"Bringin' It" - Day 1

Yesterday, I began my P90X journey with Tony Horton and his (very fit) posse.  What is P90X, you ask?  If you haven't heard of it, I think you might possibly be living under a rock, in a cave, in some remote location or someplace where there is no electricity!!  P90X stands for Power 90 Extreme - a 90 day workout program put out by the company Beachbody and led by the phenomenal trainer Tony Horton.  The infomercials run constantly on television (and I believe hold the #1 spot for infomercials).  Check your local listings to catch one - especially if you've never heard of this program before.  The people in the infomercials are inspiring and do an amazing job showing off their eye-popping 90 day transformations.  I decided I had to be a part of it.  Like a kid on Christmas morning, I was so very excited when this arrived a couple weeks ago.

I had a small(ish) idea of what to expect, but tried not to think about it too too much beforehand.  The whole premise of P90X is that it is an extreme, 90 day workout regimen (and nutrition plan), designed to "confuse" your muscles (using varying moves).  The thinking is that by confusing the muscles, the body never has time to adapt or go into auto-pilot.  You are constantly challenging your muscles and using them in different ways, every day for 90 days.  Every 30 days throughout the program, Tony changes it up so the workout never (by design) gets easy.  There are twelve (TWELVE) extreme workouts in the program!

As it says in today's blog title - yesterday was Day 1 for me.  That meant Back and Chest (with an extra workout of Abs).  I went into it thinking - " I just completed months and months of INSANITY, how much more extreme can this be?"  Let me just put it out there that INSANITY and P90X are two completely different animals!  Back and Chest workout is 52 minutes of varying push ups and pull ups.  52 minutes, 12 sets (repeated twice).  There are weights involved as well.  I had to chuckle when Tony picked up the 45 pound dumbbell and I picked up the 5 pound one (hey, I didn't want to peak on Day 1 - hee hee).  The program also requires use of this bad boy.....

The pull-up bar.  Yikes!  Brings back memories of high school fitness tests, eh?  Of course, Tony offers modifications and "breaks" for those of us who are not ready to go as extreme as he and his devoted clones.  I ended up using a chair to assist me during the pull ups and I still wasn't able to get through too many in a set (leaving plenty of room for improvement).


The verdict?  After workout 1, day 1, I am more sore than I ever was during the months and months of sweating it out with INSANITY.  Which is a good thing!!!  It's obviously effective, I'm doing the moves correctly, and (hopefully) I will look cute in a bathing suit in the very near future.


Today's workout is Plyo.  Hopefully, I'll be able to walk tomorrow.


~Cheers!  

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

This week marks my last one (for now) in my continuing love/hate relationship with Shaun T and the INSANITY gang.  I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, Shaun T has pushed me, helped me get to the fitness level I am at today, helped me lose weight and welcomed me (with open, sweaty arms) into the Beachbody family.  However, it's now been 9 months since we started our relationship, and I am ready for a change of pace and new challenge.  


Beginning Monday, 3/28, I am starting my next fitness endeavor (and new relationship) with Tony Horton and the P90X gang!  Believe me, I am SCARED!!!!  I am strong, but have my doubts about whether or not I will be able to keep up.  The workouts are an hour long (will I have the time?), and there are weights and pull-up bars involved!  What am I thinking??  Well, the way I figure, the program is 90 days.  90 days from March 28 will be the beginning of summer and the height of beach weather.  If all goes as planned, my body will be bathing suit ready by then.


Stay tuned to witness the transformation!!! 


~Cheers!

Drinking the Green!

Happy St. Patty's Day one and all!!!  Everyone is Irish for the day today, right?  


This morning, I believe a little leprechaun showed up at my house, whispered in my ear and told me to get in the mood to have a Greenberry Shakeology.  Let me just say, I like Greenberry, but I LOVE Chocolate more.  In my opinion, Greenberry is more of an acquired taste and not my normal "go-to" flavor; however, I do enjoy it as a change of pace every now and then.  Greenberry has a fruity (and obviously berry) flavor, and when mixed properly is very delicious.  If you can get past the fact that you're drinking something green, you're good to go.   


So today, I am raising my glass of health and deliciousness in honor of St. Patrick, the Irish, and all things green!  

Mango-Nana Greenberry

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

1 banana

1 cup water

1 cup ice (or more - to taste)

1 serving of Greenberry Shakeology

Blend for a few minutes in the blender!

Grab a glass, pour it in, and drink it!

~Don't forget your green straw!!!

Break Time

Obviously, I've been on a blogging hiatus for about a week or so.  My computer was on the fritz, then my monitor died, and I made a decision to purchase a whole new computer.  I am by no means "tech-telligent" (is that even an expression?).  It has taken a little bit of time to get used to and I am trying my best to navigate around it.


Exercise update:  I have two weeks left of the INSANITY workout!!!  It is downright killing me though!  These workouts are an hour long and super-intense.  INSANITY sure does take a lot out of a girl first thing in the morning.  Good news is, I'm hearing lots of positive comments about "looking fit" or "losing weight" and that just makes me feel fabulous.  Last week, I ordered a bunch of new workouts and I'm excited to begin a new routine once I am certifiably INSANE (more on this later).


I'm not going to worry about being "behind" in blogging, so for this very  moment, I'm going to head to the kitchen, prepare myself a delicious Shakeology for breakfast, and soak in the beauty of this sunny morning.  Here's a (post-workout, sweaty, no make-up) photo of me doing just that a couple weeks ago.

~Enjoy the day!!

You Make Your Own What?

For a long time, my son suffered from atopic dermatitis/eczema.  The poor fella was constantly scratching his itchy, blistery little wrists, ankles and behind his knees.  As it turns out, he has extreme food and environmental allergies and chemical sensitivities.  Before his diagnosis, we had a tough time finding a laundry detergent which he wouldn't react to.  We began using chemical free, natural, "green" products (usually found in the natural food aisle of the grocery store).  Although "green" products are more popular today, they still only take up a fraction of the laundry aisle in the stores.  Imagine my surprise when one day, I read a note from my cousin-in-law (who also has chemical sensitivities and allergies) which stated she was "making her own laundry detergent".  What?  You can do that?  Do tell!!!  I got the full recipe and have been using it regularly ever since.  Let me just say, this detergent works fabulously!  It is CHEAP!  I purchased the ingredients over one year ago - for an initial investment of about $11.  I've since had to purchase several more bars of soap.  So rounding up, I've spent about $15 for over one year's worth of laundry detergent.  I do at least one load a day.  You do the math - it's pennies per load, all natural, chemical free and works great. 

Here's the recipe for the liquid detergent (which is what I make). 

3 Pints (6 cups) water

1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap - grated

1/2 cup Super Washing Soda (found in the laundry aisle)

1/2 cup Borax

2 gallon bucket for mixing and storing  (I bought mine at the Dollar Tree)

Hot water

Here's what the Borax, Fels Naptha bar and Super Washing Soda look like.

*Please excuse the ripped boxes and half bar of soap in the photo!

Step 1:  Grate 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Soap

Step 2:  Mix the soap in a saucepan with 3 pints (6 cups) of hot water and heat on low until dissolved. 

Step 3:  Stir in 1/2 cup Super Washing Soda and 1/2 cup Borax.  Stir until thickened (a few minutes) and remove from heat.  When it's thick enough, it should look like this.

Step 4:  Then, add 1 quart of hot water to a 2 gallon bucket.  Add the hot soap mixture and mix well.  Fill the bucket with additional hot water to make 1.5 gallons total of the mixture (I scratched a line on the inside of my bucket to indicate the fill level). 

That is IT!  Easy peasy, right?  Then you need to set the bucket aside for 24 hours (stirring occasionally).  The mixture will thicken and end up about the consistency of watery, lumpy yogurt.  The clumps and lumps are supposed to be there. 

Use 1/2 cup of detergent per load of laundry.  You can fill old, empty laundry detergent containers with the home made stuff.  Just give it a good stir or shake before using as the mixture tends to separate over time.

This detergent will not make suds in the washer nor does it have fragrance (if you prefer fragrance, you may add a few drops of essential oil before you let it sit for 24 hours).  Fels Naptha is a pure soap and typically makes little or no suds in the water.  It is also great to use for pretreating stains (Fels Naptha takes out practically anything).  Because of the low sudsing properties, this detergent is perfect in HE (front loading) washing machines as well as non-HE machines.  This detergent also rinses almost completely out of the clothes, so you will not need to use a fabric softener (the only reason you need to use a fabric softener in the first place is to counteract any detergent not rinsed out of your clothes).  When doing laundry, I generally fill the "bleach" cup with hydrogen peroxide (a color safe disinfectant and brightener - a lot less harsh than bleach) and fill the "fabric softener" cup with distilled white vinegar (which will remove any traces of detergent and also neutralize any odors in the clothes - you will not smell the vinegar as it rinses completely out of the clothes).  In the dryer, I use the spiky balls - no fabric softener sheets.  Everything comes out beautifully clean, soft and wonderful.  I am still forever grateful to my wonderful cousin-in-law who gave me this fantastic recipe!!

I love making my own laundry detergent.  Yes, it may take a little extra time and effort, but I love knowing I am using a product that is safe for the environment, and (more importantly) safe for my family.

Give it a try!!

Digging Deep

I am here to debunk the thinking that you cannot get a good, intense, effective workout by exercising in the comfort of your own home.  For most of my adult life, I have belonged to a gym.  Granted, I also own a treadmill, enjoyed running outdoors, and working out to exercise DVDs, but in the past, my "go to" place for sweating it out was always a gym.  When I purchased the workout set INSANITY, my thinking changed. Since beginning this program 9 months ago, I have worked out more regularly and frequently than any other time in my life.  If you don't think you have the ability to push yourself at home, don't sell yourself short - you can.  If you don't think you have the attention span to complete it - think again - once a workout gets "in your blood" you will not want to stop (and let's face it, the menial home tasks and laundry will always be there anyway).  Plus the awesome DVDs that Beachbody puts out all are led by amazing trainers who are incredible motivators.

Here's Shaun T and some of the INSANITY crew!  They look badass, don't they?  One of the great things about this workout is that some of the cast members were just "regular people" beforehand.  They went through the program in its testing phase and had tremendous success!  It's so motivating to see the results of a normal person who transformed their body in such a drastic way - makes me think I can do it too.  Also, I love the fact that they are all sweating, panting, raising their heart rates (to what sometimes feels like unnatural levels) and even collapsing from exhaustion right along side me.   

That's the man himself.  The King of INSANITY, Shaun T.  Shaun T is a superb trainer too.  He's constantly talking, encouraging, giving tips on proper form, telling me how to breathe, hold correct posture, and I love that he tells it like it is (plus he's nice to look at too).  One of my favorite quotes from him is "It's get fit or get out people!  I'm not trying to hurt you, just trying to make you better."


On Monday, I began Month 2 of INSANITY!!  Let the madness begin (again)!  Month 2 MAX workouts are around an hour long with (what seems like) double the intensity as the first month's workouts.  I am still sore from Monday's MAX Interval Circuit workout - ouch.  What makes INSANITY different from traditional workouts is the amount of time you spend pushing yourself to the limit.  In traditional workouts, you would generally exert a sustained moderate amount of energy/intensity throughout with short bursts of high intensity.  INSANITY workouts are just the opposite....you work as hard as you can for 3-4 minutes with a 30 second rest in between each burst of intensity.  It is extremely effective!  On the agenda for me for today is MAX Interval Plyo.  I'm ready (yikes)!!

  ~ Bring on the Diamond Jumps!