Picked up my boys from school this morning and we're done for the year! I'm so excited. I now have two babysitters and maids. Haha. I told them our summer schedule as we ate lunch. My eight-year old said, "We're going to work all summer." Poor picked on little boy. I told them in the morning we will have an hour of chores and then in the afternoon they have to come in for lunch and another hour of reading and playing games with mom. Tough life they have, huh? And you know half the time our chores in the morning will consist of - clean up your room - okay, go outside and play.

I'm going to Lagoon tomorrow with my son, my good friend and her boy. It's going to be awesome. One-on-one with our older kids and running and playing all day. I might not be able to post tomorrow, but you know the routine on Saturday - any cardio you want.

Tomorrow's workout is upper body-plyometrics.

Warm-up and cardio - 5 - 30 minutes
Decline pushups - pushups with feet on bench, step or ball (if it's too hard you can do regular pushups or put your knees on the step) 3 sets of 12
Lateral raise - 3 sets of 12
Jumping Jacks - 30 reps
Lat Pulldown - 3 sets of 12-14
Bent-over Row - 3 sets of 12
Assisted Pullup (if you have the machine or try to do a few regular pullups) 4-14 reps
Quick lunge off of bench or step - start on bench, step one foot back, then jump and exchange feet that are stepping back - keep exchanging for 30 seconds
Tricep Pulldown - 3 sets of 12
Tricep Dip - 3 sets of 12-14 - try to straighten legs, if it's too hard go back to bent knees
Tricep Kickback - 3 sets of 12
High Knees Run - run in place with knees high - 30 seconds
Twisting Bicep Curl - 14 reps
Hammer Curl - 16 reps
Incline Curl - 12 reps (if you don't have a bench you can lean your shoulders against a wall and stick your bum out)
Bicep Curl - 14-16 reps
Cool-down and stretch

Have a great workout ladies!

How was your interval workout this morning? That muscle I pulled is still hurting so I couldn't sprint. I did a lot of hills instead.
Wanted to give you more info on the contest. Here's the deal.
You set a fitness goal at the first of each week of June - drink eight glasses of water per day, strength train four times this week, eat healthy every day this week, etc. If you meet your goal you e-mail me - camichecketts@yahoo.com - and tell me your name, address, etc. At the end of the month I'll print out all the names and then draw one out of a hat. The prize is a copy of my book - The Fourth of July. I know you're all dying to read it, so set some goals and you could be the lucky one!
The weeks will run Monday -Saturday - June 4-9, 11-16, 18-23, and 25-30. Then you can have a break on Sunday.
There will be details on my website soon - www.camichecketts.com.

Okay, tomorrow's workout.

Warm-up for 5-10 minutes. Then I'm going to give you a list of exercises. You'll do one set (12-15 reps) of each exercise - moving from one exercise to the next on the list as quickly as possible. When you've done each exercise, you'll do ten more minutes of cardio. Then you'll go through the list again and ten more minutes of cardio - repeat it at least twice, but three or four sessions through would be even more effective and burn more calories.
If you're crunched for time, don't do the ten minute cardio breaks in between. Does that make sense? One set of each exercise, then ten minutes cardio, one set of each exercise, ten minutes of cardio, etc. etc.

Okay. Here's the exercises:

Step and squat
Walking or stationary lunges
Plie with a calf raise
Dead Lift
Hamstring Curl

There aren't too many because I want you to get through them at least 3-4 times. If you need descriptions of the exercises - go to my website - www.camichecketts.com - click on the links button and there's a file called strength training guide or list - click on that and print it out. If you have questions on some of the descriptions you can e-mail me - camichecketts@yahoo.com

Isn't it sweet to have no Monday this week? I'm already posting Wednesday's workout and my boys get out of school on Thursday so it feels like we only have three real work days. How exciting. I can't wait to have those cute little farts home. I'm going to make them work and work and work. Not really, but it sounds good. They are excited about the garden they planted. They think they're going to make lots of money off the corn they're going to sell. Luckily, lots of money is a relative thing for little boys. Last summer they collected pop cans. They scavenged the roads, dug them out of garbage cans, cleaned up after every party we had for them. They made a whopping twenty bucks. Not twenty bucks each, twenty total. They were so excited. Wish I was so easily pleased!

Tomorrow is our interval workout. Find the cardio you like. Do a ten-twenty minute warm-up, then do one minute sprints (going as hard as you can without hurting yourself) and then three minutes of active recovery (keep moving, but let your heart rate come down and catch your breath). Repeat the cycle four to seven times, then cool down for five-ten minutes.

I promise this week I'll actually do the intervals. Well, I semi-promise. My bum is still killing from that dang muscle I pulled in it. If any of you were injured I would definitely recommend you take a week off and let your body heal. This is why it's important for you to follow what I say instead of what I do.

Seriously, if you do get injured or if you're excessively sore, it's smart to do R.I.C.E. Rest Ice Compression Elevation. Then when you come back you'll be stronger.

The best thing to do is try and avoid injury. If something hurts - stop doing it. That's pretty much the only advice I've got today. It's impossible to avoid getting hurt every once in a while - unless you want to plant your backside on the couch and never move or live. Nope. That's not going to happen. We're fit momma's and we must play and have fun! Okay, now I'm getting goofy so I'll sign off.

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day. We had a terrific time at Gateway, the Clark Planetarium and shopping, but I ate way too much and I'm feeling miserable. I'll be glad to get back on track tomorrow.
Luckily, we did opt out of Shrek 3. We went to Central Park and played baseball instead. It was great, but of course I feasted on yet more treats. I have a serious lack of control issue. You place chocolate in front of me and I'm manic obsessive about consuming it. Sad.

Tomorrow is our upper body workout.
Warm-up and cardio - 5-40 minutes
Bent-over Row - 3 sets of 12
Lat Pull-down 3 sets of 14
Bent-over lateral raise - Sit against a wall, lean forward at hips, bend elbows and raise weights to the side - at the top of the move the elbow and shoulder will be level. 3 sets of 10
Pushup - 3 sets of 12 - try regular until you are shaking and then hold in the plank position until you're shaking harder - then you can drop to your knees to finish the set.
Bicep Curl - 3 sets of 12
Outward Bicep Curl - 14-16 reps
Tricep Dip - 3 sets of 12
Overhead tricep extension - 16-18 reps
Cool-down and stretch

Have a great workout ladies.

What a great weekend. I went on a long run this morning, worked in the yard and played with my cute boys. Monday we're going to play at the Gateway Mall and Hansen Planeterium and then we'll hit Shrek 3. Yeah. I know you've all been dying to see it! The things we do for our kids.

Since Monday is a holiday I'm giving you the day off. I know you love me. If you must workout I've give you a little something. Do some fun cardio like take your kids on a hike or play soccer, basketball or football with them. Then take them to the park or your backyard and do:
- Walking lunges - Circle the playground four-eight times (depending on how big it is)
- Calf raises on the edge of the platform - thirty reps on each leg (even more effective if you're holding at least one child)
- Hold onto the edge of the playset and sit deep into a squat - thirty reps (you can go a lot farther having something to stabilize yourself, but don't go past ninety degrees or let your knees go over your toes)
- try to do a couple of pullups on the monkey bars
- Last of all - chase your kids up the playset, down the slide or around the yard (six-eight reps or until they're giggling and you're exhausted)
Cool-down with a slurpee from 7-11 (they have crystal light flavors, good stuff)

If you wanted a serious workout, you can scroll down to one of the previous Monday's workouts.
I'll post Tuesday's workout Monday night. I should have time because my honey is going to watch the Jazz game and I can usually slip out and he won't even notice I'm gone!

Have a great weekend!