Freezing Friday

Hey yall, 

Today I walked inside because it was freezing outside. Between the wind and it just not getting warm out, I had no chance of staying warm while walking. My 4 miles went by pretty easy. I didn’t do any incline today because I figured I’d rest my legs a little bit. It went by quickly, which is probably because I watched TV. Always goes by faster then. Plus I had my Garmin Vivoactive track my walk. Granted, it’s never as accurate as when your walking outside. However, according to it I went longer than 4 miles. Generally when I use it, my watch shows me not going as far. 

The mutts didn’t really want to cooperate for a good picture.

My workout today was shoulders and chest. On one of my shoulder workouts I increased my weight, which is always fun. I did not increase my weight on chest, but I can still feel it nonetheless. As always it was a good workout that I could really feel in my shoulders. They still felt pretty sore when I started working them out today. But I managed to push through and do more weight. 

It’s crazy how you can see when I started working out more seriously. My first trimester all I wanted to do was sleep.

Good pain vs bad

Hey yall, 

Today was leg day again. I took out my lunges though because my “What to Expect When Expecting” book said that it would be better to not do those while pregnant. It’s because I’m more clumsy then normal, and I am more prone to injury. Personally I didn’t research it that much because I despise walking lunges anyways. It just made a good excuse to not do them. However, I do think I did one of my exercises slightly wrong on accident. The right side of my leg is sore and not from working it out. I’ve learned to tell the different pains in my body, for the most part. Hopefully it just heals up nicely. 

I just took this pic. It was pretty outside

I had a mixture of cardio for today. My main cardio was walking on the treadmill. I had the treadmill at different angles, so it was like I was going up a hill. Sometimes it amazes me how walking at a step incline can be challenging. I did that for about 45 minutes. My other cardio was just out walking with the dogs. I also through the tennis ball for awhile. The dogs played keep away from each other. It was entertaining. 

Family

Hey, hey

Today I walked my 4 miles inside. Between the rain from last night and it raining during the day, I knew it wouldn’t work to walk outside. Walking inside is always fun with a TV set up in front of the treadmill. I walked the first and third mile at a one degree incline. My last mile I walked it at a half a degree incline. Since tomorrow is leg day and my legs are still a little sore, I figured I better not walk the whole time at an incline. It was interesting to walk during the time I did,  because both my parents were lifting weights at that time. It didn’t end up well for them and one came back later to finish. I mean it is a home gym in a room that isn’t finished in the basement. 

Today’s lifting consisted of biceps and triceps. I’m not really sure I’m going to be able to do much with my arms tomorrow, but we shall see. I did feel pretty good about being able to still use the 15 pound dumbbells for most of my lifts for biceps. My triceps just hated me at the end. My arms were jello and begging to be done. The exercises I did were: alternate hammer curls, alternate bicep curls, dumbbell incline curl, concentration curls, bench dips, standing triceps extension, triceps kickback, and alternate triceps extension. By the end of all that my arms were ready for a break. 

I tasted good after my workout apparently

I did walk around outside with the mutts today. In the morning I let them out for about an hour and walked them around. Granted, I didn’t walk that whole time. They had to get put away, since my parents had people coming over to put stuff on the attic. Anyways after that I let them out again and played with them for about an hour. Again, I walked them around for a little bit but they were more interested in chewing on bones. When we made dinner tonight, it was fun because my hubby was involved along with my mom and I. Sometimes it’s nice to make dinner as a family. 

Isn’t it how every dog sits?

Rainy Day

Hey yall! 

Today I worked out my shoulders and chest. I was pretty excited because my new shoes came in. I was trying to not wear my other work out shoes in my parent’s workout room, since I’ve worn them outside. Anyways, I increased my weight for my chest exercises unintentionally. I wasn’t paying attention to what it was set at and just did it where it was. Thankfully, it didn’t put me over the weight lifting limits I have. However, I felt pretty accomplished since I still managed to lift more weight on the machines. That will max me out until I’m no longer pregnant, but I can always increase reps when it starts getting super easy. 

Batman socks make everything better

For my cardio I walked around outside with my mutts. It was only about a mile and a half but it was on my family’s land. None of the land is smooth and flat. Most of it consist of clumps of grass everywhere and random spots that water has dug its way through the ground. But my dogs enjoyed walking around with me and playing in the water. I figured I got a decent workout with the hills and uneven land. 

This was super smelly today and it smelled amazing

Spring Weather

Hey yall, 

Today was absolutely gorgeous outside. I figured it would be a good day to walk outside. Now, I am currently living on a gravel (dirt) road. Generally this isn’t a big issue,  because I can run or walk on gravel. However, I am pregnant and took both my dogs with me. My mom ran with my brothers dog. I was never graceful before I got pregnant, and it only got worse after becoming pregnant. Needless to say, I walked on a trail that didn’t have loose gravel everywhere. 

The walk turned out better than I expected. I kept my pace between a 3.6 and 4.0 (basically a 15 minute mile and a little slower) the whole time. Considering I had two dogs, hills, and mud, I thought I did pretty good. I also figured I’d be slower because I had no one there to push me. Thankfully, I have learned to push myself. I ended up going further then 4 miles. I was curious when the trail would have the 2 mile marker, and I had started my watch before it said 0. My dogs would walk in the mud on the trail and seemed to get great joy out of splashing it. They also would walk along the side in the water. I didn’t care, since I knew that cement had to be hot. Plus they still kept up with me for the most part. 

I also worked out my legs today. They were still sore from Thursday… But hey that means I’m working my muscle. At first I thought maybe I should wait but I figured it wouldn’t kill me, so I would be just fine. It’s always nice to have sore muscles and then work them out again. Plus I’m feeling a tad bit healthier, since my family can afford all the healthy food. I probably shouldn’t get used to it… Oh well. My legs probably won’t let me go up and down the stairs tomorrow but such as life. The workout was intense as always and made my legs jello again. 

We wore them out

Day Two

Hey yall, 

Today I actually truly walked 4 miles on the treadmill. Technically it was a little more because this treadmill does a cool down, and I figured it couldn’t hurt anything. It went well even though my legs are sore from yesterdays workout. Since it was raining today, I thought I’d be safe and just walk inside. However, generally when I walk inside I get super bored because there’s nothing to look at. It helps I found an interesting show to watch. 

My lifting consisted of shoulders and chest today. Due to the fact I’m pregnant, it makes doing chest workouts a little more challenging. They suggest you don’t do exercises that require you to be flat on your back. A good chunk of chest workouts, at least with dumbbells, are flat on your back. So instead of being flat, I did them at inclines. My shoulders were sore by the end, which is good. The last rep I had for my chest exercise I could tell my muscles had just about had it. I felt so accomplished. My workout consisted of dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell lateral raise, dumbbell shoulder shrug, dumbbell front raise, machine press, machine butterfly, dumbbell incline bench press, and dumbbell incline fly. They all basically were 3 sets with 10 reps.

Pregnancy Workout

Hey, hey

So… Big news for those of you who don’t know. I expecting a little one in September! My husband and I are so excited. It happened a like earlier than planned, but everything always happens in God’s time. I truly believe that and it seems to be more and more true each day. Plus my husband and I moved back to my home state of Iowa. Words can’t describe just how happy I am for that. I’m a firm believer in family, and I’ve missed mine a great deal. Nothings the same unless family is nearby. Anyways we are stoked about having a baby. 

I’ve always been adamant about working out and being healthy. Well, that first trimester just about wiped me out. I was sleeping all the time and barely got dinner on the table half the time. Obviously I was a major slacker that first trimester but oh well. I figured if my body wants sleep that bad then I should give it sleep. 

However, second trimester changed that. The first few weeks of the second trimester I just walked 4 miles. I wasn’t always super consistent because of the packing and everything else that need to get done. I did manage to go at least 3 times a week. I figured that is more then most people who aren’t even pregnant. 

My pup takes attractive pictures lol

But today that changed. I figured I’ve got access to a home gym that doesn’t cost me anything, better use it. So today was leg day. Now being pregnant, I obviously have to be a little more cautious of what I’m doing. I did not push it to the extent I felt like death, but I did push it enough I felt like I was doing something. My legs felt like jello after, so I felt accomplished. It helped that I would go up the stairs on my rest to check on my dogs. They aren’t used to having lots of land to roam, so I would make sure they were still within line of site. It’s almost like extra toys to go up the stairs in the middle of a leg workout, but oh well. The workout includedbodyweight calf raises (might change to weighted), hip abductor and adductor, one legged barbell squats, walking dumbell lunges, seated leg curls, leg extensions, and barbell squats. My cardio consisted of walking with the dogs and washing my vehicle. 

They do love each other

It felt good to be back at the weights. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I need to lose my muscle mass. It’s good for the baby and mom to be healthy, which includes working out. Plus after birth, hopefully, it’ll help to lose the baby weight. 

Colds Suck

Hey yall, 

I know it’s been awhile but I’ve been sick, so I hadn’t been able to go workout. I was crazy congested and could barely breathe. Plus I barely made it up my stairs for the apartment without having coughing like crazy. It was a great way to start off the new year. Plus on top of that I worked a lot of overtime, which didn’t help. However, the paycheck will be worth it. Anyways I’m back, not completely without some congestion still in me. 

Today I ran for about 25 minutes. Originally it was supposed to be 20 minutes, so I had time to lift. However, my apartment property manager kicked me out because they were taking updated pictures for advertising. So at the point I only had 6 minutes left, I had to stop. That’s why I decided to run longer because they took long enough I wouldn’t have time to lift. So I only added on about another 5 minutes. I want to say I ran roughly 2 miles, likely a little more but I don’t know for sure. Either way, it felt great to be back at running and hopefully I’ll have time to lift tomorrow. 

No More Holiday Laziness

Hey yall, 

I realize it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged but the holidays keep me busy. It’s not that I did nothing over my Christmas break but I didn’t do as much as normal. I mean I ran for an hour and lifted over the break plus I rode a horse. I ended up not doing legs because I figured riding a horse worked my leg muscles pretty good. I did feel accomplished in the fact I wasn’t really sore after riding. 

Today I ended up running my 35 minutes that I was supposed to do Monday. My plan had me running for five minutes and then walking one. Again, I thought it was crazy and almost didn’t. Plus it seems to take a long time to catch up on the lack of sleep. However, I managed to actually do it. Towards the end I could start to feel my tiredness creep back in but I know I want to be a better runner, so I can’t stop. It ended up being a really good run and I felt accomplished. Plus I got to use my new Bluetooth headphones I got for Christmas. I just need to figure out the right size of ear buds so they don’t fall out when they get sweaty. 

My workout today was legs and abs. It only seemed fitting that I would work legs on my first day back at after Christmas break. Part of me is starting to feel like my squats are irritating my back. I could be doing it slightly off balance because of me trying to do it with dumbbells. I’m not really sure what is doing but I’ll figure it out one of these days. At least I got to do my abs today, which always makes me feel a little better. Plus I made sure to really engage my abs when doing the hanging leg raise. I feel like that helped a little or I just paying more attention and felt it more. I’m not really sure but I’ll take it. 

Christmas Eve Workout

Hey yall, 

Today I managed to get a workout in even though it’s Christmas Eve. I ran for an hour, which everyone has made fun of me for. It was crazy because it felt easy and I haven’t run that far in ages. I’m sure it helped my family has a nice treadmill. My mom and I also watched a Christmas movie during my run. I had lots of distractions from different things during my run. I also had a fan constantly blowing on me, so I never got crazy hot. Plus my mom gave me Batman socks last night, and that might have something to do with it. Not in the sense that I showed all my family and said “I’m Batman,” but the fact they were athletic socks the had compression. I’m sure it helped that I gave myself false confidence saying I’m Batman but I’m sure the real reason was because they were compression socks. My run still consisted off me running three minutes and then walking one. This definitely worried me some because I was going for an hour and it’s  been a while since I had to go that long. Anyways my run felt awesome 

I also worked out my biceps and triceps. My arms felt the pain early on because I could use the proper dumbbells. My biceps are already sore and I’ve yet to get them sore the same day. I’m feeling pretty good about that. Plus for my triceps my parents home has a triceps rope pull down that I could use. I’ve never been more excited for a machine I could use. It was fun working out with my mom because she always cheers me on. It’s funny, which sometimes makes it hard to lift. However, it can be needed to have that little extra cheering. 

We also went over to my grandfather’s house to celebrate Christmas. It was super meaningful in more than one way. I enjoy time with family always.