Fit n' Firm Friday: It's been too long!!

Ok, welp... I am in fact alive! I have to find balance in my life, or my anxiety goes through the roof. So, I had to put a pause on blogging for a while. With being a full-time, stay-at-home momma with two kiddos at home, one crazy monkey in school, two amazing callings at church, teaching a bootcamp at our church for women twice a week, a couple rounds of sickness in our house, and a husband who goes out of town for work every so often, blogging was the last thing I wanted to do! : ) Anyway, so here is the workout we did this past Wednesday at bootcamp. It was very fun and a great total body workout!

Fit n' Firm Friday: Tabata x 12

*12 Tabatas stations, with two exercises per station. Rotate performing each of the two exercises at the station until the full 8 rounds of the tabata are over. Exercise high intensity for 20 seconds, 10 seconds rest. Continue until you have reached the 8 full rounds, thus, each station lasts 4 minutes total.

*if any of the exercises are unfamiliar to you, you can always google them, or shoot me a comment and ask me to demonstrate for another fit n' firm friday.


Station 1: Explosive push-up and Exercise ball chest fly (place your upper back and neck on the exercise ball and keep your hips up in a bridge position while you perform the flys.)

Station 2: Plank and V-ups

Station 3: Body weight squat and Body weight jump squat

Station 4: Kettle bell squat into cross leg jump and Tricep extensions

Station 5: Cross body toe reaches (laying down, feet in air, arms straight holding light weight dumbbell) and Side burpee

Station 6: Body weight alternating lunge and Body weight split squat jumps

Station 7: Spicy burpee and L raises

Station 8: Bicep matrix and Sit up/hip raise combo

Station 9: Body weight squat and Body weight jump squat

Station 10: Plank with weighted lateral raise and Sliding mountain climbers (our gym is a carpet flooring, so I used two paper plates to place the feet on)

Station 11: Bent over row and Prone Y raises

Station 12: Body weight alternating lunge and Body weight split squat jumps

We did a workout finisher called ROXANNE... I found the idea online here and I knew we had to do it 'cause we have a girl named Roxanne that comes to bootcamp. : )

Play "Roxanne" by The Police. Start in extended plank position, and everytime they say "roxanne" do a pushup, and everytime they say "red light" do a squat thrust. It gets crazy!!!

After the roxanne bit, we did roughly 8 minutes of abs. Great night!

I'll tell ya what... the women that come to bootcamp are beasts! I am going to brag on them for a minute... Almost every single one of them is a mother, they come to workout late at night, and they bust their behinds! I will not name who, but we even have a 59 year old woman who comes, and goodness gracious, she is a hard worker! They all are! I am thankful they let me teach them. : )

Try this workout and let me know what you think! I'll guarantee you will feel a step closer to being FIT N' FIRM! : )

Fit n' Firm Friday: Why do resistance training?

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Playing sports as a teen definately gave me the chance to officially meet a dumbbell or two. Training has always been one of my favorite parts of participating in athletics. While many girls might scoff at lifting weights or other resistance exercises, I LOVED and still LOVE doing them. A lot of women think they will get bulky if they lift weights. That is not true! Well, unless your goal is to body build. But, normal women seeking a healthy lifestyle can receive soooo many benefits by including resistance training in their fitness routines.  Without getting huge and bulky and masculine, just toned and firm!

In the Vol. 22 Issue 4 of ACSM's (American College of Sports Medicine) Certified News Journal, I found some awesome proof that I just wanted to share regarding resistance exercise!

*15 research supported health benefits of resistance training:

1. Increased lean weight

2. Increased resting energy expenditure

3. Decreased fat weight

4. Reduced low back pain

5. Reduced arthritic discomfort

6. Increased functional independence

7. Enhanced movement control

8. Increased insulin sensitivity

9. Improved glucose control

10. Reduced resting blood pressure

11. Improved blood lipid profiles

12. Increased bone mineral density

13. Improved cognitive ability

14. Enhanced self-esteem

15. Reversed aging factors in skeletal muscle

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Can I get an amen, Hallelujer? Who doesn't want all of that? So, strive to do resistance training 2-3 times a week to get the most benefits. Allow a day of rest in between resistance training days because you are, in fact, tearing your muscle fibers when you challenge them. Tearing them down builds them back up stronger!

*ACSM's Certified News, Oct-Dec 2012, Vol. 22, Issue 4, Page 9

drop and give me fit

well howdy-ho-winslow! it has been ages upon ages since i have posted.

 1. we seriously were sick for at least 3 weeks. i honestly stopped counting. in our house, since around christmas time, we have had the flu, a uti, sinus infections, eye infections, and a stomach bug. we have been miserable, but we are doing MUCH, much better now.

#2, my blog is doing something funky, something about cache and cookies? and i do what it tells me to do to fix it? and it is still weird. i just wish it was someone was bringing me some cash and double chocolate chunk cookies. is that too much to ask? anyway...so i am trying to get that figured out as well. i was too sick to try to figure it out before, but now i am ready to tackle that issue.

alright, so i wanted to post real quick while i can. my friend approached me about helping her get her healthy body back. her name is sara and she is awesome. she has been married to her man for a year and a half and now has a sweet baby boy added to the picture. she lives in utah, and i am in missouri, so this will be a "long-distance" fitness relationship, but we are going to make this work. she has some weight she is needing to lose, so she is going to document her weight loss journey on her blog. we will post goals, stats, provide motivation, inspiration, and so forth. we want this journey for health to benefit her, but also anyone else who is needing an extra kick in the pants. : ) so check out sara's blog here to see what we are up to! : ) now drop and give me fit!