Computer workout

As I was typing the blog for yesterday I caught my self doing small little ab workouts. I have been doing them since my freshman year in college and have just got in to the routine of doing them as soon as I sat down. So I begin thinking of all the SMALL exercises we can do through out the day that will make us feel better, because let's face it sometimes you do not have 20 minutes to focus on a complete workout. So here are some things you can do if you are at a desk, ever.

Leg raises:

Sit straight up, suck in those abs.
Bring your knees to a 90 degree angle.
Lift up hold 2 seconds and release.
Repeat 20-25 times. Rest and repeat when you want.
(You can do this while you type, or are waiting for  something to load. These can also be done when sitting on any object, ie. a couch. It is a simple, yet effective.)


Straight legs:

Sit straight up
Suck in the belly and hold
Bring legs up so they are parallel to the floor
Hold for 30 seconds, release
Repeat 10-15 times.

Calf Raises:

Start with great posture and knees at 90 degrees.
Bring feet up on to your toes
Flex the calves and hold for 15-20 seconds, release.
Repeat 20-25 times and you can even change it up by doing one leg at a time.

Squeezed butt:

Sit straight up
Squeeze butt and hold for 5 seconds, release.
Repeat 10-15 times.

Chair Lift:

Sit up straight
Bring your hands on to the chair and lift your butt up, putting all the weight on to your hands.
keep knees at 90 degrees
Hold for 5-10 seconds.
Repeat 5-10 times.

Chair Dips:

Follow the picture.

This is great if you are waiting for something to load, just do it as long as it takes to load.

Side Crunch

Bring arm in to a 90 degree position
Tilt to the opposite side of raised arm and lift arm up over head
Release down into a side crunch and go back to center.
Repeat 15-20 times.

Suck it up:

Even if you just sit up straight, suck in your gut and hold, you will be getting a better workout then you would if you were leaning over and letting it all hangout.


 Do you have any you like to do, that are not on this list?

Yes I walk it out!

Sorry I have not posted in awhile, but we are in-between internet providers, so we will not have internet in our homes until sometime this week. In the meantime, i will go to our school and post, hopefully daily. I had the realization that I live really close to a lot of the places I go to every day, so I have decided to put the keys away and begin walking places. (I have not been very good at it since it is so much more convenient to drive, but I will get better before the weather gets worse.) So today we are walking to the duck park! I love the duck park, because i love watching my son chase the ducks. Here is a picture (or 2):

 okay one more, because he is so cute! (this is clearly not at the duck park, but look at him!)

Now back to the workout. It is about 1.5 miles from my front door. So I am going to follow the following workout routine, to get the most out of my walk:

30-Minute Fat Blaster

Short bursts of fast walking crank up your calorie burn.

4 minutes

Walk at an easy pace.

4 minutes

Increase to a brisk pace (as if you're late for an appointment). A good litmus test: You should be breathing hard enough that it's difficult to talk in complete sentences.

6 minutes

Do 30:60 intervals (you'll need a watch for this routine; one with an interval timer set to 30 seconds is ideal): Walk as quickly as you can for 30 seconds and count the number of steps you take. Slow to a brisk pace for 60 seconds to recover. Do 4 times, aiming to increase the number of steps you take during each "sprint." (Remember this number.)

6 minutes

Do 30:30 intervals: Go as fast as you can for 30 seconds. Slow to a brisk pace for a 30-second recovery. Do 6 times, maintaining your highest step count from the previous intervals.

6 minutes

Do 60:60 intervals: Alternate 60-second "sprints" with 60 seconds of recovery. Do 3 times, shooting to log double the number of steps in each fast interval that you did during 30:30 intervals.

4 minutes

Cool down by walking at an easy pace.

(http://www.wholeliving.com/176674/walk-way) this is a great site for a walk enhancer at any amount of time!! Happy walking and remember:

(http://health.allwomenstalk.com/best-exercises-for-muffin-top/34/)

Yoga

My husband told me last night he was feeling very tight in his lower back and hamstrings. Normally if you have tight hamstrings, you will have a tight lower back. Anyways, I asked him if he has stretched lately and told me no. So what did I make him do this morning? YOGA! He started off making fun of it and then we did a 20 minute routine to release the tension. Afterwards, he felt great. So I thought, today is a great day to get a good yoga workout in. (The Yoga we did together was really more for stretching than for working out, although he was sweating.) I am pulling some of my workout from here Bikini Workout and the rest from poses I love.

They always say to focus on your breathing, I have been doing yoga since I was about 14 years old, and I still stink at breathing, so I just focus on the muscles being stretched.

Warm up

Pose One:

Stand shoulder width apart and bring your arms up over your head, palms touching, arms close to your ear, hold for 5 seconds and release.

Repeat this 3 times in a row.

Pose two:

Place your hands on your lower back and from the hips lower down to flat back. Hold for 5 seconds.

Pose Three:

Swan dive all the way down to touch your toes. Hold for 5 seconds, roll back up to Pose two, hold for 5 seconds and then repeat pose three.

Repeat this circuit 3 times in a row.

Pose four:

Roll back up slowly from each vertebrate until you reach high in the sky (ha that made me laugh.) Hold for 5 seconds.

Exercise

Pose one: 

 

Start in down dog position. Lift one leg up, hold for 5 seconds and swing it under, bringing the knee to your chin, hold for 5 seconds and swing back up.

Repeat 10 times on each leg.

Pose two:

 

In down dog position, go on to your forearms. Hold this for 10 seconds. Back into down dog position by lifting one arm at a time.  Hold for 2 seconds and repeat.

Repeat 10 times.

Pose three:

Front down dog position, go into a high plank. Hold for 10 seconds. Bring in one knee towards your chin, (while looking straight at the ground) and hold for 5 seconds. Release and switch legs.

Repeat 5 times on each leg.

Pose four:

From Plank position, put on leg between your hands and sit in a low lunge position for 10 seconds.

Pose five:

(I opted out of taking this picture myself!)
From pose four, go into a middle squat with your heels pointed in, butt tucked in and arms open parallel to your thighs. Hold it for 5 seconds, release and repeat.

Repeat 10-15 times

Repeat Pose Four on other leg

Pose six:

Go back into high plank and do 5 slow push ups.

Cool Down

Repeat warm- up and  end in child's pose!

http://blog.gaiam.com/blog/8-yoga-time-out-poses-for-grownups/

Ps I absolutely hate pictures, this just shows how much I like you guys! Oh also starting your day off with a nice cold glass of water, not only gets your metabolism boosted, but gets your day going too!

Pamper Yourself

Go ahead, do it, pamper yourself. It is one of the hardest things for me to do. I used to feel guilty, as though I were being a bad mother for wanting some time to myself. I then realized, I NEED IT! If I want to be a good mother, I need time to myself. Sometimes my workout are by myself and make it my "me time," but usually Tanner is running around and I have to focus on him while trying to workout. So today was one of those days, where you cannot wait for it to be bedtime so that it is over with. Instead of hating life, I took 20 minutes and pampered myself.

What did I do?

Cucumber Mask: 


(http://scentsa.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/cucumber-slices-21.jpg)

       Cut up a cucumber into very thin, floppy, pieces.
       Cut two thicker pieces.
       Warm up a wash cloth by putting it under hot-warm water.
       Lay on a couch or bed, get comfortable.
       Place the cucumbers on your face (I did two layers because they were so thin)
       Place the two thicker pieces on your eyes.
       Then place the warm cloth over the cucumbers (This is optional. I liked the warm then cool effect.)
       Lastly, ENJOY! I did this for 10 minutes.

Hot Oil Treatment:
       There are many do-it-yourself hair masks, I like this website (Homemade Recipes) but I chose to take some olive oil and honey mask. (Depending on your hair length you will want to add or subtract from the amount I did.)  


(http://www.girlishh.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Hot-Oil-Treatments.jpg) 

Combine 1/3 cup olive oil and 1 tbs. honey.
Heat on high for 10 seconds, test it. You do not want it super hot, just luke warm.
Then put your hair in a bun and begin to massage the mixture into your scalp. (Enjoy this massage)
After your scalp is all done, take out the bun and get the rest of your hair with the mixture.
Place in a shower cap or I made my own cap out of cling wrap.
This particular treatment takes an hour, but I just let it sit for 10 minutes, because I did it before (I let it sit while enjoying my mask.

Shower:

(http://www.everythingsimple.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Shower-Arm.jpg)

     Not one of those 5 minute, crap-I-have-to-hurry showers, but one where I thought about NOTHING!!! That was heavenly!


My husband then let me go to Zumba tonight for my workout. That was nice, but it is always more fun when you know people there, ya know?

Now my darling husband is rubbing my feet. I love the days when I get to be selfish. They are not very often, I make it a weekly thing for about an hour, but man they help me rejuvenate and gain more patience. So DO IT, pamper yourself today or tomorrow!!

   

Working out with a ball

So recently I have discovered some great workouts I can do with a ball. It allows me to get a great arm and ab workout, and entertain my son at the same time. So here is what I came up with [if you do not have children the only thing you will miss out on is the child's laughter, you will still get a good workout ;)]

First, you need to get a ball. Any ball, basketball, balance,medicine ball, etc... I used my son's bouncy ball.

Workout one:

Place ball between feet, keep legs straight and lift up and down. Repeat 10-15 times, on the last one hold for 10 seconds at the bottom.


Workout 2: 

Repeat workout one, but as you come up and down, rotate your legs around the ball. (see photo for clarification.) Repeat 10-15 times and hold at bottom for 10 seconds.

Workout three:

Place ball on ground and put your feet on top of it. Do 25-30 crunches. Hold crunch at top for 10 seconds.

Workout 4:

Find an empty wall. Lay on your back, with legs on the ground spread open. While lifting up with your abs, throw the ball at the wall. Catch the ball and release abs. Repeat 15-20 times. Hold at top at rep 5, 10, 15 and 20 for 10 seconds.

Workout five: 


Sit up straight. Hold ball out in front of you, engage your arm muscles by flexing them and throw the ball up in the air and catch it. Repeat 35-40 times.

Workout 6: 

Stay sitting up straight. Bring the ball in close to your face and push it off the tip of your fingers and catch it. Repeat 35-40 times.

Repeat Circuit

Ps don't judge our dirty home and how nasty I look!!

Change

I know I have not blogged about my workouts lately, but does not mean I have not done them. Ty went down to Las Vegas for 4 days and I was busy with babysitting and making sock puppets for Tanner. (I am in no way a crafty person so they took FOREVER, but came out cute!) Anyways, the weather was beautiful out so I decided to change it up!

We went for a hike and went on an hour and a half garage sale searching (we only found 2.) The walk and hike were great! It help remind me of some simple techniques I do to get an ab workout, so here they are:

Fake it until you make it! Suck in that belly and hold. This is an easy trick while you are walking, shopping, sitting, eating, etc... Keep your muscles engaged and get a small workout while you are doing every day tasks.

Enjoy your time working out. When you stop stressing about life and live in the moment of your workout, you get a lot more done, in the same amount of time.

You can workout with your child, while you play with them. I lost my baby weight after 2 weeks (I gained thirty pounds, lost 20 after the first week...He was almost a 9 pound baby so most of it was just weight from growing a baby.) The last ten pounds were lost by doing lunges with him, while I rocked him to sleep or Butt lifts while holding him on my lap. I would do leg side kicks as I lied on the ground playing with him. Any moment I had, I was working out. Now my workouts with him are different. (I will post those tomorrow.)

Anyways, Change!! Change up your routine. Today I worked out in the gym while Tanner and Ty slept. It was a nice change!!  So today, do something you have not done in a while. Maybe jumping jacks, lunges, planks, wall sits, crunches, etc... Good luck and Happy Monday!

All mixed up

Did you know if you were to drink a cup of cold water as soon as you wake up it will boost your metabolism for the day? Awesome! This is a great article about lemon water: Lemon Water

Anyone have any good tips on making sure I get enough water in the day? I always give in to sweet cravings instead of drinking the water... I desperately need help.

Alright today's workout is a mixture of body parts.Some legs, some arms, and some abs.



Wall Scissors
Here is the video of how to do it: http://www.prevention.com/wall-workout-wall-scissor
 Do 20-25 per leg


Toe Reaches
Here is the video of how to do it: http://www.prevention.com/wall-workout-toe-reaches
 Do 20-25 on each side
 
Uneven Arm Hold and Arm Fly 

 
(http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/uneven-arm-hold-with-arm-fly?workout=32517)
Steps: Get into an elbow plank position.
          Raise your right arm in front of you so it's parallel to the ground and lift your left leg at least two
                    inches.
          "Fly" your arm and leg out, moving them away from your head and body, then reverse back to the
                   starting position. Drop down, then repeat with the opposite arm and leg. 
Do 15 on each side

Side and Cross over Lunge

 
(http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/top-10-moves-tone-your-trouble-zones?page=4)
Steps: follow the picture 
 Do 10-15 per side. 

 Heel Lift

(http://www.wholeliving.com/136445/ballet-barre-workout?lpgStart#/40379)
Steps: Facing the back of a chair, hinge at hips with a flat back.
          Extend arms straight out, resting palms on back of chair.
          Bend right leg and lift to hip height, pushing heel toward the ceiling.
          Keeping hips square, pump leg up and down
Do 15-20 and switch legs.

Repeat Circuit