Happy Fourth of July

Okay I have not abandoned my blog, lots and lots have happened in the past month. I went to Toronto for the Memorial Day weekend, I had a good time with my family. Unfortunately when I returned my father-in-law passed and the month of June just flew past. I've also been fighting a summer cold this past week. How horrible it is to have a summer cold and this was a pretty bad cold that lasted way too long. I am hoping to get back into my workout groove this month. I had not worked out in 9 days which seemed like so long. I was finally able to workout on Saturday. I did a gruelling leg workout that Sumi created for me and as a result today my legs are super sore. Not sure which exercise caused this but my upper thighs are super sore, usually it's my quads that are sore but I really don't feel that much soreness in my quads. My calves are also really sore which is unusual, doesn't happen too often.

I did the following workout:
Back barbell squats
Stiff legged deadlifts
Walking (knees high) BB lunges
DB Bench Step Ups
Leg curls
Standing calf raises

Actve Release Technique (ART)

I had an ART session last week and that one session helped my squatting and leg workout. I had some problems with my right knee whenever I squatted. I still don't believe that only one session helped me so much. I encouraged my husband to get ART for his knee and back problems but I never thought of getting ART for myself. My chiropractor told me that I can do more sessions if the problem persists. So far so good. He also gave me some lateral exercises that I can do to strength my hip abductors. A large part of the problem was one side was stronger than the other. I really like this chiropractor because he has experience working with athletes and his website had a bunch of videos and exercises to do. www.activespineandsport.net

I don't want to lose weight, I want to lose fat!

When you lose weight, unfortunately you not only lose fat but you lose muscle as well. Personally, I never want to lose my hard earned muscle since its so hard to put on muscle. Will Brink made the quote below and I had to post it since it is so significant.
"When you lose weight, it can be muscle, water, bone, and fat. Most people focus exclusively on weight loss, and go about dieting and exercising—assuming they exercise at all—to lose weight. In that process, they often end up simply a thinner version of their former flabby selves. Sometimes, they even end up with a higher bodyfat percentage after they lose weight, as most of what they lost was muscle! Using weight loss as the only measure of success is a huge mistake!"

Some reasons why you don't want to lose muscle:

1. As a person adds muscle, her/his metabolic rate increases slightly.
2. Fat takes up more space than muscle; a five pound pile of fat will take up more space (volume) than a five pound pile of muscle
3. When you are resting your muscles (lean mass) consume more than 25% of your energy than fat.

Got Booty? The Facts On Booty Building Sneakers!

You all may have seen the ads on TV and in magazines, sneakers that help tone your legs and butt! I have been meaning to post about these sneakers for ever so long and unfortunately have not had a chance to do so. Don't get me wron, I am all for getting up from the couch and walking and being active. If you feel you need special booty building sneakers, go right ahead and get them but really now, are they really going to give you a nice toned booty? Below is a review of those booty building sneakers and I could not have said it better myself!
The author,Will Brink, states the following in his review "if you want a well developed shapely athletic butt and legs, no pair of sneakers is going to give it to you. Like any muscle, you will have to develop it the old fashioned way via exercises such as squats, lunges, split squats, and straight leg deadlifts..." The link to his full review is below, feel free to click on the link to read more. I find the article actually very humorous!

Got Booty? The Facts On Booty Building Sneakers!

Sumi’s Hybrid Training Journey

Recently I was speaking to one of my coworkers who's exact words were "my second child made me fat, I used to be thin, but I gained all this weight when I was pregnant". When I asked her how old her child was she told me 4 years old. People when are you going to stop making excuses!

I am often thrilled when I meet fitness minded people and below is a link to a blog that is motivating. She has a 2 year old, is not making excuses and looks great! She has also given me a great lower body workout that I am going to do tomorrow or Saturday. I will let you all know how that goes! You got to read Sumi's blog!

Sumi’s Hybrid Training Journey

Is Diabetes Preventable?

Some of you may already know that I am a health and fitness enthusiast 27/7 but during the day (Monday to Friday) I work as an HR Manager. I recently received an invite to a webinar about diabetes in the workplace and was surprised but the following information:
"Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that approximately 1 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year. Already, nearly 24 million Americans age 20 or older have the disease. These figures also show that approximately 57 million people in the United States have pre-diabetes; accordingly, you're likely to see more employees with diabetes in the years to come."

Interestingly diabetes is a preventable disease and mounting evidence has shown that Type II diabetes can be prevented by exercise and weight loss.  A study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that as much as 90% of type 2 diabetes in women is due to lifestyle or behavioral choices, and could be prevented by the adoption of a healthier lifestyle. In fact, up to 70% of patients with type 2 diabetes die from heart or vascular problems.

Based on all of the above, I should not be surprised by rise in diabetes!

Everyone needs a goal!

My goal is to have shoulder like this! She is Francesca Dennis. Her shoulders are banging in this picture and this woman has 6 kids.
One day a week I am going to really concentrate on shoulder work.

Yesterday my workout consisted of doing sprints at the track. I generally do between 8 to 12 twenty or thirty second sprints. During my 7th sprint, I felt like I had a butt cramp so I stopped sprinting and just walked around the track. When I tried to stretch later on I had problems stretching on the side where I had the cramp. I think I might have pulled a muscle because today my butt and hamstrings are really tight and if I sit for too long I have problems walking. Therefore, my workout today will consist of upper body, with the focus on my shoulders. Trying to attain my goal!