Lots of grunting, groaning and heavy breathing with the challenging strength workout this morning! Started a new 91 day fitness challenge today and I am determined to get ‘er done no matter what!
I remember what my last trainer told me…If it was easy, there would be nothing achieved! Working out to achieve fitness goals is supposed to be hard! ?. As a result of what she said, even though it is HARD, I push myself harder all the time…after all this work, I at least want to see and feel progress!
Lets do this!
Day 1 of 91 day program completed and feeling fired up for my Monday today!? Now to have an Icy and delicious superfood shake for recovery and then time to hit the shower! Hope you have an awesome Monday!
REMEMBER THIS…. “Choose Your Hard”… Working out and being dedicated to a program is HARD, but looking in the mirror and being unhappy with how you look and feel is also HARD. Which HARD do you pick?
Beware….exercise and healthy nutrition can lead to strength, flexibility, happiness, improved relationships, prevent disease, a longer and healthier life, better quality of life, a healthy weight, solid balance, reduced chance for injury and so much more! Who wouldn’t want all of these things in their life? Make the DECISION to choose the fitness and health “HARD” today and transform your life for the better!
Seriously! When I started on my health and fitness journey 2 years ago, I could not even do more than a couple push-ups on my knees or more than a few minutes of jumping jacks before being out of breath! It’s amazing what our body can achieve if we push it to do more each day. I guess that is the power of the compound effect. You may not think that each and every workout makes a difference in the long run, but in fact they DO! Every snack choice (an apple instead of a Hershey bar) and every decision we make towards a healthier choice (no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it is) every single day does matter!
Choose to be active instead of sitting on the couch. Choose to do a workout instead of wasting time scrolling social media. Choose a garden salad with roasted chicken instead of a burger at the restaurant. Just by making these better choices each and every day and adding superfoods to my diet, I have dropped 42 pounds and am feeling the strongest and healthiest that I have in my life! Now as a grandmother, I can call myself the MMA Granny and I have earned it! ?
The compound effect of each and every choice we make each and every day really does matter. Keep that in mind for today and as you think about what you will do to be healthier in the next month! We all mess up once in awhile since we are human after all, but if we mess up too often, that has a compound effect in the wrong direction!
To download 7 tips on ways to increase self-discipline power, be sure to get your FREE DOWNLOAD HERE.
Be extra careful with this move to have your abs held tight and your back straight before starting the swing
Ouch!! Yup, I made the critical mistake this morning during my weighted cardio workout! When it came time to do the second round of ‘kettle bell’ swings, I didn’t take the time to get my form right before starting the move. Well, as a result, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my right lower back and had to stop the move and lie on the floor. I am so mad at myself now as I definitely know better than to perform a lifting move without checking my form first! ?. No matter how strong, flexible or fit we are, watching our form is a very important part of lifting to prevent injury.
Now, as I write this, I am spending extra time on the foam roller trying to get the sharp knots out…ouch!! Dang it!! Too bad I had to get this reminder the hard way…
This was not exactly the topic I had planned to write about today, but decided to shift gears to serve as a reminder to you to be sure to check your form before lifting. Don’t mess up like I did today…its going to take me a few days to get functionally back to normal now…Grrr
As important as muscle building is for our balance, strength, hormone balance, and body shape…its so important to remember to have proper form and follow the instructions of the professional trainer… Lesson learned!
Eating a diet rich in some vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may protect against certain types of cancers. Diets rich in foods containing fibre, such as some vegetables and fruits, may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. The nutrients in veggies are critical for the health and maintenance of your body. Now having less chance of a chronic disease or cancer sounds like a very good reason to get those veggies, don’t you think?
The Nutrient side of the story…
Most vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories. None have cholesterol. Avoid adding dip and sauces to your veggies…this will add unwanted fat or sat and calories!
Vegetables are important sources of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fibre, folic acid, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
Diets rich in potassium may help to maintain healthy blood pressure. Vegetable sources of potassium include sweet potatoes, white potatoes, white beans, tomato products (paste, sauce, and juice), beet greens, soybeans, lima beans, spinach, lentils, and kidney beans.
Dietary fibre from vegetables, as part of an overall healthy diet, helps reduce blood cholesterol levels and may lower risk of heart disease. Fibre is important for proper bowel function. It helps reduce constipation and diverticulosis. Fibre-containing foods such as vegetables help provide a feeling of fullness with fewer calories.
Folic acid helps the body form red blood cells. Women who have a chance of becoming pregnant should consume adequate folic acid from foods. This reduces the risk of neural tube defects, spina bifida, and other complications during fetal development.
Vitamin A keeps eyes and skin healthy and helps to protect against infections.
Vitamin C helps heal cuts and wounds, strengthens immune system, is part of the structure of bones and keeps teeth and gums healthy. Vitamin C also helps iron to absorb in our digestive system.
What are the Health benefits?
Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.
Eating a diet rich in some vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may protect against certain types of cancers.
Diets rich in foods containing fibre, such as some vegetables and fruits, may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
Eating vegetables and fruits rich in potassium as part of an overall healthy diet may lower blood pressure, and may also reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and help to decrease bone loss.
Eating foods such as vegetables that are lower in calories per cup instead of some other higher-calorie food may be useful in helping to lower calorie intake
What do I need to do to get the Benefits if I Hate Veggies?
One very challenging way to get the nutrients and fibre you need from veggies if you won’t eat them…is that you could try to use multiple supplements …but this becomes challenging to sort out how much, in what proportion and how often it is needed… (You could also choose to eat veggies, but even our food quality these days is rather poor).
A much easier way to get exactly what you need is to have a superfood shake once per day that incorporates more than 9 servings of your veggie nutrition in just one scoop. Now THIS is much easier…and is delicious too! The other ingredients this once-per-day shake offers is antioxidants, superfood nutrients, adaptogens, herbs that help promote hormone balance, pre and pro-biotics, digestive enzymes and the perfect blend of proteins, vitamins and minerals for optimal energy and health. ..The side benefits are beautiful hair, nails and skin, good digestion, amazing energy, look younger, and it also helps lose stubborn fat by feeding our body dense nutrition and cutting cravings as well! (BONUS!). (and contains ZERO artificial ingredients too!) … Take a few minutes to check out the video below!
There is something about working those muscles hard and having that feeling of being totally pumped up afterwards!! I just love that feeling!
The muscles feel swollen and full as the blood surges through them after the heavy burn wears off.. if you have never felt it, you may not know what I mean.. but if you have done a good lifting routine…you will know exactly what I am talking about here…???
This morning, I feel compelled to talk about what goes on inside the muscle to make it feel this way and how that gives us benefit, conditioning and a sense of well-being. Its totally changed my life to do resistance training and I am certain it would change yours as well.
It may sound weird, but the action of lifting weights actually depletes muscle building nutrients in the body and causes microscopic tears in our muscle fibres. Its only after the workout is over that our bodies work to repair the damage we inflicted on it and then the muscle growth starts to happen. Immediately after a workout, the body gets to work by increasing blood flow to those muscles causing them to feel bigger and more full. This increase blood flow and high rate of repair happens for up to several hours after a workout.
How to make sure our muscles repair and stay with us…
Its important to regularly have small meals with carbs and proteins after the workout to help keep the growth and repair process moving forward. During our sleep time at night, our body runs out of repair nutrients while we are sleeping (fasting) and this is why having a bit of extra protein at bedtime can be helpful to keep this repair process working well while sleeping. If we have prolonged periods of fasting, our body goes into what is called a catabolic state where muscle breakdown occurs. We definitely do not want to get into this state as it will reduce our muscle mass…so be sure that muscle is well fed and don’t allow your body to go into prolonged fasting periods.
WHY build muscle anyways?
Lifting weights (resistance training) is important to build muscle strength, but it also strengthens the surrounding connective tissue as well (tendon, ligament). The stronger the structures are, the less likely it will be that you will experience a strain, dislocation or tear around a joint or a muscle injury while in motion!!
The health benefits to having conditioned muscles are so amazing, that it is an important activity to incorporate into your life ASAP! Having muscles improves our physical appearance (more toned, nice shape, less fat), gives us more energy, increases bone density, increases power and strength, reduced injury, makes recovery from injuries faster, slows down aging and improves hormone balance, increases HDL (good cholesterol), improves our balance, lowers blood pressure and resting heart rate. The list goes on and on… so many benefits!
Oh and one more thing! Conditioned muscles typically do not cause us chronic pain! Yes, we will have some sore muscles from lifting at times especially when increasing weight or intensity, but in general, conditioned muscles at rest do not cause us pain! HUGE BENEFIT that improves quality of life! I suffered from chronic body, muscle, neck and knee pains for years and getting into shape completely transformed my quality of life and I am not in pain any longer! Its so worth the work!
If you would like to find a professionally designed resistance training program to get started with, please contact me and I will help you out.
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The only thing between you and your goals is that BS story you keep feeling yourself as to why you can’t do it!! This is what my personal trainer told me this morning during my weighted cardio workout and she is totally right!! How many times did we make excuses and even what we believe is “good reasons” as to why we didn’t achieve our goals! Far too many! …and in fact we tell ourselves these things do many times that we actually start truly believing they are facts! Scary if you really think about it!
I have learned to recognize it when I have come up with a story… such as being too tired, having no money, not enough sleep, not enough time, telling myself I am just an emotional eater (which then somehow made it OK?), sore muscles, feet aching, sore back from a busy day at work, stress from having a 2-year old, lack of sleep, too young, too old, no good at it, not capable, can’t trust the opposite sex, don’t know how…and the story list just goes on and on and on…!! The sad part is that we believe these things, identify with them and let them rule our lives!
I have been through all of these excuses and stories myself! Sometimes when you come from a background of abuse, the stories can get pretty bad. For example, you may believe you are worth nothing, are useless, not loved, not important, not worthy of love and so many more horrible things! You can imagine, that if a person lived with those beliefs (stories) that their life would not be very good, successful or full of happiness! I have had to work hard to overcome many of these stories. It was not easy, but I am proof that it is totally possible to change your perception of yourself and to change how you perceive your past experiences too!
How do I work on overcoming these stories? Keep in mind, this is always a work in progress. My mentor (the late Jim Rohn) speaks about those stories, beliefs and thoughts and uses them as a metaphor like “weeds” growing in a garden. This is a great metaphor because if you think about it….you cannot ignore those weeds because they will totally overtake the whole garden (weeds of the mind). Those weeds need to be removed and even once you get the whole garden cleared out of those weeds…what happens? YES!…those weeds keep trying to come back, so you have to continuously keep pulling out the ones that come up.
This is the same way with those stories…
Once you realize (finally gain insight into yourself) the numerous stories (lies) you have been telling yourself about why you cannot do things or achieve things…its like suddenly noticing your beautiful garden (mind) is packed solid with weeds!! AHA! This was definitely an AHA moment for me. I got myself a coach and started working at getting those weeds pulled out. It took months of work, emotional turmoil and challenging times…but, believe me, I got that darn garden mostly cleared out …out of pure determination. However, I realized that a person has to be well-aware that those weeds (stories, lies) will keep trying to come back and keep an eye on the garden at all times to remove them once they pop up! The lesson here was for me NOT to ignore those feelings, but rather allow them to happen, recognize them, and realize where they are coming from and correct them immediately.
Having this kind of awareness can totally change your life. Often, to develop this awareness and clean out the garden takes extra help. Don’t hesitate to get help with this (remember, asking for help is a sign of strength). Once you take the time to learn this, then you will start to recognize the stories (lies) once they happen. Once they are recognized, you can stop, identify the lie and replace it with the truth that you know is there. Its a magical process and is definitely worth learning about! Once you get to work on this, you will be blown away at what you are capable of achieving in your life!
There is no feeling like the sense of accomplishment! This morning I officially completed a 30-day challenge that I set up for myself with an awesome core/MMA fighting program! This is just the way I LOVE fitness. Short challenges that push me and keep it totally interesting…and in the comfort of my own home… plus they are professionally developed to give an amazing full body fitness like I never imagined!
This type of core/fighting workout is a great cross-trainer for other types of fitness activities as well… especially court sports, running, horseback riding, hockey, football and so many more… the agility, core strength, leg and upper body strength that you can build without any equipment is astounding!
The beauty of the workout lineup I have available to me through this annual digital access program is that I never get bored, I can keep picking new challenges for myself with different professional programs and trainers as I go! When it is fun and interesting like this…with short term rewards…a person is far more likely to keep it up! I also keep a paper copy of the workout calendar beside my workout area, so that I check off each workout as I complete them… as you see here….
TRACKING workout completion every day builds motivation as you see what you are accomplishing!
As I am sitting here having my superfood shake post-workout this morning, I am thinking that a trip to the spa as a reward for completing this program is totally in order! (Ten Spa in Winnipeg is an amazing place!!) A spa treatment and a day of relaxation! Doesn’t that sound awesome? It feels great to have earned a reward like this… Now just have to decide what program to challenge myself with next! .. Hmmm 🙂
Was a rough conditioning workout this morning after going 3 weeks without lifting. Whoa! I was totally grunting, sweating and wishing I had kept up with regular lifting at least a couple times a week. I have been so preoccupied with my core fighting program the last few weeks that I didn’t take the time to lift! Regrets!
I was thinking today about how hard it can be to get up early in the morning and get a workout in… especially if you know it is going to be a super hard one! …and today certainly was!
BUT…It’s true though that if you are working to change your health and your body that it will take hard work to make the changes that will bring you to your goals. Nothing that is easy really brings about great results in our life, does it?
I remember over the years that I have pushed myself to work hard, do things right and keep going no matter what. I have also drilled this into my kids as well…like constantly… I have always believed that if you work hard, give 110% to everything you do, that you will not only feel better about yourself …. you will also prove to others that you are reliable, have a good work ethic and thus prove valuable not only to the organization you work for (or your own business), but will be valuable to all other people in your life too!
When you apply this to health, it may be hard, but forging ahead, not wasting time, working hard and not giving up will definitely be the way to achieve your goals. The truth is, it is hard to do, but it is also hard NOT to do. Its hard to look in the mirror and see a picture of unhealthiness, isnt it?
Take a few minutes today and acknowledge that “hard work will always be rewarded”! It in fact is always rewarded in some way. We may not see it immediately or even for a period of time, but eventually the rewards will come and you will be so glad that you put in the hard work, effort and dedication.
If you have never tried doing a plank, it may look rather easy, but this is deceiving. Holding this position takes a LOT of endurance in your abdominal muscles, back muscles and core. This morning, I was working on core workout and was having aching in my shoulders, so figured a checkup on my plank form was in order… this is the beauty of having photo and video on our phones… its easy to take shots of ourself doing positions and analyze it to see what we are doing wrong!
Reminding myself of proper plank form here and analyzing the mistakes I made, so I will share them with you
Hold elbows directly under shoulders and place wrists in line with elbows.(I need to avoiding placing my hands too close together, this creates internal rotation and can cause instability at shoulder joint)
Push body up into upper back and hold chin close to your neck (like you are holding a small apple between chin and throat). I need to to tilt my chin more towards my chest to reduce strain on my neck and allow me to more fully use my abs and pull my belly button in)
Hold abdominals tight, contracting them, squeeze your buttock muscles and thigh muscles at the same time while breathing regularly (don’t hold your breath)
Hold plank 20-30 seconds, rest then repeat (I was trying to hold the plank too long and was losing my form…I learned its better to do short planks several times, than trying to do one long plank with loss of form!)
Start doing plank using elbows and toes (drop to knees if needed) and progress to high plank when you feel you have developed the necessary strength
These are hard! …What do we need to do planks for?
Reducing back pain! Planks help back pain because they strengthen your core which helps to reduce back pain. It especially helps lower back pain and because there is minimal movement in the exercise, the chance of injury is very low.
Improve balance and posture! Having a strong core helps posture and balance. There are various types of plank exercises which work the core from all angles such as side planks as well.
Tone up core! Planks are good for working on the deeper core muscles that give a good foundation for tightening up those abs!
There are many benefits to doing work on our core which I wrote about in another post in the recent past…take a few minutes to check that out…I posted a video and tips to help you get started on building your core on that post.
For today, I am glad I took the time to learn about how to improve my plank form and will build on this moving forward. I typically do plank work almost every day, so having proper form is so important so that I do not injure myself! I hope that you found this helpful and will take some time to work on your core strength each day. Every 20-30 seconds you put in doing a plank will make a difference and will be worth it!
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I have to admit…the workout this morning was a killer one! 9 rounds of hopping, jumping, twisting, pushing, pulling…on the floor, then off the floor …yup, not an ounce of energy left by the time I was done this 38 minute workout!! ?. I guess a person can think of it this way…by pushing yourself to do something that is difficult and outside what would be considered “easy” that is how you grow and improve! Bonus…I guess it was worth pushing myself today …I will be stronger for the next time and I am building my self-discipline ‘muscle’ which will help me in many other areas of my life too! ??
Wait! …Isn’t it just easier to stay in my comfort zone?
NO!
Each of us has our own “comfort zone” which is far more than a describable place. It is a mental, emotional and behavioral place that kind of is all about the routine of our daily life. When we are in our “comfort zone”, it suggests the place of safety, familiarity and security for us. Being in this place has us comfy and calm, has minimal emotional change, and even is somewhat free of worry. People create a comfort zone at times to have a healthy place to go to relax and enjoy life, which is fine. BUT, stepping out of our comfort zone is what it will take to actually change, grow and transform our lives!!
Experiencing some stress here and there and facing fears is actually a good thing. If all you ever do is strive to stay wrapped up in your little cocoon, keeping warm and cozy, you may be missing out on quite a lot in life. Perhaps you will have little to no new experiences, minimal challenges, and take no risks.
Taking no risks and not facing fears = ZERO progress in life!
Be sure to take time to look at the big picture in your life. It is important to look at every area when thinking about this concept… such as business, personal, family, health, fitness, financial, emotional etc… If you have a hard time stepping out of your comfort zone you may experience difficulty making changes, growing in life, and ultimately, improving your life in amazing ways! Remember, growing as an individual actually helps you to keep up with the times, define your passions and to help give your life personal meaning.
In simple terms, what we fear most about challenging ourselves is that we may fail and/or get hurt in the process. IF we let this stop us, we will never achieve anything! Consider this one…the majority of us totally have the ability to rise up, face fears, overcome obstacles and totally succeed in accomplishing new and challenging things! We just have to WANT to!
Be open minded, face your fears and for heaven’s sake…life live to the fullest by taking chances, challenging yourself and making progress and growing as a person…you will be so HAPPY that you did !!
PS. If you have trouble moving out of your comfort zone due to extreme fear, it may be time to recruit the help of a coach to help you to overcome those fears… life is too short! Time to LIVE!
To join the Athletic Grandma community, and to get a FREE download about 7 ways to increase your self-discipline, click HERE!
