Posts Tagged ‘upper body workout’

This Calls For A Celebration!

Guess what I did the other night????

Guess what I did tonight? FINISHED my personal training reading. Now I just have to review and study, study, study!
@TinaFFF
Tina Reale

That’s right, baby! I finished reading up all the material for my personal training certification. This calls for a celebration!

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I feel like I learned a lot through the material, but certainly need to go back and refresh myself on everything. I foresee lots of nights going over my flashcards and  the practice exams in my future. Looks like I may reach that goal of taking the test and getting certified by November. Woo!

Even though I need to study in the traditional ways, I can still practice in the truest sense of the word and train myself. Which is exactly what I did this week with two fantabulous strength training sessions I plan to share with you now. Open-mouthed smile

First up – leg work!

Right now, with half marathon training, I want to focus on endurance, stability, and power. That means less focus on heavy lifting, but still keeping my legs in top form.

For this workout, I kept the weights light and went through the moves in a circuit format – moving from one move to the next only allowing 30 seconds rest between each set. I completed three sets of this circuit.

Now onto the upper body work! Since I can have more rest and recovery for my upper body training, I feel good pushing it a bit. I alternate between strength focused and endurance focused work. This week focused on endurance and stability.

I completed each set of exercises grouped by color as a superset for 3 sets of each exercise with as much weight as possible. The challenge comes in doing supersets with one basic strength training move immediately followed by a stability move for the same body part. Killer! I had to pay close attention to my form because this workout was such a challenge.

If you have any questions about any of the moves or how I laid these out, feel free to ask. You can also check out my guest post for Laura on how I got started with strength training, if interested. Obviously – I love talking weights! Smile

  • What do you like training more – upper or lower body?

Workout Disclaimer: I am not a certified trainer and simply share my personal workout ideas. If you choose to use these workouts in your own training, you do so at your own risk.

Also, thank you for all the comments, tweets, “stumbles”, emails, etc on my earlier post looking into my first binge. I am toying with the idea of continuing this as a series expressing key moments in my journey through binge eating. If I do, it would span many weeks because it is certainly a touchy topic that I wish to expose, but also I do not want to overwhelm the blog. Your support of this topic is immeasurable to me.

Posted by on September 28th, 2011 49 Comments

It Worked! + FFF Features

It worked! My new workout time! Going to the gym in the morning worked fabulously. It set the tone for the day and somehow made me even more productive. I worked out, took care of my children, did laundry, showered/dressed, & prepared lunch all by noon! Then, in the afternoon during nap time I had time to do some blogging and reorganize my clothes in the closet.

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So long maternity clothes! Hello, spring wear! Now I don’t have to dig through our huge storage tub to find something to wear all the time. I still have some sweaters out for easy access, but it feels so nice to look at a closet full of cheery, warm-weather clothes. Extra motivation as well. Those stacks of jeans on the mid-shelf? All my “happy place” jeans I hope to be in by my birthday. 😉 Yep. I love morning workouts. They make my day SO much better!

And now, time for this week’s FFF Features! Don’t think I forgot about them now!

Featured Move: Don’t Ignore This Back Move!

I didn’t have the chance to shoot a video myself, but didn’t want to leave out a favorite move. I did pullovers this past week at the gym as a back exercise. I love them and think they are too often overlooked and not included in training. Give them a shot!

Featured Moment: Owning My Blog

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I don’t mess around when I say how much better it feels after sharing the blogging thoughts I had running through my mind. And making blogging work for me. The blog is a living, breathing entity so how my blogging runs will always change – but I know now where to keep the focus. On having fun!

Featured Meal: Mexican Black Bean Casserole

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🙁 <--- That is my sad face for no longer having more of this dish left. It was that good.

Featured Quote:

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." – Thomas Edison

Featured Cuteness: Kiddie Clothing

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They will look so adorable in their new clothes. I love kid clothes!

Featured Reading: Dorry @ Living With Healthy Hunger – Indecision Vision

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I don’t quite know what struck me most about this post, but I love the idea of going with your gut and being decisive in life. It really does bring great reward to go after things with decisiveness.

Katie @ Health For the Whole Self – Conquering the Urge to Diet

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Just as the title states, Katie discusses three things we should all consider when we feel the need to “diet” and “restrict” to look better or feel better about ourselves. As always she does a great job distinguishing between a healthy approach to our bodies and the thin line of slipping into negative behaviors.

Question of the Day – Do you switch out your clothes each season or keep them all up in your closet/drawers year round?

Posted by on February 26th, 2011 37 Comments

 

 
Catch Up With Recent Posts

Announcement Time

Posted: November 23, 2011 at 7:47 am

Well, I have had a whirlwind of a few weeks over here. I missed all of you so much! I can’t express enough gratitude for your patience while I got some important things sorted out. Some scary things. Are you ready for the announcement? Here goes! I will no longer be blogging at Faith Fitness […]

88 CommentsRead more →

Self-Love Reflection: The Road Not Taken

Posted: November 20, 2011 at 11:47 am

Hello FFF readers! Nice to meet ya! My name is Carissa and my husband and I blog at Fit2Flex.  Well, I blog…he consults! We are both certified personal trainers with a passion for healthy, active living and clean eating.  I am also studying to become a registered dietitian, a race announcer, and a runner.  Stop […]

24 CommentsRead more →

Healthier Eating For Kids

Posted: November 19, 2011 at 10:56 am

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what’s for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens! As parents, we want the best for our children. We help them to feel loved. We strive to teach them […]

14 CommentsRead more →
 

Announcement

Posted: November 17, 2011 at 3:36 pm

Hey, everyone! I wanted to pop in and say I am working on some new and exciting changes.  As a result,I may not be posting as much during the coming week.  Please stay tuned for the big announcement! Love you all! And still feel free to find me on Twitter and Facebook for the time […]

21 CommentsRead more →

Where The Change Happens

Posted: November 16, 2011 at 7:54 am

It’s kind of funny. I become a certified personal trainer and the first workouts I turn to this week come from someone else. The book came in for me at the library last week and, after flipping through it, I couldn’t wait to give the circuits a go. Making The Cut includes a lot of […]

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From Beginning To End

Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:53 am

Good morning! First off, thanks for the many congrats yesterday. Love you all bunches for the tons of support you have given me in so many things this year. I hope I can return a little bit of that love through this here blog as well. So yesterday I had my first parent-teacher “conference” for […]

55 CommentsRead more →