Motivation

I have not stopped working out & getting ready for my races that are coming up soon. The first is the Seattle Color Run on Mother's Day with my youngest Jacob. We are both really excited to be doing our first 5K together. We are being joined by some good friends with their children as well. It will be a fabulous day!

My biggest race is on June 16th when six fabulous ladies & I run the PNW Spartan Sprint together. With that in mind I have been training non-stop when I have a free moment. We do all kinds of crazy training some involves monkey bars which I still can't master. Climbing a rope, running sprints up hills with 50llbs sacks on our backs. All my walks now have me wearing a 25llbs weighted vest. I therefore spend a lot of time on pinterest in the evenings after the kids go to bed. I find I need extra motivation in quotes or pictures. Therefore I pin them to my boards. Here are few new favorites to share. I hope all you have been training are enjoying keeping up your fitness goals as much as me. If you don't enjoy it then something's wrong. We girls find ourselves laughing at eachother quite often. It is  much easier to relax & enjoy the process then to hate every moment. You'll see great change happen when it becomes a habit you look forward to doing every day.

See what I mean, we do silly things while we train! These where the start of hanging sit-ups.

I get tired every day I train- But I love it!

These are just a few that I read for help when I am exhausted. Your body can do so much more then we think! Never Give Up!!

Grunt Fitness 365

Check out this great Facebook page for more inspiration through words & recipes.

Biggest Motivator so far this week- if he can accomplish his goals then why not ME!

Monday Madness

Today is a little nutty around my house. I committed to staying healthy this year and on track. Which means no matter how tired I am from a weekend of puppy class in Oregon on Saturday or a child who was sick yesterday- TODAY I am going to the gym !! I made it 4 days last week & got one super hard PT session in with my old trainer. I seriously could not walk well until Sunday came around. Squats are not my friend at the moment, they just hurt!! I watched every thing that went in to my mouth- looking at it & asking myself was it " a Healthy Choice" ? I ate a couple of things I knew weren't great for me, but we all have those moments. I am not perfect but I am trying my best to stay on track. I feel better when I eat clean and exercise. It is my only outlet while Paul is deployed that is just for me! After dropping two boys at school I will hit the gym for a one hour session of PT with two friends. I will work hard and I will sweat a lot! Then I'll come home to finish the rest of my crazy day of Ophthalmology appointments & Soccer camp for the kids. But I'll be feeling much better knowing I started my day off great!


What are you doing today or this week to help you stay motivated and live your best life?? 

Today's smoothie is the following:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tbl spoon Almond Butter
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
half of a banana
some ice cubes

It tastes great!! Almost like a peanut butter cup- if you want it sweeter add a packet of your favorite sweetner.


have a great Monday everyone!

Motivational Monday

We are now 5 days away from my next 5k Obstacle race -YAY!! I am super excited but well aware that it is going to hurt while doing it-LOL I am a realist. I know I am not the best runner so I will be working out four days in a row this week with a rest & yummy carb loading day on Friday! Just so happens that is the day we are having Jeremy's birthday cake so I get to eat a small slice  :0) 

With all that being said I have turned to GOOGLE my favorite friend to find some motivational pictures & quotes. I have been posting them a lot for my ladies who workout with me on a regular basis. I love to wait to hear their humorous responses to my 5AM posts on Facebook. They always moan,groan, & drag their heels to work out- then we laugh all the way through the workout! I started today's post with a fun picture then moved on to some motivation. Here's a little of what I have used over the past week to keep us going towards our last 5K goal. Happy  Monday everyone! Don't forget to get out & find time to MOVE today!!

I thought this was funny!

 Those who can't afford a GYM - No worries you have the great outdoors or in our case a Garage!

 If your not sweating your NOT WORKING!

 It wont become a HABIT unless You MAKE it one!

 YOU have to want to Change - only YOU can CHANGE yourself!

 

This is what my old trainer told me all the time- Now I tell my ladies this when they get to whining or giggling to much!

 

Hope everyone finds their motivation this Monday to get out & MOVE!!

Fitness Friday

I have been HARD at work all week- folks I have done five days in a row of working out! I am super proud of myself & super tired as I sit here to type about it all. I started on Monday by hitting the gym with some good cardio & arms/abs. Then Tuesday had me waking up to news that where my husband is stationed was under attack -all over the news. The worry worked to my advantage & I broke my own personal best in completing 8.5 miles of cardio in forty minutes. I looked like I had stepped out of the shower! Sweat dripping from every place on my body-literally! I accomplished my cardio with the elliptical & the bike at the gym. I then went on for another thirty - five minutes of legs & abs. So it was an amazing day & YES DOMS (Delayed Muscles Soreness) ensued about two hours later. Got to love it when you go to get off the toliet & your legs are wobbly & screaming in pain from a good work out.


Wednesday was my rest day . But I had another Military Mom who wanted to meet & start getting back into shape. I met her at one of parks & walked about 2 miles while carrying weight around the trails. It really helped get all my lactic acid moving to remove any lingering soreness. If your super sore remember to keep moving!! It will help work out the stiffness. Now Wednesday wasn't super hard I got a little sweaty but I moved for an hour & helped another wife start her fitness journey- that's what counts! Thursday was gym time with only twenty-five minutes of light cardio then glutes/legs. My legs where jell-o when I was done. I had to go to Safeway to get groceries & thankful the cart held me up! Friday I was excited to meet up with four lovely military spouses that live out here by me in our housing development. I took all kinds of my free weights- from 3llbs up to 15llbs to the park! We met up & I showed them how to do a good circuit using the playground. Park benches , the stairs, running down the hill then back up, as well as the weights for squats & arms. I did more of the arm work but did the running & stairs as well-  my now smoked legs are not thanking me yet! We did this 3 times with 15 reps on each station & 3 runs up & down the hill. It's not a small hill either it's pretty long steep hill.

Saturday & Sunday where suppose to be my rest days. I have Soccer tomorrow with Jacob at noon. But the ladies where really excited & the weather is suppose to be cool but nice. So I agreed to meet up at the lake & power walk the trails with them- while we carry weights. That's right folks if it works out tomorrow will be day six of workouts for me this week- Sunday is for sure a REST day! I ate really clean this week with a lot of lean proteins. I switched the boys to turkey burgers & they gobbled them down only one noticed the difference. I didn't sneak not one glass of wine in at all! I did have a Starbucks yesterday evening, but Panzer my dog made me spill half of it- so does it really count?? All in all it has been a good work out week. I hope to repeat it next week working more of my arms & chest. I love that I have other ladies excited to get healthy as well.They all joined our Facebook page  Sweaty & Strong Military Sisters  so they could find workout partners to help them stay motivated! That was the whole point of the page- so I am super happy it is working. if you haven't checked it out go LIKE it to see what it is all about!


I hope everyone has a fun, safe, & healthy weekend! Remember there is NO EXCUSE to NOT MOVE!! Thirty minutes a day is all it takes to get you started to a healthy lifestyle. You will feel better inside & out!

Sweaty & Strong Military Sisters

I met another lovely Army wife through a local Facebook page & we have joined forces in the name of Health, Exercise, & Fitness! We noticed that several of the other ladies on the two pages we where on who are also Military Wives wanted someone to work out with but had no way to find them? Randi took the next step & started a Facebook page. She then asked me to join her as an admin since I love to hit the gym & eat as healthy as possible - most days. Since quite a few of my wonderful followers are military spouses & also into a healthy life style, I invite you to go "LIKE" our page Sweaty & Strong Military Sisters .

It is NOT a diet page at all. It is a page meant to bring together military ladies across the globe to help encourage each other stay on track with their fitness & nutrition goals. We have added some ladies who are Personal Trainers who will at times chime in on discussions to help us have the most accurate information passed along. We have a ROLL CALL Tab in the Discussions section so you can introduce yourself & see if there is anyone else living around you who might be looking for a work out partner. We all know staying motivated is one of the biggest problems for military spouses who make friends,work out partners to only have to move a couple years later & start all over. We hope this helps set you up for success! Maybe connect with another spouse who is already at the post or base you will be moving to next. Anyway if your interested at all go take a look & please share it with others so they can share in the same success as you!

Motivational Monday

I woke up at the nice chipper hour of 5:45Am this day,uggg But my coffee was nice & hot ready for me to drink- so it made me happy. I woke up ready to get a good work out in ,the wal-mart run done, & the painting in the front room finally started. I got ALL these things done today & almost finished the whole front room already! Not sure where all my motivation suddenly came from but I am NOT complaining!! I enjoyed the gym even though I only did 45 minutes as I felt a little drained. I loved walking around wal-mart looking at a lot but only leaving with what I really needed. I even enjoyed turning on our stereo we never use anymore & pulling at the paint that has been sitting in the garage all summer. I was suppose to paint in July while the boys where gone, but it just didn't happen. I am happy to say I only have trim work left to do tomorrow-YAY. I took down the curtains & threw them in the washer so they are dust free before putting them back. The room already looks so much cleaner & fresh! I can't wait to finish painting & get it all put together. Hopefully this wonderful motivation sticks around for another couple of days so I can get it completed. I am hosting a Thirty-One Gifts party on Sunday afternoon & also have to get the rest of my house cleaned at some point. Today has been so nice, thank goodness for a wonderful Monday!

Motivation on Monday ?

I have NO motivation at all today to get my workout in right now. I have started on lunges & glutes here at home only to stop after my three sets of fifteen. I should go outside & walk the trails so I at least get something accomplished I have time, the kids are all playing with friends- so there is NO excuse. Except it's Monday, I haven't worked out in 3 days- so I am blah! I know if I just go do it, I'll feel better- but getting started is hard today. I thought maybe if I wrote it out I might get motivated but so far it hasn't happend-LOL. Stay tuned to find out if I get OFF my TUSH or stay comfortably planted in my husbands chair for the day!

 

Trying to let exercise be my friend but finding it hard today.....