Motivational Monday! Go, go, GO!

Good Monday Morning!

There's just something about a Monday!

Well, actually, it may be madness where you are, and that's okay! You can still have a great day!

So true.

I've got some quotes to help get you going this morning:

"When the world says, 'Give up,' Hope whispers, 'Try it one more time.'"
~Author Unknown

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on".  ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

"There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream".  ~Author Unknown

"I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday".  ~Author Unknown
"Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer".  ~André A. Jackson

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go".  ~William Feather

"I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts".  ~John Locke (no, not this guy)

And finally:

Blog Hoppin High Five Friday!

Hey all,
Happy Friday! Here's your high (middle) five!

I'm participating in this blog hop today:

So, if you're new, let me know and I'll be SOOOO happy to follow you back!
I got a little tired this week, and took two days off from working out due to illness... so I have no questions for you today.
But I'll be glad to answer any of yours...
Have a wonderful weekend! 

Taking a break from the Insanity... Asylum..

I've been thinking a lot about priorities. More specifically, whether my current priorities are reflected in my daily activity.

So, when I wake up in the morning and feel like I need to stay home because I don't feel well, it gives me a chance to reevaluate my priorities and activities.

Today, I decided to stay home. I just wasn't feeling right.

And I've decided that I'm going to stop doing Insanity: The Asylum, at least the 30 day program... for the moment.

I think it's a great program, but right now, my priorities are:
- Running
- Losing the last 10 pounds
- Toning up

I'm finding that I'm too tired to run on the days I do Asylum workouts. I'm finding that I desperately dread the 2 workouts, Speed and Agility and Vertical Plyo. I feel like I'm not getting enough strength work.

So I'm going to do something different, with the primary goal being to run a good half marathon on September 24.

More to come...

Insanity: The Asylum, Day 8/30... with makeup on

I just have no idea how to rotate this..

Insanity, The Asylum: Strength

This is becoming one of my favorite workouts.

Part of the Insanity: Asylum series, this workout is the "Strength" workout. Oh, but don't worry, you still get your heartrate up.

Equipment needed:

Dumbbells or Bands
Pull Up Bar (optional)

There are two options for this workout. You can watch the regular workout, which includes 2 people using the bands, or you can watch a special "Bands" edition which includes a split screen with Shaun T. using the bands along with the original workout.

You also have the option, during back work, to use either dumbbells or a pull up bar. Shaun T. shows both moves.

Basic Breakdown (50 minutes):

Warm Up:
- Halo Dead Lift: Using one weight, you squat down, then pass the weight over your head keeping your core tight (this is shown in the video above).
- Skull crusher press
- Knee drive curl
- Squat row
- Shoulder tap push ups (these are also in the video above).
Then do it all again.

Brief Stretch

Each section has a series of moves that are repeated 3 times, but with fun new variations added each time.

Section I: Biceps/Shoulders, etc.
- Progressive Dumbbell Rotation: Let's just say, this involves a curl, burpees, push ups, and adds more each time.
- Shoulder Press: This also is different each of the 3 times
- Rotational jumps: Holding one dumbbell, squat then jump while turning. Again- more complicated each time.

Section II: Back/Core/Etc
- Hip Flys: Leaning over with a flat back, bring the dumbbells behind you, like a fly. I find that I have to lower the weights here. (These are the same every time).
- Back/Core move (either with dumbbells or pull up bar).

Section III: Chest (and stuff)
- Variations of Chest flys with a Core move
- Something standing. The last one is particularly challenging, and is why I looked like this at the end:

Very short cool down.

Shaun T. quotes:
"You're like, 'Dang, Shaun! This is the warm up!' I'll say it again. I am *not* playing with you today!"
"In about 30 seconds you're gonna feel the burn, but that's just a touch of what's about to happen to your life..."
"I laugh at pain!"

Love this workout.

If you want to try Asylum, you can order it through my site. I would love to share the pain with you.

July 4th Music City 5K (Insanity Asylum Day 7b)

Took a break in between week 1 and week 2 of Insanity: Asylum, to run a 5K.

I had originally signed up for the 10K, but the 5K turned out to be plenty.

Sunday night, my husband and I tried to stay up and watch a movie, which already put us behind. It took us about 2 hours to watch the first hour of "The Social Network", due to vomiting child (not really sure what that was about) and another child who repeatedly needed "another glass of water". The cat even got in on the neediness.

So, I knew going into it I'd rather try to just run the whole 5K rather than do a run/walk 10K.

The whole family went to the race. This is a first- my family has never seen me race.

My kids were obviously way too excited to be there.

No, this was *not* the line for the bathroom, although it was just as long.

I wanted to capture the excitement I was feeling about the upcoming hills!

I even met up with a Coach friend!

 As for the race, I did this particular one 2 years ago, and remembered it being ridiculously hard. It was hilly. Very hilly. But, after the Country Music Half I figured it wasn't so scary.

I did better this time, just had to take a couple of walk breaks up some hills. I still ended up with a good time.

My official time was 32:29, which works out to a 10:29 mile. I'll take that on this course. I was also #19 in my age group :-)

I'm spending the rest of the holiday being ridiculously lazy, and will get back to the Asylum on Tuesday.

Happy Fourth!

Insanity: The Asylum, Day 7/30: I cry a little

Ugh.

When I woke up this morning, I decided I didn't want to get out of bed and work out. So, I snoozed until it was too late. I figured I'd do it later.

I contemplated skipping it. I just didn't have any energy. But, I knew I was committed to do it. (It didn't help that today's workout was Speed and Agility. I could have jumped out of bed no problem for Turbokick or Turbofire).

My daughter was taking a nap, but my son was awake. He was watching TV, but as soon as he saw the Agility Ladder, he couldn't stay away..

I explain it all here...



So, we'll see what happens with the 5K/10K. Basically, the 10K is just the 5K twice. So I may just decide to run it once and be a little more successful.

This is a hard program. I knew it was a hard program. I do my best to be super positive most of the time. I mean, I have a lot of awesome things going on. I'm healthy, I have healthy, wonderful kids, a full time job and a successful, rewarding business, and my husband is great. But I have a hard time taking "downtime" (because there's ALWAYS something that needs to be done when you're that busy), so when I crash, I crash BIG.

Anyway, have a great holiday. Sarah Fitness hit 351 followers this weekend, which was great, but then it went down to 349... I hope you'll stop by and click "like" to make up for those 2 people who "unliked" :-)

Remember, we're in this together.