My new motto

Sunday, March 31, 2013

SparkPeople said best...nothing I need to add.

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Update on New Treadmill Workout

Saturday, January 26, 2013

First, thanks to all of you who commented on my blog yesterday. Thankfully, I'd did not fall off the treadmill nor did I turn into a pretzel at the bottom of the treadmill. Although, some of the mental images you provided made me laugh!

Since it is Saturday, I slept in until 6:00. I puttered around the house a bit, doing laundry and such and made it to the gym around 7:00, so I was wide awake for this experiment. After the warm up, I walked with no incline at 0.5 mph, emphasizing foot placement and arm movement. That felt weird, but was only for two minutes. Next, I walked at 1.1 mph - sideways - in a "deep" squat. My squat got less deep the longer I did it. One minute per side, repeat for four minutes total. Then I walked backwards at 1.2 (or so) for two minutes. (No, I've never worked on the elliptical backwards. Seems scary!) That was the "easy" part of the workout.

The next part almost killed me! I set the treadmill to 7.0 mph and ran for one minute. Get off the treadmill and do 15 jumping squats. Repeat. And repeat again. I'm leaving out the part where I stopped to breathe again!

Next, speed at 3.9 mph. Incline at 15. Go. Then I did some weird plank thing that I think I did wrong, but I was sweating, so I must have been doing something right!

I was supposed to do some twist thing with a resistance band, but I forgot before I started and didn't feel like hunting one up, so I "just " walked for the next five minutes.

Finished up with Rolling Hills. Speed is constant here, and I think I set mine at 3.9. Incline at 0 for 30 seconds. Every 30 seconds, change incline. It looked like this.

0
5
10
5
0
5
10
15
10
5
0

Cool down.

Overall, I liked this workout. Gotta figure out the plank thing and remember the resistance band. I definitely kicked my own butt and I can already feel my thighs asking me what I was thinking. LOL! I will do this workout again...maybe even Sunday morning. Change can be a good thing. Or, as John pointed out, variety is a delicious spice for life!

BTW...I try to be in bed at 9:30 on work nights. I try to catch up on weekends. I know, I know, not the way to live. I'm working on that...sort of...

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New idea of fun?

Friday, January 25, 2013

I'm a gym rat. I go to the gym six days a week and am on the elliptical at least five of those days. I try to mix it up at least one day, but I don't always feel like it. I know that I need to vary my workout, but sometimes that is too much to think about. Especially at 4:30 AM.

So...I was reading an article in one of those little throw away magazines. I live in Southern Idaho and it gets cold here in the winter months. In fact, we hit 36' today and it feels like a heat wave! Anyway, because it is often too cold or too snowy or too something to exercise outside, this magazine offers a new treadmill workout. The workout includes side walking squats, sprints mixed with squats, backwards walking and lots of other variations. I'm actually looking forward to trying this workout! It sounds like...dare I say...fun!?!?

I'll let you all know how I like it. I'll report after the workout. And I'll update a day or two later with how sore I am! LOL!

Happy weekend Sparkers!

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Everyone Else is Doing It!

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Making New Year's Resolutions that is. Or setting goals. Or whatever you want to call it. And I want everyone to like me, so I'm going to be a joiner!!

That, and if I write down my goals, I'll be able to refer to this blog to remember what I want and why.

Goal 1: do one unassisted pull up. I'm closer than I've ever been, but still need to gain ~60 pounds of strength. Better than the 100+ I started at. Why do an unassisted pull up? Cos I think it will be cool!

Goal 2: Learn some Mandarin Chinese. I realize that fluency isn't viable in the year I have planned. But I can learn some words and maybe some symbols. Why? Many of the folks I work with speak English as a second language. Mandarin Chinese is their first language. They've learned English. Why shouldn't I learn Chinese?

Goal 3: make the 2 for 8 Challenge a habit. The goal is to get up and walk at least two minutes evey hour for each of the eight hours (oh, if I worked only 8 hours per day) you are working. I got at least six in today. I'm on my way!

That's it. Three things. Enough to keep me busy, but not so much I get overwhelmed.

May you all meet your goals!

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New Floor!! With before and after pics!

Friday, November 16, 2012

My DH and I moved into this house during the summer between our DD's kindergarten and 1st grade years in school. She is now a Junior (or 11th grade). It's late, so you get to do the math! The house was about two years old when we moved in. And we moved in very well. Besides DD, we also have DS and two dogs. All together, we've been very hard on our kitchen floor.

Poor floor...notice the holes in the linoleum? That's what happens when you don't have wheels on the desk chair.


And the brown spot? No, not a fire. Apparently, bug spray, sunshine and linoleum do not mix well...unless you like brown spots on your floor.


Now, that area looks like this:



We weren't as hard on the space for the fridge, but I think that black mark is a permanent stain.


Can't see the stain now!



The area in front of the stove is just plain dirty, faded, and worn.



Not any more!!!



A general shot of new amd improved.



Thanks for letting me share. Now maybe I'll move on to a new obsession.

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