Tag: workout

Fitness Mini-Update

On By SaraIn Self Improvement, Uncategorized2 Comments

It’s been one month since I finished Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide! Sadly, I can’t tell you that I’ve been doing much since then 😕 My body seems to have turned on me (again). It does that a lot, doesn’t it?

That is not saying I haven’t been able to work out some…it’s just been limited to mostly treadmill and exercises they gave me in Physical Therapy.

Setbacks can be difficult to deal with. I know I’ve had some ups and downs over the last month. Times where I felt like I was never going to get back into my fitness routine. Heck, there were times it felt like I was never going to feel well again at all!

Of course, that was (mostly) in my head! I am feeling better now, though I have come to the realization that the PT exercises for my back have to become a part of my daily life.

I am hoping to start BBG1 round 2 next week and can’t wait to get going again…hopefully with less injuries this time! 😀

How have your workouts been going? Have you been struggling this winter with your routine or had any setbacks? How have you dealt with them? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Sara (1)

Kayla Itsines’ Bikini Body Guide Round 1 Complete!…Well, Kinda Complete

On By SaraIn Self Improvement, Uncategorized4 Comments

Ever since I started Kayla’s guide the first time I have been looking forward to this moment. Through all the setbacks, the injuries, everything…I’ve been looking forward to being able to say I had completed it once and showing off these fantastic progress pics. Only…that didn’t really take real life into account.

This first round through has been full of difficulties. 3 injuries, 2 sets of stitches, 2 months of physical therapy (which I’m still needing to continue at home sometimes, this week included), sickness, the holidays, etc. All of those things were things I didn’t plan on when I started the guides. But that’s life. And that is a lesson that I think I needed to really learn when I started this journey. It’s a journey. It’s a lifestyle.

Life isn’t always smooth sailing. While I knew that, I don’t think I fully appreciated how that would play into my workout program, especially this workout program.

Weeks 9-12 fell during and directly after the holidays. Now, I’m not making excuses. I could have pushed myself harder some of the time and been more on top of things. But between work being crazy due to the season, the “winter blues” hitting me a bit and just a general feeling of exhaustion, I did not do as well during the last four weeks of the guide. I skipped some workouts, did LISS directly after my resistance workouts other times and just in general didn’t do as well as I had hoped to.

For a while towards the end and right after, I was beating myself up pretty good over my lack of performance. But I’ve come to the realization that just because I had an off few weeks doesn’t mean I failed or anything like it.

I am still in the best shape of my life! I can (usually) do 10+ push-ups in a row before I need to go to my knees! I can do box jumps and tuck jumps and all sorts of other jumps that I couldn’t really do before!

So while I may have not done every resistance workout and these progress pics aren’t as impressive as I had originally hoped they would be, I’m counting this first round as done and as a success! I have made so much progress over these last 4 months and I can’t wait to see what the next round of BBG brings! (Hopefully less injuries than the first round!)

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We did take measurements, but our methods weren’t practiced enough for me to be sure of the accuracy, though I think we are getting better at it! I am pretty positive that a few things changed though, especially one that can’t just be user error!

  • Waist: 37 in –> 31.5 in!

Things to Improve On During This Next Round

  • Go back to working out when I wake up instead of after work. I kinda fell out of that habit over the last month.
  • Keep LISS separate from resistance
  • Keep tracking diet for this whole round

I am currently having some issues with my back again, so I’m down to exercises from my physical therapy, LISS and yoga until it stops hurting so much. I can’t wait to start round 2 of BBG though!

How are your fitness goals coming? Did you have any difficulties over the holidays or due to the “winter blues” like I did? I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave me a comment below!

Sara (1)

Fitness Update: 2 Months of Kayla Itsines’ BBG Complete!

On By SaraIn Self Improvement, Uncategorized3 Comments

Two months done! I’m not going to lie, this last month was rough, mostly schedule-wise. The holidays and my day job kinda threw everything off track. That being said, I’m really proud of myself for all that I did this last month! I did miss a few LISS workouts, and one resistance workout (kinda two, but that shoveling definitely should count as a full body workout!) but even with that being the case, my strength has shown improvements and I’ve been feeling much better overall!

The two workout sets (weeks 5 & 7 and weeks 6 & 8) are set side-by-side to show progress. The workout circuits are the same in each week, so I love seeing that I made it through a little farther in weeks 7 & 8! It wasn’t a huge amount of progress, but it is there!

Measurements

These progress pics were taken a little late and after not working out for a couple days, early in Week 9. I’m loving that I’m actually seeing progress now! (Although I’m pretty sure some of it is finding clothing that actually seems to work for progress pictures)

Hopefully I will see more visible progress in the next set of progress pics, but either way I know that I’m making improvements, so I’m just going to keep at it and trust the process!

Also, the reason that the side progress pic is a Week 1-Week 8 comparison instead of Week 4 like the others is that the Week 4 side pic was really weird and not accurate at all!

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I am redoing Week 9 next week, due to fighting a nasty cold all week this week. Even with that delay, I am loving this program and feeling better than ever!

How is your fitness journey going? Are you finishing the end of the year like you had hoped you would? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Sara (1)

Fitness Update: I’m Finally Back at it!

On By SaraIn Self ImprovementLeave a comment

Those of you who have been following my journey for the past couple of months know that these last couple months have been rough for me, fitness-wise. Two injuries and a flare-up from a recurring back problem have made it very difficult to do much more than cardio on the treadmill.

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Me after BBG Day 1 workout. I was exhausted but feeling great!

But I’m back! Yesterday was Day 1 of Kayla Itsines’ BBG1 and I’m so glad to be back to doing the program! It was definitely rough with my lower activity since I stopped, but I didn’t seem to lose much progress during my down time. I’m a little worried about arm day since I don’t have full mobility or comfort back in my finger yet, but I’m pretty sure it should be fine.

I also decided to participate in a wellness challenge through my work called the ZP Challenge. I am participating in 2 out of the 4 possible categories; fitness and food. This basically is a month-long challenge in which you track how well you do by checking off if you made healthy food choices that day and had more than 30 minutes of exercise. I figured I’m already focusing more on my healthy and wellness, so why not participate?! It definitely has provided that extra level of motivation and I love checking off the box for the day saying I met my goals!

That’s all for this month’s fitness update! Now that I’m back at it I hope that I will have more to say this time next month, including progress photos from my first month doing BBG!

How are you doing on your fitness goals? Find any new tools or programs to help with motivation lately?

Dealing with Setbacks: A Fitness Update

On By SaraIn Self Improvement4 Comments

Hey everyone! This is not the fitness update I was planning on giving you this week. I was looking forward to telling you all how my first month of Kayla Itsines’ Bikini Body Guide went, post some progress pics and overall be excited and positive! Well, that’s not going to be exactly how this post is going to go.

Sometimes things don’t go the way you plan, no matter what you do. This has been the case for the last few weeks for me. First, as you may remember, I took a pretty nasty fall a few weeks ago, resulting in a trip to the ER, a head suture, some serious soreness and some healing time.

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So I took it easy for Week 3 workouts and then repeated Week 3 the following week. No worries and I was feeling pretty positive.

Fast forward a few days, to last Wednesday. I woke up feeling pretty stiff and sore, a feeling which rapidly worsened as the day went on. By Thursday morning, the right side of my back was mostly locked up, I couldn’t really move my neck and was in pain no matter what position I tried.

Before I continue, I need to add in that this is not the first time this has happened. So while very uncomfortable, pretty painful and overall a hassle, I was not and am not freaking out too much.

I went to the doctor, who prescribed me some medications to help and physical therapy. The first I expected, the second was VERY unexpected. However, my doctor believes that since this is a reacurring problem, I most likely need a least some physical therapy to help keep in from continuing to happen. I have my initial physical therapy appointment tomorrow and will find out more then. I am doing much better now, with some lingering stiffness. But overall much better.

So my BBG journey is on hold, probably for a least a week or two. I am hoping it won’t be longer than that. I can’t wait to get back to it! I have decided though, with the fall and now this, that I am going to restart from Week 1 once I am cleared by the doctors to start again.

That’s it for this update! I know, not the happiest one in the world, but I’m still thinking positively and am excited to get back to my workouts soon!

How have you dealt with setbacks? Any tips for getting back into your routine after something like this throws it off? I would love to hear from you!

Fitness Update

On By SaraIn Self Improvement6 Comments

As I stated in my July Review, I kinda fell off track with my workouts for a couple of weeks. So I didn’t make much progress last month 😦 But I didn’t really lose any progress either. Over my fitness journey, I have learned to accept that some weeks don’t go as planned.

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June Progress Pics
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BBG Starting Day Pics

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Ledges State Park: Discovering Local Treasures and Being a Tourist in Your Own Town

On By SaraIn SpotlightLeave a comment

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Have you ever acted like a tourist in your own community? Or at least not like a local? Sometimes there are some amazing places right in your own backyard! Places that you may have overlooked or even forgotten about, because they have always been there.

For many years, this was how Ledges State Park was for me. I knew it was there, and even had been out there a couple times. But for the most part, I forgot about it. I had lived less than 10 miles away for over 6 years before I started going there regularly! 
Continue reading “Ledges State Park: Discovering Local Treasures and Being a Tourist in Your Own Town” →