Goodbye Camp Gladiator - I will miss you.

Today was my last day of Camp Gladiator and what a way to end. All this week I was at two different locations in Irving, Texas. Today I was in Dallas, Texas. It…was…brutal…!!! I don’t know if it was the heat or what. I was dying. It felt as if I could not do any of the exercises properly, nor with any oomf to it. In all honesty, I wanted to just give up, roll up my mat and head home on three occasions. If it were not for the fact that my friend was there, I likely would have. It was THAT hard today. The other Camps were at 5:30am…BEFORE the sun rose. Today was at 9:00am and it felt like I was standing next to the sun. The locals here would laugh at that as they don’t feel it’s even hot here yet!!

After my workout I felt amazing. I also reflected on the workout and realized the trainer, Larry, was phenomenal. He was on top of everything and if you felt you were struggling, he’d notice before you even said anything and be right there to guide you. I am actually really glad that I went and that I stuck it out. But it was extremely hard!

Of course, my feet hurt again and my shins kept me from the sprinting exercises. I went to a shoe store similar to the Running Room, but was not successful in finding adequate shoes. Tomorrow I am going to try to get to Luke’s Locker and find shoes there if there is time before my flight.

I will miss Texas and the people I have met. I had an amazing time…Camp Gladiator and all. I wish that the United States was not a different country as I’d love to live here someday. Um…just not in summer!

I’ve managed to resist the temptation of over eating and eating at every restaurant I come across. The food here is amazing! I stuck with my shakes during the week and one today as well.

I am looking forward to weighing myself next week to see what happened this week. Wish me luck!

WOW - my blog is still up to date!

Three days of Camp Gladiator now completed! I took Monday off and got into it on Tuesday. Two days left and I am already looking forward to tomorrow. However….stupid shins! My shins started hurting yesterday, but they were unbearable today. I spoke with the trainer and he told me “no more running, walk it out”. Not surprising…after all, that IS what my doctor told me.  It just felt so good to be running again and all of it was on flat ground, so I thought I’d give it a shot. It’s ok though; everything else in Camp Gladiator sure keeps my heart rate up.

When I return to Canada, I will miss Camp Gladiator and working out with my friend. I have never enjoyed working out with others, but Caity started joining me in the workouts before I left and I was enjoying that. I do believe that I push myself harder while working out with someone I look up to physically. Actually, as I am typing this, I do recall pushing myself really hard a year ago when I was working out with my niece. Having said that, I do not enjoy working out in a gym nor indoor setting. I will on Tuesday evenings when I return for the TRX class at the YMCA, but I doubt I will join other classes. The TRX is challenging for me and will help work my core and therefore my balance.

This trip is coming to an end way too soon. I love the people here that I work with and also the strangers on the street that I am meeting. Have I mentioned that I love the Southern States? Would I move here? Noooooo…sorry folks, as much as I love you, I do NOT enjoy the heat! This morning at CG, I was feeling the heat and it was 5:30 in the morning!

For today’s shake I am going to mix it with some Trop 50 juice. Yesterday I said it would probably be mixed with Visalus Pro, but I changed my mind and did some juice and it was delicious.

Well…I am off to get ready for work now. Everyone have a great day!

Camp Gladiator is AMAZING!

I had to update my blog today. I am so excited and revved up! Today was Day 2 of Camp Gladiator and I LOVED every minute. There’s just something amazing about waking up in the wee hours of the morning and starting your workout at 5:30am. It is exhilarating! Watching the sun rise as you are working your body as hard as you can is a most incredible feeling.

I cannot keep up with the rest by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t feel like I don’t belong. The instructor is energetic and motivational and encourages all to push themselves and gives positive feedback. He reminds everyone to go at their own pace.

It’s also great to enjoy the weather and get some fresh air as I know that when that sun comes out and things heat up I won’t be enjoying it! Today is going to be 39C/102F …. Ugh!!!!

 
I haven’t endorsed anything on my blog other than ViSalus before, but for those of you in the United States, you should check this out…http://campgladiator.com/
 

Yesterday, my Shake was mixed with ViSalus Pro and I believe today’s will be as well.

I have been eating incredibly healthy in the morning and at work, but in the evening, I am making poor choices. I want to be up front with that because I always said I’d let you know when I am struggling. I too am just a regular, average person with cravings and poor habits. I love trying foods and restaurants when I am travelling that I don’t have back home. Texas can sure make some delicious, poor choice foods. Oh, I am certain they make excellent healthy foods as well, but I just don’t choose those.

Having said that, I am thoroughly enjoying the flavour of the foods and, to be honest, I am not feeling disgusting after I eat them. However, I do feel somewhat guilty after because I know for a fact that you CANNOT exercise away a poor diet.

Noting my poor choices in the evenings, I did also notice myself that I made some really great choices all last week and so far this week during the day. My diet has certainly improved and I WILL be back on track next week! I most likely will continue to eat less healthy choices in the evening the remainder of my stay in Texas because I do want to try so many things that the locals are telling me are delicious! My next trip back I will have already tried everything, so I can stick to healthy choices.

Travelling and Keeping On Top Of Things

I might as well start by saying I have NOT started my 2^nd 90 Day Body by Vi Challenge o f 2012 as of yet. I HAVE, however, been drinking my shakes.

Last week, I had a friend visiting from Texas and our workout plans did not fall through. We did attend a TRX class at the YMCA one evening. WOW! If you want to really see clearly where you need work on your body, go to a TRX class. I definitely need to work a lot more on Core and Upper Body strength.

This week I am in Texas and joining my friend at Camp Gladiator. Today was my first class. It was incredible. I could not keep up with the others, but I was pushing myself and doing it at my own pace. It was quite a workout and some of the things I had never done before. A lot of it reminded me of my previous workouts with Caity, but without breaks in between. There was a lot of running incorporated in the workouts, but as you know, I am not a strong runner. I ran a lot of the time, but some were just slowed to a fast paced walk.

I look forward to Camp Gladiator again!

So while I am in Texas, I will be exercising and keeping up with the Visalus Shakes, but I do doubt that my Blog will be updated regularly until I return.

Thanks for reading and I will update again soon.

BTW, my Shakes have been a variety:

-       Orange juice

-       Fresh fruits

-       Frozen Fruits
-     Visalus Pro

An Update - Studying and Starting My Challenge SOON

Ok...sooooooooooo...I can't figure out how to have a second blog separated from the first blog, so I will just continue blogging here. (If that even made any sense.)

I have not yet started my second 90 Day Challenge of this year. I believe I said I was going to start last Monday...well...I didn't. We bought a new truck and I've attended some Networking events and had some appointments and just didn't "bother". I can't say I didn't have time because that's ridiculous. I just chose to have a poorly planned week and ate poorly as well. I felt it right away and wasn't all too please about it, but never changed my ways.

Now that I am sick of feeling gross and tired, I am starting my 90 Day Challenge officially on Monday. I will start two shakes a day again today, but the exercising on Monday and officially start the Challenge then.

I still can't decide what my new goal will be (other than to continue losing weight and being healthier). This time I lost almost 40 pounds....do I say I want to lose 40 pounds this time? I think I will just start the Challenge and set my goal a few weeks in.

My first lesson plan arrived yesterday!! I started studying today. I am going to totally LOVE learning about nutrition and diet. I didn't want to put the lesson down, but I did allot a specific time to studying and I do have an appointment to get to, so I do have to leave my studies until my next allotted time.

I look forward to my next Challenge and an even HEALTHIER me! I will be blogging to you again soon. Take care everyone and good luck with your journey as well.

Days 89 & 90 - Completed my 1st 90 Day Body By Vi Challenge of 2012

This weekend was Easter weekend and the close of my 90 day challenge. I will begin my 2nd 90 Day Challenge on Tuesday, April 10th.

My closing results were:

Chest = -1 inch
Waist = - 5 inches
Hips = - 3 inches
Leg (thigh) = -2 inches
Arm = -1.75 inches
Calf = -1.5 inches

Weight = -37.5 lbs

It was a good challenge and I am ecstatic about my results. I look forward to my 2^nd 90 Day Challenge with Visalus beginning tomorrow. I look for better results (although I am not complaining about these) as I hope to NOT break my tailbone again and actually stick to a workout three days per week!

Since I’ve been honest with sharing my struggles and milestones as well as my observations, I will close this portion of my blog with two thoughts:

1)     I am loving watching my body change. I really like that, while still large, my butt is becoming more rounded and shapely and my thighs are getting smaller.

2)     You’ve been following my blog and if you have seen my Facebook page you would have also seen others’ fabulous results. With a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee and a chance to try the product before you buy it, what is stopping you from also becoming healthier? Believe me, if I can do this, so can you!!

Day 88 - Full Day Friday

Today was a very full day. No time to sit and relax. I guess staying up until 5am on Thursday's visit was not the best idea. Naaaaah, I'd do it all over again.

There were no shakes today and I completely under ate. The only meal I had was dinner and even there I could not eat all of it. Oh, but I did have some Bun n Cheese. Not all of you will know what that is though.

I pretty much knew today was going to be a right off in the way of diet and exercise. However, knowing that ahead of time, I never stopped to think of packing my Shakes to go. That would have been wise.

Day 87 - Laughter, the closest thing to an ab workout

Today was a laid back day. No exercise today. Just two shakes:
- Today I tried my Visalus Shake mixed with POM juice and frozen raspberries. It was DELICIOUS!
- The second shake was mixed with....orange juice...of course

Being the day before a long weekend, traffic was horrific. It took me 4 hours to get to my friend's house in Toronto. But it was well worth the drive. So nice to see him and we had great laughs and an awesome visit.

Tomorrow is another busy day, so I think I will treat today and tomorrow as my "days off" and resume my workout schedule on Saturday.

Day 86 - Mind Blowing! (to me anyway)

Today was a great day at work…very busy and some laughs. All about the laughs for me. LOVE to laugh!
My shakes today were:
- water and Pro
- orange juice

I didn’t feel like working out tonight, but I did go because I knew I’d feel gross if I skipped it. It was a struggle though to stay motivated in between exercises. But I stepped it up during the working portions.

Various Boxing Combos for the warm up

X2
20 bicep curls with 5 pounds
20 tricep curls with 10 pounds

X2
20 squats with shoulder press with 10 pounds
20 shoulder raises with 3 pounds

X2
30 bridge raises
20 superman

X2
20 chest fly’s with 3 pounds
20 rows with 10 pounds

X2
30 standing obliques
20 leg drops
20 extended leg situps

Stretches

I know there is only a few days left, but I could not resist…I HAD TO peek. I am still in shock:
Chest = -1 inch
Waist = - 5 inches
Hips = - 3 inches
Leg (thigh) = -2 inches
Arm = -1.75 inches
Calf = -1.5 inches
(I know I measure more than the usual chest, waist, hips, but I like to track all differences.)

And my weight…drum roll please…-37 pounds!!

Day 85 - Workin' It and Thinking of Texas

I am getting so excited! I can’t believe that my 90 Day Challenge is almost over – so excited to find out my end of Challenge results. Just as exciting, I am also a few days away from my next 90 Day Challenge.

Today’s Visalus Shakes were mixed with:

-       Frozen peaches, mangos, strawberries and pineapple
-       Orange Juice

I had some urgent matters to take care of today and I had a headache this afternoon. I popped some Advil before going to see Caity for a workout. While my head started to ache again near the end of the workout (and the rest of the night), I think my workout was still pretty awesome!

5 minute walking warm up

46 travel squats with a jump in between (this was tiring, but didn’t burn as much as squats used to)

33 travel lunges

25 tricep push ups (piece of cake…I was going to keep going, but Caity reminded me I still had to do another set)

16 push ups

12 glut raises per leg

12 fire hydrants per leg
12 glut crosses per leg (this was awkward to do)

25 tricep push ups (not as piece of cake-ish…started to push through at 20)

16 push ups

3 lengths of running 100 meters

3 lengths of walking 100 meters
(600 meters total) (I was trying to run there and back, but once I reached 100 meters, I started to get winded and panicked a little that my asthma was acting up…turns out I never had to use my puffer, but if you’ve had an asthma attack once, you know how scary it is to not be able to breath)

25 straight leg sit ups (my shoulders really come off the ground now and I did these quite quickly)

20 leg drops
30 standing obliques

Stretches

Cool down walk

Once I have some time, I’m going to go back and put my workouts into an excel format to compare my progress over each workout. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. I’ve come along way and I think that would be an easy way to really see the improvements.

I want to close by saying that I hope all my friends and customers and their friends and families in Texas are safe and sound. There were tornados in the Dallas area today. I realize there are certain parts of the States (and the world) that natural disasters occur, but I never before knew anyone who lived there. I was, and still am, concerned for them. Wishing EVERYONE well tonight…stay happy, healthy and safe!

Good night everyone!

Day 84 - Went for a walk instead of vegging

I didn’t get much sleep last night and with the commute in to work, I was exhausted. I really started to lose steam at roughly 4pm. I popped a Visalus GO and within 15 minutes I was alert and wide awake; ready to finish the day.

My Visalus Shakes today were:

-       Orange Juice…still my favourite

-       Frozen Mango, pineapple, strawberry and charry ice cream. YES…Ice cream! I have a Vitamix which is an awesome blender that makes soup AND ice cream as well depending on how you use it. I guess the cold water and frozen fruit was a little too cold becausemy “Shake” was ice cream in a matter of seconds. But it was delicious!

I went to my apartment and was going to just chill out for the night. But at 10pm I was feeling like I should have done some form of exercise, so I went for a 20 minute power walk. I would have gone a little longer, but I am not really familiar with the neighbourhood.

Looking forward to a workout with Caity Tuesday night!

Day 83 - Different Format

I am updating this from my iPad because my Internet connection has died. Therefore, it's a different format.

Today was another extremely busy day. It was also raining all day - almost. I decided the rain wouldn't stop me so I plugged in my tunes and went for a 40 minute power walk around my neighbourhood. Sure enough, when I got home it stopped raining for a few hours. I didn't mind. Sometimes it's nice to walk in the rain.

I tried my Visalus Shake mixed with Pro again - this time with water. I still liked it, but it tasted better with milk. However, I'm not a big fan of milk, so I will likely stick with the water version.

My 2nd Shake was mixed with watermelon chunks.

I'm staying at home tonight and commuting in the morning so I think it's almost time to head to bed. Well...once the laundry is done anyway.

Day 82 - Eight Days Left of This Challenge

Well, I did it! Almost! I worked out on my own…partially. I did more of a “routine” than before at least. I am really not one to workout on my own. I love having a trainer and not thinking while I workout. I just want to be told or shown what to do. I think Caity is a wise investment and I missed her today…waaaah….I want Caity.
Ok, now that I am done whining, let’s see what I did today.

5 minute walking warm up

25 minutes of fast paced walking (I just plugged in to my music and didn’t want to stop walking. Also, I was gearing up for working out on my own.)

20 squats/calf lifts
10 lunges each leg
10 dead lifts each leg
30 second break (My husband was sitting out getting some fresh air…aka enjoying a cigar…so I put him to good use and used him as my stopwatch!)

20 squats/calf lifts
10 lunges each leg
10 dead lifts each leg
30 second break

20 squats/calf lifts
10 lunges each leg
10 dead lifts each leg
30 second break

12 modified standing tricep pushups
12 regular pushups
5 walk outs (these don’t seem to be getting any easier!)
30 second break

12 modified standing tricep pushups
12 regular pushups
5 walk outs
30 second break

12 modified standing tricep pushups
12 regular pushups
5 walk outs (I really wanted to give up on these in the first set. After the fourth one of this set, I really had to talk myself into doing the fifth one.)
30 second break

30 second plank

(That’s it!! That’s all I could…”wanted to”….do. I threw in the towel. When I saw that “wind sprints” were in there, I gave up. I was running out of steam and my feet were hurting bad right from the first squats. Actually, even a little while walking.)

5 minute walking cool down

I don’t count today as a failure. Nor am I at all disappointed in myself. I did more of a “workout” today that I have on my own in ages….years…perhaps even decades. I also had an appointment today that drained me and I also have never started a workout before after 25 minutes of fast paced walking. But, to be honest, I kind of already decided on my walk that I didn’t want to do the full workout. Did I mention that “I want Caity!!! Waaaaaaaaaah”?

After my workout I had a Visalus Shake mixed with the Visalus Pro Energy drink. Mmmmmmm. It is VERY sweet, but I have a sweet tooth! I quite enjoyed this shake.

My second shake was plain with milk. Hmmm…still not a fan of the Vanilla Cream flavour.

My foot pain bothers me. I recall approximately 5 years ago I had a trainer and started working out (albeit not whole heartedly). At that time I had foot pains, but once I changed my shoes they were better. This time though, I think it has something to do with the Plantar Fasciitis I had a few years back. It seems to be in that same region. You know…I really should just go have it all checked out.

Day 81 - "Forget About It" Friday

Today was an off day. Perhaps because I had not been feeling well all week and for a few of those days I was not able to keep anything down. Maybe just that life has been so busy for me lately. Who knows, but I know it was an off day for sure. Actually, it wasn’t until someone pointed out to me that they could tell something was up that I decided to snap out of it a little and be less obvious.

I made a conscious decision to eat crap today and not have any Shakes - a decision that I regretted pretty much right away. The crap I ate didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it made me feel heavy and tired. I also missed the energy I generally have when I drink my Shakes.

I planned to go home and at least go for a walk, but my husband wanted to head out to Kitchener and meet up with me and go out for the evening. I don’t get much time with him and it was a great idea, so by the time I got home after midnight, I was too tired to walk.

Let’s count today as a write off and start over tomorrow.

On an incredible note, I just paid my tuition for school!!! I never mentioned this before because it was just another thing that I sat around thinking “I should really look into that”….well, time to go for it! So I signed up for Nutrition, Diet and Health courses. I can’t wait to start next week! I want this knowledge for myself as it just occurred to me that I am not eating nearly enough calories in a day AND because I can really help my Visalus customers with THEIR 90 Day Challenges too!