POW Camp

This morning was brutal. I spent 100 minutes with my trainer and a bunch of other exercise enthusiasts. Saturday sessions are called "Weekend Warrior" but I teased Tammye today and told her that I felt like a POW not a Warrior. Haha. Yet, somehow I keep coming back for more. I also went to a session on Wednesday; it is her advanced group which I try to avoid but I couldn't go on my regular Thursday so I tried it. A couple things I have done this week for either the first time in a long long time or never before: I jumped rope (don't think I've done that since 6th grade), ran at 8.0 on the treadmill (even though it was only a minute it almost killed me), walked at a 15 incline on the treadmill, and did one legged gliders (see pic below).

When I first started working out I could not even do two legged gliders more than once. This week I did one leggers 15 times on each side. Yay! When I did this I thought my trainer might cry. She was like "Cheryl I am so proud of you, this is a major breakthrough for us". It was a proud moment. If you'd like to try these at home, you can use paper plates to imitate as the gliding disk. It is better if you are on carpet. You can also do them with a paper plate under each leg and that is an easier modification.

I know that I am the strongest I have ever been in my whole life. I have been trying to take some pics of some of the crazy things we do and I'll be doing a post soon with several pics.

Today we did several exercises. We started out with some circuits using elastic bands, jump ropes and medicine balls; this included exercises such as lunges, squats, rows, chest press, overhead press and all sorts of crazy jumps with the rope including normal jump rope and then some drills wear we laid the rope on the ground and did mogul jumps, speed skaters and a modified football run. Then we went for a little run. We ran 4 minutes and then did 50 air squats, ran 3 minutes and did 30 air squats, ran 2 minutes and did 20 air squats, ran for 1 minute and did 20 air squats and ran for 30 seconds and did 10 squat jumps. (this may not be exactly but close enough). We also did a series of ab exercises such as bicycle crunches and reverse crunches. The torture never ends. We then hit the stairs at the amphitheater doing mountain climbers with torso twist, spider man push ups, tricep dips and box jumps.

The weather was so beautiful we did our entire workout at the park today. It was awesome! After all of that...I thought I'd die but then the group headed to the parking lot for more drills, we did a combo of running, shuffling, high knees and running backwards, then did some elastic band bicep curls, followed by firewalkers. These freaking hurt. It is just a little elastic band you put around your ankles and you walk side ways (step together, step....ouch these make your entire leg burn) and then did some lunges while holding the medicine ball over our head. Did I mention that after all that we did it all again??

This is serious torture. I am not sure what water boarding is like but this has got to be close. Not really but you get what I am saying. However, when you are done you feel so good. There are people of all different strengths, shapes and sizes in the group and we all keep each other motivated. It is fun and motivating to see some of the true athletes in the group.

Bod Pod

Sorry I havent blogged in a while. I was without a computer for about a week and just didnt like the idea of blogging from my phone. I am headed to Chicago tomorrow and as soon as I get back I am getting a test done called "Bod Pod". It is one of the most accurate ways to test your lean tissue vs fat tissue percentages. I know how much weight I have lost but I have also gained a lot of muscle and as we all know muscle ways more than fat so I am interested to see the results. I will be re doing the test in 60 days. It isn't very expensive for those of you wondering....$40 for one time or $60 for two tests. I am really excited. I am also planning on getting a blood panel done to test cholesterol, insulin levels, triglycerides, etc. Just thought it would be great to get a base line. I'll let you know what I find out.

Just how does the BOD POD work?

While a person sits inside the enclosure, a rapidly vibrating diaphragm in the wall of the test chamber produces small changes in air pressure between it and an adjoining reference chamber. The changes in air pressure can be used to determine the amount of air the person displaces in the test chamber. In turn, that measurement leads to an estimation of the person’s body volume, corrected for the volume of air in the lungs at the time of the measurement.
Then, taking the person’s body mass (obtained by a scale) and dividing it by the person’s body volume, the body density is determined. With that, a person’s percent body fat can be calculated.

Mini Meatloaf & Mashed Cauliflower

These are two great recipes that you can make whether you are on low carb or low fat diets. You can always tweak the ingredients a little to make this right for you. It is also nice because the meatloaves are portion controlled. This is super easy and very yummy. Even if mashed cauliflower sounds gross, TRY IT! You might be surprised, it is very similar to potatoes with out the carbs and lots of fiber.

Meatloaf
Lean Ground beef
1 carrot grated (you could exclude if very low carb)
1/2-1 chopped green bell pepper
1/2-1 chopped onion
1 small can tomato sauce
1/4-1/2 C Oatmeal
1 egg

Combine all ingredients. Roll into small balls and fill 12 tin muffin pan (spray pan with cooking spray or olive oil). Bake at 350 until beef is cooked thoroughly. I add a sauce for the last 10 minutes of catchup, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke and a small amount of brown sugar.

Mashed Cauliflower
1 medium head cauliflower
milk or half & half
butter
salt
1/4 C instant potatoes (optional)
garlic/parmesean/cheese/chives (optional)

Steam cauliflower until soft. Combine all ingredients and mash with hand masher or food processor just as you would for mashed potatoes. I promise that this is good! You get the yummy goodness of potatoes with out the starchy carbs and you get lots of added fiber.