Beautiful Colorado Outdoor Workout

One thing I love about Colorado is that one day we are freezing and playing in snow and the next it is 60 degrees and sunny! I took advantage of a beautiful day and got a workout in outside while my little one was napping. My energy has been extremely low the past week and a half and workouts have been a struggle – not today. Between a good night sleep and great food for the day I had plenty of energy and took full advantage of it.

I have a lot of people asking me have I eat so here is a run down of what I ate today to keep my energy going…

Breakfast: Protein Shake (20 ounces Coconut Milk, 2 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder, 1/4 cup frozen cherries- tastes just like chocolate covered cherries), Chorizo and a Chocolate Gluten Free Protein Muffin

Lunch: Chicken Breast with Bacon and Brussel Sprouts

Snack: Protein shake following my workout (20 ounces Coconut Milk, 2 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder and 1 tsp powdered Peanut butter)

2nd Snack: UCAN bar

Dinner: Pork Chop with Green Chili, Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes and Onions made in the Crockpot. Blueberries for dessert!

Today’s workout…

100 Jump Ropes
10 – Step Ups/Bicep Curls to Overhead press each side
10 – Walking lunges each side with dumbbells
20 – Wall Balls
10 – Push Ups

Repeated 4 times

 

Getting dizzy!

This week has been a crazy whirlwind of events. My husband and I have picked up our personal training business to include “Brewery Boot Camps”, keeping me so busy I have failed to get my posts up for everyone here! I have been able to fit small workouts in here and there, just no time to share with everyone. So here I am playing catch up once again!

Along with our busy schedule I have now developed a new symptom I never even had with my first pregnancy – dizziness! Initially I thought this was due to lack of water and eating, but after reviewing my food and water intake for the day I was on the positive side. However, the one change that day was my carbohydrate intake was higher than normal. We ate out and I had a the corned beef hash – heavy on the hash and light on the corned beef. Later when I got home I had a craving for sweets and gave in on this occation – bad idea! As a result my blood sugar spiked quickly and dropped even quicker that evening resulting in dizziness and nausea. Eating a dinner of lean protein and vegetables was helpful, but it took a good day to truly recover. Upon talking with other friends it seems I am not alone in this feeling and (note this is not scientifically proven) it seems baby girls tend to cause this more often than boys. As a result I have begun to eat a healthy protein and carbohydrates (vegetables and fruits) every couple of hours to avoid my dizziness. This is not fool proof, but it has helped a great deal. Plus, the bottom line is I really do not need to eat ANY sweets to avoid crazy blood sugar levels, therefore this is keeping from doing so. Pregnancy is hard, but if anyone can do it a woman can!!!

Workout for the day…

Overhead Press – 5
Push Press – 5
Jerk – 5
Repeat 5 times

Pull Ups – 10
Walking lunges with weight – 10 each leg
Repeat 3 times

 

Keeping it up!

First and foremost – Yay Broncos – Super Bowl 50 Champs!!

I feel great now that I have gotten back on track. When you miss out on several workouts it is whole lot easier to find reasons not to do it again the next day. But if you stick to it even on the hard days you will miss it when you haven’t slipped your workout in.

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Today’s workout I only used two pieces of equipment a Bosu ball and 10lb dumbbells while at home.

10 Bosu Squats with Bicep curl to overhead press with dumbbells
10 Bosu Squats
5 Lateral arm raises while standing on Bosu
10 Single Leg RDLs on Bosu with DB in each hand
10 Bosu Push-Ups
10 Bosu Burpees
10 each side – Lateral Lunges onto Bosu with DB biceps curls
10 Incline dumbbell flys

Repeat 3 times

Super Bowl Funday!

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Got my workout in early this morning so that I could enjoy the game (since our Broncos are going to win it! – fingers crossed). A couple pieces of advice I offer my clients on this crazy Super Bowl weekend…

  • Eat a meal before you go to a party if you are unsure if your host will have healthy options.
  • Stick to the meat and vegetables. Skip the chips, desserts and minimize the sugary drinks!
  • Make the game into your workout. Each touch down do 10 Squats, each turnover 10 sit ups, field goals 5 burpees, etc.

Today’s workout…

Leg Press – 10×3
Front Squats – 10×3
Overhead Press – 10×3
Incline Bench – 10×3
Dumbbell bicep curl to overhead press – 10×3
Seated Rows – 10×3
Lat Pulls – 10×3

Getting out of a Slump

Week 24 is kicking my butt. My energy has dropped, I have a slight cold and my son isn’t sleeping well. These all add up to me not working out. I know I have told my clients time and time again you really have no excuse to not workout and yet hear I am almost a week out with no workouts. I have played in the snow twice so I can’t say I wasn’t active at all but in terms of a true workout – nothing!

Getting out of slump can be tricky. You can tell yourself you will “do it tomorrow”, but a majority of the time the same thing is said the next day. My advice…start out slow, but as Nike says “Just do it”! So that is just what I did.  It took all my efforts to get myself down in the basement for my workout, but when all was said and done it felt good.

Today’s workout was…

200 Jump Ropes
10 Mountain Climbers with Fitball
20 Prisioner Lunges
Stair Calf Raises (start on the bottom step and do 10 calf raises, then step up to the next step and do 9, 8, 7…)
10 RDLs with KB
10 Inverted Push-Ups

Repeat 3 times

Is it a Boy or a Girl?

The next weightlifting Chavez will be….

its a girl

Happy Friday!

Workout of the Day…

400 meter row
10 Squats
10 RDLs
10 Overhead Press
Repeat 4 times

Bump-date!

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The picture on the left is from my 1st pregnancy and the one on the right is from this week. (I know they are different weeks, last time we forgot week 23). Do you think we’re having a boy or a girl?

How far along: 23 weeks!

Baby Size: A mango {11 inches, 1 pounds}

Weight gain: 15 lbs

Maternity clothes: Yes. Even my yoga pants are a bit tight.

Stretch marks: None yet.

Sleep: Good. Getting up typically once per night to pee.

Gender: Stay tuned this Thursday for the gender reveal!

Movement: Yep, little one is moving like crazy and loves kicking my pelvic floor!

Looking forward to: Meeting our sweat pea – SOON! Matt set up the hammock in the backyard this weekend so we have another little place to relax once the baby arrives.

Food cravings: Had a few sweet cravings this week, otherwise GREEN CHILI!Food aversions: Pork and strong spice smells.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Strong smells and plain water.
What I miss: Being able to sit up with my ab muscles! And I am really looking forward to an ice cold Hard cider.
Symptoms: Baby kicks, bloated after my meals and occasional Braxton Hicks contractions.
Nursery: Almost cleaned out and we are starting to pick colors and designs to paint on the walls.
Belly Button in or out? Out – and when I cough more out!

Wedding rings on or off? On and no swelling.

Mood: Fairly good. I have occasional moments of annoyance, typically when I need more food or sleep, but otherwise upbeat.

Workouts: Good, on hold till further notice from my OB, due to contractions.
January Distance Challenge – 28.25 miles down, 21.75 miles to go!

Men Will Never Truly Understand

I have been taking it a bit easier the past couple days – my higher activity has been causing a few Braxton Hicks contractions in the evenings. I had this last pregnancy starting at 17 weeks, but until I see my doctor on Monday I don’t want to push it. This little one has some more cooking to do!

Now that I have crossed the half way mark of this pregnancy I am starting to notice my energy is draining. I am always a go, go, go person, but lately I have had to stop and rest. My husband on occasion even asks why I am so tired, of course my response “I don’t know, could it be the person growing inside of me?” Someday’s I really wish men could truly understand what women go through just to make a baby.

Don’t get me wrong my husband does help out more and is really looking forward to our newest edition, but there are someday’s I truly wish he could understand what it is like to be pregnant.

 

I am always joking with my girlfriends about guys needing to experience just three small parts of pregnancy – 1 Day of nausea, vomiting and the “morning sickness”, 1 day of being humongous (9 months pregnant) walking around with the extra weight and finally, just 1 HOUR of labor pains. One hour that is all I am asking! 🙂 If any of you haven’t seen the viral videos where guys are hooked up to electrical stimulation machines which simulate labor pains, it is definitely worth your while and a few laughs (Men in Labor) or the other great video is done by the Try Guys (Try Labor Simulation). While they will never truly understand what women go through, this could gets them just a little closer. Of course when I offered to find a location my husband could try this he quickly found a reason he would be unable to do so!

Needless to say pregnancy is not for the faint of heart and definitely takes a lot to endure. I even have a few girlfriends who, because of my fabulous stories of pregnancy, have sworn off babies and will simply “buy” them! I highly doubt when it come there time that they could not face the challenge, but it doesn’t sound a lot easier on the body that way.

 

January Distance Challenge – 16.25 miles down and 33.75 miles to go!  I have some catching up to do!!! Eeek

Winter wonderland!

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It is sad how life seems to take over the truly fun things! Every once and a while you need to remind yourself what you love to do and how much it’s worth to you. My husband and I used to visit the gorgeous Colorado mountains at least 3 times a month, but with work, a house and now kids things seem to change. Sometimes we forget to make time for the things that truly matter to us.  With a blossoming business (strengthtrain4life.com) keeping us busy nearly every weekend, we were very surprised to not see anything on the calendar for this upcoming weekend.  Always having something to do at home, I know that we would have found something to keep us busy.  However, we decided to take a trip to our family cabin to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  I’m typing this with my feet are propped up in front of the fire as I lay back in a comfy recliner.  It sure feels good to relax.

Before you relax you of course need to move a little!  The family and I decided to take a hike/walk around the property with the dogs.  It was cold and blowing so we didn’t last long, but we’re glad we decided to make the trip. We won’t let a little wind and snow get in our way of a fun romp around the property. As seen above our little one was bundled to the maxes and stuffed into our pack to make the hike with us. He LOVED every moment of it, giggling and talking the whole 1.10 miles we walked. I am grateful for my beautiful and adventurous family – more mountain trips will be penciled into our schedule this summer!!

 

January Distance Challenge – 15 miles down, 35 miles to go!

Energy boost!

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Earlier than usual wake up today, and boy did it make for a tiresome morning! I did manage to get a good workout in and it truly helped increase my energy. Energy can be affected by many things – pregnancy number one, amount of sleep, quality of sleep, food and exercise. To maximize your energy levels its important to balance each of these things.

Today’s workout –

Warm-Up: Half mile (800 meters) on the rower

Workout – 15 minutes as many rounds as possible

500 meter row
5 Deadlifts
10 Box Jumps
Repeat

I was able to complete 4 rounds in 15 minutes 48 seconds (I wasn’t going to quit half way through a round)

Cool down – 400 meters on the rower

 

January Distance Challenge – 13 miles down, 37 miles to go!