March Fitness Challenge

It's finally the springtime and that is when my running season officially kicks into gear.  I have 2 races this month, plus training for 2 half marathons in April.  It's seems fitting that March's challenge would be all about moves to become a better runner.  We're working on legs, core, and arms this month!

Even if you don't run or hate it, enjoy these moves for all over body toning!  Let's leap into spring together!

Printable Version

Balancing It All - a working mom's schedule

A friend of mine posted her daily schedule a few weeks ago and as a working mom, I was interested in how she "does it all".  This post will be in a series as other moms check in with how they balance working full-time, working out, cleaning, making meals, etc.  So in case anyone cares or is curious what my routine is, here it is:

4:45 a.m. - Alarm goes off, and I hit the alarm
5:15 a.m. (ish) - out of bed, bathroom, drinking water and either heading out for a run, to the gym or at-home workout.
6-6:15 a.m. - home and hopping in the shower.  My gym is an 8 min drive so sometimes I'm closer to the 6:15 mark

6:15-7:15 a.m. - get ready (clothes are laid on for the week in a basket so no guessing), make coffee, make a smoothie or egg, check social media and post.  Like my friend's posts.  Pack my lunch up (it was prepared the night before)  Head out the door.

7:15-7:50 a.m. - commute to school.  Typically listen to the Bobby Bones Show or another talk radio.  Sometimes get into a Podcast if there are too many commercials.

7:50-8:45 a.m. - Prep for classes.  This could include making copies, setting up my classroom, grading papers from the day before, checking and responding to e-mails, entering grades.

**I don't have a conventional classroom, but borrow someone's room for my health classes.  So I am back and forth and back and forth throughout the day.

8:50-9:42 - High School Health class - 18 students.  This week we're on Nutrition and how the government has no clue what we should be eating =)
9:46-10:35 a.m. - 8th grade PE - This class is a ton of fun and keeps me on my toes.  We're playing handball right now.
10:41-11:25 a.m. - 7th grade health - another classroom and we're on Nutrition as well.  There is some overlap in material with the high school but this class is only 9 weeks so we're on a much faster pace.
11:30-12:25 p.m. - High School PE - a challenge for sure, but they are active and work hard.  Handball again right now.

12:30-2 p.m. - I am technically done for the day at 12:30.  I usually eat lunch in my office and work so I don't have to take anything home or I work out in our tiny weight room if I missed working out that morning.  I also check other emails, social media, respond to inquires, get ready for the next school day.

2:15-3 p.m. - afternoon commute.  This drive is much less enjoyable for some reason.  It goes by way slower.

**While 2 is my typical leave time, I will occasionally (2x a week) leave around 1 and get groceries, mail eBay stuff, or stop by the house and pick up a snack for Liam if I'm taking him somewhere else after I get him.  Usually though I go straight to him.

3 p.m. - pick up Liam.  His sitter is approx 10 min from our house which isn't bad and she is great!  Very flexible with both of our random schedules.  Liam is there usually from 10 am - 3 pm, 4 days a week.

3:30-5 pm - This is where the day ramps up.  Every day is different, however, on any given week we will drive to our chiropractors one day, go to a store another day, or go straight home.  If I go home, Liam gets a snack and I wash dishes from the morning and start prepping dinner. Liam will eat his snack and play (usually).  Some days, no cooking or cleaning goes on and we just sit and read.

**My typical strategy and method is to not have to cook on nights when I'm leading my group bootcamps (M/Wed from 5:15-6 pm).  So on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will sometimes make 2 meals. Or I will make the side for a meal like sweet potato fries and then all I have to do is cook up the burgers the next night. If I make 2 meals, we will eat one and have the other for the next night.  I highly recommend this method! 

5 pm - Liam eats dinner while I am usually still doing laundry, cleaning up from the dinners I made, etc.  I am very guilty of trying to get it all done!
6 p.m. - 7 pm - Nathan is usually home during this time and will lay on the floor to play with Liam and check-in.  I may or may not have eaten yet depending on what I'm having or if I'm hungry.  Sometimes I eat at the stove b/c mommyhood.

7 pm - Liam get a bath usually from Daddy while I check social media, post for fitness challenges or work on client workout programs.

7:30 pm - Bedtime routine with Liam - brush teeth, read 3 books, prayers, make him giggle, and send him to bed with a book to read.  The boy loves his books!

7:30 pm - 10 pm - This could be any combination of cleaning up dinner, watching our favorite show, talking about the day, relaxing together, or folding laundry.  I will lay my clothes out for my workout the next day, school, and get my lunch together.  On Wednesdays, Nathan is at the church late so I use this time to get ahead on fitness stuff or respond to church emails.

9:30-10 pm - Read - I have a few books I'm desperately trying to finish so this is typically my time.  I read a lot on the weekends too.

10-10:30 pm - Read or check my phone until my eyes are drooping.
10:30 pm - lights out to do it all again!

This is a "typical" day, while the last 2 weeks have been chaotic.  Here's just some of the jobs I'm doing both paid and unpaid:
1. School Teacher
2. Athletic Ministries Coordinator at my church (most work can be done at home)
3. Starting my own fitness business (online videos, challenge groups, etc)
4. Personal Trainer bootcamp leader at a company in town - 2 nights a week every week
5. Volleyball referee ( 2 nights a week starting late Jan)
6. Worship leader at my church
7. Wellness Ministry leader
8. Mommy, wife, cook, cleaner, washer, etc!

While I don't recommend this schedule for any or most, it works right now.  I cannot wait for summer when it's me and Liam all day.  That is the best job of all!  I love my roles and know that God has me here for a reason.  This season won't be forever and I pray he is using me for BIG things for HIS kingdom.

My favorite verse right now sits at my desk and I say it over and over as I make the decision to say yes or no to things: "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  John 15:5

I'm no good if doing, doing, doing but have Christ out of the picture.  If he's not in it, it will fail and it's not where I should be.  Just some food for thought!  I hope my schedule gave you some perspective and insight.  I don't always get it all done.  I'm exhausted a lot and sometimes miss those early morning workouts but 5-7x a week, I will get a workout in albeit short.  Find your balance and know that you are doing the best in your situation with what God has given you. 

Workout Terminology

With the popularity of Cross Fit and other workout programs in past few years, it's nearly impossible to keep up with all the terms associated with weight and cardio training. Here's a quick look at some common terms you may have heard and what they actually mean:

1. AMRAP - "as many reps as possible" - workouts titled "AMRAP" usually have a set number of minutes to complete a list of exercises with as many reps as possible.  Push yourself in these types of workouts to complete the rep under the time allotted.

2. HIIT - "high intensity interval training" - just like it sounds, this type of workout has high intense moves like box jumps, pushups, squats, and other explosive moves.  Let your heart rate go for a ride up and down during this workout.  Studies have shown that HIIT workouts are better for recovery and training the heart.

3.  Recovery - Perform an exercise, hard and you will eventually get to the point where you need to rest.  Let your heart rate come down, then hit the next move.  A recovery period can vary from 30 seconds to 1-2 minutes.

4.  WOD - "workout of the day" - this is a common CrossFit term meaning what workout is being performed for the day

5. PR or PB - "personal record" or "personal best" - PR is often a term heard in the running community as a way to say that was a person's best time for a particular distance.  A PB would refer to a max amount of weight lifted, say in a bench press.

6.  Buy-in - An extended warm-up with moves that will mimic the workout to come. 

7.  Tabata -  8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest.  For example: Tabata Sit Ups would be 20 seconds of sit ups, 10 seconds rest repeated 8 times. The way you "score" (or, record) this work out is to write down the lowest number of reps performed in any 20 second period of work.

8.  Circuit Training - most effective for results and time.  Exercises are performed in a circuit.  For example: 3 sets of 10 pushups, 3 sets of 10 squats, and 3 sets of 10 burpees.  To perform within a circuit, do 10 pushups, 10 squats, 10 burpees and repeat 2 more times.  When you're done with that circuit, move on to the next.  To improve your fitness, add reps after a few weeks.

9.  Compound Exercises - exercises that work multiple major muscle groups at one time.  For example, the bench press is compound because it works the major chest muscles (Pectoralis major) along with help from the biceps, triceps and deltoids.

10.  Static vs. dynamic stretching - static stretching is when you hold muscles still allowing the muscle to fire, then lengthen.  Static are best to perform after exercise as the muscles are warm and flexible.  Make sure you hold for at least 20 seconds so the muscle knows it isn't flexing, but needs to relax.  Dynamic stretching are stretches best performed before a workout which mimic the workout you're about to do. For example, before running 3 miles, warm-up dynamically by doing high knees, butt kicks, and a slow easy jog.  

Hope these help you navigate a weight room and workout!  Stay tuned for a later post with more terms!

Have a happy workout! 

The Reserve Tank - finding strength during a hard workout

I was listening to a Podcast recently from the creator of Insanity and T25, Shaun T.  He shares a lot about where he came from, his fitness journey and general tips in working out and eating well.  He is very real and completely open about the fact that his journey hasn't been easy.  I listened to one podcast a few weeks ago and he talked about digging in deep to the reserve tank during a workout when you literally feel like you have nothing left to give.  He explains that we always have just a little more to give, but we need to find out how to mentally tap into that head space of our reserve.  That really got me thinking about where I mentally go when I feel like I can't run another step, or when I can't lift another weight.  It's a hard place to go in my head and heart, but here's where I get my strength...

When my dad was fighting cancer, we would occasionally go for drives around our small town, so dad could get out and experience the outdoors.  Some days, we would go to the local park at the north side of town.  They have a short, paved walking trail around it, that was just short enough for dad to get some exercise and for him not to feel winded.  Near the end of the walkway, where it curved along back to where we parked, there was a short incline.  Really, I wouldn't even call it an incline.  A slight uphill grade, if that.  But dad was so weak, that this was truly a struggle for him.  As he would approach this "hill," he would say, "Here comes the hard part."  He would literally take somewhat of a running start to get up the slope.  My dad, who was an accomplished athlete and coach, could now barely walk up this sidewalk.  I remember as the weeks went on and we would visit this park, he would eventually need a walking stick to navigate up the slope.  He could do anything, but suddenly, he couldn't. 

When I get to "that place" of hitting the wall in my workout, I go back to that sidewalk; watching my dad struggle to walk, but still giving it everything he had.  He got up the hill every time he approached it, but you could physically see the effort and struggle it took him.  Right now, there are people like dad, fighting up that hill.  They are fighting for their families, their health, and their lives.  Surely, I can lift 1 more weight, do 1 more burpee, or run 1 more step.

Where does your reserve come from?

Must needed equipment for stretching at home!

I must say, pretty much 10 times out of 10, I do not stretch.  Not before a run, not after I lift.  When I really got into running college, my Kinesiology/Exercise Physiology professor, who had ran several marathons, told us once that he thought stretching was o.k, but overrated.  I never stretched from then on.  I must say, I paying for that now as I get older. 

A few tips before I get to the article title: If you're going to stretch before a workout, make sure it is a dynamic warm-up, imitating what you are about to do.  For example, before a hard run, do some lunges, high knees, butt kicks or a light jog to mimic the more intense exercise you're about to do.  With a strength workout, do some mobility moves to open up your joints and get your body ready to do work - push-ups, runner's stretch, air squats, jumping jacks, burpees.

I do try to perform a dynamic warm-up before I do a strength circuit, but when I run, I just walk out the door and go.  I have ran consistently for 12 years.  5ks, 10ks, 13 half marathons, and 2 marathons.  That's a lot of running and a lot of running without stretching.  I have found, as I shift my focus on more strength training in the coming year, that I should have been stretching.  In particular, I should have been stretching my hamstrings.

You see, as runners, we tend to be very cut and fit on the front parts of our bodies: quads, abs, biceps, anterior delts.  If I were to make a sagittal cut (cutting my front and back halves in 2), you would see that the anterior portions are defined and overworked, while the posterior (hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors) are weak and tight.  My hamstring has lost flexibility through the years as finally, I'm trying to get that back.  I first noticed this quite obviously at the gym when I can easily leg press over 300lbs but can only squat 105 (3 sets of 8 reps).  I get to that "sticking point" and can't move.  My hamstrings and glutes are crazy weak! 

Here are my top items to have around the house to stretch your muscles (btw, static stretches (holding muscles in place for 20-30 sec) should ONLY happen after a workout if necessary). 

1.  Foam roller - hold under leg or arm muscles or roll back and forth really breaking up that connective tissue.  Here's some ways to use it: Foam Rolling


2. Lacrosse ball/semi-hard bouncy ball/tennis ball - Whatever you have, just make sure it's dense.  Here's way to use it: Tennis ball rehab

3. Elastic band - Use primarily for IT band syndrome or tight legs.  Here's a link:IT band stretches

4.  The stick - great for runners before and after races - All About The Stick

5. Your own body! - often times you can get effective stretching done with a couch, another person or by yourself.  Here's a few stretches I'm starting to incorporate at the gym more.  Just remember, a stretch should feel like a good stretch.  Some discomfort is good.  Pain is not!