Today's Workout - Glutes!

Many years ago, I made an effort to shake things up and keep boredom from happening when it came to working out. I took a binder and took my ever growing pile of magazines then got to work. Pulling out workouts I was interested in and placing them in plastic page covers. I have been doing this off and on since 2002. 10 years!! Every 6-12 months, I do it again. I dump some of the workouts I never tried or found that it was too boring. Then put in new things. In and out.

There are some things in there that haven't left. The workout above was in Fitness Magazine in February 2004. It never left my favorites. Get it Now: A small, firm butt.

And it burned the gluteus just as much as it always has. Here are the 7 moves for you to try!

• Ice Skater: Stand arm's length away from a sturdy chair or other object. Bend forward from the hips until your torso is parallel to the floor. Hold on to the object for balance and keep your abs pulled in to support your lower back. Extend left leg behind you, slightly to the left of center, at hip height. Lift leg up and hold for 1 count. Do 2 sets of 20 lifts; repeat with right leg.
• Spiral: Sit with left leg bent in front of you, knee pointing forward, and right leg bent behind you. Rotate your right hip forward; this should bring right ankle off the floor. Contract your abs, squeeze the right side of your butt, and try to lift your right knee off the floor. Leaning to the left makes it easier, but you may need a few practice sessions to get it. Do 2 sets of 10 lifts; repeat with left leg.
• Kneeling Butt Toner: Kneel on a mat with knees hip-width apart. Holding onto a sturdy object, pull in your abs and roll your hips under slightly. Keeping torso straight, lift left knee and press leg directly behind you, not out o the side. Do 2 sets of 20 presses; repeat with right leg.
• High Angle Pelvic Lift: Lie on your back with feet hip-width apart against a wall or on a charm knees bent 90 degrees so shins are parallel to the floor. Pull abs in and squeeze glutes as you lift hips. Hold for 1 count, then release down to the floor. Do 2 sets of 20 lifts. 
• Standing Barre: Second Position: Position feet about 2 feet wider than your hips, toes angled out. Bend knees and lower hips until thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep torso upright with abs tight; don't stick your butt out. Raise arms in front of you. Press your knees back as you do 20 strong contractions of your glutes, then stand up and rest. Do 2 more sets of 20 contractions.
• Prone Leg Extension: Lie facedown with your legs extended. Place a towel or pillow under your hips or use your palms to cushion your hip bones. Bend your right knee 90 degrees and point your toes toward the ceiling. Contract your abs and lift your right leg up -- not out to the side -- squeezing your glutes tight (movement is small). Hold for 1 count, then lower. Do 2 sets of 20 slow lifts; repeat with left leg. Keep hips pressed to the floor throughout.
• Standing Glute Lifter/Bent Knee Variation: Stand next to a sturdy chair or counter for balance. Bend left knee 90 degrees, toes pointed. Keep right knee soft. Pull your abs in, drop your tailbone, and press left leg directly behind you. Hold for 1 count, then release. Do 2 sets of 20 lifts, repeat with left leg.

Changing gyms

Finally, after whining and crying for months about how we hate hate hate our gym, Dan and I decided to join a new one. Granted, we're still locked into the iron clad contract with our gym for maybe another year. (Why is it that nice gyms always have reasonable ways to get out of contracts? With a nice reasonable fee? The crap ones always make you spend an arm and a leg, and want your first born child to get out of it.)

Seriously. The one we were (and are still stuck) at? It was ok when I was in grad school and needed a place to work out (I didn't have a university parking pass so going to the school's gym was out of the question. It wasn't the best place, but it was ok. I'm not sure if they got new owners or new managers or what have you, but the place quickly started to go down in quality. It got dirty -- the carpets, the machines, the locker room. YUCK. The machines started breaking down more often and took longer to fix. They bought some new machines -- but not gym quality!!! They bought a few treadmills that I could have bought at Sears -- no really -- Dan and I saw them there. They were cheap and they were NOT made to handle the use they were going to get. Within 6 months, those were breaking down.
g nast
Then they started running even more promotions to get more members. Not sure why because they were always stuffed to the gills. No free cardio machines, NO parking spots. And the promotions got cheaper and cheaper. And so did the people that they were attracting to the place. Not that I'm snobby, but seriously. A lot of trashy people were coming in...NOT taking care of things around them. Saying nasty, crude things loudly to each other. NOT following the so called rules the place had for wearing wet street shoes on equipment. They weren't wiping down the machines they just use. Nothing. I have never been so annoyed.

I tried to go to a few of the classes offered. Some were ok, but some were not. They didn't have the best weight lifting equipment for things like BodyPump. Granted a couple of years ago when I started going, the stuff wasn't in the WORST shape. But they haven't replaced anything since! And forget going to a zumba class. The main instructor they have for it? Is NOT a nice person. She doesn't seem to realize that there are actually beginners in the class who might never have been there before. She doesn't exactly say HI. She doesn't show us the dance moves before getting into them. She just turns the music on and goes. And if you know how crowded a class like that can get, then you know you can't see what her legs and feet are doing in the first place. I went to that class just once.

Last but not least, I highly suspect their "personal trainers" have nothing more than a highschool diploma under their belt, if that. I do NOT believe any one was certified to be doing what they were doing.

So we decided to change gyms. Planet Fitness opened up near us and we decided to give it a whirl. It is relatively inexpensive, especially for just cardio and strength training equipment -- $10 a month per person. Um, yeah!? While it would be nice to find a gym with amenities such as a pool, I'm not desperate for it.  Sure, there aren't any classes, but if I really want to go to one, I'll just go to the other gym (HA!) or use a DVD at home (the most likely option). But Planet Fitness has SOOOO much equipment! And it's all new! And easy to use! While it is mostly filled with college students, it's totally worth going.

I'm really happy we changed gyms because now I actually look forward to going. Going to the other gym left me always feeling bummed out and feeling disgusted. You can't fully get the relaxing benefits of exercise if you're totally feeling depressed while in the gym!

Maybe I'm just too picky. But I made the right choice!  (Now to figure out how to get our of our contract at the crap gym).

Oh, hey!

Oh, right! I have a blog :) I barely get through a month of this new blog and I already disappeared for a few days. My last post signaled that I was feeling quite rough about things, about life, and was feeling stressed OUT.  I am better, just 6 days later. While I was trying to get off my medication, until I can see my doctor, I'm going to go ahead and wait to quit it. As soon as I started back on it (the lowest dose I was previously on last fall), I felt back to normal again. Not so anxious. Not so crazy. And working out is slowly returning.

I missed writing this week about the the number 4 goal from '52 Small Changes'. This week was about keeping a food journal regularly. While I did not do it daily, I did it a few days, at least. Next week will be better. Every day I feel more and more like myself again...Which is VERY refreshing. VERY reassuring.

My job isn't feeling quite as overwhelming this week, which is a good thing, too. There is still a lot I do NOT know and a lot I have left to learn, but I finally feel like its going to be ok.

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In other news...There has been talk between the husband and I about relocation. I'm not going to talk about it in a great deal of detail at this time. Let's just say that for him? His career can't grow in the position that he's in right now. I don't know if he's going to start re-evaluating things this year, next year, or in 5 years. You can expect that I will be very vague as we have this talks. You see, the last couple of years, we have been hell bent on moving at some point, but financially, we had not been able to. I feel dumb because we were telling friends and family our plans, and then plans didn't happen or fell through.

Until I know more for sure and plans are actually IN PLACE AND A GO, I'm barely going to mention it.

Just saying.

Struggling against excuses

I often sit and wonder how women my age have multiple kids. I can barely keep my head on straight these days just trying to figure out when to study for work (study for work, yes....I see up to 8 kids a day right now and looking up things AT work isn't working for me at the moment), fit in a work out, fit in cleaning, cooking, researching and buying healthy foods.

This is the very last week that I make excuses. The last week that I say that I can't find the time to do this or that. There is no reason that I can not fit in a workout 3-4 times a week. There is no reason what so ever. I have the healthier eating down, I'm sleeping enough, I'm working. I'M SO FREAKING TIRED and I wonder how in the world I can workout but frankly?? I'm thinking that if I just GET UP AND GO workout that I won't feel this way. I have absolutely NO EXCUSES, except for my own laziness.

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On a side note, that has to do with the anxiety that I deal with every single day of my life...The last few weeks have been hard for me. In October, I decided to try medication. Again. It was a medication I had tried before and actually didn't mind a ton so I thought, why not go for it again. It's called Strattera, a medication mostly for my ADD, which is often what actually sparks anxiety in me. OMG. My body has not been happy about it. AT ALL. I have been perpetually anxious since October 21st.  In December, the doc a fiddled with my dosage.  Then fiddled with it some more.  For two weeks I felt paralyzed. I was teary, I was emotional, I was barely functioning at work.

So this week, I quit. I quit the medication for the very last time. It's only been a few days since I had my last dose. I still feel a little foggy. I don't love this foggy feeling. But feeling a little foggy and tired is better than feeling paralyzed. It's better than screaming at my husband, and breaking down over the littlest things. It's better than feeling my heart race all the time.

I miss working out and this medication wasn't letting me work out. It made me miserable.

I'm sure that when I see my counselor this week, I will be frowned upon for not talking to my doctor first. I'm sure you would say the same thing to me. But I can't be in hell anymore. And I wasn't going to wait 1-3 weeks until I could get a morning slot with my doc for a med check. And I think its dumb to go see a doctor to say, I'm done with meds RIGHT NOW -- here's my $30 copay for that little conversation. I don't recommend up and quitting meds, by the way, if they work for you. Just a little disclaimer.

The last day or so is the first time in a long time that I have felt like myself again. I booked our flight to Hawaii in June just yesterday, and I am READY to be my fittest on our (late) honeymoon. I have an awesome man by myself who has been patient with me through all of this. I'm very lucky.

52 Small Changes - Week 3 - Keep Off The Couch!

This is THE big one for me. KEEPING OFF THE COUCH. And I've already messed up this one for the week because I didn't bother to get to the chapter until last night. When the week starts on Monday, it's actually better to read the chapter for the week on Sunday or you'll never start the week off right. Whoops.


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The change for week 3?




Apart from exercise, incorporate regular and routine activity into your lifestyle.

Your body is meant to be active, and the more active it is, the more easily it will remain so. This change isn’t about going to the gym five days a week for an hour or running three miles every day but about opting to move instead of remaining sedentary.

According to the World Health Organization, a sedentary lifestyle is a major underlying cause of death, disease, and disability. Approximately two million deaths every year are attributed to physical inactivity.

However, I plan on making this about being more active in the way that you're not supposed to this week. There is no week, that I can tell (based on the titles of each week in the index) that will have me focus on that. So my plan for this week is to be active every single day this week (and beyond!) in some way shape or form.  This might mean going for a walk during my lunch hour, or running my errand at the grocery store? On foot.  Moving around when I decide to watch television -- doing floor exercises and free weight activities, as well as making it a time to even fold the laundry. I need to make myself take the stairs more often -- at work this is no problem, as I do this every day.

I also need to turn off technology a lot more often. I have been getting better about the time I spend on the computer already this year -- you may have already noticed that I'm not posting every single day. While I think its important for me to start becoming more accustomed to and more responsible for my success in my goals this year, I also know that it's important to spend time away from the computer, away from the TV, and away from the *gulp* iPhone AND the iPad.

This is my way to finally work yoga into my every day a little better. Force me to do it. I'm also picking up a very ballet type workout. It's not hard on the joints and while I am in therapy to get my elbow (and, er...shoulder -- we'll bring that up another time as its something new to be bothering me thanks to the fact that my body has been trying to overcompensate for my elbow injury), I need to keep it light on the joints!

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Weekly Change Checklist!

• Hydrate with Water!
• Get 7-8 Hours of Sleep
• Get Routine Activity Every Day!

I have been REALLY good with water and sleep! I have days here and there that coffee seems to be my main beverage still, but I'm becoming more aware of how fabulous I feel when I drink the right amount for me. And I knew I wasn't going to have issues with sleep. It's 9:30pm and I'm already ready to zone out asap.

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If you haven't yet, PLEASE join me in this challenge! Only 3 weeks in so you're not far behind!