March Is Here, Gluten-Free Brownies, Back To Working Out

Today is the first day of March, and this is what it looks like outside. You might not be able to see it in the photo, but it's snowing.... again! I'm trying really hard to keep a positive attitude, but I'm SOOOO ready for spring to hurry up and get here. I'm taking heart in the fact that today is the FIRST DAY OF MARCH! Spring has to be right around the corner. 

Jamie Eason

I got back into my workout routine this week after taking last week off. My body just needed a break, and it was worth it. It felt really good to start my days off in the gym again. I decided to repeat Jamie Eason's Live Fit 12 week program. I've done this a few times, and I love the gradual, steady progression of difficulty.

I found another cleaned-up desert recipe and made it last Sunday. These Dark Chocolate Cake Brownies are SO good! I shared them with some co-workers, and they went on and on about how good they are, never guessing they're gluten free and sugar free. I ate one of these brownies after almost every lunch this week. I love being able to have desert without feeling bad about putting junk in my body.







The week was full of long days and ended with a massive headache on Friday. I don't get headaches very often, and I can't remember the last time I had one as bad as the one I came home with yesterday. I can guess a few things that might have contributed to it. Sometimes I get so caught up in the busy-ness of the day and forget to eat. Then my body starts screaming at me - one way or another. Then I eat whatever is easiest and quickest to put in my mouth. That's one thing that happened on Friday that I'm sure contributed to my afternoon and evening misery. I'm going to spend some time tomorrow planning meals and snacks to keep on hand while I'm working next week.

I'll end this post on a fun, cute note. A couple of days ago my hubby and doggies were lovingly missing me, waiting for me to get home from work. I love my family!

My Workout Week: Sept. 29 - Oct. 5, 2013

I left some things unfinished from the past week, as far as recording my daily nutrition goal progress. Thursday evening I was having some issues with my internet connection and didn't end up posting anything from that day. I thought I would do both days on Friday, but I didn't get to it. Yesterday was a busy Saturday, so here it is - Sunday already....

My lack of reporting affected my eating habits those days. That's really one of my challenges each week: I start off the week with great intentions, and I stick with it well until Thursday or so. Then I begin my old habits of grab-n-go. I'm going to work on a better way of posting and sticking with it for this week. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, here is what I did for exercise this week:

Sunday: off
Monday: Chest, shoulders & triceps
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: Legs & abs
Thursday: Back, biceps & cardio
Friday: off
Saturday: Chest, shoulders, triceps & cardio

Intimidated In The Gym?

Do you ever feel this way? 

 

I found this picture on Facebook, and it made me laugh. I wonder if any of you ever feel this way sometimes like I do.

I remember feeling self-conscious about working out in the gym. Just like anything new you try, weight training can be a little bit intimidating when you’re first getting started, especially when the weight room is crowded and it feels like everyone is staring at you. Don’t let that stop you from getting in there and sticking with it.

Even after four years of the Marine Corps and several years of being a group fitness instructor I was still a little nervous about going into the weight room of the gym at first. I felt like others in there were pros and I was a newbie, and that my newbie-ness would be apparent and the pros would judge. Sound familiar?

How did I get over feeling awkward in the weight room? I faked it! Yep. I pretended I was as comfortable in there and that I belonged there as much as the “pro.” Specifically, I went in with a plan, stuck to the plan, was polite to everyone around me, and focused on my workout. The best way to become comfortable with something new is to educate yourself on the subject and then get started. Knowledge and experience (just do it!) are the tricks.

If you’re new to working out, my advice is to hire a personal trainer. He or she can help you feel comfortable in the weight room and serve as your ‘wing man’ while you learn your way around. I can’t say enough about the value of a qualified personal trainer for teaching, coaching, motivating and accountability. Meanwhile, here are some tips on etiquette in the gym. 

• Put your weights back after you use them. 
• Wipe down the machine or bench after each use.
• Don't camp out on the equipment. Allow others to 'work in' (do a set between your sets). 
• If the room is busy and a piece of equipment you need is being used, politely ask if you can 'work in.' This means you're effectively sharing the equipment, alternating a set of theirs with yours.
• Walk away if you must take a cell phone call.
• Don't leave a trail behind you. If you're carrying a water bottle, towel, etc., take them with you when you vacate an area.
• Don't spend time socializing with others. This can be distracting to those who are serious about training.

You'll notice that most of these tips are basic common-sense good etiquette for how to act in a public place anyway. That's how it is in a gym - it's no different than any other public space. You belong and have a place there as much as anyone else.

Also remember that there are as many methods of weight training as there are people in the gym. The pumped-up dude who looks like he was born and raised in the gym isn't the only one who knows how to work out, and he certainly isn't doing a workout that is necessarily right for you. And the beauty of it is, that's ok!

Our New Rooms!

Scott and I got our exercise today doing things that reminded me of something Cross Fit would be great preparation for. Cross Fit classes work your body using functional exercises – exercises that are closer to the way we use our bodies in everyday physical activities.  

Today we decided to rearrange two rooms in our house. We have two living rooms – one we use as a family room with our TV in it, and the other is full of books and comfy seating to lounge and read. The family room was the lower level living room on the back of the house that walks out into a screened-in porch. The upper level living room is on the front of the house and has big windows across two walls, and we used that as the reading room.

Because the family room has the TV, we spend more time in it. We decided it was time to reverse the rooms so that we’re spending more time in the one with more natural lighting from the front of the house.  

We started by me taking all of the books off the bookshelves while Scott re-wired the rooms for the cable/internet/phones. 

 

Then we started moving the heavy stuff. I'm very thankful my hubby is a big guy. He handles the furniture like it's nothing more than moving around some pieces in a game (ok, maybe that's exaggerating a bit, but sheesh!). 

We finally got the rooms put back together, and then I did the fun part of placing our books, pictures and other stuff around to make the rooms feel warm and cozy.  

Here are some pictures of the final project.

New family room

New reading room

Random Statistics

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT OUR HEALTH | Infographics

Do I really need to include a warm up and cool down in my workouts?

Yes!

Why is it important to warm up before and cool down after your workout?

If you’re exercising to maintain or improve your current fitness level, and your workout consists of weight training or cardio, a brisk five-minute walk on a treadmill will serve to prime your muscles with the additional blood flow to be able to handle the work load efficiently. If you head straight into your workout without first warming up, your muscles may not give you peak performance until your body has sufficiently caught up with the additional blood flow your muscles need. 

After your workout, especially a weight training session, another brisk to slow walk on the treadmill for five to ten minutes will help to bring your body systems back to resting rates. While you’re working out, the muscles being worked can receive up to 85% of the oxygen and blood flow your body produces. After you cool down, those resources will return to a more even distribution through all of your organs (your kidneys, liver, stomach, etc.). An active cool down can accommodate this re-distribution more effectively than just stopping and resting right away. It can also help remove built-up lactic acid and reduce muscle soreness.

Where does stretching come into play? You should stretch the muscles you just worked directly after working them to help eliminate the waste produced by the exercise (lactic acid). These stretches should be done before your cool down, because during and after the cool down your muscles lose some of the elasticity they have as a result of the warmth from working them. Stretching for this effect should reach the point of just before discomfort and held for eight to ten seconds. If, however, your goal is to improve range of motion, stretch to the point of mild discomfort and hold the stretch longer (up to a minute). If you perform a stretching regimen as your exercise session, be sure to take extra time to warm up your muscles before you begin.  

It may seem like a good idea to shave ten or fifteen minutes off your workout by skipping the warm up and cool down, but your workout will be more effective and your recovery less painful if you don’t.

4 Circuit Training Workouts

Circuit training is one of my favorite kinds of workouts. You can create your own circuit routine, where you just combine a bunch of exercises, do one after the other to create a circuit and repeat the circuit a few times. Or feel free to use the four below. I found three of these on other blogs, and I'll give credit to them. I love reading other people's stories, and here are a few I follow: Peanut Butter Fingers; Sweet Tooth Sweet Life; Carrots 'N Cake

This type of workout keeps your mind busy because you're moving quickly from one exercise to the next, and before you know it, you've completed a 30, 40 or 60 minute workout. You can do most of these with no equipment - just pop in your favorite tunes and get in the zone.

from Peanut Butter Fingers' blog

from Sweet Tooth Sweet Life's blog

my track workout

from FitSugar

 

The World We Live In

We hear and read a lot about how our food industry and eating habits in America have taken a turn for the worst over the past few decades, and that our food choices were healthier in our grandparents’ days than now. I’ve written about it myself. In contrast, it occurred to me this morning how fortunate we are to be living in these times we’re in now.

I have loved ones who are in their late 60s and 70s and dealing with health problems. They came up

in the age where it was believed that smoking cigarettes wasn’t harmful (although I can’t fathom why common sense wouldn’t trump popular culture on that one!). The no-fat diet fad gave permission to load up on carbs and refined sugar, processed foods and fast food restaurants became more easily accessible (without the warnings of it's harmful effects we have now), and exercising wasn’t trendy, especially for women.

Today we have more information available to us than we know what to do with. Of course, information overload can result in confusion, but our current culture encourages us to be proactive in taking charge of our own health. We’ve come so far in even just the past two decades in what we know. Even if the food industry is more concerned with revenue than the health safety of their consumers, we have enough information to be able to actively make wiser choices.

In addition, like many other things, the fields of sports and fitness have opened up to women more than any time in history. It’s not just okay, but in fact popular for women to compete in everything from bodybuilding competitions, to contact sports, to marathons. If I were my age during the time my mother was my age, I wouldn’t have the option of feeling comfortable training in the weight room with the guys or participating in an obstacle course style competition on a coed team.  I believe that my active lifestyle during my early and mid-life years gives me a better chance for a higher quality of living in my later years than my grandmothers have.

I’m grateful for the progress that’s been made before and in my lifetime. I love that we have the resources to be in control of our own health and fitness choices and the encouragement to make good ones.