Zuzana, the girl in this video, did it in 32.46. If I attempt this workout, I will NOT be posting my time. no, no, no, no. That last exercise, one leg wall squat, will leave me crying like a little girl.
Here’s a link with a breakdown of the workout and a photo of each exercise. 550 Rep Fat Massacre Great name for a workout.
I’ll admit, I’m freakishly drawn to give this a try, but I’m going to need some accountability to finish it. Maybe FavoriteSon will do it with me.
Symptoms: cloudy head, sore throat, mild headache, tender neck/glands, spaghetti arms, fatigue. this morning’s stuffy nose seems to be taking a mid-day break.
Treatment: A quadruple preemptive attack: Zicam, Airborne, a germ burnin dry sauna and PRAYER.
die baby germs, die. a swift, horrible death.
any other ideas? homeopathic remedies? alternative medicines? unproven theories? old wives tales?
UPDATE: I’ve added echinacea and vitamin C, and I’m taking real Sudafed tonight – the “show the pharmacist your ID” kind, not that wimpy placebo they put out on the shelves.
Last week, as FavoriteSon and I were preparing to go to to a rehearsal before an evening church service, he said: “Mom. Get something to eat. I know you’re not hungry, but you don’t get hungry, so you need to eat something before you get a headache.”
He knows me.
I don’t get hungry these days. And it’s not that I don’t eat and then become ravenous and overeat later. I just don’t get hungry.
this is new.
Food used to be a driving force in my life. In the mornings I would wonder if I had the time or money to run through a McDonalds drive-thru for breakfast. Pancakes? A stack of three at least. Butter AND syrup. Chocolate chip pancakes? make it four. Eggs? They came with bacon, cheese grits and toast with butter. Bagels had two halves and the cream cheese was slathered. Then I would spend the morning thinking about what I would have for lunch. Standard drive through was McDonalds Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Fries and a Diet Coke – supersized or three tacos, nachos supreme and a burrito supreme from Taco Bell. Dinner was always big and I would eat out every chance I could get, whether I could afford it or not. Nachos. Burgers. Fried anything. Take home boxes? Never asked for one. Never needed one.
Food was my favorite hobby, a source of entertainment, a way to show love . . . a coping strategy.
now? not so much.
Now, my life is so full that I have to remind myself to eat. And when I say “full” I don’t mean busy. I don’t just fill my discretionary time with activity, I fill that time doing things I LOVE – and it doesn’t leave room for an eating hobby. Now, I set alarms on my phone and computer to prompt me to stop what I’m doing and eat lunch and snacks. Now, in my efforts to keep my metabolism somewhat stable, I’m trying to eat something every 3 hours or so, I carry snacks in my purse and my van.
and sometimes, my son reminds me to eat.
How did I get to this place? I have my theories, so check back for “this is new. part 2.”
It’s sometimes a daily challenge to get my kids to eat fruit. In my house, when a kid stands in front of the fridge with the door open, this is my “go to” snack. If I offer this up before they head over to the pantry, they don’t have time to choose carbs over fruit.
Sugar-free chocolate syrup (we don’t have problems with artificial sweeteners)
Banana sliced with my favorite banana slicer and
Strawberries (DO NOT use the banana slicer on the strawberries or you’ll need a new banana slicer)
This never fails to disappear in my house. And it’s just too easy. The kids can go through a pint of strawberries in the blink of an eye. But that’s kinda the goal.
Exactly one year TODAY, I had a looonnnng overdue hysterectomy after struggling with two decades of fibroid tumors and about 18 months of chronic anemia. Without a doubt, the recovery was the biggest deterrent, but my husband made a comment that finally moved me to take action:
“If it was over you’d have done it already.”
A year later, I’m SO glad I finally did what needed to be done. I feel GREAT! SO much energy, no physical limitations or discomfort or pain. Thank you GOD!
Here’s a look at what FirstHusband posted one year ago today on the evening of my surgery:
“Machine beeps. GoodNurse says “Julie, you need to breathe deeply.”
“I just did the breathing thing” Says Julie talking her about exhaling into the small device intended to have her exercising her lungs to prevent fluid build-up.
GoodNurse says “I don’t want you to do that right now. I want you to breathe deeply through your nose. You’re not getting enough oxygen.”
Julie asks GoodNurse “Do I need to walk tonight? If I need to walk tonight, FirstHusband can come back and help me out of bed. We have a system.”
GoodNurse pulls me aside and tells me. “I need Julie to rest. She is trying to do too much right now. She will relax easier if you are at home with the children and she knows they are O.K.”
Now at some point Julie will read this and want to defend herself. Just remember that she was on strong narcotics and will not remember this. She will claim that it wasn’t like this. I was there. She was drugged. According to GoodNurse, she wasn’t drugged enough however. Typical Julie. If she keeps this up, I’ll change the name of this blog to “Stoic Compendium”. It’s been a long but positive day so you will forgive the stream of consciousness. It’s what I do when I’m tired.
Julie pulled through the surgery with no complications except that the hospital didn’t have enough open rooms and she had to stay in recovery until 9:00 pm. Her doctor, who was experienced when she delivered FavoriteSon many years ago said in a very matter-of-fact tone “I’ve never seen a cyst like that before. I don’t think that was cancer, it didn’t look like it.” You would think that a Doctor with that much experience would have something better to say than “I don’t think that was cancer.” Can a man hold his breath for the two weeks it takes for the biopsy to say “Negative”. Only 13 1/2 more days to know. All in all however, the doctor said she did great and should recover with no complications.
The hospital is very nice. They are set up and equipped for women. No worries about shake and bakes. Julie’s gown is equipped with a heated air blower system. She has a little thermostat at her control that regulates the temperature to whatever she wants. Combine that with the little button for more narcotics and Julie should be just fine. Even in an at-best semi-lucid state, Julie was very appreciative of the quality of care at this particular hospital.
I am amazed and humbled by the number of people praying for her. I can tell you your prayers bore fruit. I confess sometimes I feel like my prayers are the smallest of things I can do for someone. On days like this, where there is nothing to do but wait while the doctors hold your wife’s life in their hands, I understand more than ever that prayer is the best thing you can do for someone. I was confident that my own prayers were multiplied by many times and I am truly grateful for all of you who contributed.
Julie called home about 30 minutes after PinkGirl’s bedtime to tell her goodnight. I wonder how she knew PinkGirl would still be awake. Probably all the times I’ve been on travel and Julie had to handle both kids without me. I’m sure that even on drugs, Julie knew I wouldn’t get them to bed on time. FavoriteSon is still doing homework at 10:59 pm.”
A year out and FirstHusband was RIGHT. It is over and I did it already!
If you know me, you know I HATE shopping. When I need something, I just want to go to the store and pick it up, hopefully on sale with a printable coupon. Better still if I can just order it on the internet, with an online coupon.
Unfortunately, I have been very unsuccessful with buying clothes and shoes online. Buying shoes and clothes require trying them on.
(sigh)
I hate shopping.
Case in point: For the last 4 to 6 weeks I’ve needed new walking shoes. (I go through a pair about every three months.) Since I hate shopping, I put it off. Finally on Monday, I literally couldn’t walk in my shoes one more step. Felt like I was walking in lumpy socks. I was on the treadmill and I stopped at 1.5 miles to take off my completely worn out shoes and finish my walk with my previous, nearly worn out shoes.
I got through another two days with the nearly worn out shoes, but I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. So Wednesday night, while praying with FirstHusband, I asked God to PLEASE help me find the shoes I needed quickly and easily. (Sounds petty, I know, but I believe God is big enough to care about my shoes at the same time he’s taking care of everyone else in the world.) Thursday, I prayed again, printed my online Sports Authority coupons and got in the car.
God answered my prayer. Fourfold.
This NEVER happens.
1. I’ve NEVER been able to just buy the exact same shoes I bought before. My shoes have ALWAYS been discontinued and I’ve had to start over with the trying on. All four of these are the EXACT shoes I blew out on Monday.
2. The first (or 2nd, or 3rd…) pair I find and try on is never the pair I buy. I didn’t even have to try these on to know they were perfect for me. (Look how much wider and out of shape the old shoes are compared to the new ones!)
3. I wear a wide width and it’s very difficult to find ONE pair in my size. I found FOUR in a wide width.
4. These were on clearance. (which means they are being discontinued.) I think I paid $65 for these at Christmas. The clearance price was $39.98. Total savings for four pair? $100!!!
5. I got to use both my coupons in two separate transactions, saving a total of $35, which almost like getting one pair for free!
6. Buying walking shoes is never a quick process for me and it often requires trips to more than one store. I got all four pair of these at one store in less than 30 minutes.
Since I now have more than a year’s worth of walking shoes, I will be getting rid of all but one pair of my old, nearly worn out shoes (keeping one pair for yard work).
And I don’t have to shop for walking shoes for at least a YEAR!
Next? Shopping for workout clothes, and God’s coming with me.
Since September of 2007, I’ve been working with a personal trainer, focusing on strength training. I had some physical challenges, but since my hysterectomy last year, I’ve been much more consistent and I’m up to three days per week. And I’ve finally gotten to a place where the arthritis in my neck hardly ever necessitates the use of my home traction device. I’m feeling stronger and healthier than I have in a very, very long time and I’m very determined to continue getting stronger as I get older, not weaker.
But I’ve always struggled with maintaining a consistent cardio workout. I like maximizing my time. I like to be pragmatic. So when it came to incorporating cardio into my daily life, I wanted . . .
to multitask:
No nagging – it’s safe – I promise. I only WALK on the treadmill. From 3.3 to 4 miles per hour. I do a little interval training, but no jogging. Doctor’s orders. Just walking. Resting the laptop on the treadmill console worked great – for certain things. Mostly passive, hands-off things. PERFECT for video training. PERFECT for reading onscreen. PERFECT for listening, learning and even rehearsing my praise team music for the week.
Not so perfect for typing. At 3.3 miles per hour, typing was possible, but annoying. And slow. And I was worried that I would knock the laptop off the treadmill because it was perched with the left side higher than the right.
Then I tried this:
Even more annoying. Too tiny. And the touch pad – with no independent buttons for clicking – ANNOYING. I was constantly clicking AWAY from things I wanted to click ON. arrg.
Then, Saturday morning, I asked my husband to think about what modifications could be made to provide a more stable surface for my laptop. I would also like room to put the house phone, my cell phone, the tv and cable remotes (in case I wanted to watch TV instead), a bottle of water and a small towel.
oh, don’t worry. He knew I was high maintenance when he married me.
Look what my man can do with $10, some power tools and a few hours!
I’m LOVING this! Stable, with plenty of room and it even has a cutout so I can see the console panel. I still need to paint it, but it’s been three days and I absolutely LOVE it! In addition to the hands free tasks, I can type!!! So easy! I can facebook, tweet and blog, all while walking. The time FLIES by!
The TV is mostly for FirstHusband and FavoriteSon (in case you’re new to Compendium, that would be my ONLY husband and my ONLY son). They use the small TV directly in front of the treadmill to play video games. It’s hooked up as a second monitor to the game system and larger TV on the other side of the room. It’s also hooked up to the cable box, so we can watch TV too.
Now THIS is a sustainable cardio workout. What kind of sustainable workout routine works for you?
BTW, I just counted almost FIFTY treadmills listed on the Central Florida Craigslist since MONDAY. Just in case you’re interested.
and just in case you missed this video earlier this week . . .
Last year, we found an allergist who prescribed a season allergy treatment for my son which left him nearly symptom free for the first time in his entire LIFE. We just got back from his annual check-up with new prescriptions already called into the pharmacy. This is life changing for both him and for our entire family!
From November to February, he takes both Singulair and Allegra every day and after a nightly saline spray, he uses Flonase. Occasionally, he needs to use the neti pot. LIFE. CHANGING.
THANK YOU, LORD!!!
I’m participating in a month of Thanksgiving hosted by Rebecca Writes. If you want to join in, post something you are thankful for and then link up over at Rebecca’s blog!
