Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Wednesday Workout Update

After spending nearly two weeks climbing up and down the stairs at my kid's place, my muscles began to feel different - like I was getting more toned - so I got super motivated to keep it up, and roped my running buddy Julia, who is conveniently off for the summer (she's a teacher), into doing our own version of boot camp.  It's always more encouraging to have someone suffer alongside as you exercise, and this has been really fun...OK, we're only on day three, but I can actually see us keeping this up for a while.  Here's what we've done so far:

Monday - walked two miles, then did a bunch of exercises on the equipment at the park:  push ups, leg lifts, ab twists on the sit-and-spin thing (it is for exercise, I swear!), some arm stuff that's hard to describe, a pull up (ok, really a hang, but I'm trying to do one...maybe by the end of the summer), some arm exercises with dumbbells (we brought our own), walking lunges, squats, and planks.  Also we burned extra calories doing the ant dance when we both were bitten by ants, so there's that...do our ant bites count as an injury? Haha.  Then we went to Starbucks and relaxed outside in the shade with an iced latte (me) and a berry punch (Julia).

Tuesday - walked 2/3 of a mile for a warm up, then ran nearly 3 miles.  Then we did our planks (45 seconds, then 30 seconds, then 15 seconds).  We were both feeling pretty sore from Monday's workout, which surprised us because we really took it easy in terms of how many reps we did.  I guess those muscles were just not used to that kind of workout.  Afterward?  We went to Starbucks and relaxed outside in the shade with an iced latte (me) and a berry punch (Julia).  Yes, it was so nice, we did it again.  Ahhh, summer. 

Today - we have the same workout planned as Monday.  I'm bringing my 10-lb dumb bells, though, because we both felt that Julia's 5-lb dumb bells weren't enough for the bicep curls.

Tomorrow - I'm running my 2 miles with Erica while Julia takes a swim lesson - she is looking at doing a triathlon one of these days and needs to fine tune her swimming.  Plus we'll both do planks - heck, we might just do it while on the phone with each other!

Friday - we'll walk and do the core/arm stuff, but might take it easy on the lunges and squats (depending on how sore we are), since we have running club starting on Saturday.

Our goal with all of this is to become fitter, which will hopefully help us become stronger runners.  The core work and the lunges and squats should be especially helpful.  The other thing I'd like to do is find some stairs where we could go up and down them, but we haven't found a good place to do that yet.

I know that I've been the most consistent with exercise when I have a workout group or buddy - yes, I can do all of this on my own, but I tend to put it off.  Having a 6:30 am exercise date every morning has been great - I can't turn off my alarm because I know my friend will be waiting for me...plus, we don't take ourselves too seriously with this and get in a lot of laughter along with the exercise.  It's a pretty nice way to begin the day!

Yesterday morning - we've run, planked and stretched at this point.  Quick picture before heading out to Starbucks!

15 comments:

  1. Was it necessary to write this? LOL Now I'm sitting sad behind my computer because girl, I would have loved to be in your bootcamp club. Such a cool thing to do together. Love it!

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  2. may I skip the workouts and join you two at starbucks?

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  3. You know, I've had an apartment on the 2nd or 3rd floor for all but one of the last 10 years. I guess I'm just so used to stairs at this point that I don't notice them, or how they may be toning my legs (I do know that everyone hates climbing them though!). It's cool that stair climbing inspired you to step up (pun totally intended) your workouts!

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    1. See, you have been getting a bonus workout all these years! Honestly, though - I wouldn't choose a place with stairs...

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  4. Yah baby! There goes my friend, the workout queen! I'm excited for you. Its just fun to find new ways to get exercise in.

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    1. It IS fun, even when we were howling with pain (oh my abs!) today. :)

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  5. I think the ant dance definitely counts as exercise! I have to tell you that the Insanity has helped me run faster - even after just two weeks I did my PR of 33:11 - shaving more than a minute off my previous PR!

    Love your summer plans! But right now I want a Starbucks latte! :D

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  6. Love the buddy system!!!! Have a great workout!!!

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  7. Boot camp and weights! I want to be there.

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  8. That's awesome Shelley - it is nice to have a workout partner waiting for you - great boot camp!

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  9. Awesome!! Workout buddies make time go so much faster!!!

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