My trainer designs workouts for me and rotates them so I don’t get bored. As I advance, he adds in new exercises and I always get really excited when he does because I feel like I’m “leveling up” in my fitness. A few weeks ago he introduced a new challenge into my routine – for the last 10 minutes of my workout I would do sets of 10 body weight squats, 10 incline push-ups, and 10 rows (TRX, body weight) as many times as I could within that time frame. My first time I was able to do exactly 10 sets (so 100 reps of each exercise). My second time I was able to do 11 1/3 (120 squats and 110 reps of the other 2 exercises). This morning I was hoping to just be able to do a little better than my previous record, but I wound up crushing it – 14 2/3 (150 squats, 150 push-ups, 140 rows)! That will be a hard record to beat next time, but I will be sure to try!

I’ve been using a (FREE) iPhone app called Fitocracy to track my workouts. They have all sorts of challenges to help keep your workouts varied, but it is also like a fitness social network – you can check out what other people do for exercise and get advice and inspiration from others if you need it. I don’t usually participate in many of their challenges because my trainer has me doing enough, but starting April 1st I’m going to take part in their Arnold Schwarzenegger Spark Challenge.

The Spark Challenge is to encourage people who say they don’t have time to exercise to find 15 minutes in their day to get a little movement in. (That’s a mere 1% of your day!) I will be doing the Spark Challenge on top of all the other workouts I do during the week, so if I can fit it in - so can you. There are 2 routines to choose from, but for now I’ll mainly be doing Routine B because it requires no equipment and very little space. You can do it in your bedroom, your living room, on your lunch break, in your cubicle… pretty much anywhere if you can carve out 15 minutes. Seriously. 15 minutes. Don’t make me say the Nike slogan.

Here’s what Routine B looks like. Fitocracy also put together videos for each routine to make sure you know how do do each exercise properly. I will add a bit to this – extending the plank time and adding dumbbells to the squats, lunges & bridge – but I am using it as my motivation to do a routine when I get out of bed in the morning, and this routine is doable anywhere, anytime. Care to join me?

Photo credit: Bill O’Leary/ The Washington Post

I read a very inspiring story by Lenny Bernstein in The Washington Post this morning about 102-year-old Ray Clark who started working out 4 years ago when he was 98. What struck me was one paragraph in particular…

Ray Clark was overwhelmed at first, but soon became inspired. He is on his third pacemaker, is losing his eyesight to macular degeneration and has difficulty hearing. But working out is something he can do.

So I will be printing out the above photo of Ray and hanging it on my fridge. Because you know what? No excuse I can ever come up with to skip working out can compete with: “He is on his third pacemaker.” Nothing.

Recently, a friend was telling me about how he “caught” his 83-year-old grandmother shoveling snow. As if this is something an 83-year-old woman should absolutely not be doing. My reply to him was, “Good for her! If I can’t shovel snow when I’m 83, than I really don’t want to be 83.”

This past week was a tough one. Although I hit a major weight loss milestone, it brought with it some weird side effects. Last Thursday I was standing at my kitchen sink washing the dishes when suddenly I felt as if my brain went to the Dark Side of the Moon. I saw pulsing blue lights all around me. The next thing I remember I was laying on the kitchen floor. I also was feeling light headed a lot and having difficulty focusing. Going from a sitting to a standing position caused my head to spin. Believe it or not, these all turned out to be good things.

I called my Doctor’s office this morning and was able to snag an appointment. When I went in, the tech who weighed me and took my initial blood pressure reading looked at the machine when it was done and said, “Huh. I must not have wrapped that tight enough. Let me take your BP again.” After she took it the second time she just stared at the little machine, patted my hand and said, “We’re gonna get the doctor to see you right away, sweetie.” She would not even tell me what it said.

I’ve been taking prescription medication for high blood pressure for a number of years now. (Don’t know how many, but it has definitely been “several.”) With the combination of weight I have lost along with my healthy eating and exercise habits – I am very happy to say that as of this morning I no longer take one of those medications because my HBP meds were causing my blood pressure to go too low.

This has been one of my main goals from the start, and I am elated to finally achieve it. Yes, I have to monitor myself closely and see the Doctor again in a month, but just to reach this day has made all the hard work worth it. It is one of those goals you want to run up and scream into the face of strangers on the street: “Hey! You! Guess what? I NO LONGER HAVE TO TAKE LISINOPRIL!” and then that stranger calls 911, and a little padded van comes and takes me away. None of that matters though, BECAUSE I NO LONGER HAVE TO TAKE LISINOPRIL!

The end.

P.S. I no longer have to take Lisinopril!