Get Write to It!

Okay, corny title...can't help myself!

I had some travel time (riding in a car) this weekend and so that means...more magazines! I know that you have all heard it before, but journaling your food is an easy way to increase your weight loss chance of success.

From Shape, November 2008 (yes, I had some magazine catching up to do!)

Just because you don't have time to keep a proper food journal doesn't mean your slim-down efforts are doomed. According to researchers at Kaiser Permanente's center for Health Research, simply jotting down meals and snacks on a Post-it or texting yourself a list of what you eat encourages you to take in fewer calories by forcing you to reflect on how much you're consuming. "When you become more conscious of your choices, budgeting your calories gets easier," says Jack Hollis, Ph.D., a senior investigator. The researchers found that dieters who scribbled down what they ate for six months lost about 13 pounds--double the amount of those who didn't catalog their daily diet.

I know this has worked for me. I've even had the luxury of having to turn my journal over to another set of eyes. THAT will really make you think about what you eat! Now, I only journal my food for short periods of time if I feel that I am getting into bad eating habits again. I like the idea of just writing it on a Post-it or texting myself--just acknowledging what I have eaten in writing is the key. If you want extra accountability, have another person look at your food journal. Or do like Christi has and create a blog to record all of your food. Who knows how many people view her food journal! That is a lot of accountability!

Bottom line is that writing down what you consume works for weight loss/control. Take the time for this...it's the write thing to do!

Workout for Saturday, March 7

300 body weight squats for time (a.k.a. air squats)

Oh yes, you can! Just suck it up and get them done!

Workout for Friday, March 6

For time:

21 walking lunges
21 push ups
21 sit ups
18 walking lunges
18 push ups
18 sit ups
15 walking lunges
15 push ups
15 sit ups
12 walking lunges
12 push ups
12 sit ups
9 walking lunges
9 push ups
9 sit ups
6 walking lunges
6 push ups
6 sit ups

For those doing the 100 push ups per day challenge--this gets 81 of them in!

Ever Wonder?

Did you ever wonder why push ups are soooo hard? My husband, David, found this answer to that in the March, 2009 issue of Men's Health--

Ever wonder how many pounds you're lifting when you do a push up? Calculate 75% of your body weight and you have the answer, according to research by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Push ups help you build healthy, stable shoulders by training your scapular muscles as well as your rotator-cuff muscles, says Indianapolis-based physical therapist Bill Hartman, P.T., C.S.C.S.

Another fact about push ups--30 is the number of push ups the U.S. Army requires men ages 27-31 to do in 2 minutes to graduate basic combat training.

I need to try timing 30 push ups sometime. I really think I could do 30 in 2 minutes. What about you? Of course, these stats are for real, from the toes, chest to the floor push ups. So, at 75% of my body weight, and since I am doing 100 push ups a day, I am pushing over 100 lbs each of those 100 reps each day! Pretty remarkable! The handstand push ups I've been doing each day are 100% of my body weight. That's a lot of weight to push up. You can see that by doing this for a month, you can really build up your muscle fast. So...if you aren't doing the push up challenge--WHY NOT!!! It won't take long to catch up. Plus, March has 31 days so that buys you an extra day. Just doing 50 a day will go a long way toward gaining some much needed upper body strength.

Workout for Wednesday, March 4

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

5 burpees
10 dumbbell swings
15 squats

I've put up a video of dumbbell swings with the other videos. Hard to find good videos, but this will give you the idea. Try to use at least a 10 lb. dumbbell. Form is important, so if your back starts to round, stop!

Also...for our class tonight--we will try to do our warm up in the FLC before we move to FH North.

Workout for Tuesday, March 3

Run Away!

It should be a nice day, so I think some fresh air running (or very fast walking) is in order. I also am trying to have some shoulder/arm/chest mercy on those who are doing the push up challenge!

Run away from your house for 4 minutes
Stop and do 30 squats
Run back home
Do another 30 squats

Record your total time

Embarrassed to squat in the middle of your neighborhood? Get over it! Do it faster and less people will see you.

Workout for Monday, March 2

We'll learn to do the Turkish Get Up and Windmill with dumbbells, then do a quick review of medicine ball cleans and wall balls, have a short workout and then a special treat:'

Laurie Cummings (Zumbafreak) is going to give us a short Zumba lesson! If you don't know what Zumba is, check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5JmPXvdCuA

Actual workouts today were:

Turkish Get Up--5 rounds of 3 for each arm, increasing weight of dumbbell each time.

Walking lunges (holding 5 or 10 lb. dumbbell in one hand overhead) for the length of the basketball court each hand, then 15 jumps on the FLC step (or step ups).

Zumba was lots of fun! Thanks Laurie for teaching us--we'll definitely want to do that again!