16 Exercise Myths

I know I haven't posted about workouts in a few days but I have still be working out I just haven't had much time to post! I work out, bathe and I get right down to doing homework! I do classes online and they're an hour ahead of me so between work and working out I haven't had much time to sit down and post or really have any free time outside of that! If I don't tonight I will definitely post about workouts and meals tomorrow!

I will say I have lost some weight and I have notice little changes in my body and the way my clothes fit. I don't weigh myself a lot because then I get fixated on a number which in reality muscle weighs more than fat, so I just weight myself about once every couple weeks. The best time to weigh yourself is when you first wake up and after you've emptied my bladder and have the less clothes on. I mostly go on the changes in my body and how my clothes fit, but that's just me. I am s-l-o-w-l-y losing weight though which is the healthy way or so they say.

The real reason I wanted to post is I came across this article this morning when checking the news and I found the article interesting with good information. CLICK HERE to read the myths! Some myths at the bottom have a link to exercises you can do, which is awesome! Some of the myths I've never heard of so that was interesting to read.

Okay, I must get back to work but I promise to post tonight or tomorrow about my workout and meals.

Week 1, Day 5 - PURE CARDIO

I did this workout today even though I really didn't want to! But the thing I do when I think like that I get up and do it before I have a second chance to think about not doing it!! 

This workout was about 40 minutes long! It was brutal because my legs were still sore and my calves were screaming no more! It was rough and I took a lot of breaks!

Lately, my asthma has been bad so I have to take breaks to slow my breathing down so I don't have a full blown asthma attack. I get really wheezy and it sucks! But I keep pushing forward once I can get it under control. I do keep my inhaler next to me and I have tried to take it about 30 minutes before I work out, it helps a little but not that much.

Breakdown of the workout:

Warm-up: (usually always the same!)
Jog
Jumping Jacks
Heismans
123 Heismans
Butt Kicks
High Knees
Mummy Kicks

Do this set three times, the last time is like a full blown sprint through the exercises!

Stretch: (I sweat a lot during the stretch it's weird!)
-Side lunges
-Back Extensions
-Yoga Poses

NOW for the main workout, it's only 15 minutes but it's about the longest 15 minutes EVER! No water breaks!

You do each of these exercises for one minute:
- Suicide Drills - Run to one side, reach down & touch floor, then dart back where you started, touch the floor then back to the other side. Up, down, Up down for one minute.

- Switch Kicks - Arms up, elbows close the body, hop from one foot to the other, kicking out with a front kick, alternating legs!

- Wide Football Sprints - Legs wide & sprint fast on toes, feet barely leaving the ground, hand out in front of you. Switch to face left side, then face front, right then shuffle to one side still sprinting then fall back to the drop one knee, THEN bust out in a fast jog!

- Stance Jacks - Just like a jumping jack but each time your feet go wide, drop down to a deep squat and reach down and touch the floor, alternating arms each time!

- Pedal - Jog fast, only  you drop into a deep lunge, then back up into a sprint and keep alternating your legs for the deep lunge. (I literally felt like dying at this workout!)

- Hooks & Jump Rope - I like this one just a LITTLE! ha. Legs wide, knee bent a little, punch eight hooks into the air with one arm then leap as high as you can like you are jump roping twice under your feet then alternating arms with the punches and doing the high jumps.

- Power Jacks - Like the stance jacks but do in a deep squat and arms down to your knee and pop back up over and over!

- Level 2 Drills - Not going to lie but I could barely do these!! I do maybe like 6-7 in one minute. BUT you drop in push up position, do eight push ups, then sprint in place for eight count, then hike knees back up under you chest and leap up, reaching for the sky. Drop and repeat!! This exercise is AWFUL!

- Frog Jumps - Squat, touch the floor, leap up and back, fall back in squat, touch the floor, leap up and forward over and over!

- Power Knees - In side lunge, bring your knee into both hands, crunching it up and go as fast as you can over and over. You do one leg for 30 seconds and then the other!

- Mountain Climbers - Lift knees and arms up. Opposite hand as the leg coming up. Reach up high to the sky and bring your legs up high.

- Ski Down - Lateral jumps. Keep knees together and swing arms as you jump. It's just as if you were skiing down a hill

- Scissor Runs - Shaun T is so exhausted he actually forget what this move is called, it's funny! But you face forward, alternating each foot forward and back with legs and arms straight moving.

- Suicide Jumps - Yeah, I was done about here. I could barely do these either! BUT you reach down, jump your legs out into a push up position, then bring your legs back up into a crouch THEN you leap/jump up and grab the sky! The jump part of this is awful! You just keep going down, out, back up over and over!

- Push Up Jacks - In push up position, go down into the push up, but kick your legs out as if you were doing a regular jumping jack standing up...Push back up & bring feet back together then do it over and over again!

THEN
You stretch for the last like 4 minutes or something, I just wanted to lay on the floor and stay there for a long time! HA.

But yes, by the end of the this workout I wanted to literally collapse! Like I said this was the longest 15 minutes EVER! The end of this video is funny because Shaun T says, "this sh*t is bananas!" HAHA. It's definitely true!

This is my workout! As you can see it took me longer than the actual workout because of the breaks I took! HA. Overall I think I did fairly well!

Meals:

Breakfast: Bowl of Cheerios

Snack: Cottage cheese & Nutrition Bar

Lunch: Oatmeal with fresh strawberries & raspberries (YUM!)

Snack: Orange and a FEW chips (no judging allowed!)

Dinner: Taco salad kinda....I don't know how how explain it! ha! 

I saw this today and I literally busted up laughing! This is totally what my friend Lindsay would say to me if I asked her about her diet! ha. We have a love, hate relationship! 

This is what I remind myself all the time when I don't think I worked quite as hard as I wanted to! Ha. 

Alright done with the pictures my body needs to rest it's so sore! But I love the burn! ha. Okay, tomorrow I am suppose to do a workout but I'll be in Chicago for the most of the day so Sunday is suppose to be the rest day but tomorrow will have to be my rest day! So, I'll update on Sunday! :)

God Bless

- Kathryn

Week 1 - Day 4 - Insanity Cardio Recovery

I did this workout yesterday but I fell asleep before I could get to it!!

This workout is about 30 minutes long. It's not really a recovery, yeah the moves are slow and targeted but it's definitely not a recovery!

Here's some of the moves you do:
Deep lunges
Hamstring stretches
Hamstring pulses
Plank position
Slow suicides
In and Outs
Plank with alternating between putting one leg up and pulling your knee up to your chest
Plank with alternating between putting one leg up and pulling your knee to your elbow
Downward dog
Squats

I think this workout needs a new name! When I think of recovery I think of not working those muscles like when we sleep we recover

Or here's a better example:

Genesis 2:2 - "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

God RESTED. He didn't lunges, squats or in and outs!

But...I did enjoyed the workout, the stretches where nice but definitely shouldn't be named "Cardio Recovery!" Cardio and Recovery shouldn't even be in the same sentence!

I didn't write down my meals but I did eat 5 meals!

Week 1, Day 3- Cardio Power & Resistance

This workout had a lot of jumps! You do the same warm up and stretch as yesterday and then it's time for the main workout!

Break down of that:

Set 1:

Power Jumps - from squat, leap up & bring your knees high and slap your knees (I can't slap my knees yet)

Power Kicks - hands on hip, squat down, moving side to side and when you come up do a front kick, and alternate legs on the front kick

Hit the Floor - from side to side, leap up like you're reaching for something and then squat side ways and touch the ground and alternate from going side to side

V Push Ups - get in push up position then walk feet as close as you can, with butt pointing up, fingers pointing at each other. Then do push ups, using your shoulders.

Each set takes 2 minutes, then 30 second water break between each set. 

Third set you don't get a water break you go straight into:

Tricep Dips

30 second water break

Ball Tricep

Set 2:

Hurdle Jumps - sprint in place and jump over invisible lateral hurdle

Globe Jumps - jump to side, then back, then over, jump back up; in a square formation. After reach jump go in deep squat.

Moving Push-ups: Normal push-up, but when you go down travel with your feet (I can't do these, so I just work on just push-ups because I can barely do them)

Floor Sprints - Stay in push-up position, but sprint in place (super hard after push-ups!)

30 second break between each set, after third set you go straight into:

Hop Squats: In squat position, do little hops up and down (8 times) then do 8 push-ups! You do this for a one minute! 

THEN you stretch...the End!

The last exercise is always the hardest to finish out, at least for me! 

I thought tonight's work out was rough indeed! I did do a little Zumba turns the end but my nephew started bothering me so I couldn't really do much! 

Meal 1: Oatmeal with walnuts, fresh strawberries & raspberries and 1 tsp of brown sugar

Snack 1: Plain Greek yogurt, walnuts, apple, 1 tsp of honey

Lunch: Pasta with mixed vegetables

Snack 2: Whole-Grain crackers with lunch meat (forgot the feta cheese at home *sad face*)

Dinner: Shakeology with side of little dry cereal (haven't actually had dinner but that's the plan) 

Well that's all I have for now, I am so tired I was up late doing homework! So, I will be going to bed early tonight 1.) I am really tired 2.) we are suppose to get lots of snow, but I'll believe it when I see it! 

Leaving you with a proud moment last night I was talking to my mom in the kitchen then I looked around and saw tons of junk food, donuts, chips and candy! I looked at her and said I have got to get out of here, there's so much junk food in here so I ran back to my room! hahaha! 

I'm out! 

God Bless

-Kathryn 

Week 1, Day 2 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Wow! Wow! Wow! Today was tough!! I definitely had to take longer than 30 second breaks they give you. Then towards the last drill I could barely do all of them because my arms and legs were giving out.  I tried my best though!! 

Here is the breakdown of the workout, its about a 42 minute work but seems MUCH longer than that, the actual workout is only 20 minutes because for the first 20 minutes you warm-up and then stretch and then it's kicking butt time!  

The warm-up consist of:

Jogging
Jumping Jacks
Log Jumps - jumping on one leg from side to side like you are jumping over an actual log
123 Heisman - alternate your legs, bringing them to your chest with your body down and arms moving with your legs side to side
Moving Heisman- same as above but moving two step to the right and then left
Butt Kicks - bring those heals to your butt, literally!
High Knees - alternating knees above waist
Vertical Jumps
Mummy kicks 

You repeat this three times, harder and harder until the last time and you're pretty much sprinting through those exercises!!! The warm-up is pretty much a mini workout!! Before you get to the stretch!! If you're not dripping sweat during the stretch then you're doing something wrong!

You get a 30 second water break (and trust me I took like a 3 minutes break to get my breathing under control!!! 

Then it's on to the actually workout!  

The breakdown for that is:

Round 1 - You repeat this three times
Suicide Drills
Power Squats
Mountain Climbers
Ski Down Jumps (these are a killer)
At the end of this you take a 30 seconds water break but on the third time you skip the water break and go straight into Switch Feet and Football Drills! (I had to stop during the Football drills!) 

Round 2 (Repeat three times)
Basketball Drills - (jump like you are shooting a ball and then go down and touch ground and do it again!)
Level 1 Drills (down into plank, do 4 push ups, then run it out 4 counts, jump back in & jump up, then start all over again) --- Major Killer!! I could barely do these!!
Ski Abs - Plank position, constantly jumps from plank position then jumping to the side with your feet, then back and then to the other side! 
In & Outs Abs - Plank position jumping in and out! --- OMG! I was literally wanting to scream at this point, I actually had to take a break! Shaun T annoys the crap of out me and I want to scream at him because he is yelling IN! OUT! IN! OUT! Grrr!

Then you get a 30 second water break (I took wayy longer than that!)

BUT on the 3rd time you go right into:
Jabs
Cross Jacks
Upper Cuts
Attack Jabs
(only repeated once)

Seriously, I wanted to scream during the jabs and upper cuts but I kept telling myself keep going, you're almost there! Then you get a 15 breather and go straight into some stretching for like 5 minutes, and then you're DONE! Yay!!

THEN I don't know what got into me, I did 20 minute express Zumba! I must of been in a dancing mood or maybe I felt bad for eating half of a cinnamon roll! NO JUDGING me for that please, we can't always be perfect! HA!

I wear a F7 Polar Watch...I love, love this thing! I don't workout without it! But my stats from that were: 
Workout time: 1 hour 17 minutes
Calories Burned: 878
Average Heart Rate: 165
Max Heart Rate: 201 

So, I took a screen shot of my food diary on MyFitnessPal to show what I eat today! 

I do believe if you click on the picture it will make it bigger, but I could be wrong!

Hopefully, you can read this! Remember, No judging on the half of a cinnamon roll! I only really had 4 meals instead of 5 because I was busy at work and only ate half of the Power Bar at my morning snack, then the other half along with cottage cheese at the afternoon snack! I feel like I ate more than just this for some reason, but I think I did overall pretty well with everything else. 

Well that's all for today!! Hopefully tomorrow I am just as motivated as I was today!! :)

- Kathryn 

Week 1, Day 1

I had the day off which kind of threw everything off because maybe it's just me but I eat better when I am not at home!

Breakfast: Vanilla Greek yogurt with a 1/2 cup fresh strawberries & raspberries and 1 tablespoon of walnuts.

Lunch: Omelet- 1 whole egg, 2 egg white with spinach, onion and feta cheese

Dinner - Two biscuits with gravy

Yes I know I didn't eat 5 meals today! I slept in and I had an interview right in the middle of the day!

So, pretty disappointed I didn't eat like I had plan but back to work tomorrow and I'll be eating right. But I do need to work on eating better at home!!

According the MyFitness Pal I consumed: 1440 Calories and burned about 278 calories with 25 minutes of exercise.

Day 1 of Insanity is the fit test and it's pretty tough! You take the fit test every two weeks! I keep my results in my phone but I hope in two weeks I will have improved!

Sorry for the lack of post, I have tons and tons of homework to do! Blah. I am so sick of school. Ahhh....

Meal Preparation

Today I went grocery shopping and prepared majority of the meal for the week. I will be eating about 5 meals a day ranging from 300-400 calories per meal. I am doing the Insanity workout, and following the Nutrition plan as much as I can! I am sure I'll do other recipes because I can't see myself eating the same food over and over for 60 days! I am sure if it stays healthy it will be fine.

Tomorrow is the big day, starting Insanity back up and I will be back tomorrow sometime to share my experience! :)

-Kathryn

Oh yeah, I have tab on the top that says, "Recipes" I will post some of the stuff I prepare so if you're interested you can check that out as well!

First Post!!

So, I've decided it always helps when I write stuff down, like I use MyFitnessPal App on my phone to help keep track of my food consumed. I don't really have a place to discuss motivation, my workouts, new healthy recipes,  and my struggles. So, I decided to start this blog to discuss my fitness goals!

My plan is to get this blog going by next week because I plan to restart Insanity, because I have had a couple weeks from hell that got me distracted and got off schedule. So, I am getting back at it Feb. 18th and will still committed to the 60 days program! NO EXCUSES!!

I plan to discuss my daily workout of Insanity, my food I consume and what my struggles have been and how I over came them!

I do have another blog that just discusses about a crazy thing called life! ha. But this one is dedicated solely to health and fitness!

See you, February 18th!

-Kathryn