Just Breath

Ugh! Another week of misses.

I missed making it to my morning work outs at the gym ... ALL WEEK LONG!

I missed eating healthy following a 90/10 rule ... about 4 out of the 7 days this week!

I missed reading the first book on my list this year, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, for 30 minutes a day ... only managing to read 4 pages so far!

I did however manage to practice my guitar, play the drums, craft with friends, walk and play with Pants, and practice singing this week ... most of the time for at least an hour or two at a time!

It's now the beginning of a new week which to me does not mean some sort of fresh start. I poo-poo on that whole idea. What it does mean though is that I need to get a better focus on my health and fitness or I am going to find myself lost in the rabbit hole of wonder and confusion again soon. I have all the tools I need, I just need to start using them ... again!


I am having a hard time finding my motivation and drive to focus on my health and fitness right now. I know why; I have so many other pressing emotional things running amuck in my life right now. I feel like I have been thrown topsy-turvy and I am trying to figure out how to get back on my feet again in so many realms of my life ... and yet so many aspects seem absolutely right. It is just a matter of all the change I have gone through in the past three years and how to understand the new me I am becoming.

Knowing that I am going through so much right now is what has kept me from absolutely kicking my own ass for not maintaining the fitness and nutrition standards I had set for myself just a year ago. I will get back there, I just have to figure out what my new life routine is going to be and make sure fitness and nutrition are a large part of it.

I can do it!

With that said here are this weeks motivational challenges for those of you participating in the "Do Life" mini-challenge with me:

1. Now that you have been watching what you eat for a few weeks. Adding new things and trying to eliminate bad habits lets figure out what our calorie range is and try to stay within it! Follow this link: Calorie Calculator - and find out what your caloric intake should be. Try and meet but do not go above that intake, (seriously it may seem higher than you expect but try and meet it), and do not go below 1200 calories (for women) and 1500 calories (for men). (This is a simple calculator more advanced ones can be found by searching yourself or, what I still highly recommend is to, join SparkPeople.com and get a more accurate range to stay within and a great place to track your food at.)

2. I did not change this goal from last week because I thought we might all like one more week to meet this goal!!! :) Attempt to be able to perform one thing physically that I never thought I could by the end of the week! Some examples could be: doing one full pull-up without assistance, walking/running a longer distance/time than ever before, doing more sit-ups/push-ups/mountain climbers/etc. in a minute at the end of the week than I could at the beginning, etc.

BONUS: Do one of the video challenges I previously sent 3 times this week - they are only 20-30 minutes long so they should fit well what we have already been doing. So since we have already pretty much been doing this what is the "bonus?" Well, add in one more day, but, this time spend your 20 minutes in meditation! Here is a very simple one to work on for those of us, (like me), who suck at this!

So get out there and kick some ass this week!! I know I'm going to try!!

~Tig~

A week for greatness!

Well this week was a downer for me. Getting up in the morning is not easy when you have a puppy that gets you up 2-4 times throughout the night. I only managed to get up in time to hit the morning workouts 3 times this week. She is getting better though, and the past couple of days I managed to ignore her a couple of times and get her to lay back down and sleep. I hope this will help her get use to staying quiet in the bedroom for the 6-8 hours I actually try and sleep!

We shall see.

This is Pants! She is a born runner!

Also conspiring against me meeting my fitness goals is the cold and dark. These two really lend in sapping any inspiration I have to run with Pants after work. However, the light is returning, so soon enough it won't be dark when I get home. That should help inspire me even with the cold. Cold and dark running on streets without sidewalks is not really my cup o' tea.

Neither are excuses for not running. Which I seem to have a ton of lately ... ugh.

I recognize that it is my responsibility to make the changes I want to make. To become familiar and customized with the habits I want to successfully add to my life. To choose health and wellness over depression and sickness. I have tasted the nectar of what feeling and being beautiful mean to me and I want to thrive on that honey again.

So starts week three of my version of the "Do Life" challenge.

This week I will push myself for greatness!!!

Here are this weeks motivational challenges:

1. Add one healthy thing to your overall health/diet/fitness that you never thought you would do and do it each day. Be that eat carrots, run intervals, lift weights, dance with your kids, meditate for 10 minutes, read a chapter from a book each day, etc...

2. Attempt to be able to perform one thing physically that I never though I could by the end of the week! Some examples could be: doing one full pull-up without assistance, walking/running a longer distance/time than ever before, doing more sit-ups/push-ups/mountain climbers/etc. in a minute at the end of the week than I could at the beginning, etc.

BONUS: Do the following workout video 2 times this week, plus work out for 20-40 minutes doing this video or something else you would prefer 2 more times this week, for a total of 4 days in which you workout for 20-40 minutes per day!

If you choose the video the substitutes for the high intensity level of each exercise is:

WARM-UP SECTION -

Side-Squats: Instead of the hop just step to the left, do your best squat, stand up and step the right, do your best squat. Repeat.

Jog in Place: Do this at the intensity level you can maintain. Jog on and off, or walk in place if you cannot jog the entire time.

Knee-Ups: Do these without the jump to lower the intensity if needed.

Up & Out Jacks: Do these without the jump to lower the intensity if needed. Instead of jumping do toe taps in and out. Tap your left toe out, bring it in, tap your right toe out, bring it in, repeat.

Slow Butt Kickers & Arm Swings: There should be no need to modify this, if there is though leave the arms out.

Butt Kickers: If you need to modify, continue doing these without the jog/jump switch-up, just step in place instead.

Lateral Jumps: Rather than jump just step side to side. Slow the motion down to your comfort level.

CARDIO INTERVAL -

Burpee w/Leg Raise: When you do the burpee go slow, bend forward, place your hands flat, step back into push-up position, hold for a second, then bring your feet forward, raise yourself up and lift your legs as high as is comfortable to each side.

Flutterkick Squats: Again, just slow this down. Step forward and back slowly, then squat.

Double Butt Kickers: Do the single butt kickers at a jog/run or, if that intensity is still to intense, just do the single butt kickers with a gently rocking side-to-side step motion instead.

That should do it! The rest is up to you to take on!

~TigressSky~

Resolve!

Did not get out of bed in time to make it to the gym this morning. Did get out in time to make it to my living room though!

Today's living room workout:

In this workout I had to do a couple modified versions of the exercises: 

Cross Crunch Getup - I did not do the opposite arm to opposite leg as I could not balance myself on a single arm. Instead I just crunched up, raised myself up, held and went back down.

Mountain Climbers - These are my nemesis. I had to take 15 second breaks rather than 10.

Butt Kickers - I attempted the double butt kickers but never did manage to get myself high enough to do them. (Someday though.) So I switched to single leg butt kickers instead.

I forgot to put on my heart rate monitor though, so I am not positive what my full calories worked is but I assume it was about 300. These interval training workouts are always more intense than you ever expect them to be. Next time I don't make it to the gym I will do two videos to get a full hour in!

For part of my new year resolutions I wanted to make it to the gym every weekday morning before work for at least an hour as well as run with the dog for 20-30 minutes every evening when I get home. I am setting myself up to not fail at this endeavor.

What do I mean by that? Simple. I am not starting off at that level - because I am not at that level yet.

Instead, I have focused on trying to accomplish these things each day as the day comes. I used Excel and made a tracking document for all of my resolutions. I broke it up by weeks, Monday through Sunday, so that if I manage a full week of success for my goals then I can reward myself in some form. Each day I mark down which of my goals I accomplished. Then, at the end of the week I can review what I did well and what I was not successful at. Allowing me to try something new the next week to try and reach my goals.

By the end of the year, my hope is, I should no longer need a tracking document as I will just do everything by habit!

I think the way I am approaching my resolutions this year helps guarantee success. I don't feel overwhelmed and yet I still feel accountable to reach my goals.

I hope you all are reaching yours!

~TigressSky~

Small Successes

This week was not the success I was hoping for. Most of that is because I have been sick all week. Coughing fits are making it a nightmare to really plan any consistent physical activity. Taking meds, which knock me out, so I can sleep through the night without coughing make it nearly impossible to wake up at 4am and make it to the gym. I am hoping this week - now that the constant congestion building mucus has broken and my lungs are just busily dispelling the old gunk - I will be able to make it in every morning and get myself back into the groove.

This week was not a total failure though. I did manage to diligently track my food all week and drink at least 48ounces of water a day. I only made it to the gym twice, yet when I did I pushed myself with heavy weight lifting and 30 minutes of interval jogging on the treadmill. I also managed to lose 2 pounds of fat!

This really helped me to recognize that my biggest problem in making this work is nutrition and managing my diet - not necessarily my physical fitness. Even without the gym I walk 2 miles a day - one mile to and one mile from work. I also take my dog for small walks to the park and play tug-o-war with her in the evenings.

So it is that my bigger focus is currently on managing my diet appropriately and getting that back under the control of habit. As soon as I have that accomplished I will start pushing myself physically again. Because I also know that the body I love came from a sufficient combo of these two things in my life. I have bigger goals than just losing the fat! Although I honestly can't say what they all are right now ... they are there, brewing in the back of my brain, just waiting for the moment to take over and lead! I can't wait to let them and make room for more!!!

This is the second week of the "Do Life" challenge I am managing for a small group of friends and me. I am waiting to see more results reported today, but I have already come up with our motivation challenges for next week. If you are interested in joining us here they are. You can pick one to try or do both:


1. Cut one bad habit out this week and replace it with one good habit. Now this can just last for the week as a challenge or you can try and do it from this point forward. Point is, try something challenging because you only have to commit to it for one week! so why not?

A few examples of things you could try: stop drinking soda entirely and replace that with a healthier choice (or the healthiest of choices water), stop getting a latte everyday and switch to a flavored americano instead, stop watching as many hours of television and replace that time with reading a book (or writing your own!), etc...

2. Attempt to be able to perform one thing physically that I never though I could by the end of the week! Some examples could be: doing one full pull-up without assistance, walking/running a longer distance/time than ever before, doing more sit-ups/push-ups/mountain climbers/etc. in a minute at the end of the week than I could at the beginning, etc. -

Bonus Challenge: Continue to work out for at least 20-30 minutes a day for four days this week, with at least one of those days focused on intense interval training. Meaning that you spend at least half the time (10-15 mins) in a high intensity training zone for at least 1.5 to 2 minutes at a time. For 20 minutes that will be 4-5 reps of high intensity intervals and for 30 minutes that will be 6-7 reps of high intensity intervals.

Whatever it is you chose to try to accomplish - be it one of these things, both of these things, just the challenge, everything and the challenge, or something you want to focus on - share with someone what your goals are so they can help cheer you on. Studies prove that sharing your goals makes you feel more accountable for them and therefore helps ensure you are that much more successful!

That is what it is all about - achieving your goals and finding your own success!!!

~TigressSky~

If you are interested in joining us and sharing with us you can find us under Tigress Fitness on Facebook or Google+. You can also click the links below to be taken directly to our pages. We are a small group so you won't be overwhelmed by posts or messages - just find a small group of others trying to achieve the same goals!

New Year, New Me!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It has been 4 months since I have posted anything. In those four months I have lost everything I gained - health and fitness wise that is. Although my personal and professional life have gained so much, I cannot complain. It was a focus trade off for awhile and now I am ready to get my health and fitness back into the mix!

How about everyone else?

I assume we are all starting this new year off with some health and fitness related resolutions. I know I am! Goal right now is to lose the 15lbs I have gained by my birthday, June 1st. I came up with this goal using SMART goal setting metrics and feel confident it can be achieved. That is, it can be achieved if I go for it!

GO FOR IT!!! 

So it is I came across Ben's start your year off right Do Life Challenge! Now, Ben's challenge had everyone weighing in this week and and starting a kick-off to health journey together on Monday. Each week Ben would provide some fitness/motivation challenges for that week to help keep everyone on track. Whoever lost the most by the end of the month wins. The only problem with Ben's challenge is that to participate you chip in $10 - which is going to be used to pay for the prizes at the end.

It was here that I decided to create my own challenge and present it to my facebook group, also called Tigress Fitness, as something we could do in our group. There would be no fee, we could share each week things we accomplished - be that fat loss or a new health or fitness goal achieved. We wouldn't really be competing with each other, we would just be doing it together and cheering each other on!

Today I posted our first fitness/motivation challenge and I am cross-posting it here in case anyone who reads
this is interested in joining us.

I came up with two, you can choose one or try both! Whichever you feel you would like to do.

1. This week I will focus on getting at least 48oz (6 cups) but preferably 64oz (8 cups) of water drank per day!

-and/or-

2. This week I will focus on getting at least 20 minutes of activity but preferably 30 minutes of activity in per day. This will be activity that must get my heart rate up. If I think about exercising in "Heart Rate Zones" I will ensure the activity keeps me in the range of 3-4: meaning I can carry on a conversation but I am still reaching a point were breathing requires more of my focus.

And as a bonus challenge - I will do my activity in interval form and spend 1 to 2 out of every five minutes pushing myself to a 7-8 or 9-10 heart rate zone during that 1 to 2 minutes. At a level 7-8 you cannot talk while you are working out, you are heavily focused on the activity at hand, your breathing is intense. At a level 9-10 you are at your max, you have trouble breathing because you are reaching an anaerobic state, a minute or two can feel like a lifetime here.

Remember, healthy fat loss comes at .5 to 2 pounds per week. Some of us may see great fat loss results. Some of us may see no fat loss results. This is a challenge we are taking with ourselves, having friends here to motivate us along the way! So, at the end of the week, when you report in, find at least ONE positive thing that came out of your week to share. You will get something out of it! I promise. :)

So, if you want to join us and report in on your successes in the next post, please do! I know come Sunday I will have at least one positive thing to report. I hope you will too!

One more thing though ....

Just wanted to share a chart of Heart Rate Zones to help clarify a bit what I mean by levels 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 so you have a picture of what I mean. Everyone's level of fitness will be different so the amount of effort we each put in to reach each of these levels will be very different as well.

1-2: Is something you could do for hours without really feeling stressed, the blue recovery level.
3-4: Is something you can do for 20-30 minutes (most likely an hour) with a small amount of sweat, able to hold a conversation, still getting breathy, the pink fat burning level.
5-6: Is the lower end of the purple target heart rate zone, this level allows you to have a conversation but not very well, you are more concentrated on breathing and the activity at hand.
7-8: Is the top end of the purple target heart rate zone, this level doesn't really allow for conversation but you can still get a few words out here and there, your breathing and activity are your biggest focus.
9-10: Is the top of your game. You really cannot sustain this level for more than 1 or 2 minutes, you cannot talk at all, and you feel like you cannot breath, this is because you are in the red anaerobic training zone.

Heart rate training is one of the best ways you can achieve your goals.

If you have a heart rate monitor you can keep yourself in your target zones by keeping track of your number of beats per minute and keeping yourself in that zone. If you find yourself above the zone, then slow down or stop using your arms - below the zone speed up or add in more exercise.

If you want to monitor your heart rate by hand you can as well - but it is never very accurate. Take a 10 second pause once you have reached the highest point in the intensity level you think you should be working at. During that 10 seconds find your heart beat and count the beats per second. Multiple that by 10 and you should see the jist of the heart rate zone you are in.

I find it easiest to just use the 1-10 scale and allow myself to judge it by how I am feeling. Although, admittedly I have invested in a heart rate monitor and I did find I was never really pushing myself enough when I worked out just judging by the scale method. 

Anyway you do it, it still works! So just do it! Please? :)

~TigressSky~