Hey Everyone! I hope you are all having a great weekend!!! I have no idea where mine went! I can’t believe it’s already Sunday!!!!
I have an 8 mile run I’m doing today in an “attempt” to train for the Lakefront 10 miler, a trip to Costco with my cousin, and then TONS of work to do! Freaking out…
Also, I say “attempt” to train for the 10 miler because I’m only running it for fun! I got training burnout from my half marathon and wanted to give all my focus to Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp, rather than having to make more adjustments to the bootcamp to be able to train properly. So I’m being sure to get in a short speed work run, a short easy run, and then a long run in each week to prep for the race!
Speaking of Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp, we only have 2 weeks left, so I think it’s a great time to let you know how things have gone so far!
Her bootcamp is 8 weeks long, broken into 4 phases that are each 2 weeks. The phases were called stabilization, strength endurance, strength and power. What I’ve loved most about the workouts are that each phase is different from the last and even within the phases Tina makes changes so that the second week is a little bit harder than the first. For example, phase 3 included 2 circuit workouts where we did a move for 40 seconds and rested for 20 before moving onto the next move. For week 2 she said to do the move for 45 seconds and rest for 10 (I changed it to 15 so it would still make a minute, which I needed because of the timer I was using).
Here’s me wiped out after a circuit:
Phase 3 has also been my favorite because we learned a weight lifting technique that I had never heard of before: Drop Sets!
Honestly, I felt so cool doing this in the gym. Where I workout there are maybe one or two other girls in the free weights area and otherwise it’s all men, so I was doing my drop sets thinking they must either think I’m crazy (which would mean I know more about weightlifting then they do since they don’t know what a drop set is –fools) or that I’m super cool. Which I am.
According to Wikipedia: In bodybuilding and weight training, using drop sets is a technique for continuing an exercise with a lower weight once muscle failure has been achieved at a higher weight
Basically you do move at the highest weight you can for 8 reps. Then you “drop down” to a lower weight and keep doing the move until fatigue. You also can drop down again for a third set to an even lower weight. I LOVED doing this and was so sore the next morning! I highly recommend giving it a try to mix up your weight lifting.
I am also loving the Fit Fluential #PROOF campaign. Whenever you’re working out or being healthy, you can tweet a picture with the hashtags #fitfluential and #PROOF. I love seeing what other people are doing and sharing my own workouts! Haha when I remember.
Tina’s bootcamp has great workouts alright, but she also asks each of us to set 2 goals for ourselves each week and try and meet those goals every day. They can be anything from getting a certain amount of protein or drinking enough water, to personal goals like reading or working on self-confidence. One of my goals this past week has been to compliment myself every day.
Whether you have great self esteem or not, sometimes we forget to stop and think about ways that we are GREAT, rather than getting down on ourselves for things we aren’t doing. Yesterday, I wrote out a list of reasons that I am AWESOME! At first I felt stupid, but it was a great way to start my day!
What about you makes you awesome?
What’s a new exercise you’ve tried or learned recently?