Get it get it

So it turns out consistency really does get you results! you might not see them right away, but keep at it and you will. I am noticing that I am getting stronger and fitter and it's making my workouts more rewarding and therefore encourages me to keep coming back for more. It's a cycle and the more you do, the more you can do and want to do.  We are all stronger than we think and can do more than we thought we could.

Yesterday at the dojo we had to try and lift as heavy weights as possible for just 1 set of dead lift- squat clean, squat with weights and push press and I managed with 35 pound dumbbells- so 70 pounds! Woohoo. And it didn't feel that bad. I don't know why but I never would have even attempted that before. My flexibility has improved so I am able to get lower and use my legs more. 

After doing what felt like a gazillion squats,  drills, lunges, jumps on and over the bench, and the weight set mentioned above, we were told we could chose between: 5 minutes of squat clean thrusters, or 5 minutes of burpees jump to a target.. hmm. It was hard to decide which was worse but I couldn't bring myself to voluntarily do burpees,  so I chose the weights. After the 5 minutes we looked like this:

I stole that photo from Jamie's instagram. I am in the back left. 

Afterwards, we we were told one last workout. As there were just a few minutes left, I thought maybe we would do abs or hip complex. No such luck. It turned out that we had to do the workout we didn't chose! WTH.. so I had to do the 5 minutes of burpees after all... sneaky sneaky.  I guess sometimes it's better not to know what's coming. Hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? or so they say anyway. 

Make your 2014 workout your 2015 warm- up!

Well thanks Juliet for keeping this blog going and for motivating me to keep moving! Especially since you are often done your workout before I even wake up! It really encourages me to get it done.

I am doing pretty well so far, although we are still in the initial 2 week new years resolution period..

Here's a little peak at what I've been up to on the exercise front in 2015

Thursday January 1- New years day

I went for a run and ended up at my parents. I took the scenic route along the river and it felt like forever. It was nice and quiet though as nobody was awake yet. Ottawa was a ghost town at 9 am.

Oh, I almost forgot, I went to a yin/yang yoga class with Patrick. It was half nap half yoga. I fell asleep at least twice. It was more stretching than anything.

Later that day, I went for a short walk with my parents on the canal and then ate a beavertail. Something about the cold weather makes it hard to resist. I am filing that under counter-exercise and moving on.

Friday January 2- Did a spin class at lunch with Tamara that killed me. Had a soccer game at night

Saturday January 3: I was so tired and had no energy so slept in and skipped curling. Still made it to Douvris somehow. The workout was insane and included over 100 burpies.. yikes.

Sunday January 4: Cross country skiing with Antonella in icy conditions. It required about twice as much effort, but was still really fun.

I am so happy to get out and ski this year as I barely went at all last year and I really enjoy it.

Monday January 5- am: Jillian  'Don't phone it in' Michaels- 30 day shred level 1 with Tamara/ pm: Douvris- more sprints, burpies, lunges, and a whole lot of pushups. Oh yeh and thrusters. and poppovers..

I am avoiding Goodlife like the plague as I am sure it is insanely packed.

Tuesday January 6- am: Jillian ' these abs don't come for free' Michaels 30 day shred level 1 with Tamara.

That is all I have planned for today. So that's it we are all caught up. Hopefully tomorrow I will continue with JM and douvris and maybe take a rest day on Thursday. I also want to fit in some yoga at some point.
                                   

How are the rest of you doing? Any big goals for 2015?

Happy New Year :)

So far so good, I've been on one 10,5km run and that was on the first of january. I was planning on going on another run today until my dad said I'd most likely slip and break my neck because it's so icy outside so I thought it'd be best if I left it out today. 

Instead I went down to our cellar and did an hour long workout :) I started out with doing knee-ups going back and forth 10 times (one round for me was going back and forth once). Then I did 10 minutes of jump rope, the first five minutes were just normal jumping (left foot, right foot) and the other five were a mixture of only left, only right, side jumps, lunge jumps, front and back jumps, on the spot running/jumping and double-unders.

I then did day 11 and 12 of the 30 day AB challenge meaning 65 + 70 crunches, 60 + 65 second planks and 26 + 28 leg raises. I also did 50 jump lunges, holding the jumping rope high above my head, 50 lateral lunges, 50 pushups, 50 toe taps, 50 bridges, 50 Leg lifts (25x2 on each leg), 50 (25x2 on each leg) elbow to knee moves and 1 minute wall sit :)

I might go for a run later on but I doubt it!

Happy Weekend :)

365/365

I hope everyone's been having a great time achieving their goals and having a wonderful holiday stuffing their faces, at least that's what I've been up to :)

I've been on holiday since last Tuesday the 23rd of December and have been doing quite well I must say, the first day Tuesday I went for an hour long walk, then I went for my first winter run on Friday the 26th my second on Sunday the 28th and my last yesterday Tuesday the 30th. Daily I've been doing the Ab challenge although I've decided to take on two days in one and do one day in the morning another in the evening. On the days I haven't been running I've been doing floor work, pushups, squats, weight lunges, jumping rope exercises and more :)

For the past two days however it has been snowing hardcore and I've had to go out multiple times a day to clear the driveway so I've been building up my arm strength through that :p

Anyway today I was scrolling through instagram and discovered that you can add photos to your nike runs ! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!??? 

So I obviously had to do this and here's what I came up with :) Wishing you all a lovely New Years! x

Gearing up for a new year

Well, to say my workout schedule over the past week has been dismall is an understatement. I got sick and wasn't able to workout and yet was still able to stuff my face over the holidays. grr... On Saturday, after almost a full week of no exercise, I finally went to athletic conditioning class. It felt so good!

I was having a major case of back and forth between- " I should stay home, rest and nap" vs the "get there and get'er done". When I have a cold working out either helps or makes it worse and you don't know until you are there.

I thought I'd just take it easy but it's pretty well impossible. There was a lot of cardio- sprints, burpies, squat jumps etc..and popovers with 6 risers under the bench! Always remember, you can do more than you think, so don't stop challenging yourself!

As cliche as it is, I am looking forward to getting back to healthier eating for the new year!

First run in the snow

Today I woke up with the full dedication of going for a run, I got even more excited to do so when I looked out my window and saw that the fields were covered in snow! The first snow of the year yesssssss! This got me über excited! 

So I got ready, wearing my awesome nike running watch (kudos to El), my long nike running pants (kudos to El again) and my great touchscreen friendly nike running gloves. (Yes I may have a slight Nike addiction...)

I ran through one village and along fields of snow to the next village, it was a tough run and I've never run so slow, I felt like a gazelle jumping through the snow as the car tracks were slippery I stuck to the "deep" (15cm) snow, which felt like running through the ocean or a pool?

Once I got to the end before I turned around I took a photo because it was so beautiful! That's something I really cherish about the countryside, it's beauty.

I ended up running 6km, taking me 40 minutes -.- Oh well next time I'll do better :) Once I got home I did the 30 Day Ab challenge and my usual jump rope workout :)

Enjoy the weekend! 

30 Day AB CHALLANGE

I'm starting this TODAY! Who's in?