Monthly Archives: September 2012

Les Mills Pump Day 35

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Off Day

Hello hello!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I am glad today was an off day from both working out and work.  It was a nice change.  I pretty much spent my day watching football and hanging out at my best friend’s house.  Today officially ends Phase 1 of Les Mills Pump for me and I begin Phase 2 tomorrow.  I can’t wait to incorporate Pump Revolution and Extreme next month!  This month sure went by fast.  Before I know it, I’ll be done with Les Mills Pump and onto Les Mills Combat…which I am pre-ordering tomorrow by the way.  I have decided that Les Mills Combat is my next program.  If there is anyone that would like to join me as I continue my weight loss journey in December, shoot me an email for more details.

Even though I’m starting Phase 2 tomorrow, I’m actually starting different phase in my life as well.  I am going to be on a break from working until the end of October since my jobs are seasonal.  I plan on finding another job for the Holidays too.  In the meantime I’m going to continue on improving myself when it comes to my health (of course), school, my business, and just overall personal development.  Different parts in my journey of being the best version of myself keeps growing.  It’s a scary feeling but I’m ready to challenge myself even more. It’s my time : )

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 34

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Les Mills Workout: Combat & Hard Core Abs

Ahhh…staying up late was not a good idea.  I could not get up and I wasn’t able to to my workout in first thing in the morning.  I got ready and went to the Team Beachbody Chicago Super Saturday event.  The special guests were CEO and founder of Beachbody, Carl Daikeler, and Regional Director, Arnauld Nakaha.  It was amazing to be a part of an event with 400 other Beachbody Coaches who have committed to get people healthy and fit and to end the trend of obesity.  I am helping to end the trend by starting with myself and I want to be able to help others do the same.  It’s always great to listen to Carl and Arnauld speak.  There were exciting announcements and new workout programs coming soon out from Beachbody.  So for my readers that are not with Beachbody and are interested in learning more, keep checking back on my site or contact me for more details!

Speaking of new programs, pre-orders start for Les Mills Combat this Monday, October 1st!  I definitely plan on ordering it and I’ll post a separate entry tomorrow with details on how you can pre-order before everyone else can.  In honor of the pre-release, I went ahead and did Combat in addition to Hard Core Abs in my workout tonight.  It’s 45 minutes long with tons of moves so I have improved in getting the moves down.  I love how much energy the trainers have throughout the workout and it helps keep me going because I was getting super tired.  They are the same trainers who take the lead in Les Mills Combat.  I was covered in sweat at the end of Combat.  I went straight into Hard Core Abs.  I swear the burn gets more intense as I do abs which is always a great sign.

I am looking very forward to a day off from working out AND work!  It’s been a couple weeks since I have been off from both.  Tomorrow also marks the end of Phase 1 of Les Mills Pump so I will be taking my measurements and pictures of my progress.

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 33

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Pump and Shred

TGIF!  I spent most of my day and night doing things from home including homework.  I am still trying to get in the habit of doing schoolwork since I was out of school for a while.  I especially need to work on completing the bulk of my homework ahead of time.  I finished my homework late and afterwards, my brain was worn out and I was ready for bed.  There was one more thing I needed to do before bed though.  I needed to get my workout done.

My mind was telling me to just go to bed.  I am a bit sore from working out to Insanity last night…most particularly in my upper back.  There was no way I would skip a scheduled workout.  I would regret not getting my workout in.  I worked out to Pump and Shred for the second time.  I powered through the warm up and even the Squat Track.  Squats and Bottom Halves are getting easier as I do them.  I have no problem at all with performing moves in the Chest Track either.  Executing moves with my arms are definitely easier than my legs.  I love doing the Clean and Press along with Deadlifts and Dead Rows in the Legs and Back Track.  The Clean and Press has become one of my favorite moves.  I decided to challenge myself by going back to the 10 pound plates on the barbell.  I have gotten stronger since the last time I tried the 10 pound plates.  It was still a challenge but I had fun with it.

Following that track was the Legs Track aka crazy lunges.  I mentioned earlier this week that I would do the lunges with the barbell only.  I had difficulty the last time and took a few breaks.  I am proud to say that I kept the 5 pound plates on and kept up the whole time.  There were a few times that I wanted to shake my legs out.  I was shaking and of course it was getting harder on my legs but I kept going.  The only way I can get stronger is if I keep going and work through the burn.  In the Shoulders Track, I modified the pushups and even that was hard with the different counts.  It’ll get easier to do pushups as I lose more weight.  I was dripping in sweat at the end of that track.  Trying to get my shoulder across to my knee in the Abs Track is a killer each time and it’s always a great feeling after I do abs.

I am definitely going to sleep well tonight and tomorrow I’ll be heading to the Team Beachbody Chicago Super Saturday event where Carl Daikeler, CEO/Founder of Beachbody, will be the special guest.  It will be a good day tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend and as always, KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 32

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Hard Core Abs & Flow
Insanity Workout: Max Interval Circuit

It was another day off relaxing and also getting some small things done from home.  I woke up early but went back to bed.  I woke up a lot later than I wanted to the second time.  I weighed myself when I was finally up and I lost another 2 pounds!  10 pounds total since August 27th!  I am very close to where I was at the end of my second round of Insanity and the lowest weight that I have been at in years.  I think I’ll be able to get to it by the end of the week.  Yes it’s almost the end of the week but after all the workouts I have done today, it’s possible.

I worked out to Hard Core Abs and Flow this afternoon.  I found it a bit harder while working out to Hard Core Abs.  I’m not sure if it’s because I might be a little sore.  I did more than I did the last time I worked out to Hard Core Abs by trying not to modify as much in plank position.  Following that workout, I took on a challenge that one of the group members posted.  It was to see how long one can stand next to a wall in the squat position.  My time was 2 minutes and 1 second.  That was definitely not easy and as much as my legs were shaking and burning, I held out as long as I could.  I had to take a minute after I was done to recover.  I wouldn’t have been able to hold out so long if it weren’t for Les Mills Pump and their squats galore lol.  I’m sure I’ll be able to go longer as I lose more weight and get stronger.  I then worked out to Flow which was relaxing as usual.  My exercise for the day was not complete.  We worked out to Insanity’s Max Interval Circuit at Fit Club tonight.  I haven’t done any month two Insanity videos since June.  I was out of breath a bunch of times but I kept up as best as I could.  I was definitely doing Child’s Pose a few times throughout my workout.  At the end, I was sweating hardcore.  Clearly my endurance needs to be worked on.

I need to work on my endurance to not only be able to keep up whenever I workout to Insanity, but because I signed up for my first ever 5K race.  I will be doing the Hot Chocolate 5K in Chicago on November 4th.  I have been wanting to participate in a 5K race for some time now.  What a better way to run in my first one with chocolate being the main focus haha.  I won’t splurge too much and at least it’ll be early on a Sunday so it’s like a cheat day.  I am not a runner at all so I will have to start training tomorrow.  I am also raising funds before the race for Ronald McDonald House Charities® Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.  To learn more about their cause or to make a donation, please visit https://ramracing.racebx.com/fundraising/view/5064b246-9fa4-4613-8905-362cc0a86524.  Any amount will greatly be appreciated!  Thanks!

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 31

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Pump and Burn & Les Mills Core

Heck yeah for finally having an off day from work!  I wanted to sleep in just a little bit this morning and I woke up early.  How does that happen?  I’ll be honest, during the first part of my day I did a whole lot of nothing…laying around and watching movies.  It’s been a while since I actually did that.  I decided in the late afternoon to get started on some schoolwork and Beachbody stuff.  I also went ahead and counted the number of workouts that I have completed since I started Les Mills Pump.  I have completed a total of 36 workouts including the workouts from tonight.  I am going to put a dollar in a jar for every workout I complete along with each pound I lose.  I have already started putting money in a jar before I counted so now I have to update the amount in it.  Once I reach a certain amount, I will buy a Fitbit, Nike Fuelband, or something similar.

I worked out to Pump and Burn tonight.  After I finished, I thought I would throw in a second workout to Les Mills Core.  I tried to not modify as much as I can while in plank doing the specific moves.  I for sure did a lot more than the last time.  I haven’t decided if I love or hate Cross Crawls.  Either way, I feel the huge burn and it’ll be worth it.  Throughout both workouts I was sweating a lot more than usual…and I loved every little bit of it : )

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 30

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Hard Core Abs

This girl definitely did not want to get up early for work this morning.  On my way to work, I saw that they were continuing with the demolition of my old middle school.  Well sort of since they built a new building and moved the school there.  I consider the old building my middle school either way.  One of my cousins went there when it was the town’s only high school and then I went there when it was turned into a middle school.  Here’s another fun fact: John and Jim Belishi went to high school there along with astronomer Edwin Hubble.  I just had to stop and get out of the car and take a few pictures in the beginning stages of the demolition.  I am going to come around to see the progress and take more as they keep tearing it down.  I don’t know why, but it’s kind of sad to me that it’s coming down.  A building that I have been used to seeing in my town all of my life is going to be gone.  At least there is something good coming out of it…they will be building a local grocery store which is equivalent to Whole Food’s except with better prices.  I have heard a lot of great things about it and I’m excited to see another great store with amazing produce and prices.  And let me tell you, I love shopping for produce.

We were very short staffed at work and I was assigned to an extra section to cover.  Not only was I able to cover my first section, but I went through my extra section just in time.  On top of that, I had an awesome sales day.  I think I did the most walking around and going up and down steps out of the 11 other days.  I was like a machine and I felt like I burned a lot of calories.  I was exhausted after I was done and so relieved to be done.  You would think I would drive straight home and take a nap…I didn’t.  I went for a late lunch with my friend/co-worker, did some light shopping, and ran the errands that I had intended to run tomorrow.  I plan on leaving my house and driving around as least as I can tomorrow.  The only time I will probably leave the house is to check out the demolition site and go grocery shopping.  There are some healthy recipes I would like to try out.

I worked out to Hard Core Abs as soon as I got home.  In the morning, I was planning on working out twice when I got home and because of how much I walked around at work, I decided not to.  I dug deeper to work out my stomach and feel the burn.  I’d say mission accomplished!  I attempted to straighten out my legs during the walking plank but I had to put my knees down after a few reps.  I’ll eventually get to the point where I’m strong enough to not have to modify.

Here’s to finally having a day off from work tomorrow!  Also, looking forward to completing as much homework as I can handle and getting some work in for Beachbody.  Yes, certified dork here : P

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 29

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Pump and Shred

Today kick off Les Mills Pump Week 5!  Hope you all had a wonderful and healthy weekend!  I know I did!  I weighed myself when I woke up and I lost another pound!…8 pounds total lost since August 27th.  It looks like calorie counting is helping me melt the fat away once again.  I think I would lose more weight if I can get to bed earlier and wake up earlier.  And most importantly, get the proper amount of sleep.  I went to bed super late so I can take my test and get my homework done.  That is what I will work on this week beginning tomorrow because it’s late as I write this.  Oops!

I worked what I thought was my final day of working 11 consecutive days and nights.  I thought wrong.  I didn’t know that I was put on the schedule for tomorrow morning so it looks like it will end up being 12 days and nights.  Now I am very looking forward to relaxing, running errands, getting homework done, and doing a little work from my computer on Wednesday.  I’ll be off until Monday.  Work went by at a good pace and even though I am exhausted, I did a good amount of walking around.  I went for a late dinner with a friend at Jason’s Deli and hit up their salad bar.  I didn’t realize that I went a little past my calorie intake for the day until I got home and logged my dinner.

I was planning on working out twice tonight after finding out that I went over my calories; that is until I worked out to Pump and Shred.  I worked out to Pump and Shred for the first time tonight.  It is the longest workout that I have completed so far with it being 45 minutes long.  It’s all about endurance and of course The Rep Effect.  And let me tell you, that was nuts.  My arms and legs are shaking again and I worked up a huge sweat.  There are a couple tracks that I haven’t done since Pump Challenge…Legs and Shoulders.  This time around, they are longer and tougher.  I had to take a few breaks during the Legs track because my legs were burning hardcore.  I thought I didn’t like squats the most but I’m changing it to lunges as they are not my favorite at the moment haha.  I used the barbell with 5 pound plates.  Next time, I’ll just use the bar until I am strong enough to go through the track without stopping.  In the Shoulders track, my shoulders were burning big time too.  When I finished my workout, my hands kept shaking from working on my shoulders.  I decided that Pump and Shred was enough.  I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow.  I can’t even imagine what Pump Revolution and Pump Extreme will bring when I do those in Phase 2.

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 28

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Les Mills Workout: Off Day

I am so glad that today was an off day from working out!  I totally needed it except it wasn’t an off day from work.  Today was my last day of working 10 straight at one location and I have one more day left to work at a different one tomorrow.  And then I’m off for one week!  Work went great and fast.  If only I can say the same thing for traffic.  I get more and more irritated with traffic everyday and it took too long to get back to the burbs tonight.  I had a lot to do in a small amount of time.  I visited my friend one more time before she left to go back home tomorrow morning.  After that, I went home to finish homework and I just finished taking a test for one class.  Sorry for all of the play-by-plays especially since it’s not health or fitness related.  It feels a lot better getting some stuff out.

This week is the final week of Phase 1 to Les Mills Pump and I’m ready to work hard through it!  I will be incorporating a new workout tomorrow with Pump and Shred.  It’ll be interesting to see how it will go.

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

 

Les Mills Pump Day 27

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Les Mills Core & Flow

The weight continues to come off!  I have lost 2 more pounds this week bringing my total to 4 pounds lost in this week alone and 7 pounds total since beginning Les Mills Pump on August 27th.  I’m almost back to the weight at the end of my second round of Insanity.  I would like to lose at least 3 more pounds by the end of next week.

It was a good day at work minus the cold and very windy conditions.  I only have one more day left at that location and one more at another on Monday.  I am absolutely ready for an off day from work.  I have been getting more exhausted as each day passes.  I was getting tired while sitting in traffic on the way home and I laid down as soon as I got home.  I wanted to get some homework done but instead I dozed off here and there.  It’s so hard to get up once you get so comfy on your bed lol.  I hung out with a friend who came home to visit for the weekend.  We did some catching up and watched a movie so it was a relaxing night.

I got home a little late and I was still exhausted.  All I wanted to do was go straight to bed but I worked out to Les Mills Core and Flow.  Even though it’s a recovery day, I wanted to incorporate a core workout.  I could feel the soreness in my stomach from the previous night when I worked out to Les Mills Core for the first time.  I did Core once again and the burn was crazy when I was doing the Cross Crawl.  I did the best I could do.  I am getting the hang of the moves in Flow. It was a great, relaxing workout and it was a perfect ending right before I bedtime.  I am excited for an off day from working out tomorrow!

KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!

Les Mills Pump Day 26

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Les Mills Pump Workout: Pump and Burn & Les Mills Core

Hello Friday!  Minus the rainy weather and having to deal with Friday rush hour traffic, it has been a good day.  I got through work without any delays due to the rain and had a great sales day.  I even went into a section that I usually don’t sell to and did well in that.  The steps in that section are much steeper and uneven so it was definitely a workout.  The best part was getting out earlier than I normally do.  The bad part was having to deal with the traffic on my way home.

It’s crazy to think how times have changed.  A couple years ago I used to go out almost every night especially on the weekends.  I never imagined myself staying in on a Friday night to do homework and workout.  Well, I rarely go out these days anyways.  After I completed my homework, I worked out to Pump and Burn.  I even added an extra workout to really workout my core…Les Mills Core.  It seems like I can feel the burn in my legs more and more this past week because I have been working everyday.  I think the hardest track in Pump and Burn is the Squat Track.  The squats have been a little harder to get through lately but I powered through them and the rest of the workout.  The walking around and going up and down steps are sort of taking a toll on my legs.  Les Mills Core is 10 minutes long and it targets all of the ab and back muscles.  There are moves in Core that I have never seen or done before.  I definitely felt the burn in my stomach.  Les Mills Pump continues to surprise me and I absolutely love it!

Following my workout, I quickly took a few measurements.  The last time I recorded them was when I completed my second round of Insanity last June.  I’m noticing that my clothes are getting loose again so I was curious to see if I had lost any inches.  I didn’t measure them that accurately but I have lost between one to two inches each in my arms, legs, hips, and waist.  I plan on measuring and recording them after I complete Phase 1 which happens to be at the end of next week.  I’m so happy with my progress so far and it’s going to help motivate me more to work harder to get to my goal.

Have a great weekend and KIA KAHA…BE STRONG!