Fitness Tip of the Moment August 30, 2008

Along the lines of College Game Day which I just wrote about, I’m going to encourage you to borrow from sports training and to add some drills into your own workouts.  If you’re looking to add some intensity to your workout video routines, this is very simple.   Whenever the lead of the video is doing a cardio interval, go ahead and do the interval but then pause your DVD/tape right at the end. 

Now, do 1 minute straight of some sort of athletic drill.  You could do the football run (I like to alternate between a wide run and a close run with my feet), you can do as many jumping jacks as you can, you could do the mountain climb (hands on a step or the floor alternating the feet, jumping back and forth to switch), some shuffles side to side, pretend to run through tires with your knees as high as possible as you run, or anything else you can think of that will make you push yourself for an extra minute.  If your workout has 4 or 5 cardio intervals and you add one minute after each one, you can easily lengthen the workout and get a whole interval’s worth of cardio in at the same time.

And if you have kids who play football or if you live near a place where a team practices, take note of what they do and get some ideas (and of course, then share them with the rest of us!).

Have a great day!

Steph

It’s COLLEGE GAME DAY! Are you ready to play??

I can say that with such enthusiasm because the Gamecocks have already played this week and we won…. 

  In the spirit of the kick off of football season, I’d like to encourage each of you to find your “inner athlete.”  God did not intend for you to sit on the sidelines of life while all the action takes place away from you on the field.  You ARE on the field every day that you breathe on this earth with a God-given opportunity to make the plays to get you through the day successfully.  Coach God has a game plan called the Bible and there’s not a single play you can pull on this earth that He hasn’t already covered.  (Isn’t it nice that there’s already a play book where you know in the end if you follow God’s will you will win without a doubt??  No losing, no tie breakers – just a perfect victory lap in heaven!)

And I also encourage you to find your own outlet for the athletic side of you.  Think how hard football players train.  They work on building strength, agility and speed.  To be excellent they have to invest in proper nutrition.  They also have to learn the plays or all of that training is wasted.  It’s the same with you.  You have the power to make the choices to make your body as healthy as possible and a God who then wants you on the field, in the action -and by all means He wants you to have a great time too!! 

So, get off the bench whether it’s spiritual or physical and GET IN THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let’s all push ourselves a little harder today and remember that we’re always in training for this gift called life.

God bless!

Steph

A couple of things….

First of all, my mother just wrote the nicest note to me on my “Holding Tightly, Letting Go” thing and I just want to say to her:  MOM YOU’RE THE BEST!!!  I’ve gotten almost 5000 hits and she’s probably a lot of them as she’s always been so incredibly supportive of me.  (Actually, she’s so busy that I’m glad she stopped by and maybe she’s only half of those!)  That means hopefully she’s sitting down at the computer and not painting, volunteering, helping out with a doctor’s office as a nurse – and this is from a woman who is supposedly RETIRED!!

Secondly,  if you look at my training log for today, you’ll notice that I really didn’t do anything.  Actually,  I got up at 4:00 because Will was fussing then tried to go back to bed.  He went back to sleep and I did not.   So, I had a cup of coffee, spent some time praying for my best friend who had a very long surgery today (she’s doing fine and God has heard from a lot of people today about Denise    ) and then got ready to do a heavy leg workout.  I managed to get on my workout clothes, head upstairs, and then I just kind of sat there and realized that today I just didn’t have it in me.  My body clearly wanted to rest and though I could have told it “no” and gone on with it, I think I really needed it.   However, I have a deal with myself that if I take a rest day, the next day’s workout better be darn good.  So, in a matter of hours I’ll have another opportunity to tackle another workout and hopefully I’ll have something substantial to report to you.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Steph

So now I’m testing the whole email subscription thing…and anything in particular you want me to cover??

Thanks for your patience while I figure all of this out!  One of my dearest friends (okay – I’m going to call her out – Kathryn) suggested I do some sort of subscription set up so people can find out when I update the blog.  So, utilizing my extremely limited techincal ability, I think I’ve managed to do it.  Feel free to try it out by clicking on the link on the right side of the page and feel free to provide me with feedback on it.

Just so you know, when you post it gets sent to be moderated, meaning I just have to come check on my blog and tell it to put the comments in waiting on the site.  It’s really no big deal so don’t let that hold you back if you have a question for me.

And coming soon, I believe I’m heading into full board production mode again meaning the workouts and nutrition will tighten up considerably – all while i have absolutely no spare time.  So, I figure to hold me accountable I’ll post on here exactly what I do for workouts and what I’m eating.  My hope is that it doesn’t bore you to death and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be a little inspired.  (And in case you don’t know, when it comes to video leads, most people have to step up the training big time and I’ll readily say that I train super heavy for the mere fact that being filmed makes you take it up a notch.  I’ll spill it all.  Just hope that it doesn’t put you to sleep!!)

Hope you’re having a great week!

Steph

The Glamorous Beginning of Motherhood….

Have you seen all the Hollywood mothers out there?  You know the ones I’m talking about – they are equally fashionable when they’re carrying the extra baby weight as when they’re not and they somehow magically show up in their pre-baby bodies approximately 3 months after delivery, usually at some fancy awards show wearing a designer gown, draped in diamonds.  This portrayal of those early phases of motherhood as something so glamorous truly makes me laugh.  Actually, I was so hormonal after the births of my children that at the time seeing such women was more likely to make me cry…

 

I had girlfriends kind enough to tell me that after delivery, I shouldn’t expect to look much different than I did when I showed up to birth each bundle of joy.  Somehow I just couldn’t believe that.  After all, a whole person was moving out and that had to make a big difference….right?  In a word, “no.”   Everyone will be overjoyed about the new baby, but your body will somehow resent the fact that the nine or ten months of baby growing are now over. 

 

So, you head home from the hospital and have high hopes that as you walk around in your zombie-like state, you can at least put on a pair of decent pants and perhaps a shirt that doesn’t look like a mu-mu.  This is where I wonder what the Hollywood moms do.  Surely they can’t walk right in the door when they get home with the baby and walk right into their designer jeans too, can they?

 

Once I settled into the fact that I would still be walking around the house in what I was wearing prior to delivery, I also began to have this weird feeling that I was being followed.  And do you know what?  I was!  It was my new rear-end!  It had grown to new dimensions and it followed me everywhere I went.  Whether I was trying to feed the baby or even trying to do something relaxing like take my first shower in two days, there it was – and it had two friends tagging along in the form of new thighs.

 

I’m happy to report that during those first post-partum months I learned to be forgiving of my body.  I developed an even greater awe of God and His infinite wisdom in figuring out how to keep the human race growing despite ourselves.  This body, this blessing,  has given me two of the most important things in my life so I celebrate it – even for the times when there was more of me than I normally prefer.  And of course, with consistent workouts and good nutrition I’m getting back to my “normal” and even looking forward to taking on some new fitness challenges.  It hasn’t been glamorous and I’ll never be one of those moms on the cover of People  who jumps right back into her “skinny” clothes, but I’ll trade glamour for what I’ve been blessed with any day.

 

Stay tuned for some of my preggie pictures… I wouldn’t want you to miss out on what a 55 pound weight gain looks like J

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep the Suggestions Coming!!

Since I’ve started this little blogging adventure I’ve had some great suggestions for topic ideas.   And I’ve heard that people like to see pictures so I’m working on figuring out how that works.  Some of the things I’m working on are:

 

• The video diet – I’ll spill it all but I’ll give you heads up that it’s not very exciting and pretty much your good ‘ol clean eating plan.
• The regular day-to-day diet – which really isn’t what I’d call a diet
• Post-Partum Glamour (or I should say more like the lack thereof!)
• Supplements and the ones I’ve used. 
• Hardcore training – Keep in mind that “hardcore” for me is relative to the fact that I work full time, have two small children and an amazing husband who helps me keep it all together.
• What I do when I have NO time to workout but need to workout.
• Some of my favorite Bible verses and how the grace of Christ is all I truly need.
• Different ways you can split up body parts for training whether it’s in a gym or doing workout videos.

 

That’s just some of the stuff I’m working on and if there’s anything else you want to know please tell me as writing truly is fun for me.  

 

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

 

Steph

 

Holding tightly, Letting go

Holding tightly, Letting go

(I wrote this almost two years ago exactly when Gracie was not even 1 yet… now that Will is almost 9 months it’s amazing to see how he’s repeating so many of the same things and I feel that it will be equally hard to let him go one day as well…)

 

I have an overwhelming need to write – or should I say document – everything my daughter does.  Even the smallest of things seem to have the greatest importance.  If it weren’t for digital cameras and the ability to see and store mass quantities of pictures we’d have to take out a second mortgage to cover photography.  Is she in the bathtub?  Better go get the video camera as we don’t want to miss a thing.  Did she babble another sound combination today?  Let me go get my journal and write it down before I forget.

There are so many special moments that I want to capture and hold on to forever. I love the way she laughs when I make my bangs move by blowing a little puff of air toward them.  The sparkle in her eyes is mesmerizing – shining with the glow of the anticipation of each brand new discovery.  She reaches for my hair and sometimes manages to catch it, laughing out loud, thrilled with her success.  Right now she wrestles on the changing table and it’s a major accomplishment to get a dirty diaper off and a clean one on her.  The sheer determination she has to avoid the diaper changing is beyond belief and it’s a determination I hope she’ll use for good in the future.  She’s crawling and pulling up and standing for a second or two.  As soon as she realizes that she’s standing she sits down quickly, back to where she feels safe and can wreak havoc on anything she can get her hands on.

Today she uttered the word “Bubba” in reference to our dog who shares the same name.  We are taking this to mean that she clearly has spoken her first word attached to an identifiable object.  I’m very proud of her and also glad that we didn’t name our dog something along the lines of “Hooligan” as that would be much harder for her to say.  I secretly wish her first word ever would have been “Momma,” but “Dadda” won out.  I’ve heard that babies say “Dadda” first because phonetically it’s easier to say and they find their tongues before they know they have lips.  I’ve also heard that it’s an anthropological development as men are not as moved by small children so they learn to say “Dadda” for survival hoping to touch the tender area of an apparent cave man’s heart.  Regardless of the reason, I’m willing to take second place (that would actually be third place, counting the dog) as long as I’m so blessed to be a part of her life.

Sometimes this seems so easy, so right.  Other times I wonder why in the world God allows any of us to procreate.  The decisions involved from what to feed her to how to be sure I’m providing an educationally stimulating environment for an 11 month old can drown me with worry.  The evening news strikes a mini-panic attack with the mere thought of the world I’ve brought her in to.  I find myself sounding more and more like my parents with my comments on the state of world affairs.  It’s amazing that for so long I thought that they didn’t have clue, that they were behind the times.  Parenthood has slammed me into a new mode of respect for my own mother and father.   They do know what they were (and still are) talking about!. 

Being a mother has taught me immensely about God’s love.  I imagine that sometimes I’m like a baby who refuses to be still and be comforted though His supporting arms are waiting to hold me tight.  I imagine the joy God must feel when we finally stop fighting, curl up in His love, and rest in perfect security and trust.

I hope I can provide Gracie with the same kind of security and trust – the kind that means no matter how bad things get, not matter what happens with wars and sickness and death and bad luck, I’m here for her with outstretched arms with nothing but pure love to surround her.  I’m sure we’ll have our challenging times and I’ll long for the days when she’s right where she is today – crawling and pulling up, standing for a second or two before sitting back down again – but I know I have to let her grow up, good times and bad times included. 

I guess when I look at my place as Gracie’s mother, the true challenge is that from her very arrival the point is to help her grow – then to let her go.  This struck me when she was about 7 weeks old.  I was rocking her in her nursery and I was overcome by waves of never ever wanting to let her go, not even to put her in the crib for a second.   I wanted to sit in the chair and hang on to her for dear life while everything and everyone around us moved ahead at the frantic pace of existence.  And then it hit me clear as a bell – the job of a mother is to love and let go. 

I don’t want to let go.  I don’t want her to go to kindergarten, to elementary school, to dances in junior high.  Then there’s the prom and graduation and then college.  And then the day that she tells us that she’s found a man she wants to marry and she’ll be starting her own family.  It seems too much, too heavy, too fast.  My eyes tear up as I realize the incredible privilege I have to love this little girl, to help her grow up…. to let her go.

I try not to be sad but instead to think of the journey ahead and the fact that I will always have memories of these special times to hold in my heart forever – special moments between the two of us that no camera could ever capture in their fullest.  I thank God for the blessing of motherhood and at the same time ask Him for guidance as I don’t want to fail at the most important job I have.  And then I ask Him for special strength to help me to help her let go as she begins to stand on her own.