Tag Archive | exercise

Work on your Fitness with Aerial Acrobatics #aerialacrobatics #tryitTuesday

This month for Try It Tuesday, I want to focus on an activity that I did a couple of weeks ago: aerial acrobatics.

I am not the most graceful person. I trip over my own feet. However, when my friend suggested trying aerial acrobatics/yoga, I thought it could not hurt to try.

I loved it!

This exercise is so relaxing because you are hanging in the air while experiencing a light swinging motion. It reminds me of how I felt as a child playing on the swing set. If you are prone to motion sickness, this might not be good for you.

It did not feel like exercise at all. As a bonus, the exercise poses worked my core muscles. While hanging upside down, I was able to do more crunches than usual.

I was feeling fit.

By the time the class was over, my back felt more in line, my spine straighter, and my muscles limber.

Word of caution though: The next day, I could feel that I worked all those muscles I forgot I had 😂. I was SORE! But it was a good sore.

TOW opinion: Google “aerial acrobatics near you” and put this on your list of activities to try. If you have back problems, this could help, but ask your doctor first.

What I learned about myself from dieting – Beauty of a Woman BlogFest IV #BOAW2015

Feb23

Glad to be a part of the 2015 Beauty of a Woman Blogfest.

Most days I love my body and the curves that I have. However, there is a part of me that still wants 6-pack abs or at least a flat stomach. In the past, I lacked the self-discipline to be consistent about doing crunches and sit-ups every day. Plus, my diet is white potato, bread, and white rice heavy. Preferably fried. Did you just groan? I know I am not doing myself or my body any favors with less-than-healthy choices.

Last year, I began to follow GuruOfAbs on Instagram for tips to getting a flatter stomach. This February, I did his Stomach Sculpting No Bread 7-day challenge. Sign up was easy using www.trainersvault.com .

This was a strict regimen of daily exercises and diet. Each day, videos of the day’s exercises were available through the website. Certain exercises were to be done first thing in the morning. Another set of exercises were done at night. The diet consisted of the following: No bread. No pasta. No white sugar.

The Stomach Sculpting No Bread 7-day challenge was hard for me to attempt since

I do not usually exercise in the morning
I love all things bread
I have never done a diet
I do not like to deny my cravings

Nevertheless, I jumped in wholeheartedly and full of determination – 2015 is about challenging myself

Day 1 was easy because I was hyped up and optimistic about facing this challenge. I had steel-cut oatmeal with walnuts for breakfast, salad for lunch and salad for dinner.

Day 4 was a low point. I wanted bread, pasta, rice, cookies, and ice cream. All together. I did not want another salad. Oatmeal with no maple syrup sucks. Plain Greek yogurt sucks.

And then a wonderful thing happened.

A lady I know asked me if I was trying to lose weight because she could tell it in my face.

Yes, I am trying and thank you for noticing!

That was the boost I needed to keep me going. I ate grilled chicken with a side of broccoli for dinner.

By the end of the week, I lost a couple of pounds and I have some new ideas of ways to replace some of my comfort foods with healthier veggie options (e.g. Zucchini pasta AKA zoodles).

My stomach is not flat yet (it was only one week after all) but I think I have a better chance of working towards that with new routine of exercises and changes I have made to my diet. For example, I am doing crunches and other ab exercises learned from challenge daily.

This does not mean I will not indulge in the occasional milkshake or fried chicken.

While 7 days does not seem like a long time to some people, I feel it was a huge accomplishment for me to be able to stick to the diet for that length of time. The Stomach Sculpting No Bread 7-day challenge forced me to critically examine my current dietary choices. What I found, I did not like. Do not get me wrong, I still love all my curves. Nonetheless, it is better for me to make dietary adjustments myself before I am required to change because of adult diabetes or other illness.

Will I get my six-pack abs? I might. I might not. But at least I am striving to be healthy and happy. That is all that really matters ❤

Click http://www.augustmclaughlin.com/boaw15/ to check out the other bloggers participating in this year’s blogfest. You might potentially win awesome prizes! There is a digital raffle on the fest page.

GoGlow 5K

Sep9

I have discovered a new passion: 5K races

I have decided that I like running 5K races because they allow me to exercise with a purpose. My efforts each race are directly correlated to that amount of training and exercise I did in preparation for the race. If I schedule a race every couple of months, I cannot stop training since that would negatively impact my race time.

As you can tell from reading this blog, I also like to have fun. I do not mind doing a 5K, but if there is a theme, I definitely want to sign up.

That is why I signed up for the GoGlow 5K in Greenville, SC. It was hosted by Half Moon Outfitters and the track was at Conestee park (on Mauldin Road).
My friend and I got there 6:45 because in the email instructions, it said to get there early to make sure we get a good parking space. We could have arrived at 7:55 and still got a good parking spot. They overstated that.

Registration was a breeze. No waiting at all. When we got our shirts, we changed into them since they glowed in the dark. Then we went to the paint station and finger-painted neon paint on our face, arms and legs. In the email, they said there would be a painting station. The way they said it, made it seem like it was going to be larger than it was. There was one table with 4 or 5 bottles of different colors of paint and some paper towel.

More than one person said, “Where is the painting station?” I responded, “It’s here. I thought it would be bigger too.”

The race was supposed to start at 8:00, but it was not dark enough so they delayed it until close to 9:00pm.

And we were off! The email said to have a flashlight or headlamp because the trail would be really dark. They did not overstate that. In any event, they might have understated it. They should have put that in big, bold letters. I thought “How dark could it be?” but brought my flashlight anyway. It was SUPER PITCH BLACK dark. Seriously dark and the little glow sticks did not help light the path. And since we were running through the forest, there were tree roots, mud puddles, and other sorts of nature things that would have annoyed me if I stepped in it. As it was, even with the flashlight, I almost tripped twice on tree roots. Some young girls that were ahead of us warned us about the puddles. I was wearing new running shoes and would have been quite put out if I had got them dirty in the mud! I forgot my bug spray, but thankfully, there were none biting that night.

We finished in 59 minutes and 30 seconds. Not my best time, but considering it was pitch black dark in a forest trail with roots and steep inclines, I think we did pretty well.

Overall, I had fun. I would do it again. The race event coordinators did a good job of keeping things organized. However, I would have liked more direction on the trail. There were times when we were not sure which way to go

Getting dirty: I did this on purpose

Jun3

This was the dirtiest I have ever been in my entire life. How did this happen?

It all started with a conversation between me and my friend:

My friend: You know what would be really cool? This Mud run 5k. It is 3.5 miles with obstacles through the mud.

Me: Ummm sounds dirty.

My friend: Check out their website. It looks like a lot of fun.

Me: Yea. I am not making any promises.

A little history about me: Even though I married Mr Outdoors, I am not an outdoorsy chick. Under normal circumstances, I do not like to get dirty or sticky. I am a germaphobe. Antibacterial gel is my best friend. I do not like to wet unless I am swimming or in the shower. And in stereotypical black girl fashion, I worried about my hair. Laugh at that if you will, but I do not want it looking jacked up.

***checked out the website***

Me: It does look like fun. I am concerned about how dirty we would get.

My friend: Dirty? That is what soap and water are for!

Me: I just don’t want mud to get in my mouth.

My friend: (laughter)

***about a week later***

Me: You know what? I’m going to do it.

My friend: Awesome!!! We need a 4th person for our team.

My hubby: How come you get to have all the fun playing in the mud?

Me: You’ll do it with us?

Hubby: Yea. Why not?

My friend: Yay!

***two months of cardio. I am too busy working on my abs to worry about my upper body strength. This mentality was my downfall as I would find out later.***

Day of mud run.

I am wearing sports shirt and tennis skirt (my usual active wear)
Remove all jewelry. Check
Shoes duck taped to feet. Check.
Put on gloves. Check
Get team number 796 put on arms and legs with Sharpie marker.
I am ready. Let’s do this!

One and a half hours and 35 obstacles later, it was over. Crawling on knees through mud, sliding down mud hills, walking through mud pits waist deep, climbing over rope walls, and scaling 6 and 8 feet walls were some of the many obstacles. Thankfully, I did not get any mud in my mouth. Yay! But it was in every other crick and crevice. In my hair, behind my ears, between my toes, my belly button, and underneath my fingernails.

Overall, it was a memorable experience. It was a lot of FUN but I was so sore. Muscles I did not know I had were sore. The whole event made me realize two things (1) mud is slippery but gritty and (2) I have NO upper body strength. I thought I was strong but when it came time to lift myself up over obstacles with my arms, I was weak as a baby.

Thank goodness Hubby was there to help us, especially getting over all those 6 and 8-foot walls. He is a real team player that knows how to help get a job done. He definitely gets the MVP for our team.

My friend said, “Let’s do this again next year!” As you can probably guess, an adrenaline rush is a powerful thing.

Fortunately for me, my body’s muscle groups were screaming louder than any hormone could in an attempt to cloud my judgment, so I replied that I was not ready to commit to that…yet.

Would I do it again? Maybe. Getting dirty did not bother me as much as I thought it would have. I could have done without so many obstacles. And I know that I need to strengthen my arms. I am going to suggest to Hubby that he builds us a chin up bar. So if I am prepared physically, I could do it again.

If you are looking for challenge, I encourage you to try a mud run or similar event in your area. It is an unforgettable experience. And getting dirty was not too bad either.