Water Running: Great Change Up to your Current Routine!

I finally got to try out a Water Running class this week. It wasn’t the normal instructor – so I’m curious to see how the next class will differ. Either way – I sort of went into the class wondering what we would be doing for an hour and if it would be a decent workout or not. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of movements we did and how fast my heart was beating! For those of you with access to a pool but perhaps no access to a class version of water running, I thought I’d give you a run down (no pun intended) of things you can do in the water to get a good workout aside from simply swimming laps (which is no small feat on it’s own if you’ve tried it in your adult life).

You can start in the shallow end to get warmed up. Our pool has an open area and then about 4 lanes blocked off for swimming lanes. So we used the width of the pool in the shallow end from wall to first swim lane to do some shorter laps if that makes sense. We did the following:

Jog in the water (just like you would jog on land) forward to swim lane, return jogging backward. Keep your fingers uncupped so that you aren’t propelling yourself forward with your arms.
Move toward swim lane with alternating high knees, come back to wall doing butt kicks – focus on speed.
Move toward swim lane using a “skip” style – focusing on jumping out of the water and forward. So not focused on speed, but on height of your jump. Make sure you are switching which leg you are leading/jumping with. Return to wall in same style

Of course – you can repeat all these several times for a nice warm up.

The instructor also used Tabata style format to get our cardio workout in. If you aren’t familiar with Tabata – it forces you to work at high intensity for a short period of time and then rest and repeat. You can pick the times and how many times you repeat. For our class – we did different versions of Tabata. For example:

Shallow End Tabata (move so you are shoulder deep)
20 seconds: Sprint in place (focus on moving as fast as possible with hand/arm movement in water)
Rest 10 Seconds
20 Seconds: High Knees in place (focus on crunching and make sure you have your arms going)
Rest 10 seconds
20 Seconds: Butt Kicks (in place, quickly)
Rest 10 seconds

And then we would change it to 30 seconds with 10 second rest, etc. You could pick a variety of movements to suit your own needs and amount of time you have to spend for each section.

You will definitely feel all of these exercises in your hamstrings!

To really get into water running you have to incorporate the deep end – because jogging in the shallow end is super easy when you compare it to trying to propel yourself forward when you can’t touch the bottom. A few things on form when water running:

Don’t cup your hands – you want the forward motion to be coming from the leg movement. Pretend like you are doing a leg extension in the weight room – move your right leg to a 90 degree angle in front of you and pull back, repeat on other side – this is the motion you are doing to water run in the deep end. Your hands are moving, but fingers are straight, not cupped. Work to keep your body straight – not leaning forward or backward. You will feel like you are barely moving – but your heart rate will tell you otherwise!

When we got to the deep end wall, we did short kicks while holding onto the wall and  long scissor kicks (using Tabata style again). We also put our backs against the wall and arms on either side to support us as we lifted our legs straight up (back flat against the wall) and pushed them back down into the water. This was extremely difficult!

If you are comfortable in the deep end, you can move away from the wall and do another set of workouts such as the following:

30 seconds: Tread Water using hands and legs
30 seconds: Tread water using hands/arms only – keep legs straight (if this is too difficult, bend your legs some and that will help)
30 seconds: Treat water using legs only – put your arms out of the water to make sure you aren’t cheating!

You can repeat that several times and change up how long you are doing each thing until your hearts content!

Obviously once you are done with that you have to water run back to the shallow end!

A lot of the articles I looked at about water running show people running with floatation belts on. In our class, we didn’t utilize these, but I could see how you could probably work on speed more if you had a belt on to help you stay afloat. I’ll have to try that out one time to see what different it makes. Without the belt, I think it would be difficult to keep doing laps without stopping because it does require so much effort to stay afloat on your own and move forward!

This would be a great alternative to just swimming laps if you are bored with that routine. It’s also great if you are injured or pregnant and can’t do high impact stuff anymore! As always, check with your doctor before taking on any new exercise program as I am not a doctor and can only tell you my opinion of the workout!

 

 

 

 

 

The one where I didn’t run

Today has flown by – full of appointments and even being interviewed for the student news station. Hopefully my hair looked nice 🙂

Last night’s work out class was a major flop. I would compare it to a belly flop in the water since we ARE taking about a water running class. This class didn’t suck or anything – it just didn’t actually happen! For whatever reason, the instructor didn’t show. So that was disappointing – and I’ll admit that I was a bit irritated because I was already in the water and ready. Only having a swimsuit is sort of limiting when you are at the gym. I certainly wouldn’t be running barefoot around the track in my Speedo suit which looks slightly less attractive every time I put it on now that I’m gaining weight/width in the mid section.

Pretty soon I’ll need some more forgiving spandex materials than the Speedo in order to get in the water. So since i was already in the water – but didn’t want to get my hair wet (I Know! I’m in the pool – just get your hair wet! But I had to get back to our house for our neighborhoods trick-or-treating events. I certainly couldn’t be left holding all that candy in the pantry. Kids, please take it away from me!) I decided I would make up my own version of water running. I didn’t work out for the whole hour or anything because I wasn’t really sure what else I should do other than “run” from one end of the pool to the other. I did add some chin ups at the end and flutter kicks upon recommendation of the other ladies who have been to this class before. I will say that “running” the length of the pool and back is actually pretty challenging. It got my heart rate up and I could feel all the muscles in my legs working. So I am looking forward to next week when I actually have someone directing me on what I should be doing for the class. I guess my official review will have to wait a week.

In the meantime, I would like to go on record saying I am very happy to have an excuse to wear stretchy pants throughout the holiday season. This is always a trouble season for me because I  basically like all types of fall holiday treats and being preggers makes it even more challenging to say no thanks. The exception to fall holiday treats I love would be fruit cake. I have no idea why those things exist. Does anyone eat them? I’m not really even sure what they are made of. Ugh. If only all fall holiday treats reminded me of fruit cake, I probably wouldn’t ever gain weight during this season.

As much as I’d love to eat everything on this platter…I must be stopped!

What are some strategies you use to help avoid gaining unnecessarily weight during the holiday season? I know that being pregnant means that I am not dieting – but it doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t try and eat healthy and avoid bad for me things! Some things will never change!

Here are my thoughts on ways I can stay healthy during the holidays:
When attending a holiday party – bring a healthier option to the party so you know that at least one thing is not terrible for you there
Use recipes from magazines like Cooking Light to find healthier versions of my holiday favorites
Give myself the ability to indulge every now and then so I don’t binge on sweets
Share a treat instead of hording it all for myself. “Sharing it with baby” doesn’t count!

Would love to hear your tactics on saying “no thank you!”

Water Wings & Things

I have no idea why I decided that reconnecting with my inner swimmer was a good idea as we start moving into the winter months. There is nothing more fun than being freezing cold BEFORE you jump into slightly chilly water and then being even more cold as you desperately grab your towel and gear to get back to the locker room to shower and dry completely off before you head outside into the windy night.

Great idea, Dre!

But, I have to be realistic with myself that “going for a walk” every day is just not going to cut it. First off, I only ACTUALLY go for a walk maybe 2-3 times a week even though my goal is every day. So that isn’t a great success rate. It’s not that a walk is difficult, it just seems boring to me after years of high intensity cardio kickboxing or classes set to fun music blasting over the speakers. I need something that challenges my coordination and my mind in addition to just being a good workout.

On the other hand, I realize that working out while pregnant is a different story than just working out in general. I have more things to consider, and like it or not, it’s harder to catch my breath now that things are starting to happen inside me. Walking up stairs winds me more than usual and doing something as simple as vacuuming couch cushions got me out of breathe. It’s super annoying. And then I remind myself that there is a greater purpose  behind all of it and it’s not a forever thing. That helps. A little.

Exploring a New Workout

I’m sure my aerobics class will be pulling moves like this in no time.

So, yesterday I checked out a water aerobics class offered at my gym. Other than it being sort of freezing, I thought it was a good class. Definitely more low key, low intensity than I’m used to – but that IS sort of the point, I guess. And she did have us do some drills where I got to push myself a little harder and I liked those. We worked a lot on resistance stuff – so I felt like that was something I don’t do often enough. We used water weights and did some shoulder work, triceps, biceps – it was good stuff. Everyone was super friendly, and I definitely think I’ll go back.

It’s sort of interesting being back in the “searching for what works for me” stage of exercise. I feel like I went through this process several years ago and discovered I really liked TurboKick and group exercise. So in going back to my roots, I’m remembering that I’m way more likely to keep up with work outs if I’m part of a class/group program. So the water aerobics fits the bill for that. It’s definitely a class you can chat during which is different for me – but I liked it.

On Wednesdays, our gym offers another class called Water Running. The same instructor leads it and she said it’s more cardio focused – so I’m curious to give it a go. Of course, I’ll update you on my thoughts. I’ve never considered a water running class before – so I’m not even sure what to expect! But the part I hate about running the most is the pain in my joints and injuries – so running in the water might be an awesome solution.

Hey – maybe I’ll even find a 5k water running competition. It’s always fun to train for something!

So – in going back to this place in my life where I’m trying to find what works for me again – it’s reminded me of a few key decisions you have to make if you want to try and lead a healthier life. Funny enough, deciding to be healthy is only one piece of the healthy lifestyle puzzle. You have to do a little soul searching, too.

1) What are your priorities? Write them down & rank them.
2) Does your schedule reflect those priorities? (As in: If your #1 priority is your health….are you making time to prepare healthy meals and work out? If not…this is a red flag!)
3) Think of a time in your life when you were successful at something – what were the key factors? How can you replicate this in your current situation? (Example: I’m always more successful when I’m part of a group who are trying to accomplish similar things – so I know for me, finding a workout I can do with a group of people will help me stay on track vs. just trying to do something on my own 100% of the time).

Once you have these three items checked off – you can move to the next step which is actually making changes to your schedule and exploring options that are a match for your preferences. Of course, we’ll talk more about those next time!

Magical Fairy of Knowledge: Myth or Should I Keep Waiting?

Today I went to a webinar to learn more about the open enrollment period for making changes to benefit plan at my work. You know, since I’m a recently self proclaimed True Adult, I am trying to “learn important stuff.”

As I sat there in the webinar, I was hastily taking notes like I was back in college trying to write everything down before the slide changed. Should I write that down? Will I even know what that MEANS when I look back at my notes later? What did she say? SLOW DOWN! What does THAT word even mean? Is everyone else writing that down?

This is what I am looking for, I think. (Magical Fairy Abbey Cadabby – Sesame Street).

These were all thoughts I had at some point today. No ones fault – I just feel like I could use a life coach sometimes – someone who could really sit down and explain to me the ins and outs of topics like: Investments, Retirement Savings, Life Insurance, PPO vs. HMO and things like Short Term Disability and Medical Savings Accounts without a sales pitch.  There is never really a class in college you take that prepares you for all of those things. And it seems like older more experienced adults just seem to magically know things. I keep waiting for the magical fairy of knowledge to visit me in my sleep so I can wake up and feel educated about these topics that really have the power to impact my life. I feel like I’m behind on this stuff.

But so far, no fairy. So I’m back to trying to do research on my own, attending the webinars and sessions offered at work so I can try and figure things out, and just trying to ask questions. I’m not very great at utilizing things like “customer service lines” to ask questions and I know that could help if I were more willing to ask for help.  I’m one of those people who need a lot of time to process information – so I’ll have one question and when I call to get info I will feel like I got that one answered only to realize I now have MORE questions but I’ve already hung up. And I’ll be up front that I sort of hate talking on the phone, even if it’s with my husband, so talking to a complete stranger isn’t my cup of tea. Especially when I feel like they are rolling their eyes at my silly questions.

A good example would be last night when I rushed home to unwrap my new vacuum only to find that a piece on it was broken so I couldn’t use it (FAIL!). I opted to email their customer service people because you know, I don’t like to call people. My husband gets home and immediately gets on the phone and has it taken care of in 5 minutes. He looks at me and says, “Now what’s the lesson we learned?” And after I swallowed my pride I admitted that “Sometimes making a phone call is a better option.”

Whatever. They would have emailed me back…eventually.

Growing up isn’t all fun and games. I guess I knew that it wasn’t all along – but now that I’m getting to a certain age where I need to make some “life decisions” about the rest of my life (financially speaking) – it’s all weighing heavily on me. It’s time to get real about some things and start taking responsibility for my financial future. After all, I missed out on that whole marry a royal prince thing – so I can’t rely on the hubs to fund my coffee habit once I retire.

 

Three Tips to Get on Track with Life

Well, it’s raining – again! I can’t believe how much rain we have been getting here in the South when so many people are desperately in need of rain in the mid west. I am SO glad I forgot to return the umbrella I borrowed from my office yesterday because I had to use it again today to get from the gym back to my office. I taught my TurboKick class, showered and got ready for the day again since I have a presentation to do tonight on campus.

It’s not going to be a super long presentation – but I’m hitting some highlights of how to get on the right track your first year of college. As I’m contemplating the millions of tips I could give, I’m trying to pick the tops ones in hopes that something I say strikes a chord with them and they actually take action! I don’t often interact with students on the younger end of the spectrum in my role, so when I present to freshman it’s always a refreshing perspective for me. Everything is new and interesting. Every piece of advice is something you might consider, even if just for a moment. Particularly when I speak to a group that focuses on leadership, I feel like the audience is there to hear something that will make a difference in their college careers.

Some of my top tips would be:

1) Don’t just be a student.

• Grades are important, but they are not the only thing that you will be judged on. Being in college is about more than just showing up to class and turning in work. You need to pick a few organizations and be involved. Be a leader of some sort in at least one organization.Volunteer some of your time. Give back to your campus is some way.

2) Utilize resources while they are free

•  Like the academic success center, tutoring assistance, counseling, career development (as in getting your resume reviewed, getting help with finding jobs/internships, interviewing help, etc), taking classes beyond the required so you can expand your skill sets, going to free concerts and events that expose you to new ideas and cultures, going to the gym and utilizing the free exercise classes or seminars offered, climb the rock wall, sign up for a trip that takes you off campus with your peers

3) Take responsibility for your own destiny

• Don’t wait for someone else to tell you what you should do; spend time creating your own plan. Whether you stick to it or not doesn’t matter, but at least attempt to organize yourself. This means reading information about your major and understanding the classes you need to take and what order you need to take them. This means thinking ahead so you can block out time for that “must have” part time job or internship.

There are so many more that I could share – but I think those hit a lot of the highlights of getting on the right track. It’s so hard to get BACK on track from a crazy freshman year. Pulling your GPA up from a 1.5 will seem impossible. Creating good study habits and finding people with similar values is a lot easier if you start off in the right mind space. Setting goals for yourself and posting them in a place where you can see them is a great way to remind yourself everyday why you are here.

I think these 3 lessons can be transferable to non-students as well. It’s easy once we graduate and start our careers to stop really reaching for something more. To do more than just go to work. To get involved in the professional community, or to take action in your community through volunteering in some way. We forget that we are in the driver’s seat and let life just float by when we really need to take charge of our own destiny’s and have a plan for ourselves. We need to set goals, write them down and revisit them. We need to evaluate our progress and change things up when needed. We need to do more than just take up space, am I right?

And if you look around, I bet you have a lot of resources available to you that you aren’t using. That spare room could be a gym. Your neighborhood association could need some help. Your old sorority/fraternity chapter might need some extra hands during an upcoming event. Your church might need some help in the nursery. Your place of employment might offer to pay part of a class fee if you wanted to go back to school to work on that certificate or degree you’ve been considering. Take action. Take responsibility, take back the driver’s seat to your own life. This is your journey, where are you going?

 

 

A Little History

Proud to be an American!

I often overlook the true meaning of many of the holidays we celebrate. The biggest exception to this statement would be Christmas, because I grew up truly celebrating Christmas as the “birthday” of Jesus and every Christmas morning my family would gather around and one of us would read the story of His birth before we did anything else. Growing up, I was always eager to get to the “open the presents!” part – but looking back, I am so glad my parents took a few minutes to remind us of what Christmas was REALLY about for our family.

I find myself at work on Labor Day which seems sort of ironic. But as I was driving to work today, I started wondering – what IS Labor Day, anyway? Why do we celebrate it? Why do people get this day off? Surely, it is more than the mark of the end of summer. More than an excuse to barbeque and play cornhole (although – I wouldn’t mind doing that today!). I thought I remembered something about it having to do with labor unions but wasn’t really sure on the details.

I looked it up when I got to work, and it’s history reaches pretty far back. The first labor day was celebrated in New York as a parade organized by unions on Sept. 5, 1882 to celebrate the spirit and strength of the American worker. It was a time when child labor was rampant, workers labored in terrible conditions without a proper break or proper wages for that matter. This day wasn’t immediately recognized by the entire country, it was a slow process of 12 years before it became a Federal Holiday. It started as an outcry for better working accommodations, decent wages and something that resembled a 8 hour work day.

Over the years, it’s certainly easy to feel like most of us (myself included) have lost sight of what this holiday stood for so long ago. It was the work of Americans who wanted to organize and demand to be treated fairly. Sounds like an honorable thing to me! And I hope that most people would feel like we’ve made major progress toward worker’s rights in the USA although there is always room for improvement.While there is much disagreement regarding labor unions and the like – I’m not taking sides here. Simply sharing a bit of history about this holiday.

If you want a better understanding of the history behind Labor Day – I found this article on CNN.com to be helpful as well as the DOL’s description of Labor Day.

A personal goal I have for myself is to try and be more knowledge about history. It seems like so long ago when I took a class that required me to really learn and apply that type of knowledge – but I know how important it is to understand history so that we can make better decisions about the future. So we don’t repeat mistakes unnecessarily, right!?

History was one of my least favorite subjects in high school, but I wonder if i attempted to learn it all again as an adult if I’d be more fascinated by it? I guess it’s worth a try. Any history fanatics out there who would recommend any resources (books, blogs, etc.) to help me get started?

 

 

My LAB (Life After Bread)

A few short weeks ago, if someone would have told me that I would not be eating bread or most of my typical snack choices (Goldfish Crackers, Triscuits, Granola Bars…etc), I probably would have thought it impossible. Truly, when my chiropractor first gave me an article on some of the positive impacts of removing wheat from your diet I read it – but it seemed so far out and crazy that I didn’t even consider it.

As many of you know, I decided to take the plunge and do a 30 Day Food Challenge that mostly centered around a Primal/Wheat Free foods. All of a sudden, 30 days have flown by and I’ve officially entered a new stage of my life: Life After Bread.

My husband asked me over the weekend, “So what’s next?” as he knows I’m constantly looking for fun and challenging ways to be more active, eat healthier, etc. I replied, “Nothing – this is it. This is good.” And it made me happy to finally have found something that doesn’t feel like deprivation. It doesn’t feel like a diet. It’s not boring, I’m not starving and I’m also not kicking my butt in the gym every single day until I’m reduced to a puddle of sweat on the floor.

It does mean that I put a lot more thought into what meals I’m preparing, the ingredients I use and my “usual snacks.” But I was already thinking a lot about those things to begin with – so it’s just been a bit of a learning curve to think a DIFFERENT way about food. Understanding that there IS life after bread is certainly step 1. I didn’t think I would ever say that – but when I’m not eating it all the time, I don’t crave it. It’s really that simple. In fact, a LOT of my cravings have vanished. It’s not perfect – of course I’m still tempted when I see sugary, carb loaded desserts – but it’s really not as all-consuming as it was before to me. It felt like before – I just didn’t have the will power to say no to cake, cookies, bread baskets…etc. And now it’s just a bit easier to take a pass.

I have noticed that certain  foods impact me in ways I never knew they did. I think I was so accustomed to eating wheat and grains and processed foods that I didn’t even notice that they were making me feel low energy, congested, or upset my stomach. Now it’s pretty crystal clear to me when I eat something that probably should be on my “extreme moderation list.” And it’s easier to avoid those foods when you can physically FEEL the negative impact of eating them. I would associate it with people who avoid foods they are allergic to – the food is usually not worth the reaction.

Shrimp Vindaloo served with Cauliflower Rice

I still am figuring out how to make it work and still participate in real life. For the most part, I’ve found it fairly easy to find things when we go out to eat. It helps that I don’t have Celiac Disease or something that would make me SUPER sick if I make a mistake, but when you are trying to avoid wheat/grain in restaurants there are still good options at most places. I tend to order meat & veggies for the most part. Still super delicious and actually pretty different from what I’d order in the past so it is giving me some variety that I didn’t have before. Another bonus!

There are times when it’s hard – and I make an exception. That is one thing that I’ve enjoyed about the Primal Blueprint book by Mark Sisson – he promotes adopting an 80/20 rule because it’s hard to be perfect and strict all the time. Sometimes you just want to eat cake, or you are in a situation where people are basically insulted if you don’t try their food. But I think i can live with following this plan 80% of the time. And most likely, it will be more like 90% of the time because I do feel like I can control most situations since I’m already in the habit of bringing my lunch to work, not eating out super often, etc.

I’m getting to the part in Mark’s book that discusses primal lifestyle in the weight loss mode and I think that will be helpful for me to focus in on things I can do (or avoid) so I can really reap the benefits of Primal eating. Then once I’m where I want to be – maintaining won’t be as strict as long as I’m still on the 80/20 bandwagon and staying active.

Some goals I have for the next few weeks:

• For the best weight loss results, I need to be keeping my carb intake between 50-100. I’m going to track my meals for a few days to see where I am already just to be sure I’m not accidentally eating something that is blowing me out of the water with carbs. I’ve never paid that much attention, and I SHOULD be in this zone already by eliminating wheat but  I just want to be sure. I am currently signed up on paleotrack.com but am also going to look into fitday.com.  We’ll see which one i like better!
• I’m going to focus on adding more moderate cardio to my week. It’s still been a struggle to figure out exactly what I should be doing. The strength training is going well! I’m doing that 2x a week already. Last week I went to the trampoline airobics class and it was a fun workout – I could see myself doing that once a week again!
• I want to have a focus this month on backing off the corn and potato – corn is definitely troublesome for me so I need to make sure I’m not overdoing it. I think I may set a rule of one corn and one potato serving every week (if at all) while I’m really pursuing weight loss!

Lift Heavy Things: Progress Report

I did my Fitness Assessment on Monday (for the Primal Blueprint Fitness program I’m doing) and so today was my first actual circuit workout utilizing my assessment as a starting place. Check out yesterday’s post if you have no clue what i’m talking about.

Here are my results:

Knee Pushups: Goal is 30

Circuit 1: 22
Circuit 2: 15

Assisted Pullups: Goal is 20 (i am using the assisted pull up machine at my gym…still figuring out what weight to set it out to replicate a double leg assisted style as outlined in the primal guide)

Circuit 1: 20
Circuit 2: 20 (i made it harder because the first set was too easy – just not enough resistance) Obviously I am still figuring this out!

Squats: Goal is 50
Circuit 1: 50
Circuit 2: 50
I didn’t find these EXTREMELY challenging – but I think I will do one more week of these before I move to the next level up.

Forearm/Knee Plank: Goal is 90 seconds
Circuit 1: 90 seconds
Circuit 2: 90 seconds
I’ll admit – this was harder than i expected it to be. I’m not positive my form was perfect the whole time during either circuit. Going to keep working on this one for another week before I move up to next level.

Forearm/Knee Side Plank Left Side: Goal is 45 seconds
Circuit 1: 40 seconds
Circuit 2: 30 seconds

Forearm/Knee Side Plank Right Side: Goal is 45 seconds
Circuit 1: 30 seconds
Circuit 2: 40 seconds

The side planks are also harder than i expected. For some reason I feel like I’d be better at it if I were using my whole arm instead of being on my forearm, but maybe that’s crazy. Still have some work to do on the side plank series.

So I still need to do my sprint workout this week (thinking about doing that tomorrow) and then I want to try and get a walk and an easy  bike ride in this weekend as well to count as my “move slowly/rest/play” days.

Tomorrow is weigh in day! It’s week 3 of my wheat free/paleo/primal inspired food challenge. Wish me luck!

 

 

 

 

Primal Fitness: Are you Ready?

Source: tribesports.com

Alright, so today has been super busy so I’m going to update as quick as my little fingers will type so that you all can be up to speed on my next challenge.

Of course, I’m currently doing my 30 Day Food Challenge (Paleo/Primal Inspired) and if you’ve been paying attention you know that 80% of your health and fitness goals are obtained through what you EAT! So it’s super important.

But we can’t forget about that other 20%: Exercise!

So I am REALLY changing it up. By really, I mean that it’s going to be flat out weird for me to do this fitness challenge because it’s so different than anything I have ever tried before. Are you ready for this radical idea?

I am going to work out less.

What?! That’s right folks. The word is less is more. Less does not refer to less efficient though – and that’s the key to my next challenge. I am going to be traveling back through time to connect with my primal ancestors. That’s right – I’m following the Primal Blueprint Fitness plan. It’s written by Mark Sisson (yes, I mentioned him last time because i’m reading his book The Primal Blueprint) and it’s all about getting fit through some core movements and targeted activities. If you want to check out the fitness plan for yourself – you can get it for free by going to his site here.

Source: http://www.marksdailyapple.com

You have to subscribe to his newsletter to get the passwords to download his ebooks – but the newsletter is full of great information if you are considering dabbling or learning about Primal/Paleo lifestyle. Think protein, healthy fats and carbs from good places (like fruits and veggies vs grains) and that’s the premise of the lifestyle.

The idea is that our modern day methods of working out are actually not always that great for us. We suffer from what Mark calls “chronic cardio” – where we exert ourselves at too high a level for too long a period of time – and it actually has negative consequences like burnout, fatigue, and as I’ve experienced: injuries.

Source: marksdailyapple.com

So the primal fitness plan focuses on strength training (he calls it “Lift Heavy Things”) 1-3 times per week (using your own body weight) through 4 essential movements: Plank, Squats, Push Up, Pull Up. He also suggests a one short but intense Sprint workout a week. The other days he calls “Move Slowly for a Long Time” days and this should be something active like a walk, hike, cycling (think about 55-75% of max heart rate) for 2-5 hours per week.

He also encourages you to return to your childhood – and play more! So whether that’s frisbee, playing tag with yours kids, playing on a friendly softball team or the YMCA kickball team – just doing something that is active but doesn’t have you thinking “oh gosh, I gotta work out now.” He also encourages you to listen to your body and rest. Get a good nights sleep everynight – and of course, try and stick to your Primal eating plan at least 80% of the time for max benefits.

So I’m trying it out. The first step was to do a self assessment so I know where I need to start with my Lift Heavy Things workout. Your goal is to be able to progress to the Essential Movement – but you might not start there. For instance, one of the moves is a pull up. I literally laughed out loud at my feeble attempt to even lift THIS heavy thing off the ground at the gym yesterday. So I’ll be starting with assisted leg lifts fo ‘sho.

The self assessment can be found in the fitness ebook (when you download it – type in page 50 and the next 2-3 pages are about it).

Here are my results and where I’ll be starting:

Pushup: I could only do 6 big girl pushups (on hands and feet) – so I’ll be starting on level 2 with Knee Pushups.

Pull Ups: As mentioned above, I couldn’t even pretend I did one. So i’m starting at level 1 with Chair Assisted Push Ups (2 legs).

Squats: I rocked the squats. The level 4 was for people who could do 61+ so I just stopped at 65 because it wasn’t like anyone was around for me to impress. So I’ll be doing Level 4 – Full Squats.

Plank: I held the plank on forearms and feet for 50 seconds. This has me starting on Level 2: Forearm/Knee Plank + Side Knee.

If you are wondering what any of this means, he has videos linked in the fitness guide so you can see how to do the exercises!

So 2x a week I’ll do the Strength Circuit – which means I’ll do a series of pull ups, push ups, squats and planks and then repeat. Each move has different levels – so once you can get through both sets of your circuit and hit the right “number” you can level up to a more difficult version of the move.

I am planning on using my TurboFIRE HIIT workouts to do my Sprint workout – this will be good because it’s about 10-15 minutes of intense cardio that pushes me with built in 1 minute recoveries. I may also try to do some stairs/treadmill sprints since it’s only 10-15 minutes. I can handle that once a week (I think).

And then the other days I’m going to do crazy things like, go for a walk. Hike on the weekend. Ride my bike around the neighborhood or town with my bike friends. I’m still going to be doing my turbo workout because I teach the class and don’t want to stop doing that. I will count it as my “play” – since it’s definitely more than 55-75% of my maximum heart rate!

I’m excited because this will give me a TON of flexibility to try out new workouts or revisit old ones (like going to the Trampoline Airobics class). Maybe I’ll even brave the rock climbing wall this year. EEK.

Of course I’ll keep you updated on how it goes. I’m nervous about the idea of doing so much less in terms of intensity – but maybe it’s what my body needs. Maybe I don’t have to kill myself to have the body I want….maybe I just need to trust that my kick A ancestors were on to something.

After all, they would have lived a lot longer if there weren’t wild animals attacking them or if they had some modern medicine to cure things like infection. In fact, based on the research done on their remains – it’s predicted that if accidental death or infections, etc. didn’t occur our paleolithic ancestors would have a max life span of about 94 years. And yes, that is actually LONGER than what’s predicted for our current human population based on how things are going in the human evolution right now. Pretty crazy, huh?

Who wants to go primal with me? I’m excited about getting my hunting and gathering on.

You’ve Got Questions? I have some answers…

Making a commitment to a new way of eating is a lot to get your mind around.  Today marks Day 1 of my 30 day Food Challenge. And yes, I’m still in the midst of my Summer Push Series as well (completing 3 months of TurboFire workouts) – so this is going to be quite the month!

I’ve gotten a few questions (okay, a lot of questions) both on my blog, facebook and just in “real life” as people learn about what I’m taking on. It’s funny, because you never realize how personal making decisions about what you eat (or don’t eat) can be. I never paid much attention to it before because I wasn’t really in a situation where I tried to avoid specific foods (other than a general attempt to eat healthier foods!). But as I’ve been reading articles, books, blogs, and talking to others who are following a wheat free or Paleo style diet – the variations and levels of dedication are all over the place.  Some people do it for major health reasons (like being allergic or sensitive to ingredients) and others do it to try and just be healthier (like me).

I didn’t expect my harshest critic of this new challenge to be my husband. But he is about 99% questions and 1% enthusiastic about these next 30 days. I can appreciate the questions (some of them), but in the end he just wants me to make him a list of things we’re not eating this month. So if he’s confused, perhaps you guys are, too, so I’ll attempt to make sense of this challenge on my blog, answer your questions and provide resources so you can check out the research and opinions for yourself, too.

I’m still learning as I go here – so I’d like to put it out there that what I’m doing the next 30 days isn’t officially Paleo and it’s probably not a perfect match up with Wheat Free, either. It’s sort of a combo of the two..but it’s important to note that Paleo eaters are ALSO wheat/grain free. But being Wheat Free doesn’t really mean you are Paleo. Does that make sense? A few things before I lay out my foundation for the next 30 days: Just because this is what I’m doing doesn’t mean it’s right for you. And just because you DO eat wheat/grains doesn’t mean I’m judging you for eating it. I’m just trying this out for a while to see how I feel without it. Maybe it will change my life, maybe not. My biggest goal is to lose some weight and feel like I have more energy so some of my choices reflect that end goal for me in the following list.

So – here’s the drill down for my 30 Day Food Challenge

1) Avoid wheat as much as possible (I am not going to NOT buy something that says “processed at a facility that may include soy, wheat, etc.) But this means that we aren’t cooking any recipes that include wheat. If you have questions about why – click on the link above for some good information.

2) Avoidance of most grains actually – so trying to avoid corn based products (because corn is actually a grain – not a vegetable!) and things like rice, too. We are putting these items on the “extreme modification” list. As in, it would be better to have eaten a corn tortilla than a flour one, or, it would be  better to have an ear of corn at a BBQ instead of potato chips but we should do our best to avoid either situation. If you are interested in learning more about rice and how it fits into (or doesn’t) a Paleo lifestyle, this is a good article to check out.

3) Potatoes also go on the extreme modification list. But sweet potatoes can be used because of our level of working out. Paleo athletes often use sweet potatoes as a good recovery snack/meal. Since the hubs & I are very active, I think it’s good to keep this as an option.  Here’s a good article on why I’m choosing to limit our potato consumption.

4) Eat clean food. This means avoiding products that have ingredients that aren’t natural. So – if you can’t pronounce it, you probably shouldn’t buy it.  Ways to make sure you are doing this? Buy fresh veggies and meat – avoid frozen foods or pre-packaged items as much as possible. I will say that there is a decent amount of pre-packaged items out there that don’t have a bunch of trash ingredients in them. But make sure you flip over the box/wrapper or whatever and check out the ingredients list. A good rule of thumb is that if the ingredients list has more than 5 ingredients – it’s probably not all that natural (unless all the ingredients are “whole” types of food).

5) Avoid foods that are marketed as “low fat” “fat free” “low calorie,” etc. Typically these foods have been stripped of any nutritional value and trash ingredients have been added to fill in the blanks.  A lot of times in place of fat/calories – you’ll find lots of sugar instead which can be just as bad. The idea here is to eat products that are as natural/unprocessed as possible.

Seriously – don’t eat this.

6) Re-evaluate all Dairy Products:  It’s in my nature to opt for the low fat cheeses or fat free sour cream versus the “real stuff.” But again, if we are going for more natural/unprocessed things – you need to buy dairy products in a more natural state. Some good tips for identifying “the good stuff” when it comes to dairy (cheese, yogurts, etc) is here. I even bought some coconut milk creamer for my coffee. Looks at me, I’m all fancy!

I’m sure I’ll be figuring out MORE about all this as I go…but this is the basic list and reasons why for those who have asked (or are secretly wondering WTH I’m doing). Perhaps my husband will read this, too and I’ll kill 2 birds with one stone.

I’d still love to hear more about your ideas for your 30 Day Food Challenge – be creative, this is your time to explore something totally new!