanted to start P90X again since he fell off the wagon after getting sick during Phase 2.
After lots of thought, I decided to start P90X again. I’ve already been lifting using ChaLean Extreme and I’ve been doing lower body and some running here and there, so I figured why not?! I will just skip Ab Ripper X and listen to my body during the workouts.
Tonight was Day 1, which meant Chest and Back and I was very nervous going in. For those of you not familiar with the program, Chest and Back requires a lot of push-ups, and push-ups require core strength. I definitely paced myself for Round 1 and I made sure to really “Bring It” during the pull-up segments (I did pull downs and hubs used the pull-up bar). I felt some pulling and tightness in my core as I began to max out during push-ups, so I made sure to spend a little time in child’s pose at the end of each move.
Overall, I felt really great doing the workout. Push-ups are still a weakness of mine (unless they are of the wide variety) and my numbers were much lower than my last round, but I’m working things the best I can, and that means I’m doing laps around everyone one who is just sitting on the couch.
Tomorrow is PlyoX but I think I will be subbing with CardioX so I can see how my body feels about my starting P90X again.
Filed under Health & Fitness, P90X, Tummy Tuck
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