A Workout and a Smoothie

Posted by Whitney (I had a request for a pre-post signature so you know who is writing!)

When you don’t live near a well-stocked gym with class options, you most certainly have to be creative! I often use inspiration for at home workouts from various blogs, and have more recently started creating my own. Sometimes, I have very lofty goals for what would be fun. It usually turns out stupid hard, but effective!! 

Without further ado, I want to introduce you to …………. THE THOUSAND!!

Basically, you do 20 exercises, 50 reps or seconds each with a minute rest halfway through. If it sounds hard, it’s because it is. It takes about 30 minutes in total if you don’t die. 

50 squats                                       50 squat jumps
50 lunges  (alternating)                 50 bicycle crunches
50 calf raises                                  50 punches (strike hard)
50 hydrants (25 each leg)              50 supermans (least favorite)
50 sec boat pose                            50 bridge raises (hip thrusters)
50 push-ups. (half narrow opt.)    50 crunches
50 sec plank.                                  50 tricep dip/raise
50 high knees                                 50 sec jump rope
50 crossfit situps                            50 Russian twists (total or each side)
50 bicep curls (25 each arm)         50 ankle touches (penguins)

Don’t forget your 60 sec rest and feel the burn! It gets better with time….

And now for something much more enjoyable…… A Smoothie!

Recently, I was talking with a friend about some amazing protein we buy called Syntha-6 in strawberry milkshake flavor. It’s delic. I mix it into a breakfast smoothie a few times a week. 

My favorite combo is 8 oz of almond milk, a spoonful of Almond butter, a scoop of protein, a handful of spinach, a cup of frozen blueberries and a few ice cubes. I’m basically in love. Blend it up and enjoy!

What is your favorite smoothie combo? Please post suggestions! 

Until next time, Whitney

Informercials

Do you ever find yourself watching an infomercial, and thinking to yourself “That would work!”? That is the story of my life. I am a self-proclaimed infomercial junkie. In fact, the other day I almost bought a Paint Zoom. Who doesn’t need a Paint Zoom?

Well, one day (a few years back) I found myself watching the Insanity infomercial. I tend to lean towards extremism, so when they said it was the hardest workout put on DVD ever, I accepted the challenge. Well, in  order to get the promised results it is required that you complete the program, which I did 45 days of the 66. I also have self-proclaimed commitment issues. I have workout program ADD. I have a very hard time completing a program for longer than a month. But the other day I saw the infomercial the other day, and I decided I was no longer a quitter. Yep, I quit quitting. So Sunday I started the Insanity program again.  This will have to be adjusted because it will have to incorporate running. I am still working out the details but I will keep you posted.

Also, for those of you who are the edge of your seats waiting to hear my half-marathon results, you will have to wait. I will be running a half hopefully at the end of November. My schedule with teaching, coaching, and being a student myself has about swallowed all of my time. But Whitney is running the half on the Sept. 22nd, so we can all cheer her on! GOOOOO Whitney!

~Emily

 

How to love yourself!

Recently, I completed a long run and while on it I had a thought about body image. After posting it on Facebook, a few friends suggested I put it on the blog. So, here it is!

“As I was running today, I had a thought. (Well, several because that’s a long time to think) I am in potentially the best overall shape of my life and fairly easily ran 9 miles today. That being said, I also weigh over 140 lbs and wear a size 8. In society’s opinion I am overweight and should strive for a much smaller size of clothing. Most of you would likely disagree with that, as do I. I am strong and beautiful and need not lose a single pound. So, for those of you who are unhappy with who you are simply because of a number, I say stop it! Get out there and be active. Find something you love (many wont pick running) and just start doing it. You’re the only one that can be you. So, be good at it and enjoy it.”

All too often I hear people talk about how much they dislike something or everything about themselves. It’s like we have such an unattainable image of what we should be, that we can never be content. I’m not ok with this. It is NOT how God intended for us to be. All throughout the Bible it talks of how much God loves us exactly as we are.

It is certainly not a bad thing to better yourself, physically or in other ways. The problem comes in when it becomes your complete focus with no contentment. Even if you do get where you want to be, if you are never happy, it won’t be enough. So, rather than starting with weight loss, or a crazy workout plan, start with learning to love who you are, exactly as you are. When I was younger I was teased a lot for a massive amount of curls and a massive lack of chest. It bothered me for a long time, but thankfully I realized in college that there was so much more than disliking myself. I can’t change my fro, other than an occasional flat iron and I can’t grow a body part (though I could buy them, but I NEVER will). I would hazard a guess that most of you cannot grow six inches, change you entire body shape or proportion. Yes, you can strive to feel good and be fit, but you must come to grips with what is and isn’t possible to change.

I have a challenge for you. If you are most often unhappy with yourself, we are going to start changing that right now. Take out a piece of paper and a pencil. I want you to write down ten things that you like about yourself. Maybe that seems impossible, but even if it has to be your pinky toe, put it down. Now, review this list over and over again until you start to believe it. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I hope and pray that you can love who you are. God already does.

Until later! Whitney

Rain, A Puppy, and Track Workouts

We have been bombarded by rain in the last three days. Creeks are overflowing and they have actually had to close roads because of high water. This hasn’t happened in about three years–our region has been plagued with a severe drought that we were afraid would never end. Thankfully this rain arrived. So what does rain mean for a farm girl like myself? Well rain makes my dad (boss) happy, which makes my brother (co-worker) happy; it also make other farmers happy, which means they are less grumpy to their favorite tractor technician (the fiancé), which ultimately makes my life better. Not to mention that I haven’t watered my flowers in a week. Rain also has created an average temperature of 80 degrees as of late, which makes running greatly less miserable.

Oh, and we got a puppy. Okay, well my fiancé got a puppy that he has great plans for. Cody plans for this dog to be the next great hunter, field-champion extraordinaire. Whatever. The dog is mine 🙂 So meet Drake, the newest addition to our growing family of dogs.

Drake, the new puppy!

Milo, the beagle

Bo. The original.

As for workouts, while I was away at teacher school I went running on a really nice trail in Hays. I also tabata-ed. What is tabata? Four minutes of 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rests–I use the Gymboss app on my iPhone. I like to perform five to six moves, each for a four minute interval and a super-duper difficult workout. Below is the one I did on Tuesday night, adapted from cfmamas.com. I didn’t have a jump rope so I substituted burpees.

This week I am focusing on pace. I have been running slower than usual, so I decided to head down to my high school track to work on my time. Since we are doing a Run/Walk program (run 4 minutes, walk 2 minutes) I set a goal of running  4 minute half miles, and walking two minutes. This actually worked pretty well and I plan to continue doing it at least once a week. Keep that pace for 13.1 miles and I will be golden! ~Emily