gain[z] box

Nothin's Hotta than Tabata

December 23, 2016


Christmas is literally 2 days away. That means people will be travelling, last minute shopping and cooking up a storm. Fortunately, I don’t have too much to worry about. I finished all my last-minute stuff last weekend. The only thing I have left is baking. That doesn’t stress me out though. I actually like baking. I find it relaxing. I just loose myself in the process and block out everything else around me. If I’m home alone my dog Jack gets to watch live music videos staring me!  She really enjoys them and sometimes she joins in. Yah…I’m cool.

With all the family obligations and running around it can be difficult to get a work out in. That is, unless you’re a little loopy like me and wake up before the sun on Christmas morning to hit the gym. I need to stop saying stuff like that, I’m not loopy I just enjoy working out! So there! Team no days off! Yeah!

The gym I belong to now is open 24hrs. My previous Gym was closed on Christmas day and every year that would cause frustration and anxiety on my part. I would spend the week prior to the holiday creating an intense cardio workout I could do at home Christmas morning to try and supplement for the time I was losing at the gym. If I might say I’ve gotten pretty darn good at it so I put together a 20 minute Tabata work out to share with you all.  C’Mon, everyone can set aside at least 20 minutes to get your fitness on before indulging in all the goodness that is the holiday, right?!

I like Tabata work outs because they are quick, intense and burn mad calories! You can choose any interval really but I usually stick to the basic format so I don’t get bored. The basic Tabata format consists a group of exercises that lasts 4 minutes. You go as hard as you can for 20 secs and then rest for 10 seconds and continue like this for 4 minutes before switching to the next two exercises. I usually alternate between the exercises in each set but you may find it more enjoyable to do the first two 20 sec intervals with the same exercise and then switch to the second exercise for the last two 20 second intervals during the 4 minute duration. Did I confuse you? Ehhh….if I did just comment or e-mail me at barbellsandboyshorts@gmail.com.
You can find a video of this workout on the blogs Instagram, Instagram.com/barbellsandboyshorts

If you’re anything like me, when you need to fit a quick workout in you don’t want to think about what you have to do. You just want to get going. Hopefully my little workout will help you do just that.

If you are eager to think even less and want instruction, a great source is You Tube. There are so many wonderful quick work outs on there!

On my lunch break during the week I typically hit the pavement for a 2-3 mile run. Sometimes though, I like to head to the parking garage and do a quick workout video. I like the videos from a guy by the name of Millionaire Hoy. His workouts keep me moving and I can burn over 200 calories in 20 minutes.

Here is a link to one of his 20 minute work outs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUGCVn4rwXM

On Saturday mornings the hubs and I head to Impact Fitness in Wesley Chapel for group fitness with the crew


Before we head over to Impact I like to make sure I get about 20-30 minutes of cardio in. I never know what we will be doing that morning so I like to make sure I do some cardio in case all we do are weights. What can I say, I like to sweat! Lately I’m addicted to dance workouts. A little-known fact about me, I love to dance! So this type of cardio I find fun and a good calorie burn. I usually burn around 300 calories before I even leave the house!

Two people I am obsessed with are the Fitness Marshall and Dance Fitness with Jessica. Both have pretty easy to follow dance/cardio videos and the routines are set to current music.



Hey! If you get into these guys like I am maybe we could meet up and get our dance fitness on together! There’s no shame in my dance game.

So enough fitness ‘ish what food are you going to be cooking!? Anything yummy? Any family traditional dishes that you have to make or serve even if you don’t really like it?

My sister started hosting Christmas at her house again a few years ago. We used to have it at my mom’s but now that my nieces and nephews are older there just isn’t enough room in her apartment. My sister has a huge living room so it just makes more sense.

Now that we have Christmas at her house she likes to have a big Christmas dinner. She makes a ham and her famous sweet potato casserole. She also makes homemade bread and usually another side dish. Then the rest of the family brings dishes and desserts to pass. The great thing, I guess, is that she has to follow pretty much the same eating habits I do. She can’t have gluten or wheat so she modifies her recipes so she and I can eat them. I decided this Thanksgiving that I am only making things I can eat. Not to be rude, I’m just not about spending all that money to make two of everything. No one seemed to mind on Thanksgiving so I’ll do the same for Christmas. I will make one regular dessert though only because I found this recipe on Pinterest for shortbread cookie bites. They are adorable and my mom loves shortbread! Other than that, I’m bringing all paleo sides.

Recently I have spoken with people who have started or will be starting on their paleo journey. I thought I would share what I’m making for our Christmas dinner to give those of you ideas. When you first start eating paleo it can be hard to come up with stuff to make. Plus, you might not know what you can make paleo.

Here is what I will be bringing

-Mashed Cauliflower (Against All Grains)

-Paleo Gravy (Pinterest)

-Warm brussels sprout salad (Against All Grains)

-Almond “Cheesecake” Squares (Pinterest)

-Shortbread bites (Not paleo even a little bit) (Pinterest)

P.S. Against All Grains is a wonderful cookbook. I have used it to the point the pages are falling out. If you aren’t following Against All Grains on social media……..do it!

I can’t wait to make all these delicious goodies and share them with my family. It’s infrequent that we are all under the same roof and I really enjoy Christmas for that reason. I especially love spending time with these goof balls!

They are all grown up now but they will always be my “kids.”

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

FUN FACT: Kissing burns calories! A passionate kiss burns about 2 calories per minute so go get yourself some mistletoe yo!
Next week I’ll be talking New Year!

I’ll be giving you my tips for going paleo and I’ll have a recipe to share.


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Say it to my face or i'll put you in your place....or not

December 16, 2016



*** I interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to write briefly about my experience at the gym. UGH! So the gym I go to now is a gym, gym. When you walk in you can smell the iron. There is absolutely nothing fancy about this gym. The equipment is a compilation of perfectly worn pieces of muscle making greatness. You can use chalk, you can drop weights, you can grunt. I visit this wonderful place every morning at 4:00 am. While I’m there I am typically in the company of maybe one other woman, two if I’m lucky, and about 5-6 gentlemen ranging from their mid 30’s to their mid 60’s. I’m not one to talk at the gym. I have work to do and do not have time for the chitter chatter but there are a couple people I exchange pleasantries with. Well, there is one older gentlemen who I recently started saying good morning too and sometimes he jokes around with me that he only has a set or two left and he’ll be out of my way.  Any who…..one morning a while back I felt like he was saying something about me to his friend that comes with him to the gym. In particular,I felt he was making reference to my butt. Yes, I said it. And it wasn’t me being conceited thinking Oh my ass is so big and great that people are looking at it, NO! I try to wear clothes that hide my figure not show it off. I really don’t know what he could be looking at in my boy shorts but whatever. I felt very insecure for a while and tried desperately to tuck my butt like a dog tucking its tail until he left. Then I decided I must be crazy…..no one here knows I exist let alone look my way so I let that thought leave my mind. WELLL!  Monday morning was leg day. Which means Laying leg curls (where your butt is just up in the air) and Squats (Just ass galore.) When I started on the leg curl I couldn’t help but feel he was talking about me to his friend. Especially since his friend was on the machine behind me and the guy was on the treadmill in front of me a ways. If people start speaking quietly when their voice typically fills the room and making faces at each other you know something is up. Then I was doing squats and the friend was doing jumping jacks. Well, I do a lot of jumping jacks and other high intensity cardio in between sets. The guy started calling out his friend to one of the younger guys for doing jumping jacks. Then the three of them huddled up and were speaking quietly again and although the younger guy tried to be discreet about it he clearly gestured in my direction. And they laughed and tapped each other on the shoulder blah blah blah. I just felt so…..violated. I don’t even know if that is the right word to express how I felt. In my mind, I was loud and made a statement and went up to them and gave them the business but in reality, I just put my head down and tried to concentrate on my workout. I thought to myself, don’t be conceited Jennifer, why would they be talking about you, in a positive or negative manner. But they clearly were. I instantly started thinking of what other gyms I could go to or if I could go at a different time. So sad. I don’t want people, male or female, to think I look bad but I don’t want them to think I look good either. So whatever they had to say about the way I look I rather just be invisible. Does that make sense?  My poor butt has just always been big. I thought embracing it instead of trying to fight it was the best way to overcome my insecurities but I was wrong. Anyone know how to calm my back side down? It is low weight high reps? Is that the trick? Duct Tape? Spanx? Maybe super baggy sweats and a long shirt? Hrumph. I don’t know. ****

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post


 Food. At. Work. I’ll just leave this here.



Holidays bring endless amounts of food….at work! It can make it soooooo difficult for even the strongest of will powers to stay in their lane. When there are boxes and platters of sweet, delicious goodness in every breakroom how can you stay on track? You can smell the cinnamon and sugar in the air, co-workers are walking by with plates full of goodies grinning from ear to ear so you might think….I’ll just have a bite. Well, if you’re anything like me, when it comes to sweets, a bite, turns into a half and quickly turns into Damn it! I ate them all!  It can be easy to lose self-control and gobble up holiday favorites.  

When I started working in an office and was sitting most the day I stopped eating at work. From my experience, eating at work causes significant weight gain, a hard-crash mid-afternoon and slows production.  I’m not really known for going slow, so I had to give it up. I was not about to get, what people call, the secretary spread.  In the beginning, it was hard. Especially when vendors are constantly bringing in muffins and cookies and chocolate. I mean, now it’s easy to say no because I don’t want to end up in the ER again but I know how difficult it can be. Especially during the holidays. The way I maneuvered through the holiday food coma was to bring my own food. I always pack my lunch and snacks. I know If I have my own food I’m not tempted to eat what is on hand because I don’t want what the food I prepared to go to waste. During the holidays, I bring an extra, small sweet treat with me. It might be a piece of hard candy, flavored gum, maybe a Lara bar or ½ of a Quest bar or even a cookie that I’ve made at home. When cakes, cookies and pies are going through the office I can eat my candy or protein bar or whatever I brought without the guilt and still have the satisfaction of eating something sweet. I hope this trick helps anyone else trying to avoid the holiday food hangover. When I think about eating at work I run through all of the scenarios in my head before I go for it. For example, “Do I really want to eat what Jane Doe brought for the office potluck? It looks like I could have it…..hmmmm I don’t know if she washes her hands.” “Oh plain dark chocolate, I can’t eat that! Buuuuuttttt can I have one piece? Probably not……then I’ll drive myself crazy craving it. Plus, I don’t know if it was manufactured in a facility that processes wheat or if the ingredients are just chocolate. Ehhhh it’s not worth the risk.”
Yah, welcome to my mind. So, if you ever see me staring at food for a minute with a concentrated look and then I walk away you know what just happened. By the time I think it through I don’t even want it anymore.
If you do succumb to a few holiday indulgences don’t beat yourself up about it. You’ll probably burn off the extra calories during your holiday activities.
Holiday activities like shopping, cooking and even wrapping gifts can really burn the calories.
Shopping burns an average of 200 calories per hour! So ditch the online shopping for hitting the mall to get rid of that pumpkin spice latte you had this morning. You can burn a bonus of 34 calories per hour if you are carrying a small child while shopping.

Have to clean the house for company? Again, an average of 200 calories per hour burned. Plus, tighten that mid-section while vacuuming for a great ab work out! Look at you over there Sexy Santa!
Cooking, which we do so much of this time of year, burns an average of 68 calories per hour. Add in some squats at the kitchen sink and jumping jacks between timers, you’ll be a calorie burning Betty Crocker!

While you’re cooking/baking make sure you add a little extra cinnamon to spread the holiday cheer and help your waist line.
Fun Fact! Cinnamon burns calories. That's right! All by its self! It also regulates blood sugar and aids in metabolizing carbohydrates! Whoop Whoop!
Don’t forget about wrapping gifts! Spend 30 minutes wrapping presents and you can burn about 48 calories! And hey, work those biceps by adding some extra curl to that ribbon. You little elf you! You look fabulous!
I hope this helps you out these next couple weeks. If you have any tips, please share in the comments below. My tricks might not work for everyone so it’s always great to have different tricks to try.
Hey! Before I wrap up this post, how are your goals going for this month? My goal was to do one un-assisted pull up. Well, I am past my 30 day mark and I feel I have made good progress but I’m not there yet. Just because my 30 days is up doesn’t mean I have to stop there. I am determined to do one stinking pull up.

I started at 95lb weight displacement and now I am up to 50lb weight displacement on the pull up assist. It’s difficult for sure but I must achieve this goal. I’m still doing pull ups every day, even when I don’t feel like it. Blah, I hate pull ups, just like I hate push-ups but I enjoy the challenge and I’ve set my mind to it. I can even see myself doing the pull up in my mind. That day will be glorious!
Any who! Don’t forget to follow the blog in the upper right hand corner of the page.
Also, follow the blog on Instagram at Instagram.com/barbellsandboyshorts
-          On Instagram I’ll be posting some last minute gift ideas for $25 and under!
And comment below if you have any comments, suggestions or questions!



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Navigating holiday parties

December 9, 2016



Well the holiday season is in full effect. I feel like every weekend we have some holiday party to attend. Plus, I need to finish my Christmas shopping. I tell myself every year I’m going to shop throughout the year so I don’t have to run around last minute but we all know how that goes. I think I bought maybe three things this year and then December came and I’m in full on panic mode! I wouldn’t be if I had unlimited funds and didn’t have to plan my shopping around my paychecks ::sigh::
So let’s talk about holiday parties for a minute. The holidays in general make it hard to stick to a healthy life style. I mean…..Egg Nog….can you even?  Luckily for me, I guess, a lot of the glutinous items that are found as part of the holiday spread do not react well with my body so I have no choice but to stay away. But for the average person what’s the secret? Or do you just let it all go to hell in a hand basket from October to January? Then deal with the repercussions come January 1st when you’re pleading to the resolution gods to help you lose the 5, 10, maybe 15lbs you gained. Hmmm.                                                                    
              
            

When I could eat bread and all that fun stuff I was still very conscious about what I ate during the holidays. It was always my goal to not gain holiday weight. Then and even today I make it a point to find out what the menu is and decide in advance what I’m going to eat. If I get there and something is served I hadn’t planned for, if I can eat it, I take very little but I don’t deprive myself. When it comes to desserts I limit myself to one or just don't have any at all. And I drink a lot of water. Water keeps me feeling full. This is also a good way not to consume to much alcohol because I don’t know about you but when I feel full the last thing I want to do is drink more. Another trick I have adopted over the past couple years is having a snack or small meal beforehand. Not only so I don’t over eat but because there usually aren’t a lot of options for me. If it's a pot luck situation I make dishes that I can eat and share. Who cares if other people don't like it, they'll take a little to be nice and I'll have at least one or two items I can eat. Plus, it’s annoying to me and I know it would probably annoy the host if I had to ask what was in everything.
Ok time for a side rant…….if you have a food allergy/intolerance or follow a special diet do not get mad at the host for not having items you can eat or not remembering your issue. Bring your own food! Boom!
Ok enough holiday healthy talk I wanna talk about my face! ::sigh:: my poor face. My thirties have not been kind. Since I turned 30 I started having these dark spots appear on my chubby little cheeks. HELLO! My face is big enough. I do not need to draw any more attention to it. So I’ve been wearing more and more makeup to cover it up. Ummmm I’m not a big makeup person. In fact when my husband first met me I never wore make up. It wasn’t until I got an office job that I started wearing it and now I really just wear it to cover my spots. Me putting on makeup is always awkward and I really don’t know how to put it on. I kinda just slap some ‘ish on my face, throw some color on my eyes, try to apply eyeliner and off I go.  The problem is my makeup no longer covers my spots. They peak through and kinda look like giant birth marks. I thought for the longest time that I had hyperpigmentation from growing up in Florida. I love the sun so I thought the sun was just cursing me and my fair skin. Nope! Come to find out I have Melasma! What!? Apparently its hereditary. I mean the sun exacerbates it but still. WTF! So……the dermatologist prescribed me some crazy bleach for my spots. She said it won’t get rid of it but will help lighten it. UGH! I just wanna not wear makeup anymore but I will settle for not having to cake my face in concealer. Oh, and wait there’s more. Acne! Yes, I get zits on my plump little cheeks too! Right under the cheek bone, and on my chin, and forehead. I mean………I can’t with my face right now. So, I also have some cream I have to put on my face for that. Holy Moly Batman I am not aging gracefully.

                                 

So, a fun fact about me is that I love a good fun fact. Little tid bits of knowledge you can just shower people with……. or annoy them…depends on who you talk to. For example, I told my oldest sister, fun fact, a single grape is 5 calories. She didn’t appreciate me telling her that as she was eating grapes. I admit my timing was bad but really when else was I supposed to share that knowledge bomb!?
I thought I would start sharing some of my favorite fun facts with you! Doesn’t that sound fun? Huh? You betcha!
Ok so for your first fun fact my FAVORITE fact that I feel like I need to tell everyone is that mustard is a natural fat burner! What!? I know…. mind blown! It must be true too because my beautiful niece is so long and lean and she used to eat mustard on everything when she was little! And I'm sure it's also due to her genetics. Darn that family and their great metabolisms!
Well, I guess I’ve spewed enough information at you this post. Hey, I did good, no list! Could you see that I really wanted to list things? I mean this whole post really could have been a giant list. It’s sad really. My whole life runs on lists. I wake up with a list in my mind of what I need to do in the morning, I have lists at home, I make lists at work. #allthelists.


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Did you say PB & J?

December 2, 2016


Can we just take a moment to appreciate the goodness that is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I mean just look at this creation. If you don’t enjoy peanut butter and jelly, a child hood staple, you’re not human.


I made Paleo bread for Thanksgiving and kinda burned it so I just left it out of Thanksgiving dinner. I couldn’t waste the loaf sooooo I made a PB & J sandwich with Sunflower seed butter, sugar free strawberry jelly (not paleo but a nice little treat.) It was yum-tastic!

When I first started the paleo lifestyle I never thought I would ever be able to eat one of mans’ greatest creations ever again. But, we tend to think like that when starting any diet plan don’t we? Our minds automatically go to all the things we can’t eat. I’m guilty of doing this. When I started a low-carb diet it was UGH! no bread, no pasta! When I started Weight Watchers it was Man! I don’t have enough points for that! Even on my Paleo journey, day one my mind went to all the foods I was going to miss out on. But, all the foods I thought I was going to miss so much were the same foods that were causing me to gain weight and just made me not feel good. I feel like if we took a more positive approach to life style changes it would make it that much easier. It’s hard in the beginning, but continually reminding yourself why you started the journey, whether it’s to lose weight, look better or feel better, whatever the initial intent is, hold onto it.

While we’re on the topic, STOP calling it a diet! A diet seems so temporary. When I think of a diet I think of something people use to lose weight and then once they lose the weight they can go back to eating however they want. But that isn’t the case at all. You must make a conscious effort to change your life style permanently. If not you’ll just get into a vicious cycle of dieting, gaining, dieting gaining etc. This not only messes with your mental health, seeing your body fluctuate so much, but your physical health as well.

I remember my mom calling this dieting cycle, yo-yo dieting. Not so fun fact, Yo-Yo dieting can cause higher levels of body fat and cause you to have less energy. Don’t we start “diets” to obtain the opposite effect? It can also be a contributing factor to heart disease and muscle wasting. No one wants muscle wasting…we want all the GAINS!

Moving on…….

So, I had a four-day weekend for the holiday. Friday, we cleaned the house and put up our Christmas decorations.

Saturday, we got out of the house and went to this really cool place in Tarpon Springs. Shout out to Replay Amusement Museum. It’s an arcade and it was $13 all we could play! It was so awesome! It was rows of old pin ball machines and rows of old arcade games such as centipede, Pac man, Frogger, Super Mario bros. etc. The hubs and I played bowling together. Someone took it a little too seriously.
If you haven’t been I highly recommend it.

Then Sunday……NEWS FLASH…Sunday is Jennifer wears girl shorts to the gym day!! Yes, it’s true. Weird, I know. I mean, just look at those gams.


Sunday is just cardio day for me. It’s supposed to be rest day but I don’t know how to do that so I do an active rest and just do cardio. I wear girl shorts on Sundays and no other day because:

1.       It’s cardio day and boy shorts kinda get in the way

2.       No one I normally interact with is at the gym when I go on Sunday mornings. Sunday is my one day to sleep in so my early morning peeps aren’t there to see all that I’m working with.

3.       I feel, for some reason, wearing boy shorts when I lift gets me a little more respect and I am taken more seriously than if I was wearing girl shorts or leggings. I’m not lifting on Sundays, so I can just be freeeeeeee to be a big old girl.

4.       It’s not only cardio day, its Jennifer working on her self-confidence day. I’m not big on showing my legs or my body in general. I stay pretty covered up most of the time. Even during the summer, I only wear my bathing suit around my husband. Rarely do I wear my bathing suit even around my own family because it causes such anxiety for me.

So Sundays….yah. That’s what Sunday’s are for.

It’s important to look anxiety in the face and stick your tongue out sometimes.

What can I say…I’m a work in progress. All I can say is anyone who thinks bullying isn’t a thing and doesn’t damage people……lets have coffee sometime so I can tell you just how real it is. Bullying can F@*% you up for life! #Truth

Phew….shit just got real!

So what did we learn today? Stop dieting, arcade games are fun, on Sundays I pull inspiration from Beyoncé and I like to list things. I mean this is my second blog post and I made another list for you. I promise no list next time.

Hmmm….do bullet points count as a list?

Would you like to make your own PB & J? Here’s my tweaked version of the recipe I used from the delicious cookbook by Brittney Angell, Every Last Crumb
You can check her out and more of her yummy recipes at brittneyangell.com

Paleo “Whole Wheat” Bread

Ingredients:

4 Large eggs
1 ½ Cups Almond Butter (Using Cashew Butter will give you more of a white bread)
¼ Cup Raw Honey
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice (I prefer to use Apple Cider Vinegar because I think it makes it taste more “bready.”)
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon (Omit it making white bread)
¾ Teaspoon baking soda
¼ Teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
1.    Preheat oven to 370 degrees. Line an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan with parchment paper.

2.     In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, mix the eggs on medium speed until they are whipped and fluffy, about 3 minutes. (Note: If you do not have a stand mixer you can place the eggs in a large bowl and use a hand mixer on medium oooorrrrr if you’re feeling really old school you can use a hand whisk)

3.       Add the remaining ingredients and mix on medium speed for another 2-3 minutes, until smooth and fully blended.

4.     Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 48-50 minutes, until firm to the touch and a deep, golden brown color. Halfway through baking, cover loosely with foil to avoid over browning. (Note: Gage the baking time by your oven. I baked my loaf for 45 minutes and still burnt it……it was a brick. Next attempt I will drop the baking time down to 35 minutes and adjust from there)

5.     Store the cooled bread in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature ( not in the fridge,) or freeze for later use.


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Welcome...to my blog?

November 25, 2016


Welcome!

I hope everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving! I know I did! I made all the paleo things. I made Turkey, mashed cauliflower, gravy, pumpkin bread, green beans and a “peanut butter” pie. All Paleo. If you didn’t know, now you know, I follow a Paleo diet! Wanna know about the paleo diet…..GOOGLE it! There is so much info out there! Any who……soooooo I’ve decided to start a blog. SAY WHAT!?!?! Why you ask? Well, I feel like I have so much knowledge in this noggin of mine that I don’t really get to share with others. I want to put it out there and if even one person can benefit from my journey, my experience, my education it will be worth it. Plus, we all know it’s easier to express yourself behind a computer/phone screen. Why Barbells and Boy Shorts? Wellllllll 'cuz that's me! I like to lift weights and I do so in boy shorts! It's just what I feel comfortable in. Ever since I was introduced to the gym this is what I've worn. Oh! You wanna know what my blog is going to be about?! It’s going to be about all kinds of stuff! Fitness, nutrition, body image, adventures, daily life. You name it I’m gonna write about it. And I will definitely take suggestions if there is anything in particular you all want to know about me or from me.  So, lets get started shall we.

For my first post, I’m going to cover something that’s happening in my life right now. I’m on a challenge kick. I started making up challenges for myself. Things I want to accomplish I turn into a 30 day challenge. After all, once you do something for 30 days it really becomes more of a habit right?! My first challenge was no alcohol for 30 days. I mean it’s not like I’m a heavy drinker anyway but I do like to toss a few back on the weekends. In an effort to be my best self I decided to go thirty days with no alcohol. To be honest, it wasn’t really that difficult. I think what makes it most difficult are others. Social situations where others are drinking and encouraging you to drink makes it hard to abstain. They don’t do it to be mean. I’ve done it.  No one wants to drink alone. They want others to join in the fun but I said no or had a mock tail and all was well. In the end, if others truly care about you they’ll let it go and they’ll understand and support your decision.

Before I knew it 30 days was up. I felt fantastic and felt like I had more clarity.  Then I drank the next weekend and felt like utter POOOOOOP. So, I’ve been really limiting my alcohol since. Plus, I kind of lost the taste for it. Then I thought Hmmmmm I should challenge myself to do something else! What do I want to accomplish? Pull ups! I suck at pull ups. And I mean to the point where my arms don’t even bend to try to get my chin to that bar. I thought when I started weight lifting, pull ups were just something that would happen. I would work my back muscles out a couple times and then BAM I could do all the pull ups. ……..NOPE! And it’s always been that way. I can remember back to elementary school in gym class I dreaded pull ups the most. Even more than running or baseball….I hated pull ups. I would just hang there while the other kids watched and snickered. Insert photo of me in elementary school here!



                                                      

Yah…so that’s what I was working with. Those little arms weren’t going to drag all of that upward. No sir! So for this 30 day challenge its pull ups. Every day I do 4-5 sets of pull ups. I can usually do about 4-5 reps each set. Right now I’m using the pull up assist shown below.


My goal each week is to displace less and less weight until I can do a pull up on my own. Just 1. I want to do JUST 1! I’m not asking for much. I think the day it happens I might cry. Much like the day I did a sit up with no struggle but we’ll leave that for another post.

In the spirit of my challenge kick and the upcoming New Year it’s your turn! If you start today it will be a Month on Christmas Day! So what will your challenge be for the next month? Warning, it may become addicting and you’ll just be on a constant cycle of challenges!!!! Or that’s just me. That could be just me. Here are some of my tricks for picking and sticking with your challenge.

1.       Start with a small goal (I.e. do 10 crunches every day, don’t bite your nails, Drink an extra bottle of water every day.)

2.       Write it down (I.E. type it in your phone, put it on a sticky, write it on a white board and keep it where you’ll see it)

3.       Tell at least one person- This will help keep you accountable because you know they’re going to ask you about it and wouldn’t you rather tell them how far you’ve come instead of that you quit?!

4.       Count down- Mark the days off the calendar, put a count down in your phone, something to keep you going.

5.       Celebrate!!!! When the challenge is over treat yo’ self! Go on an adventure, get a  massage
       (I know a great place J , ) Get the Whipped cream on your latte!
        You go! You accomplished  a goal! WOO HOO!

 

Smell ya later!
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