Podcast Episode 2

URL--> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UfQH9s0n6M&feature=youtu.be

Sources:
Controversy Behind Crossfit
https://www.livestrong.com/article/545200-the-fall-of-fitness/ 

CrossFit - "I Feel Like I just Started My Life"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd88gGmZBbE

CrossFit--The Good, the bad, and the ugly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N0FUq4wyBo

Clip from ABC News CrossFit Linked to Potentially Fatal Condition Rhabdomyolysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqMXSN-1HA4

As Crossfit's popularity continues to skyrocket, so does injury risk
CBS This Morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Oa1pPCutE

Podcast Episode 1

Check Out This Logo!

Check out my new blog logo! I am using the red logo as my favicon for this site and the other will be my official logo. I love it! The general idea is that it is a weight bench made from a letter T. To incorporate a cardio element, I added a cutout of a runner in the corner. And, I didn't want my name to be super prominent, but I did want to include it so I used a simple font down the side for my name. I picked an interesting font called FargoFaroNF from DaFont Free.

I went with black as the dominant logo color mainly because weights are typically black. Black is also associated with power and strength, so that seemed right on message. For the simpler logo, I changed the color to a deep red for somewhat of a double meaning. Red can indicate a warning/alert, which might represent the result of poor health or a wake-up call for those who need it (like I did when I started working out!). It also represents passion, and since I have a passion for fitness, that worked perfectly. 

Simple version--> 

Official version--> 

About Tonya the Blogger...

Why a fitness blog?

That's a great question.

First off, I am a busy teacher mom. I'm always toting kids to volleyball or cheer practice or trying to accompany my husband as arm candy to some event. If I can find the time to devote to fitness, anyone can. Seriously.

Second, I want to help people. I think that becoming the best version of YOU that you can is critical.  But, my personal journey to fitness didn't come from me being unhappy with me. I wasn't "happy" with how I looked, but I wasn't depressed or sad about it. I would have preferred to not shop in the plus size department, and I am super happy now to not have to purchase a size 22.  My main reason ended up being health-related. I found out I was pre-diabetic. My numbers were not good. And, my grandma was an insulin-dependent diabetic. So, this wasn't something I could mess around with. But, motivating myself was HARD. Really hard!

Let's take a minute and look at me... here's a picture of me in 2010 at Christmas.

Yeah, all 250 pounds of me! Geesh!

I worked very hard that year food journaling, counting carbs, and exercising. I couldn't find the hours in a day so eventually I started exercising in the morning to knock it out before my body knew what was happening. And, now, I have tried to find ways to motivate myself to work in exercise creatively.

So, I hope this blog helps to encourage those struggling with weight or just feeling better about their bodies. 

You CAN Find Time to Get Fit!

So, a huge pet peeve of mine is when people say that they don't have time to exercise. I'm a mom of two and for the last 7 years, I have made time for exercise nearly every day. As of right now, I do that before school (so, I get up at 5:20 and hit the treadmill at 5:30) and maybe 2-3 times a week, I try to do something else in the evening, like weights or taking a walk outside.

Everyone has an excuse. But, if something is important to you, you'll make time. When I found out I was pre-diabetic years ago, I didn't have a choice but to become more active. Don't wait until something crazy like that happens to make time for YOU!

Cycling in My Living Room!

A few months ago, my husband brought our stationary bike upstairs so he can use that in the mornings to exercise. I generally just use the treadmill or do some free weights, but I remembered the GCN YouTube channel and felt maybe it was time to toss on the ol' heart rate monitor and see what kind of stats I could get on the bike! So, here's  HIIT workout-- 25 minutes!



It was a very good workout. It didn't take too long to get my heart rate up to a good zone and it sustained it for most of the workout. I'm a sweaty mess, so that's always a good sign! Here are my stats. I give the workout 2 thumbs up!  I do wish that there was some scenery to watch during the ride (it's just the instructor or the people in the class online along with cues on the screen regarding cadence and effort level) but overall, not bad for less than half an hour.

Drumming to Sia - cardio stats

Here are my stats from the song. 126 bpm from complete rest... I'm pretty happy with that. If you try it, bounce as much as you can. Be firm with your sticks,  and sink deep in your squat. Make it count!

Cardio Drumming...my experiment.

I recently attended a cardio drumming class in town. It was interesting and very appealing to different levels of fitness. For me, I had a lot of fun. Since I have an aerobic ball, I set mine up on a crate in the living room and used two small trash cans on the side that I picked up for less than a buck at Walmart. I did buy some actual wooden drum sticks online for about $5.

When I attended the class, it didn't seem to really get my heart rate up. But I did not have my heart rate monitor on that day. So today, I create a playlist on YouTube of some cardio drumming videos that were online and let it run continuously while I had my heart rate monitor on. These were some that I thought were not too complicated to learn and that weren't too easy when it came to cardio. Bear in mind that I really try to get into it and squat deep and make big arm motions when I do these activities.

Cardio Drumming playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTMnu3as_aGb5kFMAyNbKBnejMj4wOKCP

My results...

You can see that my average heart rate was nothing great. 105 is not at all where I like to be. However you can definitely see where each song changed and how quickly my heart rate would come down in between songs. So my goal over the next week is to find a few popular songs and try to create some more difficult and more heart-pumping routines on my own.

It is a lot of fun though and I do want to mention that time really does pass quickly when you are doing cardio drumming exercises. And a stepwise, if you are counting your steps, it counted me as just over two miles in about 28 minutes so that's not too bad.

Lean Machines-10 minute interval training (YouTube Review)

Today, I decided to do a short interval workout before hitting the treadmill. I found these two guys, called the Lean Machines, and decided to give their workout a try. It's basically 30 seconds of high knees alternated with another exercise. The first three rounds it is high knees/squat thrusts, second round is high knees/jump squats, and final round is high knees/burpees (no pushup). Since there is no "true down time" in this workout between reps (high knees is not really rest!) it is pretty hard core.

Starting from resting heart rate, my average heart rate for the duration was 145 bpm, which is pretty good for a 10 minute burst workout. Obviously, with these specific exercises, you might need to be in decent shape to get started and you must be able to handle jumping (this isn't real knee friendly).

But, if you need something quick to do, it seemed to go pretty fast! If you are new to this stuff, my advice would be just to NOT stop moving. Even if you get tired. Walk/jog in place if you can't do the exercises full out, but just don't stand still or sit. Great for a good sweat!

Good luck!
Video-->  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MPZ6X_14xg

Monique St. Pierre Circuit Burnout

Review

I got a great deal on a DVD fitness system, Circuit Burnout, Monique St. Pierre on Amazon for less than $18 with free shipping on my Amazon Prime. Tonight, I decided to try the Total Body DVD. This is a roughly 25 minute video that includes a short warmup and cooldown and a 5 minute bonus round (called the SuperSet) as well. All total, my workout tracked on my heart rate monitor as 29:09. I like to keep my workouts between 20-30 minutes, so this worked perfectly. 

Here's my official stats. Good calorie burn as it was intervals. Average heart rate was 123 and max was 159. I would have liked a higher average, but with the warmup being pretty low key, it wasn't surprising. It took a little bit to get the heart rate up.

The workout was total body, so very much a mixture of things ranging from weights to abs to jumping. A few of the moves I remember include.... curls to shoulder press, plank rows, diamond jumps, ski lunges, and several others. I despised the abs... but I guess that's because it's probably my absolute weakest feature. There was a little bit of jumping at times, though not for very long. They did have a gal doing modifications throughout the video, though.

After the workout... always like seeing some sweat dropping off my hair! :)

I felt like this was a decent workout. Some of the in between times were too long and I felt the need to run in place or do jumping jacks to try to keep my heart rate from dipping too terribly. We'll see how the other 4 DVDs are!

NOTE: The Amazon reviews mention the video quality not being the best. It's true that it probably wasn't filmed in a high dollar studio. The microphone isn't perfect, but the trainer is motivating and this first DVD didn't have any issues for me. However, I don't run it off the DVDs... I have a program I bought called WinX DVD Ripper Platinum that I use to pull the video off the DVDs so I can put it on my tablet that doesn't have a DVD player. There was no skipping or issues for me. But, yes, the quality is not excellent. :)

5-4-3-2-1 Workout

Site for workout

So I was almost headed to the shower when my friend Lea Anne posted this short 15 minute workout. I figured ... why not? :)

Here is the workout. Since I'd already done my treadmill this morning I did the suggested cardio exercises.

Let me tell you.... those squats were BURNING. I mean, ouch!! I did reps on those instead of seconds (15 reps of each back and forth). 

One thing I loved is that the workout really did seem to speed by. I was just using my heart rate watch (my Polar) to watch the time, so I wasn't checking my heart rate along the way, but it never started beeping, meaning I was in range for cardio.

My average heart rare was 139 for the 15 minutes. That's not bad with strength training and a plank in the mix but I guarantee you .... I got my sweat on!  Give it a try sometime if you are short on time!

Backyard Workout

Here's me in my backyard! Today, I read an article about backyard fitness and I thought that was a good idea, but they had you essentially doing boring things in the yard... I mean, planks... whatever. So, to the garage I went looking for props and ideas...

Our list of exercises included:

1. Obstacle course (aka outdoor seating rearranged) w/weight and burpee-- you pick up the kettlebell and then weave in between the furniture and back. Put it down, do a burpee with no pushup, and then repeat.
2. Roundhouse leg kicks-- I found one of those long squirt things and pushed it into the ground. We just did five reps on each leg of kicking over it and then touching the ground and repeat.
3. Chair runs-- two lawn chairs and you run sprints from chair to chair
4. Tree pull lunges-- I had $1 gadget that I put my stretchy band thing on and hung from a tree branch. We just used it to balance and as resistance and stepped into a reverse lunge.
5. Surfer log jumps-- We have a few wooden things in the yard near a tree that you can step on. So, I put a few of those water foam things you float around on and you just jump off the log over them and repeat.
6. Trampoline-- Yard trampoline #1, do what you want (I have a pogo stick... if I didn't have a trampoline that might have been fun...)
7. Racket Ball-- I had an old racquetball raquet and a lightweight kids ball. It was a balance or toss and catch activity (keep it off the ground). I wish I'd have had a badminton racket and shuttlecock. It would have been better.
8. Trampoline-- Yard trampoline #2, do what you want (if I didn't have a yard trampoline, I might have done jump ropes or something like that)
9. Soccer buckets-- I put two buckets as guides. We just run the soccer ball from one to the other and around the bucket.
10. Cooler pull and frisbee run-- I had a cooler that I threw 2-liters in. I set out two frisbees, one to mark a spot and one to use and then set a marker (box) on the other side. You drag the cooler to the frisbee and leave it, pick up the spare frisbee and run to the other spot to drop it, and then repeat. You are either toting the cooler or running the frisbee each time. 

Demo video by my kids--> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsaJB__lCSQ&list=UU9wQQEwTOd0KKonVpoxvpAA

As usual, we did 20 rounds (2 full circuits of 10 stations) of 45 seconds on, 15 second rest/transition. My heart rate was 151 average and high of 161, so it stayed rather consistent with no real lows. We did have two stations that were low activity (lunges and leg kicks) but most kept you jumping or jogging. 

So... challenge your kids to find fun ways to exercise in your own backyard!

Another Playground Workout ... Blanchard Elementary

Today, we visited a playground near Southeast Missouri State University-- Blanchard Elementary.

Like our standard playground interval circuit, we came up with 10 stations and worked through the circuit two full revolutions with 45 seconds of activity and 15 seconds of rest for a total of 20 minutes. 

Exercise stations included:

• (on the mat section) Duck walks and Gallop runs
• Ladder up/downs
• Climb and slide
• Climb and monkey bar swing
• Hurdles (or modified assisted cartwheels)
• Swing jumps (or modified zig zag runs)
• Climb and slide (other slide)
• Obstacle course
• (on the concrete slab) High knees, bunny hops, box corner line drills
• Jungle gym climbs (or modified squats or squat hangs)

Check out the demo by my kiddos:

My final heart rate numbers--> average of 150 bpm and max of 167 bpm. And... it was HOT today. Whew.

Fitness Blender Cardio, Abs and Butt workout Red light Green light

Here is my red face after this workout. Don't let my numbers fool you... though I averaged in the 130s heart rate, that is due to the fact that they work in ab intervals where you are on the ground and thus, your heart rate drops down. It was a really nice interval training!

My numbers:  132 heart rate average with a high of 156 bpm

Total workout time as just over 25 minutes; that included a warm-up. No cool down was provided.

Essentially, this workout had some more "combination" cardio intervals (such as jumping jacks with a squat in between or  flutter kicks with a squat and 180 degree turn) so they weren't boring. I wasn't a huge fan of some of the ab exercises, but they did "hurt" or rather tire out my abs or obliques, so I guess they were effective.

What was cool about this workout was what they called "red light, green light" and that means that each exercise sequence would be a certain length (I can't remember if it was 120 or 180 seconds) and you would go for a certain amount of time and then they'd call red light; so the thought is you work hard because you know that a break is coming down that 120 seconds or whatever. They did ask during recovery segments that you move in place or jog in place if you felt you had the energy to do so.

I liked it. It didn't involve weights, only body weight. However, some of the floor exercises might be challenging if you have shoulder or hip issues and there is a good deal of jumping, so this is pretty high impact. 

So, for overall toning along with cardio, I give this workout a B+. It seemed to go by pretty fast and had plenty to keep you from getting bored. :)

Playground Workout--Clippard Elementary Playground

So, my two daughters (ages 8 and 12) joined me to work out today. We are trying to do 20 minutes of family exercise daily this summer. Involving them in deciding the workouts seems to keep them more motivated than the days when I say we are going to jog the trail or go for a nature walk. So, we've decided to give this a shot.

It was a bit of a learning experience. It took us a good while to figure out what we wanted to do, the order, and how to adapt it for my younger daughter or anyone who can't do some of the harder things (like monkey bars). So, we were already hot before we even started!

Our 10 circuits were:

• Triangle slide climb
• Step ups/jump off
• Monkey bars or parallel arm lift swings
• Reverse pushups
• Climbing wall
• Slide step ups
• Obstacle course section
• Concrete tunnel/runaround
• Swing
• Swingset Hops (or alternating swing stands on one leg)

Here is my oldest daughter doing the demo of each of the 10 stations!

What we learned:

• Some stations were too hard do do for 60 seconds each. Our original intention was 1 minute intervals with 10 seconds in between. So, 30 to 45 seconds is more ideal. We did one round with 1 minute but I noticed my youngest daughter had to run in place quite a bit (we had a rule to just keep moving if an exercise got too hard). And, by the end, we were all dreading having to start over for the second circuit. So, the second time through, we did 30 seconds on with 15 seconds off. That was better. If you are exercising with a little child, that's probably better. With my oldest daughter, we think 45/15 is a good balance for teenagers/adults.
• We did make the mistake of having pushups back to back with another arm exercise. That was a mistake. In the future we will not put two extreme arm exercises right next to each other. 
• A break might be necessary (walking or light jogging) between sets; since our first set was just too long, we did break with a walk between sets this time

If you try something like this out, please share!!! :) We had fun!

Playground Workout-- Shawnee CAYSA Playground

Today, my oldest daughter, Sierra Beth, and I tackled a new playground. This is the playground from a distance. We came up with 10 exercises that get maximum burn! You will get a great cardio workout and get some strength training at the same time. 

Our circuits list:

• Slide climb
• Wall climb
• Pushups or bounce planks
• Ladder climbs
• Step climb and swing
• Fireman ladder, pike, and slide
• One legged squats
• Sprints
• Balance beam
• Stool steps

I have an Android phone and used the Tabata HIIT timer to give us audio cues to switch. We did 20 rounds with 45 second rounds and 15 seconds for rest/transition between exercises for a total of 20 minutes. There were 10 circuits, so we did each circuit twice.

Here is a link to my demo of the 10 exercises we came up for at Shawnee park and you can watch below... I'm 39 years old, but I can do it, so you can, too!!! --> 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqqEt1xkC4Q

My daughter is much better, though... here's a 12 year old going for it! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghtGS3LPhT8&list=UU9wQQEwTOd0KKonVpoxvpAA

My average heart rate for the 20 minutes of this circuit was 155 bpm! Wow! 

Jillian Michaels 6 Week 6 Pack

Well, I have an Amazon Prime membership and I LOVE it. Of course, I didn't initially get it to watch free videos and stuff (NetFlix style) but rather for faster and free shipping (I shop online quite a bit). But, bonus is that I get access to movies and TV! And, Jillian Michaels has several workouts free on Prime streaming. So, I decided to give this one a try on my laptop-- Jillian Michaels 6 Week 6 Pack. 

First, let me say that I will never have visible abs. I have a terrible mid-section and I am under no illusion that even doing this every day and eating lettuce that I would have abs pop out. But, she does state some obvious things like that you can't target fat burn the abs. You can TONE the abs and you can do cardio intervals at times to help burn fat (which will burn wherever you body sees fit) and if you burn enough on top of the hopefully well toned abs, then... 6 PACK TIME. Yeah, I never had a six pack. But, one can dream...

Anyway, it was a good workout. I was disappointed with my heart rate. I mean, I do lots of aerobic exercise and I believe my heart works pretty efficiently. I recover quickly, too. But, my average was only 115 bpm... for a 32 minute workout. SAD FACE. Only... that 115 bpm average heart rate is super misleading.  I was sweating like crazy. Seriously. SWEATING. Only 10 minutes of the 32 was I in my Polar monitor's "suggested range" for exercise, but she had cardio intervals interspersed and hopefully that will lend towards better metabolic burn despite the lower heart rate and increased emphasis on toning.

She has some modifications for those who need it. I went with the advanced gal most of the time, but I only did the first workout in the session, which is Level 1. It was (if you include the cool down at the end) around 35 minutes. I turned my HR monitor off when I realized we were sitting still during the cool down (I was at 79 before it was over). Active workout was around 32 minutes and that included a 3 minute warm-up that started pretty quickly. 

There wasn't much high impact. There was the option of a jump at the end of a burpee and there were mountain climbers. But, most of it wasn't much impact. She suggested a 3 to 8 pound weight. I used a 10 pound weight, but you use it only for maybe 8 minutes or so of the workout. Not much really at all.  You essentially just do a set of exercises and then repeat the entire set an additional time. So, it keeps changing and that's good.

I do suggest this as a workout if you have the time, though it's not going to give you great calorie burn (I think mine was just over 160 calories... and I can burn double that in 25 minutes on the treadmill). But, I think it was a good workout. 

Trampoline Workout --demo with pictures and video!

I rocked out another HOT trampoline workout today (seriously, it was 93 degrees with 70% humidity!). And, my average heart rate was above 160 bpm, which is really awesome. Jumping will do that for you!

So, if you are like me and have a kiddo or two with a trampoline and you are itching to get on there and exercise, totally DO IT. I wear a heart rate monitor to make sure my workout is effective. My range is always to shoot for over 145 at all times (after a few minutes of warmup jumping). And, I try to do 30 reps of an exercise and then just bounce for a bit in between. Since I am watching my heart rate, I make sure it doesn't dip out of range in between exercises. Time flies by!  Sometimes, since they are about 20 minutes long, I put my phone on my arms and listen to FitMuses (an app on my phone) where these two gals just talk about life while exercising (okay, maybe that's strange) or I download something from Steady130.

Some tips to elevate the heart rate:

• Involve your arms; raising arms above your head requires more effort and makes your body work harder
• Jump high; if you need a break, just do a sort of "jog in place" motion, which on a trampoline is more like jumping with one leg in front of the other and then switching with a lower jump than normal. 
• Experiment with raising your legs when jumping. I do various jumps that involve leg motions that really get the heart rate up high.

Some jumps:

Rocketship: Shoot your arms up as you jump high

Slalom: Think "skiing" and jump side to side with arms in jump rope motion.

Split jumps: Move arms down and legs out

Squat jumps: Raise those knees up and touch them with feet apart

Straddle: Jump and touch toes (cheerleader style)

Tuck: Narrow jump with knees together.

Prance: Think of it like a skip; raise one leg up as you jump and alternate legs

Air Jacks: Like jumping jacks

Hurdlers: Alternate legs with a bounce in between

Below is a short (less than 80 seconds) demonstration of the jumps that are shown above. If you try it out, let me me know! It's fun stuff! I read that 10 minutes of continuous jumping on a trampoline is equivalent to 30 minutes on a treadmill with 40% less pressure on your knees. I don't know how true it is, but I can say my heart rate for this workout was higher than my 4 mile run average today... so.... yeah. :)

Jane Fonda Walking Cardio Workout Level 2

I say any workout is better than sitting on the couch. But, this workout was pretty low key. If you are very new to exercise or just get winded if you go on a walk, this might be a good workout. And, it's excellent for older folks who are trying to stay active. But, it was NOT for me. Not. At. All. 

Here's the workout. It's essentially 18 minutes of walking in place, step touch, a little arm movement, some minor leg lifting... no jumping or anything high impact. Full workout video is 26 minutes as she spends the last 8 minutes doing stretches with a chair. 

\

I am very "heart rate driven" and even with that, I just couldn't get my heart rate going. My average was pitiful-- 105 bpm with a top of 121 and that was probably because I was hopping when I was supposed to step touch.

I hate to be a workout snob, but unless you are not able to walk a mile without feeling tired, this workout needs a pass. I turned it off after the 18 minutes of active workout and didn't do the stretch. 

Sorry, Jane. But, hey, I burned 77 calories. So, there's that. ;)

I can't dance... but Lauren can!

I'll be honest. I am a terrible dancer. Terrible.

But, I happened upon some of Lauren Fitz' fitness warmup videos today and they are pretty fun. This gal is a super neat lady! They aren't crazy hard and they are repetitive so you can actually learn it and keep going (because, hey, I'm pushing 40 and I can't remember dance steps very well).

Her YouTube channel is here-->  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJYqB9IxpJsQl9mFmJd28JQ

She doesn't sell any fitness DVDs or anything. She is a certified Zumba and Hip Hop dance instructor in OKC, but that's not her full time job. She totally appears to LOVE her fitness classes and I dig her energy and enthusiasm.

I did several (like 10 or so!) of her fitness warmup videos today, including the two favorites of mine for the day-- Royals, Turn Down For What, and Flo Rida Low. They were fun. The videos are maybe 3 to 4 minutes long and I was only getting to about 120s heart rate, but that's better than walking and I think some of the poses (stretches, squatting, body rolls, booty shakes) probably are good for toning so it was combo workout. And, I think they would be excellent warmups before something more strenuous like a run or a cardio activity.

Royals is my fave-- great leg workout! :)


Overall, two thumbs up. Check her stuff out... I'd love to be in her class (as long as I wasn't in the video... I am SO VERY TERRIBLE... I tell ya!!!).

:) Cheers!