Tuesday, February 28, 2012

I'm DONE!!!

YAY!!! I finished my 10,000 Swing Challenge today!!! I knocked out 550 swings yesterday (did another 300 after Zumba last night) and did 700 at work today!! Wahoo!!! Its nice to be done with that challenge! It feels good to accomplish something like that!!

Kettlebell Swings Challenge (last night)
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 3 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 3 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 3 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 3 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 50 Calories
Total Time: 10 Minutes
Total Swings: 300

Kettlebell Swings Challenge (done today)
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 7 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 175 Calories
Total Time: 27 Minutes
Total Swings: 700

Now - time to start training for the Warrior Dash!! So excited!!!! Its gonna be fabulous!!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 10,000 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 479 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 2996 Calories Torched

Monday, February 27, 2012

Swings at Work

Okay - knocked out 250 swings with the 15 pounder before I hopped on a conference call today. I can definitely tell the difference between the 10 pounder and 15 pounder. I'm stronger than I was before, so it was easier to move - but it hit my muscles in a different way which was nice. Not sure if I'll be able to get any more done before I leave, if I don't the rest will be done at home later today before class. Since I don't have my Bugg on - I guessed calorie burn based on prior burns

Kettlebell Swings Challenge with 15lb bell
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 3 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 3 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 55 Calories
Total Time: 15 Minutes
Total Swings: 250

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 9,000 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 442 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 2771 Calories Torched

Happy Monday (kind of)

Alrighty peeps - its Monday again! I had a great lazy day yesterday and definitely could have had a few more lazy days before coming back to work today. After my 1,000 swing accomplishment on Saturday - my body was WIPED out yesterday. I was only able to do another 200 swings before my body just said "nope"

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 2 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 40 Calories
Total Time: 10 Minutes
Total Swings: 200

This morning, I had a long-needed appointment with my endocrinologist. Its been a while since I got my bloodwork done and I wanted to make sure everything is working okay. I passed all the physical tests and he ordered a full thyroid screen for my bloodwork that should be back on Wednesday. He also suggested that I change the type of birth control I'm on - since that could be having an adverse impact on my thyroid & weight issues. *fabulous* So now I have an appointment on Friday with my primary care physician to get a full physical and get a different type of birth control.

I feel like a total space cadet today as well. I managed to pack myself breakfast & lunch and get all my information ready for my doctor's appointment. However, I totally forgot to grab my 10 pound kettlebell AND I forgot to put on my BodyBugg again this morning....*grumble* Anyways, I'm out of work in a few hours, meeting a friend for a little training session after work, then I'll be able to get home and relax a little before Zumba.

I have to do 625 swings today and 625 swings tomorrow to reach my goal before Wednesday. I'm off work on Wednesday and don't think I'll have any time to finish it then, so I want to make sure I'm finished beforehand. I have my 15 pound kettlebell here at work today, so I will see how many swings I can do with that one while I'm at work today. Hopefully it won't be too taxing on my system - considering I had bloodwork done and I've got Zumba class tonight

I'll update this later with any swings that I get done today! I wish I sat in a quiet corner of the office so I could swing at my desk and not have to worry about it...but I'm in the corner of a glorified "fishbowl" and everyone can see me! haha! I'll sneak away to the gym in a few minutes and hopefully knock a few hundred out without an issue.

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 8,750 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 427 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 2716 Calories Torched

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Kick Ass Saturday!

Alrighty - didn't get any swings done yesterday. Was a lazy brat in the late morning/early afternoon then had ZumbAtomic in the afternoon as a make-up class. After class, hubby and I went to the Casino for a Date Night. We ate dinner at a killer steakhouse and won $100 on the slot machines! SCORE!!

This morning, had Zumba class which was awesome! Had an initial fit test with a new personal training client, then went to a fabulous lunch - pasta with shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms & sundried tomatoes! YUM!! The afternoon was spent rearranging the living room/dining room with the hubby. The treadmill is now in the dining room area - hopefully that goes well. I wanna run on it to try it out and see how it goes!

Once that was over, I put together a new circuit for Curves and tomorrow I get to practice that for a hopeful rollout next Saturday morning (if not Wednesday). I put some fun songs on it, so I hope it will be a super fun mix!!!

Then - hubby and I decided to catch up on DVR stuff in the evening. So we watched last week's episode of FaceOff (love that show!) and are now catching up on The Voice. During FaceOff, I decided to not be lazy - so I grabbed my kettlebell and ROCK OUT 1,000 SWINGS!!! YES!!! 1,000 SWINGS!!! Holy hell that was a lot!! Oddly enough, I was on such a roll that I *could* have kept going, but I wanted to take some time to relax and then eat dinner (i.e. leftovers from lunch! haha!)

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 10 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 10 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 10 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 10 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 225 Calories
Total Time: 32 Minutes
Total Swings: 1,000

I've only got 1,450 Swings left!!! I'm looking forward to finishing this challenge and starting my Warrior Dash training!! I also can't wait to see how much stronger I am in my regular strength training after this challenge. I'm thinking I can easily go up to the 15 pounder in my regular Kettlebell workouts which is gonna be awesome

That's about it for me - tomorrow is lots of Zumba and hopefully a ton more swings. Maybe if I do some in the morning and evening I can finish my 1450 remaining ones!! Woot!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 8,550 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 417 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 2676 Calories Torched

Thursday, February 23, 2012

I will be a Warrior!!!!

YAY!! Happy Thursday everyone!! This week has been a toughie for me - nutrition has been off all week and my energy has been totally zapped. I survived my classes yesterday but when I got home I went straight to bed & passed out! I was SO tired! Today I'm feeling better and hopefully the trend will continue!

The hubby and I are talking about changing our nutrition around - the plan we were on wasn't designed to last 2 months and I think we're both a little tired of it. I've always leaned towards a lower fat/protein higher carb diet because of my activity levels and known history of tummy issues - so this might work out well for me. Hubby is interested in something similar so we'll have to go grocery shopping and see what looks good

Anyways - to the reason for my title......HUBBY AND I REGISTERED FOR THE WARRIOR DASH TODAY!!!! Yahoo!!! OMG I'm SO excited!! Its going to be AMAZING!! There's a 6-7 week training program online, so we're going to start that at the beginning of March (or whenever I finish my Kettlebell swing challenge - whichever comes first!) This is going to be such a cool experience and I can't believe I get to share it with my hubby and some of my closest friends!! Its going to be incredible!!!

I was a bundle of energy today (excitement from registration I suppose) so I knocked out 825 swings without even blinking today! I could easily go do a few more, but I don't want to totally wipe myself out...I've got one class this afternoon that I still need energy for. If I manage to knock out some more swings, I'll be sure to update, but for now, I'm happy with what I've done today.

I'm noticing that my body has more power when I'm doing the swings - I feel more explosive when I'm moving upwards (if that makes any sense?!?) so I guess this challenge is doing me lots of good!! Also, ran my BF levels through a calculator today that a SparkFriend directly compared to a DexaScan & Ultrasound method (so she proved its accuracy) and it had me at a solid 23% - so all in all, I'm really pleased with that!!

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 9 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 200 Calories
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Total Swings: 825

Alrighty, that's about it for me!! Tomorrow is Friday & payday (YAY!) got a lazy weekend planned, only 2,450 swings left (which I'm hoping to finish by Sunday) and I got DolphinTale on Netflix - yes, I'm a sappy nerd, but I wanna watch it. Lots of good things are coming our way!!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 7,550 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 385 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 2451 Calories Torched

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Quickie Update!

Alrighty - so didn't get any swings done yesterday. Worked on new Zumba choreo in the morning, was a lazy brat with the hubby in the afternoon and had Zumba class last night.

Today - back at work. It was super hard to wake up this morning, but thankfully the day is almost over. The past few days have been bad nutritionally - toying with the idea of doing a healthier "cleanse" just to drop this water weight and get some energy back. Been feeling kinda sluggish the past few days.

Anyways, knocked out 700 swings today at work - but forgot to put on my Bugg this morning so calorie burns are estimated with what I've been burning with this challenge so far.

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 7 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 220 Calories
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Total Swings: 700

Alrighty, that's about it for me - not much to update....kind of a blah day! Looking forward to the weekend already! haha!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 6,725 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 355 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 2251 Calories Torched

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Kick Ass Day!

Hiya peeps! How are you all? I'm doing great today! Knocked out 600 swings yesterday and had a nice dinner out with the hubby and a friend last night! Burgers & sweet potato fries! YUM!! AND a Strawberry Chocolate milkshake for dessert!! Totally killer!!

For my swings - I've started doing all 100 (1 set of each) without any rest, which has caused calorie burns to go down a little bit (since I'm getting everything done faster) but its definitely working myself harder & making me stronger. I did the same thing this morning and I think this will work well for the rest of the challenge.

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 6 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 6 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 6 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 6 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 165 Calories
Total Time: 25 Minutes
Total Swings: 600

This morning, hubby went to help a friend move while I went to class. They were so fabulous today! I totally whooped their butts and they loved every minute of it!!! I burned 635 calories in an hour & 12 minutes! Definitely good times! My legs were toast at the end of it!!!

After class, I went to the bank, ran some errands and came home and rocked out 400 swings today. I was going to get more done, but my knee started feeling wonky and I didn't want to push it. This rounds out 1,000 swings in 2 days so I'd say that's pretty damn good!


Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 4 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 4 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 4 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 4 sets of 25 reps

Total Calories Burned: 110 Calories
Total Time: 15 Minutes
Total Swings: 400

Alrighty, so that's about it for me. Was totally hungry after class & swings but we don't have a lot of food in the house - so ended up getting chinese food for lunch. So yummy!! We have a dinner date tonight with my mom & her husband and its going to be AWESOME!! Now, I'm going to rest a little bit, then start getting ready. I'm thinking about "girling" it up a little bit and painting my nails, doing makeup, wearing a skirt tonight. Dressing up is always fun!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 6,025 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 325 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 2031 Calories Torched

Friday, February 17, 2012

Okay - he's right....

One of my coworkers sent me this earlier today....the only way he could describe it was its "hillary-ish" and he said it reminded him of me and I've gotta say he nailed it!

Storytime Video | Nightwish | Contactmusic.com

Piano Playing Pirates & Snow White - if that isn't ME in a music video, not sure what is!!!! Its been a LONG time since I've listened to Nightwish...must listen to them SOON!!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

YAY its Valentine's Day!!! Hubby and I are both working, so nothing special going on today - but its still a good day!! First of all, I managed to wake up this morning without wounding myself...this is a plus! Shoulder feels great today!!!

Managed to avoid all but 4 bites of a cake at work - which is amazing considering there are sweets all around!! I knocked out my kettlebell swings for the day, met my goal and have 2 classes this afternoon which will be really fun!! Its amazing - in just the past two weeks of this challenge I'm noticing I'm getting stronger. I can knock out more swings on a daily basis than I could before, my back feels stronger & getting more defined, my legs & butt look better already and my arms are looking great! Can't wait to see what 2 more weeks on this will do!!!

Nutrition has been on track for the past few days and I'm downing water like crazy - so hopefully getting ready for a woosh coming up. Still holding on to some water weight from this weekend and hoping to make some more progress before the week is over. We have a fabulous Valentine's Day dinner planned for this weekend that I'm TOTALLY going to indulge in! haha!

Anyways - back to my workout for today:

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 7 sets of 25 reps

Total Swings for the Day: 775 Swings!!!
Calories Burned: 235 calories
Total Time: 39 minutes

I HIT AND PASSED THE HALFWAY POINT!!! WAHOO!!! I'm proud of my progress with this challenge so far! Its designed to be done in only 30 days - but since its February, I'm feeling the pressure to get it done in 28 (even though its a Leap Year) - so I'm right on track with where I need to be!!

Happy Day!!! Anyways, that's it for me - time to go now! Hope you all have an amazing day!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 5,025 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 285 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 1756 Calories Torched

Monday, February 13, 2012

Happy Monday!

Alrighty peeps - we are back to Monday....back to the grind as they say. Anyways, this weekend was awesome. I'm getting a much better handle on my weekend eating and its starting to pay off!

Saturday night, we went out with some friends to Olive Garden for dinner (first time I've had pasta in 6 weeks!) and it was SO good! I swear they put crack on those damn breadsticks! haha! Anyways, after that - we went to our friend's chorus performance that was totally fabulous! We made it home around 10pm and I totally passed out at that point.

Sunday, we both slept in late. We didn't roll out of bed until around 10am and met hubby's mom for breakfast/lunch at Dions. Though I really wanted pizza, I was good and got a sandwich, salad & fruit (little victory!) Then we went grocery shopping & headed home. At that point, we both felt like we were in a "purging" mood and we decided to tear apart the bedroom (and enjoyed watching some snow while we were doing it!) We are getting rid of 6 garbage bags (so far!) of stuff to donate to goodwill and we moved the furniture around so its more functional in our giant bedroom. Needless to say - we love it! We worked our tails off, but it was worth it! Now onto the rest of the house! haha!

Once that was done, we both relaxed and watched an episode of Warehouse 13 on the DVR while I installed TurboTax on our computer. Got our taxes filed (not nearly as scary as I was thinking with all my classes!) and watched "Forks Over Knives" on Netflix - great movie that really makes ya think!

When I got up this morning, I had a total YIKES moment. When the alarm went off, I reached over to hit the snooze button and I tweaked my damn shoulder! It hurt like hell! I yelped so loud I woke hubby up and it wasn't feeling very good after that. I tried streching it in the shower but it still felt funky. I've got full forward range of motion, but anything going backwards hurts like hell right where my trap meets my deltoid on my collarbone. Go me!

This morning, woke up to only a 2 pound jump in the scale after all my weekend craziness instead of my usual 4 or 5 - which goes to show how much I'm learning about what I can and can't do with my nutrition to reach my goals but still enjoy life. Gotta love it!

Since forward motion doesn't hurt, I decided to hazard my swings today. I wanted to knock out a big number today just to get ahead for the first half of the month. Even though I know I've still got a few weeks left of this challenge, the fact that tomorrow is the 14th and I'm not quite halfway through my 10,000 swings made me a little nervous this morning. I'd always rather be ahead than behind.

Anyways, glad I decided to knock out my swings today instead of resting my arm! I was feeling energetic & strong today! I rocked out a whopping 820 swings at work!! That's the most I've done in a day so far & WITH a bum shoulder!! haha!! I'm super excited!! Since my shoulder was wonky and I don't want to risk injury - I took the swings a little slower, held them longer at shoulder height and really felt it all through my back today! I'm SO Thrilled!

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps plus another 20 reps at the end
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 8 sets of 25 reps

Total Swings for the Day: 820 Swings!!!
Calories Burned: 261 calories
Total Time: 46 minutes

It is my goal tomorrow to surpass the halfway point in this challenge and it will be downhill from there for the rest of the month!!! Anyways, that's about it for me. Almost done with work, then home to eat some food and relax before Zumba tonight. Gotta love Mondays!!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 4,250 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 246 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 1521 Calories Torched

Saturday, February 11, 2012

A Great Way To Start The Day!!!

Alrighty - so hubby and I had a kick ass date night yesterday. He took me to see "The Woman In Black" and it was amazing! We shared a popcorn and then went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings after!! As a testament to how far we've come with our eating, we ordered the amount of food we used to, BUT this time we ended up bringing most of it home!! We shared an order of fried pickles, I had a few fries and only 9 wings!! Go us!! Surprisingly - even with all that sodium, my weight really didn't jump too much from it at all (only about 1 pound instead of the usual 3!)

We came home after that and totally relaxed last night & watched some stuff on Netflix. I got a great night's sleep before getting up and going to class this morning. OMG Saturday classes are AMAZING and I'm so glad that we picked up those classes again!! I scorched 635 calories during Zumba this morning and had a blast doing it! We had 4 newbies in class today, so its always killer to have new people in class!!

After that, I came home and found hubby still sleeping - he's been popping DayQuil all week and hasn't been feeling 100%, so I decided to let him sleep and use the time to knock out my kettlebell swings for the day!! So I put on the Science Channel (yes, total nerd remember??) and rocked out 505 kettlebell swings before calling myself done for the day. I could have done more, but I didn't necessarily need to and now its already noon - so I don't want to spend the WHOLE day working out! haha!

So now - here's the workout for the day

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps (and then 5 extra to make an even number completed so far)
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 5 sets of 25 reps

Total Swings for the Day: 505 Swings
Calories Burned: 225 calories
Total Time: 36 minutes

Once I was finished - I decided to treat myself to a great stretch and roll out on the foam roller. OMG its been so long since I rolled out on the foam roller and it HURT!! It was all a happy pain, but still pain nonetheless. I feel so much better after that...my whole body feels like jello!

The plus to knocking out my workouts already - I'm already at 1830 calories burned for the day, 6559 Steps and 2 hours 21 minutes of activity and its only noon!!! Gotta love killer burn days on the weekend!!!

I think that's about it for me!! Happy Saturday of Zumba, Swings & killer rollouts. Now off to shower, eat some breakfast then venture forth for our fabulous plans for the day!! I hope you all are having as great a Saturday as I am so far!!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 3,430 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 200 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 1260 Calories Torched

Friday, February 10, 2012

Happy Friday!!

Wahoo!! So its Friday!!! I only had to work 4 hours today - gotta love it when the boss lets us leave early!!! I knocked out 200 swings on my first break at work today and am not sure if I'll get any more today or not.

I came home and was totally in the mood to work out - but didn't feel like doing any more swings. So I put in the BBL DVDs that I borrowed from a coworker and rocked out the Basics & Bum Bum workouts. Holy Glutes, Batman!! That was a fun little workout! Perhaps I'll keep that in the rotation for the future! Burned through 300 calories in 43 minutes - not bad for cardio/strength training.

Tonight, date night out with the hubby - we're planning on going out to dinner and having a fabulous night! Until hubby gets home from work, I'm gonna be nice & lazy and catch up on "Vampire Diaries" on the DVR.

Anyways, that's about it. Kind of a nice boring day and I'm loving every minute of it! Might get more kettlebell swings...might not....we'll just see how the day goes from here! We've got a fabulous weekend planned so I'm looking forward for a little bit of downtime

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 2 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 2 sets of 25 reps

Total Workout Time: 10 mins
Total Calories Burned: 65 Calories Burned
Total Swings: 200


The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 2,925 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 164 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 1035 Calories Torched

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Crazyb*tch!!

First of all - thank you to Buckcherry for coming on during my swings today. Rockin' out to Crazyb*tch was just fabulous (also thanks to H.I.M., Fuel, Avenged Sevenfold, Good Charlotte & Muse for making an appearance as well!!) Before I get onto today's awesomeness - I need to go over yesterday's drama....

Yesterday, I had a minor freak out - thankfully only the hubby got the brunt of it and no one else got to enjoy my wrath. I have been on this eating plan for about 6 weeks now and I've been losing & gaining the same 6 pounds the whole time (weekends are my downfall). I am trying to get better at it, but it was frustrating to not see any progress.

So I totally vented to him yesterday, he tried to make me feel better - because he's so fabulous, I drank some caffeine, took a nap then magically felt better. Anyways, after all that girly drama, I woke up today and dropped another 2 pounds for a total loss of 9 pounds since I started!! Go figure! I'm the lowest I've been in months and definitely back on the right track! Maybe I should throw a drama fit more often :-P

Anyways, before my Zumba class yesterday - I got bored and managed to snap a really cool photo of myself. My eyes are naturally hazel with a lot of green & blue in them, but most of the time the brown overtakes the green in the photos(unless there's really good lighting) - so needless to say, I was SO excited when I snapped this pic of myself! Would have been better if I'd been smiling, but still - I like the pic a lot!

Hello Green Eyes!!!

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

OH - remember that 3rd pair of earrings I got for Christmas but forgot to take pics of...I'm wearing them here...aren't they fun??

Anyways, after being cranky most of the morning, taking a nap, snapping a cool pic of my eyes and ultimately feeling better, I headed off to my first of 3 Zumba classes for the day. In case some of you aren't aware, I teach Zumbatomic (i.e. Zumba for kids) for an after school program in my city. So my first class of the day was at an elementary school and was super fun. I only had the older kids yesterday since the younger ones were in a "presentation" in the next room over. Little did I know, an ambassador from our local zoo was there with some critters!!!

SO - when Zumba was over, I ran next door and he let me see some of his animals!! They were so awesome!! First of all, some of you might not think this is a big deal...but I have NEVER seen an armadillo up close before. And OMG it was the cutest little cantaloupe with legs that I've ever seen!!! If it wasn't totally cruel to keep a wild animal - I'd totally want one as a pet!!!

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

Seeing the armadillo totally *MADE* my day so much better!! THEN - the guy opened up a cooler and let me see this -

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

BABY CROCODILE!!! AHH! So fun!!!

Anyways, needless to say I was in a fabulous mood throughout the rest of my day. The rest of my Zumba classes went great and I slept really well! It rained last night and I always sleep better when it rains! AND I woke up to my lower weight (as I said before) - so overall its a great day!!

Just for a little update - as of this morning I was at 2,000 swings into my "10,000 Kettlebell Swings Challenge" and I totally ROCKED it today at work!! I'm really enjoying this challenge and already seeing some great muscle definition changes in my back - woot!! I snapped some pics of my back yesterday and OMG I'm seeing lots of awesome muscle bumps back there!! Can't wait to see the changes in the next few weeks!!

So back to today's awesomeness....not sure what got into me, but I had BOUNDLESS energy today (and I'm still kinda bouncing off the walls a little bit) and I got 725 swings done at work today!!! 725 SWINGS!!! EEP!!! Definitely excited about that!! I got 125 done on my first break, 400 done on lunch and the last 200 done on my last break. I feel like a bad ass! I'm really taking the time to focus on my form and I'm noticing strength improvements all over!!! I'm keeping the weight at the 10 pounder for now and probably going to keep it there for a while. With all my classes, I don't want to risk overtraining - and by correcting my form and using less momentum than I was before, I'm getting challenged by this weight again - so I'm thrilled!

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 8 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 7 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 7 sets of 25 reps

Total Workout Time: 44 mins
Total Calories Burned: 270 Calories Burned
Total Swings: 725!!!!

I think that's about it for me! I hope you all have a fabulous day!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 2,725 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 154 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 970 Calories Torched

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Okay - back at it

So this weekend was super crazy - but I did an okay job with nutrition. My plan about eating more on Thursdays worked out well and I wasn't ravenous on Friday. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for date night dinner and I ate sensibly and dropped a little weight on Saturday morning.

Saturday, I was feeling a little lazy, but still knocked out 200 swings before we met a friend of ours for the afternoon. He and his family were in town and we haven't seen them in months, so we went to drive go carts and eat New Mexican food for dinner (needless to say, it was covered in cheese & chile - but SO good! haha!)

Sunday - it was all over. I knew it was going to be a rough day nutritionally. I ate a good breakfast at home and took the day off from working out. My body felt like it needed a rest. We went grocery shopping for snacks and chilled at home getting caught up on Being Human. We went over to a friend's house for the game and had a good time. Munched way too much, but that's to be expected I guess.

Weight was up 5lbs of water the next morning, but it dropped off after a day of eating well and I'm back on track today. Hopefully some more progress will be gained this week! Would love to drop enough to get me into the next "10-bracket" considering its only 2 pounds away! haha! Other than that, hubby and I had a total f*ck it all mood yesterday. Other than my Curves class I was totally lazy and didn't do any swings. My body was just tired - knees achy, feet hurt & just felt weak. So I decided to rest a little bit

The rest did me some good. As I stated before, I dropped all my water weight and am back on track. Resting yesterday gave me the energy to help me KILL my swings today!! Since I didn't want to destroy my knees, I didn't focus on getting as low on my squats and dropped my bell weight back down to the 10 pounder until I'm able to fully recover. I got 125 done on my first break, 375 done on lunch and another 75 done on my last break for a grand total of 575 swings for the day! Woot!!

Okay - that's about it for me. I've got two classes tonight and am looking forward to them. Here's my workout stats for the day:

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 6 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 6 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 6 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 5 sets of 25 reps

Total Workout Time: 34 mins
Total Calories Burned: 200 Calories Burned
Total Swings: 575!!!!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 2,000 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 110 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 700 Calories

Friday, February 3, 2012

Happy Friday!

Alrighty! So today is a fabulous day! I found out I'm getting out of work an hour and a half early - so that's a great way to start the weekend!! I was also able to knock out my Kettlebell Swings at work today and my arms are still shaking from it! haha!

My first 3 sets today were done with my 15 pounder (I finally remembered to bring it from home!) and my final 2 were done with the 10 pounder - I did my last 4 sets pretty much back to back and didn't have a lot of time to recover, so my arms were toasted when I was finished! I'm thinking the 15 pounder is great for the squat swings, but its really difficult for the no squat swings - might have to work on that for sure since bringing 2 bells to work is kind of inconvenient.

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps (3 with 15 lbs and 2 with 10 lbs)
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps (3 with 15 lbs and 2 with 10 lbs)
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps (3 with 15 lbs and 2 with 10 lbs)
No Squat Swings: 5 sets of 25 reps (3 with 15 lbs and 2 with 10 lbs)

Total Workout Time Today: 41 Mins
Total Calories Burned: 260 Calories
Total Swings: 500 Swings!!

OH and another little victory - today I passed the "pencil test" Wahoo!! For those of you that don't know what it is, you put a pencil right where your butt meets your hamstrings - if it stays there, your bum obviously needs some lifting, but if it falls to the floor, you're nice & lifted!! And today, I tried it with a pen before I did my swings and it fell!!! Yippee!!! Gotta love squat butts!!!!

I surprisingly didn't have a lot of DOMS from yesterday's swings, but my legs were totally wiped out during my last 2 sets. My squats weren't as low as they normally are which is another reason why I switched back to the 10 pounder for the last 2 rounds. Gotta love strong shaky legs!!!

In other news, I've been observing my nutrition over the past 2 weeks. I noticed Wednesdays, I eat what I normally do. Thursdays, I eat what I normally do even though I'm kind of ravenous. Fridays, its all over - I'm super hungry ALL day and this usually leads to binges and going off my plan. So, this week I'm trying something different. I ate normally on Wednesday. Ate a little extra yesterday (in the form of chicken breast covered in Asian Zing sauce) and today (miraculously!) I'm not about to eat a horse! I'm sticking with my eating plan and am totally okay with it!! I'm happy with myself for figuring out that pattern, since it makes weekends just *that* much harder to get through!!

Tomorrow morning, I've got my class (yay!) and then I'll plan on getting my swings in over the course of the day. We have a friend coming in from out of town whom we haven't seen since the wedding, so we'll probably be hanging out with him most of the day. Hopefully I'll have enough time - otherwise I'll have to make up for it on Sunday!

Have a good weekend everyone!

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 1,225 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 100 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 680 Calories

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Holy Hell...

I'm gonna be sore tomorrow! Haha!! Today was the first day of the Kettlebell challenge that I was able to push myself to full numbers - and OMG this is going to kick my ass! haha! After the 225 that I did yesterday, I had CrAzY DOMS in my lower back and around my ribcage - I guess my back wasn't as strong as I thought it was! BUT it will be by the end of the month! haha!

Kettlebell swings totally thrash me - they're full body workouts for sure...my legs, butt, abs, back, shoulders, arms & every other body part are gonna be toasted after these 4 weeks and I'm lovin' every minute of it!!

OH before I get into my workouts - as promised, here's my new workout gear. I think its super cute and I love the colors in the top!

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

Okay - now back to the workout for the day. I did all my swings today in the same pattern as yesterday (doubles, singles both sides, no squat) for an even 100. I give myself minimal rest, enough time to write down my reps, before jumping into the next one - so its proving to be some good cardio too! I got the first 100 done on my first break at work, 300 done at lunch (this kicked my ass!) and my last 100 on my last break at work. After work, I've gotta go grocery shopping, but after that I shall be a lazy ass until my class tonight at 430 :-D

Kettlebell Swings Challenge
Double Arm Swings with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Right) with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps
Single Arm Swings (Left) with Squats: 5 sets of 25 reps
No Squat Swings: 5 sets of 25 reps (by rep 15 of these my arms are screaming!)

Total Workout Time Today: 42 Mins
Total Calories Burned: 290 Calories
Total Swings: 500 Swings!!

And just for funsies - I snapped this pic at the end of my 300 swing lunchtime fun! I felt like a badass! haha! I'm lovin' the shoulder definition!!

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 725 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 59 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 420 Calories

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

It's amazing...

It's amazing how a new workout outfit can just make the day so much better! I had time to swing by target in between my first and second class - and $37 later I'm a happy girl :-D

Got some new pants and a cute striped top! Pics of the new gear to come maybe tomorrow. That's all for me! Off to Zumba!!!

Sent from my iPhone

And So It Begins...

Alrighty peeps!! Happy Wednesday!! Today began my "10,000 Swings Challenge" and I'm super excited about it!!! Since today is Wednesday and my busiest day of the week (3 classes after work) I couldn't kill it in the gym like I am planning tomorrow and Friday. BUT I still got a good headstart on my swings and I'm feelin' great! I forgot my heavier kettlebell today - but I think that's a good thing since I can't totally exhaust myself today.

On my lunch break, I was just boiling over with energy - so I grabbed my little shuffle MP3 player, my kettlebell, notebook (so I can track numbers) and headed on back to the gym. I was trying to figure out how best to do the swings, and I figured sets of 25 would make it easier to count. Today I decided to do a rotation of 4 different swings - which made an even 100 when I was done: Double Arm with Squat, Single Arm (both sides) with Squat, and NO squat (meaning all the movement has to come from the core & arms! They are ass kickers!) It worked really well for me and I think I'll be continuing that pattern for sure!

So here's how things went today - I made sure to get about parallel on every squat - I ran out of time so only got 3 sets on the Doubles, but tomorrow should be able to make it through 3 sets of everything (and I need to remember to bring my heavier bell)

Kettlebell Weight - 10 pounder
Double Arms with Squats: Set 1 - 25 reps, Set 2 - 25 reps, Set 3 - 25 reps
Single Arm (right) with Squats: Set 1 - 25 reps, Set 2 - 25 reps
Single Arm (left) with Squats: Set 1 - 25 reps, Set 2 - 25 reps
No Squat Swings: Set 1 - 25 reps, Set 2 - 25 reps

Total Time: 17 mins
Total Calories Burned: 130 calories

The "10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge" Total Count: 225 Swings
Total Time Spent Whoopin' My Bum into Shape: 17 mins
Total Calories Burned Kickin' My Ass: 130 Calories