Hey guys! It’s workout Wednesday!

Last week I reviewed the most common of pushups, the chest pushup (and my most favorite!). Today I thought I’d show you the tricep pushup. I’m gonna be honest. Triceps pushups suck. They’re hard. But, if done right, they’re highly effective.

HOW TO EXECUTE:

First set your body in a regular pushup position. Your hands will be on the floor supporting your upper body. Your lower body will be supported by your knees or toes on the floor (no crossed ankles!). Your back should be straight, with your core tight. Now, bring your hands directly under your shoulders, nice and narrow.

Lower your body to the floor, as close as you can go without touching the floor. Your chest should come slightly forward instead of dropping straight down.

Check out my face in that last one – they’re hard on your toes!!

HINTS:

Keep your elbows tucked in close to the body during the entire movement. This will keep the focus on the tricep muscle rather than the chest muscles. Trust me, they’re gonna want to push out – you have to work hard to keep them tucked in close. If they’re touching your ribs you know you’re doing it right.

FORM:

Keep your entire body tight while performing the pushup. Your back should not dip in, and your belly shouldn’t drop the floor. Keep your core tight while going through the full range of motion.

Remember, you can always modify these and bring your knees closer to your chest if you have to.

Just be careful that you’re still pushing through the palms of your hands to push up, otherwise you’ll just be lowering and raising your chest without using your muscles!

Like I said above, tricep pushups are NOT easy. It may take you a few weeks before you can even do one on your toes – but stick with it – I promise you the results are worth it.

Plus, with wedding season coming up you’ll want to be prepared just in case you get challenged to a pushup contest.

You know, just in case. Hehe.

On that note, I’m out. Do you like tricep pushups??

I love how many people watch Dexter!! J and I watched the season 4 finale today while eating dinner and I still can’t believe it. Wow, totally unexpected.

Anyways, last week I didn’t get a chance to do an update on Team Challenge so I’m lumping both weeks together today. Despite the frigid cold temperatures (it was 23 Sunday morning!), we’ve had great turnout for the weekly training runs. It definitely helped that last week Katie made a guest appearance to talk nutrition.

She does a great job of breaking down the basics and explaining everything at a beginner level, without being boring! I got lots of great feedback from the participants, and if you want a rundown on what was discussed, you can check out the first time she came to Team Challenge here.

She then joined us on our 55 minute run and proceeded to run MORE after training to get to 10 miles. Total rockstar.

Thanks, Katie!!

This past Sunday we discussed S.M.A.R.T. goals and had everyone mention one SMART goal they wanted to achieve this week. J said that his goal is to get my shoes organized in our bedroom so he’s not tripping over them (not gonna happen). My goal is to bake him some of his favorite brownies to butter him up so I can get another pair of shoes this week (totally gonna happen!). Hehe.

If you want a breakdown of S.M.A.R.T. goals, check out Angela’s blog. She did a great recap of the topic. She also did a great job on her run!

Sorry, Ang, I know you told me not to post this but it was just too cute not to!!

Things are really starting to heat up this week, as recommitment is this coming Monday. This is when the participants decide once and for all if they’re in for good or not. We have such a diverse Team this season that I really hope they all sign on. This past week’s training was a blast, and the shenanigans are just beginning!!

Obnoxious.

It doesn’t seem like we’re that close to the race yet because of the cold weather, but we’re already halfway through our training! I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like running a half marathon on June 5th in Virginia. I have to somehow find some major sweat resistant clothes. The dri-fit I already own just won’t cut it for me in that heat.

Sweaty beast after 3 miles (and this picture is from October!).

I actually read in Fitness magazine this month that “women sweat 20 to 30 percent less than men at the same exercise intensity level, even though we have more sweat glands.” Hmmmmm…….a hundred bucks says I sweat more than J and Ryan (above) combined on June 5th. No joke.

So, for all you sweaters out there, what’s your favorite shirt, shorts, capris, and/or sports bra to run in when it’s HOT?? HELP!!!

You know, I wish I had a good reason for not blogging yesterday, but can’t say I do. After Team Challenge training and C’s soccer game J and I spent the majority of the day on the couch watching Season 4 of Dexter (which is ridiculously intense!!), went out for dinner, and then planted our butts back on the couch to watch The Fighter.

I really had planned on getting on the computer after the movie, but then this happened:

I mean, really, could you leave that spot?? I didn’t think so.

Anyways, you’re never gonna believe what I got to do today!

Oh, how I’ve missed you, running shoes!!!

Per the PT, I’m allowed to run 1 mile 2x this week. Of course, I’m not even allowed to run the full mile, it’s run .10, walk .10, run .10, walk, .10. I know it sounds so lame – and I know it’s only a mile, BUT I did it with NO PAIN and loved every minute of it.

I then hopped on the bike to get my sweat on.

Did you know to get the most out of a stretch that you must stretch that muscle for at least one minute, twice a day? I had no idea – that’s a long time! My PT told me that my calves are abnormally tight and that I need to stretch them more often and gave me this little tidbit. So I did some of this after my “run”:

I’m off to stretch some more, do my PT exercises, and then finish off with some push ups before I collapse on the couch for some mindless tv. Sounds like an exciting night, right?

Do you stretch often? I admit, I’m really bad about stretching except for my IT band which I’m OCD about.

Thanks for all the great feedback on my last post! I’m thinking about having something similar every Wednesday. Maybe a workout Wednesday series? Hmmmmm…..something to think about….

But, today I wanted to talk about the 5 food groups in our house. These are not the regulated FDA food groups, trust me.

• Cereal – we should seriously buy stock in Kashi cereal – we eat a TON of it!
• Bread – does bread not make the world go round??
• Protein smoothies – I’ve been on a chocolate/banana/pb kick lately (it used to be strawberry/banana)!
• Roasted veggies – cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, squash, you name it – we LOVE it

And last, and most important……………….ICE CREAM!!!

Yes, I have designated ice cream as our #1 food group. I’m not ashamed. We only live once, people.

We all have our favorite: C likes his on a cone, J likes his in a giant bowl with not too many toppings, and I like mine in a small bowl with peanuts and chocolate sauce on top.

Ice cream is so prominent in our lives that last summer I had to instate a rule that if the boys wanted ice cream then we had to either walk or ride our bikes there, no driving (sadly, that rule didn’t last, but I tried!). This summer the rule is going to be in FULL EFFECT. And I say this because, there’s a new sweet spot in town!!

This new throw back ice cream/candy parlor is opening close enough to our house that I foresee this being a HUGE problem this summer. Heck, it’s going to be a problem as soon as they open this Saturday!

Lucky me, my BBF (best blogger friend), Allison, knows my love of sweets and invited me as her “plus one” to a special media preview of this fantastic shop last Saturday.

The inside is darling and decorated with that old school, 1950′s, classy ice cream parlor:

There are options for everyone!

On the right are pb sandwiches (bacon, marshmallow, nutella, or jelly)! O.M.G.

But my eye was on the ice cream.

Unfortunately I had my invisalign in so I didn’t partake in any of the ice cream tasting, but don’t you worry, you will be seeing plenty of this place in the next few months. There’s even a “Terminal Tower” on the menu (10 scoops!), so maybe it’s time for a new challenge when Mandy comes home??

What’s the #1 food group in your house?? Please tell me we’re not the only ones where sweets reign supreme!!

Man, I sure had a stressful day at work today. I’m SO GLAD that there are only 2 more days until the weekend!!

So, lately I’ve really been focusing on my upper body strength. I’ve found that my chest and shoulders are pretty strong “for a girl”. I love to push myself to see what I can do and push ups are the perfect way to do that. It’s not unusual for me to be watching tv and just suddenly drop down to the floor to see how many I can do (sometimes I’m still in my workout clothes!).

The thing that’s so great about pushups is that you can do them anywhere (bedroom, living room, hotel room, outside, at the gym, etc)! Heck, I’ve even done them at a wedding (in a strapless dress!) after a few too many cocktails against a guy in the airforce! No joke. Definitely not my proudest moment.

I’m a stickler for good form, and the key is remaining in a straight line from head to toe:

What I see most commonly is people rounding their shoulders and dropping their head (looking down to their belly almost). Also, you don’t want to sag in the middle or push your tush up in the air like so:

You should keep that nice, straight line as you drop your chest to the floor until your elbows are 90 degrees (shaped like an upside down goal post).

I normally do as many as I can (easy count, 2 down and 2 up), take a break, and repeat 2 more times.

I ALWAYS recommend starting on your toes and dropping to your knees when you can’t do anymore. It’s a lot easier to drop down than the other way around!

Even when you’re on your knees, your body stays in one long lean line. Keep your ankles uncrossed and toes on the floor.

And if you need even more help, you can bring your knees closer to your chest into a table top position:

You may not want anyone sitting behind you during this one!

Always try to look at the ground 45 degrees in front of you instead of down to your belly. This will keep your neck in alignment with your spine.

Pushups should get your heart rate up and blood flowing (that’s a good thing!). And they’ll totally make you look hot in your tank tops.

Challenge yourself: see how many you can do 3 sets in a row. Do that every other night for one week and then the next week tack on 1 more pushup to each set. Continue for a month – I bet you’ll surprise yourself!

Do you have a favorite exercise? What is it??

Hey hey!

I mentioned in my last post that I had some fun things from the weekend to share, and Saturday night was one of them. A few weeks ago, I kept hearing about this fantastic event Lexus was promoting called the Dark Ride, A VIP Experience. And I was lucky enough to win tickets from one of my favorite bloggers, Alana!!!

So, Saturday night J and I prettied ourselves up and headed downtown to the State Theater.

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But as soon as we walked in I knew it was going to be an awesome night. Check out the lobby:

There were free cocktails as soon as we walked in, so we immediately partook.

After a few drinks we we ushered into the theater. I’m not sure if you can see, but this is the view from the seats if you were at the theater:

(can you see me??)

There were bars in each corner of the stage, along with Lexus cars! The music was loud and obnoxious (and right up my alley with the hip hop), with dancers already on the dance floor and on the stage. Between the booze and music, it didn’t take long for me to start shakin my hips.

Luckily there were lots of friends at the event:

And then it was time for the concert! Seriously, I felt like I was at the club. And I loved every minute of it.

Dev rocked it out:

J and I weren’t too sure about her (we’ve never been fans of “Like a G6″), but she ROCKED.IT.OUT. We’ve already downloaded the songs she sang Saturday night and I can’t stop singing “I like my beats fast and my bass down low” to C (he’s sufficiently annoyed with his mom right now, btw, hehehe).

Jay Sean was up next:

And he was OK. I think Dev had already won me over so Jay Sean kinda took back seat. Sorry, Mr. Sean, but you were totally upstaged by your opening act Saturday night.

And what better way to end the night than with…..

A soft pretzel bar!!!!!!!! I die. I immediately regretted the cookie table J and I had at our wedding – soft pretzels are where it’s at!!

I don’t regret marrying this guy, though:

Stud.

I was so lucky to win these tickets – thank you, Alana!! The Playhouse and Lexus really did this event right. I sure hope there are more like this in the future!

What fun events have you been to lately??

Hey guys!! Happy Monday! Yesterday really got away from me (hence the lack of a post) – we had such an awesome weekend that I was too tired last night to sit at the computer.

First off, for those of you who asked, the shirt I was wearing here is from Anthropologie. I think it’s still on their website if you’re interested.

Secondly I received a lot of feedback from my last post. Thank you for all the nice comments and support – it was truly one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in a long time. However, I did receive some questions about my schedule since I don’t really talk about it too much on the blog. So, here you go.

Here’s what a typical week looks like:

See it bigger here

Plus, C has soccer games on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons right now, too!

My alarm goes off at 5:34am (yes, I’m one of those people!), I usually snooze until about 5:50 or so then get up, get dressed and ready for work, let Diddy out, pack my breakfast and lunch, write a note to C on his door such as this:

And then head out the door to work (hopefully before 6:30).

Three out of the 5 weekdays I teach at 5:30pm. Depending on the night, and which gym I’m teaching at, I get home anywhere from 6:45 to 7:30. I then eat dinner, do homework with C, spend as much quality time as possible with him and J, put C to bed, blog, do laundry, get ready for the next day, etc. By then it’s usually 10:00 or later and I still have to shower!

It’s exhausting.

Plus, that’s just MY schedule! J plays in a soccer league and coaches both of C’s soccer leagues, too. C plays soccer, basketball, baseball, goes to an art class after school one day a week, is on student council, AND has a pretty awesome social life on top of all that! It’s crazy town up in here.

By the time Friday night rolls around the only thing I want to do is this:

So, I’m hoping that next week will start a tradition of family dinners and walks with the pup and home workouts and MORE RELAXING!

Tonight I didn’t get home until 9:15 because some of my favorite gym members took me out for some cocktails after class to say “good bye”. It was sweet. And sad.

And now it’s after 11:00 and I haven’t even showered yet. I have so many things I want to share with you from the weekend, too! It’s gonna have to wait until tomorrow. I’m out.

Hope you all had a relaxing night and got to enjoy some down time!!

Happy St. Patty’s Day, Friends!! Hope you all had a great day! Sadly mine was more of the usual….no real celebrating St. Patrick for me (I did wear green eyeliner today, though!).

So, you may have noticed the many “hats” I wear:

Mom:

Wife:

Coach:

Blogger:

Group Fitness Instructor and Coordinator:

All the while holding down a full-time job and maintaining somewhat of a social life!

Well, it finally got to be too much. I just couldn’t do it all anymore. I was losing sight of my life and missing out on so much being so busy. And something had to give.

So, unfortunately, last week I resigned from teaching (and being the coordinator!) at the gym. I have been talking to J about this for about 3 months and it’s really the right decision for me at this time. Maybe that will change in the future, but I can’t be certain. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE teaching (and it’s something I’m good at!), but it’ s all the extra time spent outside of the gym preparing, reviewing, practicing, etc that just adds up. Plus, I was teaching so often that I never really got to go to the gym and just enjoy it for myself anymore.

I’m excited to go back to the gym and take classes and focus on myself. They’re not getting rid of me that easy….

It will be nice to have my evenings free to focus on my family and spend more quality time together. I feel like I’ve been running around like a madwoman for 4 years. I’m ready for some downtime. I think I’ve deserved it. And my boys deserve a mom and a wife who is home more often than not.

What about you? Do you wear too many “hats”??

It’s a little late for me to be blogging, but I wanted to give a quick (and belated!) happy birthday shout out to my best blend:

Yes, her birthday was last week and yes, we already celebrated, but I never got to wish her a Happy Birthday on the blog!!!

If you don’t know Allison, and you don’t read her blog, you need to go check her out now. She’s seriously one of the most cool, fun, down to earth, rockin friends EVER.

It’s still so funny for me to think that we met through her blog. But I’m just glad we did!

Happy Birthday, Friend!!!

Did you meet any of your real BFF’s through blogging??

So, you may have heard me mention once or twice how much I despise the snow and want to move south (but can’t convince J!). Well, the one GOOD thing about the Cleveland weather is………..SNOW DAYS!!!

Cleveland had the most ridiculous snow storm ever this past Friday, which meant I got to stay home from work. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but that would have involved me getting dressed and leaving the house. The only time I left the house was to take C to school (we were like the only school district not closed!), and even then J insisted on coming with me and put a shovel in the back of my car in case we got stuck. That’s how bad it was.

But instead of moping around and being depressed about the weather, I made use of my free day and did two of my favorite things: working out and baking!

I checked out Zuzana’s bodyrock.tv and did her Counter-Strike Fat Workout. I actually rode my bike for 15 minutes, did the workout, and then rode for another 15. Yeah, she pretty much kicked my butt in those 12 minutes. O.M.G.

If you look closely, you can see the sweat literally dripping off my arms. And my shirt? It’s not really that bright pink – it’s just saturated in my lovely sweat. Hotness.

And what better way to counteract a killer workout? Surround yourself with sweets!

I made Jessica’s red velvet brownies with white chocolate frosting and they were nothing short of amazing. That girl kicks it out of the park every time.

The red coloring is my favorite.

My only complaint is that they didn’t stay fresh for very long. The very next day the frosting was harder than I like (which I’m guessing is from the melted white chocolate chips?).

But don’t let that fool you. I still ate them.

As did J. And C. They were a hit all around.

And then I collapsed in a sugar coma on the couch and watched 3 episodes of Dexter (we’re still on Season 3!).

I’m pretty sure Friday was our last snow day of the year. As much as I enjoyed my day off, I’ll take sunshine and flip flops over that any day.

Do you ever remember having snow days? Ever have one as an adult like me??