We have some very brave bloggers amongst our Holiday Trimmers this year, and this is where you can keep up with what they are doing to MAINTAIN… NOT GAIN this holiday season.
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Jenn Not bad for week 1 …..next week Thanksgiving and the big Iowa vs. Nebraska game…..EEK! |
| Week 2 -
Thanksgiving week…..was a toughie! One party the night before Thanksgiving and 3 Thanksgiving Day stops left me and my family lethargic and happy! Group RIDE on Monday…..I love this class….torches the calories and is over before you know it! Sunday night threw out all leftover pie and cheesy potatoes! |
| Week 3: The Thanksgiving Holiday all that I thought it would be….including the FOOD. Time to burn some calories to make up for all the ones that I consumed over the holidays. I started by utilizing something at the Y that I had not before…the POOL! Swimming laps and taking part in the classes are refreshing and fun! I also sampled an AB ATTACK class that was awesome! I totally forgot about my abs over Thanksgiving…..I found them in that class and it was over in only :15 minutes! |
| Week 4: I snuck on the scale on Monday to see how I was doing….and to my surprise; I haven’t gained anything….actually lost a pound! This is a miracle because I had to attend a couple of holiday social gatherings over the weekend where there were some decedent appetizers and desserts. Monday was spin at 5:30pm…..I had never been to the 5: 30pm class and really enjoyed the instructor. It might be tough with all those cookies in the house! |
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Week 5 |
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Week 6 |
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Week 7 Tuesday…. elliptical Happy New Year ALL! |
| Stacy Week 1 – First, let me start off by saying, Holiday Trimmings is such a tremendous idea. You always hear people complaining about holiday weight gain…and, well, it’s true. Most everyone eats a lot around the holidays and their excuse is, “oh it’s the holidays, I’ll get back on track with working out and dieting when the New Year starts.” Hence everyone’s New Years resolutions become about losing weight, dieting and working out. So the fact that the Y has a program that actually lets you eat all those holiday goodies, while trying to MAINTAIN the weight, is a much more realistic approach, I feel. And a great way for people to keep up with their workout programs through the holiday season. That being said, it’s probably good that I was talked into doing this. Because to be honest, I’ve definitely been on a lazy streak. It happens every year. The middle of October hits, it starts to get cold out, Halloween comes and there’s so much candy everywhere and it just starts my downhill streak through the holiday season. But now that I’m obligated to these weekly blogs it makes me a little more embarrassed about being lazy. Needless to say, I’m embarrassed to mention I only hit the gym once this week. But hey, I guess that’s one day more than I’ve been doing the past several weeks. Normally I prefer my “at home” workouts…Insanity, P90X, Jillian Michaels DVDs. But now, I’ll be exploring new options at the Y. So far what I’ve found that I really enjoy are those awesome bikes where you can steer and ride cool scenic courses and race against “other” bikers. I usually always hit the treadmill as well. This week, my knees were bothering me so I just did a normal bike ride for about 5 minutes and then switched to the elliptical instead of the treadmill. Something new I found on the elliptical that I’ve never looked at before…games! Usually I would never look at games on the treadmill because I’d never be able to run and play. Well on the elliptical I played all sorts of games. So maybe it wasn’t the greatest workout ever (in terms of pushing myself) but hey, the time sure did fly by and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Just for the sake of this whole blogging thing, I’ll be hitting the gym more next week. See–even if only by guilt, Holiday Trimmings is already doing its job! :) |
| Week 2 -
Well, I know I said I would hit the gym more this past week, but things are a bit crazy right now. I’m in the process of moving but by the end of this week I should be back on track. Monday and Tuesday I got in a quick workout, a bit on the bike and a bit on the treadmill. Wednesday I spent the afternoon moving all my big furniture so I suppose that counts for something. One thing I did miss this year is my Thanksgiving morning workout. Normally, back home in Chicago, every Thanksgiving we start the day off with a 5K run. This Thanksgiving I spent at work….15 hours. I hope everyone had a great Holiday weekend. Now that I’m consciously trying to workout during the holidays I’m realizing how difficult it can be. In my blog last week I attributed it to laziness during this time of year. But now I’m also realizing that things just get crazy. With different holiday work schedules and family gatherings for some people and Christmas shopping, and in my case moving, things are just a bit out of whack during these holiday months. It’s definitely harder than I thought it would be….which is weird for me because I religiously workout during spring, summer and fall. |
| Week (4 or 5??) Finally Back On Track!
Alright, I know I’ve been absent from this for a bit, but I’m finally back on track and working out again. After reading a few of the other blogs, I really like how Jenn does it….so I’m going to start organizing mine like that! Monday….off. Tuesday….First workout in a few weeks. I did 37 minutes on the treadmill. 1.95 miles. And since it was hard for me to actually make myself drive to the gym I tried something new that got me a little more motivated. I was working nights this week and therefore not producing the midday show. So at the gym I watched the Midday show and I would run through the news blocks and power walk during the commercials. It was something different and I really enjoyed it. Made me want to go back the next day! Wed….I tried that elliptical type machine by the windows….Says Cybex on it. I like these better than the elliptical because there’s more range of motion. I did a hill interval workout on it for 25 minutes. The resistance makes quite a difference! You feel like you’re going so slow…I only got .98 of a mile! But its hard to fight that resistance. Afterwards I did an Ab workout with the ball under me….that sure makes it burn more than abs on the floor do! Plus it doesn’t hurt your lower back! Love it. Years ago I had a trainer show me that technique. Thursday….I did the treadmill power walk/run intervals during the Midday show again! This time I was on it for 32 minutes and got 2.59 miles. My running parts of the interval were a little faster than Tuesday. But I can definitely tell I’m out of shape. I was running 6.0 on the treadmill for the majority of my run time…and I definitely needed those power walk breaks. Normally I can go 6.0 forever on the treadmill! So it sure takes sometime to get back into it again. Friday…busy before work. Took the day off. Saturday….this was my first Saturday going to the gym! I did it since I was busy Friday. I really enjoyed it though, it gave me something to do on my day off. Saturday I decided to bike on those cool trail riding bikes. I challenged myself a bit more too. Normally I do the Billy Goat Falls trail which is 5.3 miles. Well this week I did Stormy Hollow which is 7.4 miles. Around 4 miles I could definitely feel myself getting slower. But again, I like getting workouts in here and there that gives such tough resistance on the legs. You don’t get that on the tredmil. I did 7.44 miles in 40.43 minutes. I’m not really sure if that’s good or not, so I’ll have to do that trail again and see how I compare. The final hill in that course is killer! 30% incline! People walking by probably think I’m nuts…sitting there struggling and breathing heavy yet my legs are barelly moving. haha. After the bike I did several reps of abs/push-ups. I’ll be back again Monday! Glad I’m finally back on track! |
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Week 6
Well I’m back on the mornings now and I’m in a good routine of getting to the gym right after work ends at noon. Motivation seems to be the hardest thing for me these days. So I’ve had to change up my workouts more so than usual in order to make myself go to the gym.
Monday—Ran on the treadmill a total of 3.41 miles. The first mile I did at 5.8. I planned to do the entire second mile at 6.0, but around 1.70 miles my knee was hurting and I was cramping up. I definitely need to hydrate better! I’m going to start carrying around my 64 oz. jug again. Without it I just don’t drink enough water. I felt like it was taking me forever to get through that second mile! So I picked up the pace to 6.5….then 7.0. Yes, my cramp got worse, but the distance went quicker! When I hit the 2 mile mark I let myself walk. This tells me I’m STILL out of shape! But better than last week! I felt guilty for walking so I decided to make it a bit more challenging. I walked at 4.0 pace with a 5.0 incline until about 2.20 miles. Then my shine splints were kicking in. Oh how I missed those. Haha, not! When I got to 2.30 miles I started running again at a pace of 5.8 with an incline of 3.0. This was definitely more difficult than running with no incline. Easy pace, but I felt a bit more fatigued. I planned on taking away the incline at 2.50 miles…but then I decided I liked the challenge. So instead I slowly brought down the incline by .5 percent every .10 of a mile. As I did this, I also slowly increased my speed until I was at zero percent incline and 6.2 miles per hour at 2.70 miles. Now I’m nearing the end of my run…so again, I want to challenge myself a bit more. Well, challenge? Or just make my time go by faster? Every .05 of a mile I increased my speed by .2. Then at 2.95 miles I jumped from .68 to .78 until I got to 3.02 miles. Done! I then ran at 6.0 until 3.10 miles and then finally, I could walk again. Walked until I got to 3.41 miles. 41 minutes total on Treadmill. Afterward I did the thigh machines. Tuesday—Needed a change up. Again! I find myself getting bored quickly these days. Jogged/walked on the treadmill for a 5 minute warm-up. Then my friend taught me a cool new exercise—doing squats on the balance ball while tossing a medicine ball in the air! Quite tricky but I love it. Then we did some circuits using the weight machines in the middle of the room. Also did some resistance work. Then the sauna! I’ve never been in there before. We stayed in for about 10 minutes. I don’t think I could have stayed much longer, but after the first 2 or 3 minutes I did start to enjoy it. VERY relaxing! I felt exhausted afterward! Wednesday—Today I wasn’t in the mood to workout. So it was perfect when I got to work and received Hector’s Workout In the Holiday Trimmer email. I really enjoyed Hector’s workout. It went by fast. I didn’t even break a sweat yet I could tell I was really working specific muscle groups. Nice change of pace. I couldn’t figure out which ones were the arc trainers…so I did my warm up on the machines by the window that say Cybex…and my cool down on the machines behind those that say Precor. Glad I did my cool down there because I forgot how much I loved the cross ramp feature where you can target the muscles groups it works in your legs! Thursday—Again, not in the mood for anything really. So started off with 15 minutes on the wave. Awesome machine! I’d never tried it before. Then just over 15 minutes on the treadmill, until I got to 1.50 miles—changed up my speed between 6.0, 6.2 and 6.5. Then my last 15 minutes were on the Precor machine. I ended with 3 sets of 12-15 reps each of balance ball squats with medicine ball, crunches with medicine mall, push-ups and inner/outer thigh machines. Friday, Saturday and Sunday I’ll be off because I’m heading home for the weekend for Christmas/my birthday! Since I’m going out of town for both Christmas and New Years I know these next 2 weeks will be my biggest challenge because I’ll definitely be eating a lot more. Be back Monday! |
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Week 7 – Almost The End! Tuesday: Today I tried out the Holiday Trimmer 10. I’m not sure which trainer’s workout it is but it’s called “No excuse for no time to workout circuit.” Now this is supposed to be a fairly quick workout. The thing that makes it take longer than it should is the fact that it’s SO hard!!!!! I started off with 8 lb dumbbells. I quickly moved down to 5 and by the end 3 lbs! I slowed down a lot during the circuit. A minute is actually a really long time to do a set of something! And then repeat 3 times! By the time I got to the end of the circuit, which was mountain climbers, I could only do 10 to 20 seconds at a time because my arms were so worn out they couldn’t hold my body up anymore! This workout surprised me because the circuit consisted of moves I’ve always done, but what a difference 3 minutes of each makes! I felt this workout the rest of the week! I was SO sore! Wednesday: Very sore today. Did a nice easy workout. Precor machine for 2.20 miles which took me 30 minutes. Then sat in sauna in hopes of relaxing my muscles. Although, it didn’t help with my soreness, possibly because it dehydrated me? I’m not sure. Thursday: Today was a very lazy day for me. I was still extremely sore for whatever reason. I walked on the treadmill for about 20 minutes with a low percent incline. I had plans of doing an easy jog to get my muscles working again but I forgot my hair tie! Annoying!! I just wasn’t really feeling the workout today. After the treadmill I went on the wave machine but ended up stopping at 1.20 miles which only took 7-8 minutes. I didn’t like the wave as much this time around. The settings must have been perfect the first time I tried that machine. Because today it was harder to move….which I ended up figuring out it was because of what the resistance was set at…but it made it harder for me to get into. Just didn’t feel as good on the machine as I did when I tried it last week. After that I wasn’t sure how much time I had left because I was supposed to be meeting someone and was waiting for them to call, so I just did some abs with the medicine ball. Again, very slow and lazy day. Really wasn’t feeling it. Needed some days off to get rid of my soreness! Friday through Monday I was out of town…and now my legs and arms have finally recouped. Ready to start the final week of Holiday Trimmings. As far as my weight goes though…man, it really sucks that weigh in comes right after Christmas/New Years. I felt like I was doing way better between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Being out of town for Christmas and New Years made it difficult. Ate a LOT more and didn’t work out! We’ll see how weigh in goes! |
| Aaron Week 1 - Walking into the gym the day before Thanksgiving, I could already feel the holiday laziness seeping in. I meant to run a mile, and then continue to do a leg workout. I did not run at all. I jump roped enough to get my heart going, and worked out. Normally when I do legs, I also do a good ab work out, but I probably only spent about 60 seconds doing abs. My workout was pretty lame. I just couldn’t conquer my feeling of laziness. Hopefully next week I will do better |
| Week 2 -
Monday came around, and you could barely describe my work out as exercise. I think I spent 30 minutes at the Y, half of which was taken up by day-dreaming. Tuesday, I redeemed myself. I’m still sore from a back and bi work out I did. Wednesdays I typically work out my legs, which Jessica refers to as chicken legs. A year and a half ago I had surgery, fasciotomy, on both of my legs. While I hate running, doing so pain free is a great feeling. For the previous five years I avoided running at all costs. Each step felt like an anvil crashing down. Now, it’s a weightless feeling. I’m going on vacation, home to Philadelphia, Friday, and the most exercise I will do is play basketball for an hour. I’m going to eat as much of my mom’s cooking as I can, and I plan on raiding my parents’ fridge until its empty. I’ll be back next week! |
| Week 6 The wonders of stretching! Before playing basketball on Wednesday, I stretched my legs for five minutes. Lately, I’ve been having this nagging calf strain that really hurts after running. Well, problem solved! I ran around for almost two hours, and did not have any strain the next day. I think I’m unfortunately at the age where I can’t just run around without risk of injury. I’ve got the joints and ligaments of a 50-year-old in a 24-year-old’s body. I got accidentally head butted, so I’ve got some bruising around my right eye. I obviously need to be more careful. |
| Week 7
I’m in pretty good shape! Most likely, better than the shape I was in pre-Thanksgiving. Playing basketball the last couple weeks helped out my cardio and overall fitness. I think if I really wanted to be in superb shape I could get there in two weeks, but there’s really no motivation, or reason to do so… this is the state I like to stay in. I don’t play sports competitively anymore so there’s no need for me to be in ridiculous shape, but I’m still healthy and fit. After a couple holiday exercise absences I’m back on track. |
