GET YOUR SWEAT ON!

A lot of people have been asking me either for my workouts OR asking if we could work out together sometime. I was saving these for a best seller some day, but I guess I’ll give everyone a preview and trust that you’ll buy my book when I let you be in there as testimonials. I can’t take the credit for these in their entirety, but I can say that I’ve brought my own little flair to them! Hope you guys enjoy them in a sick and exceptionally sore kind of way...

CONES:
The story behind this one: I ‘borrowed’ some of it from Marc Lebert (check out his stuff - -http://www.lebertequalizer.com/index.htm) and added to it. The first night of my bootcamp, me scared out of my mind, I put the brave souls through this! I heard they were sore for days and I knew I had a business going...

Set up baby pylons (or anything, really, but these are cute and ironic since the workout is
anything but cute/baby/etc.) as far apart as you’d like--the farther the better but you can
go back and forth more times if you’re stuck in a smaller space!

First...jog down and back to warm up (and to cool down when you’re done).

Then, choose any of the following and repeat it 4 or 5 times. It will depend on how far apart you put your cones!:
shuffle sideways down and back (don’t cross feet) – get low!
criss cross sideways down and back (cross feet) – get low!
bear crawl down and back
pencil hop down and back
lunge down and back (or jog back)
jump squat (or step, step, squat) down and back (or jog back)
sprint down and jog back
This doesn’t take long but you will feel it the next day! ...and the day after that! and maybe even the day after that!

TEN TO ONE:
A trainer in Calgary introduced me to this one. We did the following, but you can again do anything you want! I like to add in a surprise – tuck jumps, sets on the stairs, inverted rows, etc – every once in a while!
10 reps each of: pushups, dumbbell squats, dumbbell thrusters, box jumps, kettlebell swings, burpees, pull-ups (jumping) followed by 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 4, 3, 2, 1 and what I decided to add and call BONUS! 10 round after you finish the 1s!

PLANK FUN #1:
1 minute plank / 1 minute up down (push up into a pushup position, lower down, alternating which side you start on --http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=097EmpGkgP0 ) /1 minute walking legs in and out / 1 minute plank
(It doesn’t have to be 1 minute, you could do 45 seconds or 30 seconds or even 15 seconds of each! 4 minutes is a long time to be loving those abs but it’s awesome! I like to start with the 1 minute round, rest, then repeat for 45 seconds, rest, then do it for 30. Needless to say, I get mad at my friends for making me laugh the next day...ouch!)

PLANK FUN #2:
Holding a basic OR a pushup position plank:
1st time: reach forward with your left hand 10 times (keep your body in line and your abs engaged)
repeat with your right hand
repeat with your left leg
repeat with your right leg
repeat with your left hand and right leg
repeat with your right hand and left leg
...REST
2nd time: following the same progression as the 1st time, reach forward for 5 reps and hold for 5 counts
...REST
3rd time: following the same progression as the 1st time, hold for 10 seconds each

MARATHON ABS:
The name is credited to Lola, the toughest Cardio Kickbox instructor I’ve ever met!
You can do it with any exercises, but my favourite patterns are 30 seconds or any time period without rest each of:
i)crunches/situps
crunches/situps with legs elevated
leg raises
reverse crunches
crunches/situps

ii) crunches/situps
crunches/situps with legs elevated to a 45 degree angle
scissor kicks (bonus inner thigh workout)
crunches/situps with legs elevated to 45 degree angle
crunches/situps
The possibilities are endless...

OTHER:
Other things that people aren’t doing but should be(I’ll admit, myself included on some of ‘em)...
turkish get ups
wall sits
mountain climbers
smiling and clapping when they do burpees
running stairs
pushups (all kinds of possibilities)
plyos
stability ball pikes
rowing
using the jacob’s ladder
jumping rope

BREAKFASTS (reposting...)

raisin bread + pb + 1/2 a banana and a yogurt (you can make it the night before) to be honest i sometimes have this with carrots and celery. and by sometimes i mean every tuesday and thursday after spin, i eat veggies at 8:30 in the morning. it's my second breakfast, so it's legit!

cook oatmeal or porridge in the microwave, put it in a tupperware and throw some frozen berries and yogurt on top of it...in the morning, it is A M A Z I N G (extra delicious)

do you like cottage cheese? if not, use yogurt: 1/3 cup all bran buds + 1/2 cup kashi go lean cereal + whatever fruit you can get your chands on :) delicious

if you're feeling fancy, dice up an apple and microwave it for about a minute so that it gets nice and soft. i like it on top of mini wheats (but any cereal would work) with cold cold milk or soy milk. and some brown sugar and maybe raisins. nom nom nom.

another personal favourite: pumpkin pie oatmeal -- cinnamon, pumpkin, and raisins/walnuts/an apple/brown sugar if you'd like on top of a bowl of cooked oatmeal. so good! sometimes i throw some egg whites into the oats before i cook them. delish. VEGETABLES AT BREAKFAST! YES!

how about a "protein" pancake (with or without protein powder, you can make it work): oatmeal, protein powder (or flour or neither and just play around until it holds its consistency) with egg whites mixed together and put into a sprayed hot frying pan. you can top it with peanut butter and banana (my fave), jam, syrup, other fruit, WHATEVER YOU WANT!...delicious

Now that i'm hungry i'm goign to go to bed so that i can wake up and eat one of these things! Sound good?!?

Quidditch for Muggles

With the opening of the next Harry Potter less than a month away, I have to admit that I'm more excited for this than I am even for the possibility that a strike could happen in t minus 4 days and I could get a break from ORGO!

Global (I think, it could have been CTV) news had a story about universities playing QUIDDITCH! Even though it is ridiculous, and the snitch is a random person who runs around campus dressed in all yellow, it has apparently caught on enough that there's an International Quidditch association and a World Cup scheduled for November!

http://www.leaderpost.com/Harry+Potter+Quidditch+soaring+popularity/3719889/story.html

I say Western starts a team, whatdya think?

Halloween Haunting, Turkey Trot, Santa Shuffle

Admittedly, the thought of hundreds of people running/walking while dressed up as all kinds of things (I’m hoping to see Lady Gaga on Sunday) makes me pretty happy. I’m one of those suckers for fun things like themed runs...

Turkey Trot? How CUTE is that?! And how totally awesome to exercise BEFORE you eat all that turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, pecan pie...okay I’m getting off track!...

Santa shuffles are popular all over the place...
(register with me this year: http://www.runningroom.com/hm/inside.php?id=3194)

So, I decided to look up some other FUN events that are goofy for the sake of getting people active...

The best one I found was in Finland, of all places. There's a wife-carrying competition loosely based on a robber who lived in a forest and would steal food and girls from villages (Ronkainen the Robber). The winner of the 832 foot obstacle track, complete with water and plenty of wife-dunking took less than two minutes this year. The prize? The wife's weight in beer! The event is now being held around the world, where couples qualify to go to Finland to compete in the world championships(yes, Canada was represented this year!). Check this out... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1292095/Wife-carrying-championships-Finnish-pair-clinch-title-second-year-running.html


On a more serious note, PETA organizes a “Running of the Nudes” event two days before the not so funny Running of the Bulls in Spain. The event is in protest of the bull running, which PETA says tortures the animals for the sake of tourism.
http://www.runningofthenudes.com/

In other words, my search turned up kind of sad. Do you guys know of anything wacky going on? Better yet, do you have any brilliant ideas? Maybe we can think of something great for charity or just for the heck of it! Use your brain for something besides studying tonight!

On the agenda this weekend: sleepovers, jack-o-lanterns, lots of sugar, and an EPIC wedgie?

This weekend, instead of JUST snarfing large amounts of candy and carving pumpkins like every year, I am going to take part in the Runner's Choice Halloween Haunting! Sunday morning, I'll run (okay, jog) 10k along with hundreds of other (crazy) dressed up folks who are looking for some exercise and fresh air!

http://www.runnerschoice.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=12

There's still time to register if you're in London and there are 3k and 5k options so everyone can join in! The best costumes get prizes so you could be a winner if your costume's impressive enough! I am anticipating a FUN run but I am also anticipating that EPIC wedgie I mentioned in the title...here's my take on what's going to happen on Sunday: I'll be all suited up and ready to go. My foot's feeling much better so I'm ready to race this thing (but have an excuse if my time's less than stellar). I'm looking forward to seeing Tanya at the start line and trying to chase her down the whole time (she's amazing)! I'll be dressed in my finest (read: spandex from head to toe) and sporting my fuzzy running gloves and my cap. My nerves will be pumping, my heart rate monitor all fired up, and my muscles sufficiently loaded with glycogen from all of the Halloween candy I plan on consuming tomorrow (carbo loading is KEY, folks!). I'll start off with a FAST pace, ready to win the thing. But then...it will creep up slowly. Literally, as I run, my costume will become more and more of a pain in the butt...

I'm gonna leave it to you guys to guess what I'm going to be. Otherwise, you're just going to have to wait and see (Sunday's coming up quickly, don't worry)!

Yay!

It wouldn't be fair of me to be 'interested' in or 'curious about' my own post but...

http://www.westernmustangs.ca/news/2010/10/28/FITWEL_1028105755.aspx?path=fit

What caught my eye today...

It's easy to get sidetracked and end up following link after link after link when you SHOULD be doing homework! I had the best of intentions on finishing an entire presentation on avoiding the "Freshman Fifteen" / eating healthy at University (for my communications class) but I did let myself surf around the internet when I got caught up in a couple of stories!

It all started with this...

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39868583/ns/today-today_health

Basically, if you're not in the mood to read it... Maura Kelly (who I'd never heard of before) wrote a blog about the CBS show "Mike and Molly," which is about a couple who met at Overeaters Anonymous (I'll admit I've never seen the show, either, but it sounds funny). In Kelly's blog for Marie Claire, she said that she would be "grossed out if she had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other." She went on to compare overweight people walking across a room to an alcoholic stumbling in a bar. Kelly's insensitive post has received thousands of responses, both supportive and appalled.

The Today show story has a link to the blog and to Marie Claire's website, where I got off on a tangent. I was a little angry at the whole situation -- someone blogging for Marie Claire should certainly be sensitive to weight issues! I bought an issue last month and was impressed to see a column written by a plus size woman in the industry. I was actually impressed with the issue and I intended to buy the next issue until I found the Today show story! However, I did poke around the Marie Claire cite and found myself reading an interesting article that kind of redeemed the magazine in my mind.
http://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/news/articles/health-blogger-controversy
This one is about a bunch of bloggers (see a trend here, this is a good first post for me) who keep tabs on their own healthy lifestyles and who have developed quite an extensive following. This would be good if their lifestyles were in fact healthy, balanced, and worth aspiring to. Turns out, they are borderline obsessive and when I read some of the things that the women do, I immediately realized just how easy it is to fall into the trap of always wanting to be "healthier." There are obvious benefits to being active and eating well, but there is a fine line between doing a good job and driving yourself crazy.

What both of these little things did for me was to make me think. I really had to look at myself -- while I definitely would never say things like Kelly did about overweight people, I am guilty of being prejudiced against obese individuals. At the same time, I've gained an appreciation of the need to approach the problem from a different perspective. Individuals who are severely overweight are not disgusting, incapable, or less than human. In fact, they could be suffering from the same issues as we are and just using food in an unhealthy way. The only way to address this is to approach the problem from it's root. Fat burners, diets, surgery, even extreme workout plans won't help them. Sure, in the short term, a trainer yelling in their face and someone telling them what to eat will help them lose the pounds but not the weight of their issues. Weight loss needs to be a process that is far more than just a physical transformation!

The second article made me realize that I am guilty of the same things that these women are. As much as I hate to admit it, I am proud of myself when I eat vegetables and I feel guilty when I eat cake. At one point, accidentally receiving a sandwich on white bread might have sent me into a tailspin. However, I`ve learned to ease up about these kinds of things and to take on a new outlook. Life is too short to spend trying to make every choice the healthiest. There needs to be a new definition of what really makes something `healthy` and the media needs to promote it. If we can`t stop competing to see who is the healthiest (synonymous with the most obsessive, restrictive, etc.), we are going to be worse off than if we`d never put in the effort to get healthy in the first place! I realize now that `bragging` about the number of workouts I put in or about the sheer amount of fibre I consume on the average day (menu planning assignments and foods and nutrition assessments are a surefire way to bring out our competitive instincts -- about eating the fewest calories, the most omega 3s, the most organic foods) is not helping anyone get healthy.

With this being my first blog post and both of the things I `noticed`being online blogs, I think it`s only fitting that I chose to write about them! Apparently I`m getting the reminder to watch what I say and to be honest from the get go...so hold me to it! Let me know what you think and if something makes you curious, let`s hear about it!


PS: The Freshman Fifteen speech is coming along well. When it`s done I`ll try to get a version of it up on here so you have another reason to KEEP CHECKING THIS BLOG OUT! I`ll keep ya posted! :)

Introduction

So, my plan (yes, I have a plan) for this blog is to make a comment on something that surprised me, shocked me, interested me, or otherwise got my attention. It might have been something in the paper (the mumps case at Western) or something I saw on the news (the backlash against the overweight people in a sitcom by a journalist who basically labelled overweight people as 'disgusting'). Maybe it will be something I've overheard or been told about...only time will tell!

It's about getting curious about the things going on in the world...

"You learn something every day if you pay attention."
Ray Lebond

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
Dorothy Parker (Thanks, Kaitlin)