Strength

Power 90 strength training routine. Done!

Lean vs. Defined Muscles

Today was another strength training day. I'm starting to get bored of this Power 90 routine, and I would actually like to build up some defined muscles, rather than have lean muscles, and this routine really emphasizes lean muscles (lighter weight and more reps).

Fat Burn vs. Cardio

Today, I walked with Baxter on my 3-mile running circuit. It took 45 minutes to complete. Then I did my Power 90 strength training.

Now that I do not have to focus as much on fat burning, I'm considering starting to run more often than walk. But walking is so much more relaxing!

New Motivation

Well, I weighed in yesterday at 117.5 pounds! Half a pound below my final goal weight. So I am officially done with that low calorie-consumption diet! I so look forward to eating cheese again!

So, after weighing in, I never exercised. I guess I decided that a day off would be a good reward. I will continue to count calories, though, as the next challenge is to retrain my stomach to know what the new calorie plateau feels like (so that I don't under- or over-eat).

According to an online caloric intake calculator, for me to maintain my current weight with no exercise, I am able to eat 1500 calories per day. With my handy Calorie Count iphone app, I am able to use this 1500 as a starting point, and if I exercise on a particular day, it indicates that I have calories on top of my 1500 daily calories to consume. I think this will help motivate me to keep exercising, so that I can splurge a bit.

Today, I continued my strength training regimen with Power 90 disc 2.

Last Stop?

This morning, I went for a walk with Luke and Baxter outside! Beautiful morning for it. We did a 3-mile circuit in 55 minutes. At right is a picture of the train that went by during our walk. It was only 4 cars long.

Later in the afternoon, I did disc 2 of Power 90 for strength training.

Tomorrow is weigh in! We will all see if I made my goal of weighing 118 pounds. If that is the case, then I have some diet planning to do in order to transition to maintenance rather than weight loss. After 6 weeks of being on this weight loss diet and exercise plan, that will be a new challenge!

Last Deep Clean

This morning, I did Power 90 (disc 2) right away when I got up. Man, what a strength training workout! I had wanted to go for a walk later in the day, but being that it is my last day in Halstad (I go home to Saint Paul tomorrow!), I decided to take on one last project for my dad and clean out my parents' storage room. 5 hours later, I'm finally calling it a night! Hope to finish up in the morning before I take off!

Above and Beyond

What a hot day in Halstad! 95 degrees!

I went on a walk with Baxter this morning for 75 minutes (to resolve the 15 minute deficit from Tuesday).  Rather than do the regular 3-mile circuit, I decided to cut across town, then weave a bit along the main streets back to the edge of town with a hut dike that Baxter and I walked along. During my walk, I came across two very active older women who were going for a stroll. Way to go them!

After my walk, I did disc 2 of Power 90 strength training. Unbeknownst to me, the strength training routine on disc 2 is 40 minutes long (compared to the 30-minute routine on disc 1). So, I actually did an extra 10 minutes of exercise today (above what is scheduled and from Tuesday's deficit)! And what a workout. Much of it was the same as disc 1, but with less time to complete the repetitions, and an added section that requires you to do as many pushups and squats as possible. Whew!

Biceps and Bicycles

Yeah, I didn't exercise yesterday. I won't delve into the details, but I got obsessed with some computer work and then got a really bad migraine from staring at the computer all day and truly couldn't do anything. Also, I have forgotten just how dull my hunger senses get when I'm infront of a computer. Not eating when I should have probably also affected my migraine.

Anyway, being that I didn't exercise yesterday, I needed to make up the time today...

I started with Power 90, as usual. I forgot that today I was going to go to Disc 2 of the set, but I guess I will do that on Friday. I gave Disc 1 a big last push today!

Then I went on a 70-minute walk with Baxter. Another sunny day, and my tan is filling in very nicely!

After that, I realized I needed to return a bike that I have been borrowing (but not successfully using). So I decided to go on a very long detour to return it... I biked with a moderate effort for 35 minutes before returning it to its owner.

Feeling good! Now, I just have 45 more minutes to make up tomorrow for my lack in exercise yesterday!

By the way, I weighed in at 119.8 pounds, bringing my total weight loss to 12.2 pounds! Only 1.8 pounds to go to reach my new goal of weighing 118 pounds.

Bright, Sunshiny Day

Another Power 90 day today. Then went on a 3-mile walk with Baxter. Boy it was hot today! And sunny! I got a tan while on this walk! Whoot whoot!

Bounce Back

After a hard sleep, I woke up and was ready to really exercise! My mother and I did Power 90 strength training. Later, in the early evening, we went on a walk. Because she biked earlier in the afternoon, she only joined me for 30 minutes of my 60-minute walk. So, Baxter joined me for the second half of my walk.

During my mom's bike ride, my brother ran alongside her, as he came up today for Mother's Day weekend.

All in all, we all did a great job today!

Accounting for Flux

This morning, I went to the hotel my parents are staying at, as they are in the St. Paul area for a few days. I did this to exercise with my exercise partner, my mother, but also to use my scale that my mother had along with her, so that I could weigh in this morning. I think it's really important to use the same scale every time in order to be consistent, as some scales may vary a bit. I weighed in at 121.7 pounds! I lost 1.5 pounds this past week. So, I lost about the same amount as I did a week ago. Overall, I have lost 10.3 pounds since April 8th, when my mother and I started working out.

My initial goal was to lose 10 pounds. So, I have achieved my goal! But to account for slight fluctuations later (after I change my dieting and workout habits from this weight loss routine), I aim to lose another 3.7 pounds, so that I weigh 118 pounds before going off this program.

So, back to my exercising today: My mom and I used the fitness room in the hotel (and we were the only ones in there!) to do our Power 90 strength training routine.

After returning home, I took a 60-minute walk with Baxter along the old 3-mile circuit I ran with him last summer and fall. Everyone thinks Baxter is just soo cute with his little walk/run back pack on!

Feeling good!

On Belay!

This evening, Luke and I decided to go wall climbing. We thought about doing this on Sunday, but concluded we didn't have the time or adequate energy for our first-time attempt to scale a wall (since at least high school, for me).

A friend of ours is a member of Vertical Endeavors, which has wall-climbing facilities scattered about the Twin Cities. We went to the one closest to us. After a 10-minute introduction in order to learn how to use the auto-belays, we climbed away.

There were so many ropes and auto-belays, that even though the St. Paul facility was fairly crowded, we didn't have to wait long (if at all) to use an auto-belay (which are pretty amazing contraptions!). There were tons of kids there! Some of them were pretty amazing...climbing advanced routes, hanging upside down on the ceiling, belaying each other... Although they were pretty incredible and fun to watch, I think I would want to go back during the day, when kids are in school. It would help free up a lot of the routes, and lessen the screaming and screeching!

Luke and I were at the facility for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Of course, we weren't purely climbing the entire time. Even in weight lifting, it is important to give the muscles being worked a short break between sets. I figure we were actually climbing for a third of the time we were there.

I will definitely go back!

Just Doing It

Today is a busy day. This morning, I had plans to get together with a friend of mine for coffee, then get a pedicure (I know, life is tough!), then go to church, and of course, find time to exercise.

So, this morning, I finally pulled myself out of bed at 8:30am to do my Power 90 strength training routine. I woke Luke up with all of my huffing and puffing, because I was really giving those push ups and dumb-bell presses everything I had.

After my coffee date and pedicure, Luke and I thought we might go wall/rock climbing as a fun activity that I could count as exercise. But I was really zapped of energy. Maybe the drive from Halstad on Friday finally caught up with me. Also, Luke had been concerned that we might be late for church if we tried to go this afternoon. So, we opted out of wall climbing.

I really was not excited about finding another exercise activity, and I kept putting it off until close to 10:00pm. I simply chose to do 30 minutes of elliptical.

So, yes, people out there who read my blog, there are certainly days that I really don't want to work out. Rather than make excuses or think about it too hard, I resolve to just do an exercise. More often than not, half way through the exercise I feel great about myself, having conquered my own obstacle.

Interruptions

I leave for the cities this afternoon! And since the last thing I will want to do is exercise when I get there, I needed to get all of my exercising done before I leave...

Because I woke up a little earlier than usual, I ate a small breakfast, so I decided to wait about 30 minutes before doing my Power 90 strength training so that I wouldn't get a cramp or something. The phone kept ringing and interrupting my workout, so, the routine took about twice as long as usual, which meant that if I wanted to do a full 90 minutes of exercise today, then I would be cutting it a little close.

So, I resolved to do 60 total minutes of exercise, especially since I put in a long and hard workout just yesterday. Immediately after (finally) completing Power 90, I went on a walk outside, by myself. I didn't want Baxter slowing me down, and my mom was busy working in her garden. As long as I walked way out to the edge of town, I checked up on one of my Dad's wheat fields (at left). The second photo is the road I walked out to the wheat field. If you can't make out the sign, it says "Pavement Ends."

Now, I'm hopping in the shower before packing up my car and hitting the road!

Morning Motivation

Well, this morning, I got up and did exactly what I set my mind to last night. I popped the Power 90 Sculpt DVD in my computer, folded up my bed, and did 30 minutes of strength training in my basement apartment.

But even before that, I weighed in for the week: 123.2 pounds. Which means I lost 1.4 pounds in the past week for a total of 8.8 pounds. It's obvious that the weight I'm losing from one week to the next is half as much as was lost the week before. This is because I am getting closer to my goal weight. This just means I will have to amp up my exercise and work harder!

After strength training with Tony Horton, I had to work for 2 hours, but then went on a 45 minute walk with Baxter around Halstad. It was a gorgeous day. In the 45 minutes of our walk, we walked 2.5 miles. I got an amazing burn in my calves!

Multi-Purpose Bedroom

Well, despite all of the cold, rainy weather we've been having in Halstad, Minnesota, the sun came through with a winner of a day. I think the temperature rose above 70 degrees!

Unfortunately, I was not feeling well for the majority of the day. It probably has a lot to do with being on the bus so much over the weekend, and maybe the Starbucks spinach wrap I had this morning for breakfast... At around 4:30pm, after my mom had already been walking with Baxter for 20+ minutes, she came in and insisted I come walk with her, as it was such a gorgeous day outside.

We walked up and down every street in Halstad (running north-south). It took a full hour, and totalled 3-miles in distance.

Much later in the evening, we got around to our strength training with Tony Horton. Since my dad was watching a game on the tv in the living room, we did the routine in my basement apartment instead. See pictures of before and after of my bedroom to workout space above!

"Last Chance Workout"

This morning, I took a bus to Minneapolis for a quick trip to be with Luke and his family for the weekend. The last time I saw Luke, he said I was looking more fit, and I want to keep those compliments coming! So, I woke up early in order to do the Power 90 "Sculpt" strength training routine, immediately followed by the Yoga Booty Ballet "Hip Hop Abs" routine. Wow! Now that I have the "Hip Hop Abs" dance routine down, I'm putting more effort into embellishments, etc. Boy, I am sweating up a storm! What a workout!

It was another miserable day outside; cold and damp. I was slightly uncomfortable on the bus the entire way to Minneapolis because the cold kept seeping through the large windows of the bus. And I was SUPER hungry later in the day, and all I can think of is that I my body must have been trying so hard to keep me warm for 6 hours, that I burned a ton of calories in the process! Note to self, bring winter socks and fleece blanket on future bus rides!

Curling Iron

Beginning to settle into the Power 90 "Sculpt" workout. I've built on some sets (such as the bicep curl sets) to using 10-pound weights instead of 8-pound weights. For the sets where I am still using the 8-pound weights, I am increasing repetitions to 12. Tony Horton and his crew do 15 reps of everything, so, I figure once I hit 15 reps with the 8-pound weights, it's time to either move up in weight, or on to "Part 2" of Power 90 "Sculpt."

Later this afternoon, while my mother was scrubbing floors as part of her exercise, I popped the Yoga Booty Ballet "Hip Hop Abs" routine into the DVD player. I'm starting to get this one down; making it even more fun to do!

Knees and Knees

Today, I scrubbed and cleaned floors the good ol' fashioned way: on my hands and knees! And I scrubbed for a good 90 minutes!

After a snack break, I did the Power 90 strength training routine. The 8-pound weights I've been using are starting get a little easy to lift. I've been able to increase 8 repetitions to 10. Later this week, or beginning of next, I will probably move to the 10-pound weights I have. Whoo hooo! Bring on the muscle!

New Exercise Partner

Now I have some new shoes, and a new exercise partner (at least for the weekend): Luke! We started the morning with the Power 90 "Sculpt" strength training routine, and then went on a 3-mile walk with Baxter. It was a great morning for a walk!

Later in the afternoon, Luke and I even did some cultivating to prepare for corn planting. At left is a picture of Luke in the corner of the field we cultivated.