Dare to be Un-Pretty: What working out REALLY looks like

July 3, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’m about to go where no woman has gone before.

I’m putting a whole bunch of unflattering pictures of myself in spandex on the Internet.

Crazy, I know, but I’m doing it for a good reason.  Someone, and it may as well be me, has to look un-gorgeous when they exercise.  I read just about every fitness magazine, and I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to inspiring fitness pictures.  In every single one of these pictures nary a droplet of sweat has broken through the skin.  Hair is still perfectly coifed, and no one, NO ONE ever makes silly grunty faces.  There are no rolls of fat, or weird bra line chub that gets pushed up from tight sports bras.

And don’t even get me started on exercise videos.  How do they not sweat?  No one ever sweats in exercise videos– I know, I’m watching them exercise.

I’m here to say it’s okay to look like a growly sweaty monster when you work out.  Hell, I think the worse you look while working out, the better you look when you’re not.

I had my trainer (otherwise known as The Fella) snap photos of me today as I made my way through my current routine.  Here’s what it looks like:

Weighted Alternating Lunges

FYI: My foot is a little too far in, my ankle should be under my knee.
These pictures come in handy for me, too.

High Bench Step Up

 

 Push-Ups

Dumbbell Bench Press

May I Please Be Excused to Go Die Now?

Pull-Ups

Machine Rows

Straight Rows


Tricep Press Downs/Extensions

Bicep Curls

Double Crunch

Roman Bench

Finale


I burned more calories in my strength training workout than I did while doing cardio earlier in the day.  I don’t think I could have had that kind of burn if I was worried about what I looked like.

Go ahead and get sweaty.  Get grunty.  Do that weird contraction deep breathing face thing.  It’s all in a day’s workout.

If you’re proud to look like you’re working out, feel free to send me pictures of your sweaty fit self, I’d love to post them and a bit about your favorite workout.  You can email me at kim@thekimchallenge.com.

Oh, right, I ate a whole bunch of stuff too…

Breakfast

Weetabix with banana and almond milk
Scrambled egg whites

Lunch

 Salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, hard boiled egg, and avocado
Dressed with olive oil and apple cider vinegar

Post Workout Snacks

AM Cardio:  Smoothie with almond milk, frozen strawberries and vanilla protein powder

PM Weight Lifting: Cliff Builder’s Bar

Dinner

Vegetable soup, salad and multi-grain bread

 

Kim

Filed Under: Daily Confessional, Fitness Tagged With: , , ,

I am so excited about hiking, split sets, and finding out about my fat!

June 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

Things that are awesome:

I just finished reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.

My editor suggested I read it. I’m trying not to think of it as a “Hey, you kind of suck at this whole writing thing–try writing a book like this” and more like “Writing a memoir is a beautiful, emotionally exhausting journey…see.”

However it was intended, the suggestion was appreciated because it’s a really beautiful book, about dealing with your sh_t and accepting yourself past and all, losing yourself, testing yourself, and being super duper bad ass while being simultaneously really klutzy.

 

New workout.  I prefer routines that are machine light and free weight heavy–which this one is.  Sometimes I do an A, B, C day rotation or an A and B day rotation. This is go around I’m doing a single full-body rotation 3-days a week. The plus signs (+) indicate that these are drop sets.  Start off with the heaviest weight you can handle while still using correct form and then switch to slightly lighter weights for the second half of the set.  Feel free to drop me a line with any questions about particular exercises if you’re interested in using this program.
I’m excited to have an ass kicking program because…

 

I’m getting Bod Pod’ed! The Fella pulled a few strings and  arranged for us to get our body mass compositions tested while we’re in Israel in September. Obviously, if I’m going to get my percentages of fat, muscle, and bone mass measured I want to be in super-de-duper the best shape ever.

You know, so it’s a totally accurate reading of what I’m always like.

I’m not sure I can accurately convey how excited I am about this.  The Bod Pod is one of the most accurate forms of body composition testing there currently is and it usually comes at a steep price tag.  I’ve always wanted to do it, but not enough to fork over the big bundles of my hard-earned and rent-paying cash.

Bring on the lunges!

 

Breakfast


Scrambled egg whites
Weetabix with strawberries and almond milk

Post workout


Smoothie: Almond milk, chocolate protein powder and frozen berries

Lunch


Unbearably spicy vegetarian chili over brown rice
Note to self: when the chili powder says “XXX-Hot” it does not mean sexy

I packaged up the leftovers to bring to Roy’s.
Homemade frozen dinners, anyone?

Dinner


Egg white omelet with broccoli and lite Swiss cheese

Exercise: 45-min spin class, 15-am class

Kim

Filed Under: Daily Confessional Tagged With: , , , , ,

Weight Room Trouble Shooting

April 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

 

Hey Ya’ll,

I am still alive and well and wholly overwhelmed by life…but I’m back on the Internet, and I hope I’m here to stay.

You know where else I’m back?

The weight room.

There’s nothing like a really tiny deadline to turn your entire life upside down, and I have sort of let my daily devotional to the gym fall by the wayside while I have instead devoted myself to my keyboard.

Not only are my pants feeling a wee bit tight, but I’m really missing the daily stress release that lifting heavy things provides me.

I asked The Fella to whip me up a new training routine (one of the perks of dating a personal trainer), which I have pasted below in case anyone is interested in mooching.  But, being back in the weight room after a hiatus reminded me how totally intimidating it can be if you don’t have a plan of action.

I think one of the things that keeps people from seriously strength training is simply not knowing what to do with the equipment once they’re inside the confines of the matted area.

If you’re interested in muscle-making and not quite sure what to do, I would suggest checking out the personal training services your gym provides.  Most gyms have an introductory package, even giving a free session to members to acquaint them with machines.  Working with a personal trainer has been really motivating for me in the past, but it’s also way too expensive for me to continue with.

When I’m not squeezing routines out of my boyfriend, there are places I go to look for challenging weight-room tutorials.  One of my favs is Bodybuilding.com.  Now, the site is first and foremost designed to sell supplements, but there’s a lot of amazing resources within its pages.  Including a whole bunch of routines and video tutorials of almost any exercise you can think of.  They’re currently running a 12-week program that’s very beginner friendly, that I think is really well laid out.

I also steal ideas from fitness magazines.  Mags like Shape, Self, and Women’s Health all provide very accessible workouts–most of which don’t require a gym membership.  Magazines like Oxygen, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Fitness RX for Women don’t always have the best editorial (in my humble opinion, and I hope I don’t blog myself out of future work here) but they usually provide really comprehensive workouts for serious gym rats.  Not only do they provide the routines, but there’s usually an accompanying spread to explain how to properly do each exercise.

And, when in doubt of how to perform an exercise correctly, one word: YouTube.  Whenever I’m not entirely sure if I understand a workout I either hit up  BodyBuilding.com’s video database or YouTube–more often than not I check both.

Personal trainers are great, but they’re expensive and not entirely necessary.  Consider yourself your own personal trainer…with a little help from the Internet.  To help out, I’ll try to remember to keep posting my new strength training routines as I badger The Fella to make them (usually once every 4-6 weeks).

So, here’s what I’m up to.  I alternate A,B, and C days.  I tend to strength train five days a week, with two days off.  Optimally I like to separate my cardio and my strength.  My goal is to be so wiped after one that the other seems impossible.  This often means strength training in the middle of the day and hitting up the gym for some cardio at the end of the day for a class or a post-dinner run.  I also use this as a way to clear my head between writing assignments.

A

Exercise

Sets

Reps.
Smith Machine Squats

4

10
One-Legged Press

3

8

High Bench/Step-Ups/w Plate

3

12
Bent-Over One-Legged Cable Kickbacks

3

12
Glute Machine

3

10
One-Legged DB Calf Raises

3

15
Roman Bench Back Extensions

4

Max.

  • Rest btwn. sets 60 secs. / btwn. exercises 60-90 secs.
  • Specific warmup before large muscle groups (1-3 sets before first exercise).

 

 

B

Exercise

Sets

Reps.
Push-Ups to Plank Leg & Arm Raises

4

Max.
Assisted Parallel Bar Dips

3

6
Cable Flys

3

12
Seated DB Shoulder Press

3

8
Machine Shoulder Press

3

6
Crossed-Cable Lateral Raises

3

12
Standing BB Bicep Curls

2

6
Standing BB Bicep Curls
(lower weight)

2

12
“6s”

4

Max.

  • Rest btwn. sets 60 secs. / btwn. exercises 60-90 secs.
  • Specific warmup before large muscle groups (1-3 sets before first exercise).

 

C

Exercise

Sets

Reps.
Assisted Narrow-Grip Pull-Ups

3

6
“Pull-Up” Rows

3

Max.
Cable Pullovers

3

12
BB Skull Crushers

2

6
BB Skull Crushers

2

12
Hamstring Curls

4

12
Reverse Crunches

4

Max.

Diagonal Crunches

3

Max.
  • Rest btwn. sets 60 secs. / btwn. exercises 60-90 secs.
  • Specific warmup before large muscle groups (1-3 sets before first exercise).

 

Cardio 20 miles/wk. accumulative.

 

And, now for some food…

Breakfast

Smoothie with low-fat kefir, banana, spinach, and chocolate protein powder

Snack

Chobani mango yogurt with trail mix

Lunch 

Brown rice pasta with broccolini, and grilled chicken

Dinner

Salad with lettuce, carrot, onion, Mandarin oranges, cucumber, grilled chicken and lite sesame ginger dressing

Exercise: (am) B-day, (pm) 4-mile run


Kim

Filed Under: Daily Confessional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A whole lotta nuthin’

August 6, 2010 by 2 Comments

Technically I should have used today to get contact people, send emails, and draft articles.  Instead, I napped.

I’m not very good at doing nothing, but when the urge strikes, it strikes hard and I just couldn’t do anything today.  Well, I did write a couple of things, but by my general standards, today was completely lazy.  After my blackout earlier this week, I’ve decided to listen to my body a bit more when it says to slow down.  If I have to wake up a little earlier tomorrow to get stuff done, so be it, at least I had one full day of complete and utter uselessness.

I ended the day with a spin class and strength training–like I said, I’m not very good at doing nothing, but that’s not work, that’s a stress reliever.

Besides my craving to contemplate my navel, I also succumbed to another craving.  A craving for chocolate.  I’m not really a chocolate eater, but every once and a while I get a hankering, and this one would not quit.  Instead of hitting up Godiva, I tried to put a healthy spin on it, by making my most favorite of smoothies for dinner: frozen banana, peanut butter, almond milk, and chocolate protein powder.  I swear it tastes like a chocolate-peanut butter milkshake. It’s not exactly low in calories, fat, or sugar (which is why I eat it as a meal and not a snack)–but at least it’s got more protein than a milkshake.  Here’s the nutritional info, in case you’re curious:

Like I said, more of a meal than a snack–but oh so good.

Here’s the rest of the food:

Breakfast

Scrambled egg whites, whole grain toast, 1/2 an avocado, tomato

Lunch

Baked chicken breast, hummus, cucumber, carrots, celery, tomato

Dinner/Dessert

1 cup almond milk, 1 frozen banana (also a good dessert on its own), 2 scoops Maranatha peanut butter (the creamiest organic peanut butter I’ve ever had), 1 scoop Designer Whey Chocolate Protein Powder.  AMAZING.

What are your favorite smoothies?

Kim

Filed Under: Daily Confessional Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,