30 Day Challenges

I did it ! I did it!!! Woo hoo I FREAKING DID IT!!!

Original Intention
Establish the healthy habit of daily exercise

Goal
30 min a day X 30 days= 15 hours

Actual Hours Completed
52 1/2 hours

Commitments

1. Make Your Workouts Fun- DONE!
2. Incorporate  Variety- DONE!
3. Incorporate Your Relationships (kids, lovers, friends, family, co-workers, etc..)- WANT TO DO MORE OF THIS!
4. Work up a Sweat- DONE!
5. Honor Your Intuition and Your Limitations (know the perfect balance of too much and not enough)- DONE! I feel stronger and am pain/injury free
6. Get Good Rest (this will really help your workouts)- DONE! My typical sleep pattern is to rest between 10-6
7. Breathe while working out. (try to keep it in a nice rhythm, even if it’s faster)- DONE!
8. Hydrate (how else do you expect all the junk in your body to get washed out?)- NEEDS IMPROVEMENT, somedays I was inconsistent
9. Exercise 30 mins Daily & post it as a comment on my blog- DONE!
10. Leave Your Workout Spot in Better Condition than When You Showed Up- DONE! My house is spiffy too! 🙂

I am here for you and I’ve got your back! 😉
 

Today’s Workout
60 min Zumba
60 min Yoga- all seated poses

Tip: Have exercises in your fitness program that eliminate pain and discomfort rather than workouts that make you look good. Note: you can do exercises that allow you to FEEL AMAZING and look amazing too! No need to compromise! 🙂

Today’s Workout
4+ Hours of House Cleaning

Fitness Challengers,

Do you find yourself criticizing people who are healthy and in fantastic shape? If so, you may be sabotaging your own results in your fitness challenge.

Here’s the scoop. If you are criticizing someone else you are sub-consciously rejecting that result for yourself. You are keeping yourself from all the health and beauty that you deserve by hating on someone else who has what you secretly or openly wish you had for yourself. Why?

Because when you are finding fault in someone else you are in a state of resistance and as long as you are resisting you are NOT in alignment to receive those gifts for yourself.

A really simple way to turn things around is to make a list of all the people who have that sexy lean gorgeous body that you want and to bless them. Thank them silently! What you are doing sub-consciously is allowing yourself to have those same things for yourself.

So, when you are out and about and quick to judge someone who is in phenomenal shape, take a moment to look at them and appreciate them for the great reminder that they are for you. You will see that in short time you will effortlessly see your own body becoming more and more beautiful. Which leads me to the next part of this.

If you are not able to see what is going right with your own body and only focus on what is going wrong you will only see where you lack. Seeing that blocks you from improving. As soon as you start to acknowledge the improvements and what is going right you will see more and more results start to show.

Bless that which has yet to show up  as it already has and soon it will be yours! Take time to do a rampage of appreciation for your own beautiful body and for others as well! 🙂

Until tomorrow,

Lori

P.S. Here is my workout for today

Today’s Workout
60 min Pilates Class

Problem: Getting bored with your fitness plan?

Solution: Create Goals

The original goal of this 30 day fitness challenge was to build the daily healthy habit of physical exercise. However, as we come to the close of this challenge one can start to feel bored with that goal. It is because we are designed to grow! Once we get the hang of something we want to step it up! We want to see what we can accomplish. We thrive on growth!  I find the best way to stay engaged in my workouts so that I am not bored is to create mini goals. I need something to work for! Here is a simple way to become engaged mentally in your workout plan.

1. Start by imagining the END RESULT. What do you want? 

Wouldn’t it be nice if…. (fill in the blank)

• My body had full range of motion
• My body was supple and strong
• My body was lean and firm
• My measurements were 34-25-35
• I could surf well
• I could snowboard and hit the jumps with ease
• I could dance with beauty and grace, rhythm and style

 
3. Break it down into bite sized 30 day milestones/goals

At the end of 30 days I would like to be able to accomplish the following:

• Suppleness & range of motion: do the splits,bind my hands behind my back,and perform front and back walkovers with ease
• Strength: perform 50 man push ups, hold a 5 min plank with ease, improve my pole tricks, perform power yoga class with ease
• Lean & Firm: go lighter on the meals & keep up the daily workouts
• Surf & Snowboard: work on balance
• Dance: learn or choreograph one dance routine: perhaps burlesque, cabaret, strip tease, hip hop, ballroom, or zumba

4. Create a daily/ weekly action plan

Daily/Weekly

• Spend 15 min AM/PM stretching doing the splits, binds, and back bends
• Spend 15 min doing strength training
• Keep a food log to bring more awareness to my diet
• Play on a wobble board
• Dance to one song a day

Weekly:

• Attend yoga, pilates, and dance classes
• Perform my body balance workout

Tips:

•  Make sure your goals turn you on! If you don’t get turned on by your goals then performing the daily workouts are going to seem boring.
• Get creative and playful! Brainstorm one new way you can workout this week and have fun.
• Train for an event! For example, training for a marathon can keep you focused on fitness because you are looking forward to running in the race and you have a date that keeps you on point!

If you are feeling like you are doing the lame old workout without any end result in mind and you are not fully engaged give these exercises a shot and see what you come up with! I know that this is going up on my bathroom mirror to keep me reminded of what I want, why I want it and how I plan on getting there! 🙂

Cheers to our able bodies!!!

BTW, did you workout today? I did…. 😉

Today’s Workout
60 min yoga
60 min Zumba
20 min easy walk
60 min pole fitness class

Attention Fitness Challengers!

Do you struggle with maintaining your ideal body weight?
If you feel like you are fighting a losing battle with the scale you may want to start building some lean muscle!

Why more lean muscle?
Because it boosts your metabolic rate!

How to build lean muscle?
Resistance Training

Resistance training builds long lean sexy muscles which helps you to maintain your perfect weight effortlessly. If you feel like you are constantly struggling to get down to your ideal weight, but fighting the scale feels like a losing battle,  then you may want to consider building some lean muscle with resistance training.

Did you know that the more lean muscle you have the higher your metabolic rate?
For every 1 lb. of muscle your body burns 35-75 calories a day. Therefore, if I gained 8 lbs. of muscle, I would be burning 280-600 more calories a day.

How does lean body mass do that?
Your metabolic rate increased and therefore burning more calories a day and while you sleep making it easier to maintain your healthy shape! It also allows us to obtain more nutrient into my body since we can eat more calories without the weight gain. More nutrient means more health, more beauty, more energy!

How long does it take to gain a pound of muscle?
On average, it takes men 2 weeks to gain a pound of muscle and for women it takes about 4 weeks. This is because women have higher estrogen and lower testosterone levels than men. So, yes ladies, this means it takes women longer to gain a pound of muscle than it does for men. Perhaps this is another reason why men can drop weight so much faster than us! I personally want to increase my lean muscle by 8 lbs. which means that will take me about 8 months! Ahh…. patience is a virtue! 😉

How to build lean muscle
I personally enjoy the long lean muscles I receive from pilates, power yoga, pole fitness, and body balancing. I do have some light free weights, but personally I prefer the following resistance training equipment:

• My own body weight
• Resistance bands
• Swiss Ball
• Medicine Ball
• Pole

Won’t I get bulky and masculine muscles?
A common concern with resistance training and women is the fear of bulking up. I have noticed that plyometrics and heavy resistance has affected the appearance of my physique. I did years of bike riding and did have some dense leg muscles, then as a gymnast I was one dense firecracker. I find that when I really make sure I am balancing my workouts with cardio and flexibility training that bulking up is not a concern!

Side note:
It can be easy to get caught up in aesthetics and how our bodies look. However, I want to encourage you to put more emphasis on how it FEELS rather than looks. I’d far rather have full range of motion of my joints and body, muscular control, balance, energy, endurance, and a daily flow of endorphins pumping through my veins than a body that just looks good, but doesn’t feel free and fantastic or has aches and pains. True health radiates from the inside out and your body will look as gorgeous as it feels in no time!

Enjoy your body!

Lori

P.S. Still working out with me? Here’s what I did today

Today’s Workout
60 min yoga