New Year Resolutions & Free Printables!

Like pretty much everyone, I hope to improve my fitness in the coming year. In an effort to help myself be reminded of this and to keep track of my progress, I created these free Fitness Tracking Printables. Each file is the same, but in different color schemes. Download and enjoy!

Brights

Darks

Pastels

{Linked on Fluster Buster, Ginger Snap Crafts, I Gotta Create, Vintage Zest}

Fitness Friday -or- Cycling Is Not For Sissies!

I got my start with cycling by going to spin classes at my local gym. The first spin class was excruciating, but for some reason, I wanted to go back. Spin class is the most intense workout I have ever done. At the end of class, the teacher estimated that those who stuck with the ride (not me) had burned around 700 calories. If you haven't ever done it, try it out, but be prepared for your backside to hurt! It takes a week or two for your rear to get used to sitting on a bike seat, so stick with it!

As I've blogged about before, at the beginning of 2012, my hubby and I decided to do a sprint triathlon. We gave ourselves about 4 months to train. Since I didn't own a bike, I shopped around and splurged on this beauty:

I had not ridden a real (not stationary) bike in at least 4 years, so it was pretty scary at first. My first few rides were restricted to the paved trails near my home so that I wouldn't have to worry about cars. After my first ride outside, I came home with a big smile on my face, exclaiming to my hubby "that was fun!" Once I felt comfortable with shifting gears, I decided to venture out onto the road.

This is when I learned that road cycling is not for sissies! My first few road rides were terrifying. I was keenly aware of my vulnerability as I rode along with traffic. Drivers are not terribly conscientious around cyclists, so I learned early on to make myself as visible as possible. I ride in bike lanes whenever I can, I hand signal my intentions, and if I feel there is not enough space on the shoulder of the road, I move over so that I am in the lane of traffic so that drivers won't buzz right past me.

Since then, I have become more brave (not holding my brakes down big hills) and more confident. I've learned that safe road cycling is mostly about communicating with drivers by signaling and making eye contact. And it really is fun. Cycling makes me feel a certain level of freedom that nothing else I've found does.

Fitness Friday -or- Relax With Yoga

About six years ago, I fell in love with yoga. The year before my son was born, I signed up for a class titled "Yoga for Stress Relief." At the time, I was dealing with infertility and it was stressful! I needed some exercise, but didn't want anything too intense, so this yoga class was perfect for me. Ever since then, I have tried to make yoga a regular part of my exercise routine.

Recently, I have been dealing with different types of stress -- the stress of having two young children, the stress of inexplicably gaining weight, and the stress of postpartum depression. Obviously, I need some yoga in my life! Luckily, my hubby found an app so that I could do yoga workouts at home whenever I have time. It is called All-In Yoga.

There are many yoga apps available, so if you're interested in trying yoga at home, you are in luck!

After doing my first yoga workout using this app, I remembered why I love yoga so much. It is so individual, so calming, and it really is hard work! Two days later, my abs are still killing me.

If you're new to yoga, I suggest taking a class from a certified instructor first. They can help you learn the proper forms for the poses and the proper breathing technique. Once you get the basics down, it is easy to incorporate yoga into your fitness program at home.

Fitness Friday -or- Learning to Run

I am not a runner. I don't enjoy running. It's true. And yet, I try to make myself run on a semi-regular basis. I started learning to run to prove to myself that I could if I tried hard enough. I ran my first 5K back in 2007, when I was about 5 or 6 weeks pregnant with my son. I "ran" that race in about 45 minutes. If you're doing the math, that is a 15 minute mile, which is how fast most people walk, I think. Not terribly impressive.

Then I was busy being pregnant, having babies, and getting fat. That took up a lot of time and didn't leave much time for doing excruciating things like running. After my daughter was born, I was diagnosed with post-partum depression, which sucks. Luckily, I was quickly put on anti-depressants, which, unluckily, made me gain weight at an unprecedented (for me) rate.

At this same time, my hubby was steadily losing weight. I joke that he just thought one day "huh, I should lose a few pounds," and they magically fell off. He'll tell you it was a bit harder than that... but it doesn't seem like it to me. Last year, we decided to do a sprint triathlon -- Dave because he had lost 60 pounds and felt great -- me because I wanted to prove to myself that I could if I really wanted to. (On a side note, I probably need therapy to resolve this constant need to prove things to myself.)

We trained. Unfortunately, a sprint triathlon involves running. I helped Dave with his lap swimming and he encouraged me to keep running. He promised it would get easier. I didn't really believe him, but I kept at it and learned he was right.

Here is what I did: Start with walking/jogging intervals. Walk 5 minutes, jog 2 minutes. Slowly (over weeks) build up your jogging time and diminish your walking time until you can jog 10-15 minutes straight before walking 1-2 minutes. This seemed to be the turning point for me. Once I could run 15 minutes, I was halfway through the 5k distance. Depending on your deadline, keep running 15, walking 1, running 15 for a week or two. This will help you get really comfortable at this distance. Increase your running time if you feel up to it. If not, don't fret. Walking 1-2 minutes of a 5k is nothing to be ashamed of.

The sprint triathlon was actually pretty fun. My running time wasn't great, but I finished the race in a reasonable amount of time. Mission accomplished.

I had a few revelations as I taught myself to run. Here they are in no particular order:

Run alone. 

Of course, only do this if you have a safe place to run. Carry your phone if possible in case anything happens. I am lucky enough to live in a very safe neighborhood... and I only run in daylight. I also make sure Dave knows my route and estimated time so if I am not back, he knows where to look for me.

The reason I like to run alone is that it makes it easier to go at my own pace. I used to try running with Dave. The problem is, he is 11 inches taller than me, so naturally, he has a longer stride than I do. It would take 2-3 of my steps to match 1 of his. I would try to keep up with him and tire out quickly. Now I understand that if you're running a 12-minute mile, you don't want a jogging partner who runs a 9-minute mile.

Wear a watch.

Even though it can be discouraging at times, having a rough estimate of your speed (or how long it takes you to get from Point A to Point B) really is helpful. You need to keep track of this so that you can see your improvement. Sometimes improvement comes slowly and having some hard numbers can help you stay motivated.

It gets easier.

It really does get easier as your body becomes accustomed to running. So don't give up after a week.

Control your breathing.

This was the biggest help to me in pacing myself. I hit a plateau where I couldn't run more than 8-10 minutes before I needed to walk. So one day, I did my run without my iPod. And I realized that I was trying to keep up with the tempo of the music. Without the music, I was better able to monitor and control my breathing and my pace. I realized that I had been breathing too unsteadily and it was making me winded a lot faster. So I did a few runs where I matched my breaths to my steps (inhale for 2 steps, exhale for 2 steps) and it helped tremendously. Now I can do this even with Vampire Weekend blasting in my ears.

Shin splints suck.

I went through normal bouts of soreness as I built up my running endurance. But I never suffered from shin splints until this spring. 

In an effort to encourage myself to keep running through winter, I signed up for a race in March. In some places this would not be an issue. In Utah, March weather is a little unpredictable. Three days before the race, the high temperature was 57 degrees. The night before my 5k, it got down to 22 degrees and snowed 6 inches. I was not prepared to run in the snow. But, the race was still going forward, so I bundled up as best I could and went for it. I picked up my packet, then sat in the car with the heater blasting until about 10 minutes before start time. Then I got out and moved around, trying to keep my muscles warm. Of course, it was only 30 degrees outside, so I was unsuccessful. By the time the race started, my feet were numb. I finally got feeling back in my toes at the 1 mile mark. I slogged through the cold, finishing in about 35 minutes, then quickly went back to my warm car.

Running through a winter wonderland.

Later that day, the shin splints began. My legs ached terribly. I thought this was just normal soreness, magnified due to the cold. But I was wrong. I left them untreated and I was sore for two weeks -- barely able to walk down stairs, much less go running. Eventually my legs felt better, so I went for a jog. It was painful. Now every time I run, I know my shins and calves will hurt for at least two days afterward.

The moral of this story: warm up, stretch out, treat soreness after running, and don't ignore unusual pains.

If I can learn to run, then pretty much any reasonably healthy person can do it. Of course, you should talk to your doctor about it first. And you should take it slowly and stick with it. 

Fitness Fridays -or- Don't Give Up!

I know, I know... it's not Friday, it's Saturday. My posting schedule got a bit off since the hubby and I spent the night away yesterday. So I'm posting Fitness Friday on Saturday instead.

It has been one week since Operation Skinny Waist began and so far, I have lost somewhere between 0 and .25 inches. Not the grand results I was hoping for, but I'm going to be honest: I wasn't very diligent in my exercising!

Never fear, though. I am convinced that the trick to losing weight or inches is to never give up! And so, I am planning on expanding my regimen this week to include a couple more slimming exercises.

First of all, I plan to continue doing the transverse abdominal exercises detailed in the last post. I also plan to swim laps twice each week. If you're not a swimmer, try a quick walk instead. As long as you're getting at least 20 minutes of cardio twice a week, I say you're on track! The trick is to keep building off of what you can do.

For this week, I am going to be adding more abdominal exercises and some strength training. Here we go:

Bicycle Crunches

I'm all for efficiency, so if you're going to do crunches, you might as well do bicycle crunches so you're working all your abdominals at once. One thing I learned from Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred is to do these crunches slowly and deliberately. Focus your eyes on one spot on the ceiling to keep your chin up, then crunch and hold. Here is an article with a couple of options for doing bicycle crunches.

Strength Training

For strength training, I plan on adding in a 1-minute plank every day when I do my ab workout. This sounds easy, but it is not! Time yourself so you don't cheat and hold a plank for 1 minute. If you can't do it, work your way up to it. Keep your tummy in to support your core. This will also help strengthen those abs.

I also plan to do a few weight-bearing exercises at the gym. I think it is important to balance your strength training so that when you work one muscle, you work the opposite one as well. So do these in pairs, trying a different one each day:

• Biceps & Triceps
• Quadriceps & Glutes
• Shoulder Press & Lat Pull Down
• Chest Fly & Seated Rows

Water

The last thing I plan to add this week is a more mindful of how much water I drink. I read that you should drink 8 ounces of water for every 10 pounds of body weight. Unfortunately, that means I should be drinking 130 ounces of water every day. Currently, I probably drink 20 ounces per day. So I have a long way to go! 

Fitness Friday -or- Operation Skinny Waist Begins!

Confession: I have started outgrowing my clothes.

When you're a kid, this is seen as a positive thing. Once you hit your twenties... not so much. Growing up, I was not a kid with body image issues. I was a swimmer and was completely comfortable walking around in nothing but a swim suit. I loved wearing short shorts and hip hugger jeans. Boy have things changed!

I would love to lay some of the blame for my current predicament on my kids. After all, they are the reason I have stretch marks. Fortunately for them, I was able to lose my baby weight really quickly after both pregnancies. But now it has all returned... sans baby!

So at my Memorial Day family gathering, my cousins and I chatted about how we're all getting fat and we decided to start "Operation Skinny Waist." I was put in charge of figuring out a plan for how we should attempt to lose some inches off our waists, so I've been thinking about it for the last two weeks.

Now I have formulated a plan, and this post is introducing Step 1. Before you start, measure your natural waist (at your belly button). I won't be sharing my starting measurement, but in future weeks, I will be sharing inches lost or gained. I don't have a specific goal in mind, but I do want to fit back into the pants I was wearing last summer and need to lose several inches before that will happen.

Step 1: Transverse Abs & Swimming.

First things first: transverse abs.

I'm no fitness guru, but in my understanding, your transverse abs are the deeper abdominal muscles. And from what I've read, being pregnant really weakens these muscles. I've been pregnant twice, so consider my transverse abs to be completely shredded. Without tone in the deeper muscles, you cannot achieve a flat tummy. If you work the outer ones, but not the inner ones, you can end up with a firm, but protruding abdomen. This isn't really what the ladies want. That's why we're starting with this routine on AZCentral.

I like this site for several reasons:

1. It explains the challenges of strengthening transverse abs.
2. It provides three separate exercises aimed at strengthening those deep muscles.
3. It is pretty low intensity.

{image source}

My goal is to complete these three exercises (vacuum, hollowing, and kneeling lift) once each day (10 reps). I'll try this for a week, combined with cardio and see if I get any results.

Second, swimming.

I know that everyone is not as well practiced in swimming as I am, but it is the perfect cardio exercise to start with. It is low impact. It uses your entire body. Unfortunately, it does require a swimming suit. So get a pass to your local lap pool, squeeze into that swim suit, and hope you don't run into anyone you know. If you don't know how to swim, consider participating in adult swimming lessons until you are comfortable swimming the full length of the pool.

For those of you who know how to swim, I've put together a few basic swim workouts to get you started. These workouts are aimed to take approximately 30 minutes, depending on how fast you swim. They are also tailored for a 25 yard pool. If you're swimming in a 50 meter pool, adjust your workout to  have fewer rests for longer periods (i.e., instead of a 30 second rest after 25 yd, take a 1 min rest after 50 meters).

Beginner

Warm up: 100 yd freestyle

Legs: 2 x 50 yd kicking, resting 30 seconds between

Swim: 4 x 25 yd sprints, freestyle, resting 30 seconds between

Legs: 2 x 50 yd kicking, resting 30 seconds between

Variables: 1 x 50 yd freestyle, 1 x 100 yd breast stroke or back stroke, repeat x 2 with 30 seconds rest between each set

Cool down: 100 yd nice and easy

Total yardage: 800 yards

Intermediate

Warm up: 200 yd freestyle

Legs: 2 x 50 yd kicking, resting 30 seconds between

Sprints: 4 x 50 yd sprints, freestyle, resting 60 seconds between

Legs: 2 x 50 yd kicking, resting 30 seconds between

Variables: 1 x 100 yd freestyle, 1 x 100 yd breast stroke or back stroke, repeat x 2 with 30 seconds rest between each set

Cool down: 100 yd nice and easy

Total yardage: 1100 yards