Woo-hoo, almost the weekend! You know what that means - I get to eat all the candy I've been hoarding for the week.
We've got our Margaritaville murder party tomorrow night and then we're going to Bear Lake on Saturday. I hope we don't freeze. The kids are excited, we're going to play with all the Checketts' cousins and swim and of course eat lots of good food because Stan's mom is an amazing cook!
Tomorrow is going to be the combo day. We won't be doing much cardio because it will take a bit of time to get through everything.
Warm-up - 5-10 minutes
Lat Pull-down - 3 sets of 12
Bent-over row with dead lift - 3 sets of 10 - keeping back straight, bend forward, row up, squeezing shoulder blades, release arms, straighten slowly, squeezing glutes. (keep head up)
Squat with front kick - 20-26 on each leg
Lateral Raise - 3 sets of 10
Squat with frontal raise - 3 sets of 10 (use pretty light weights 5-8 lbs)
Walking Lunges - 30 reps
Chest Press - 3 sets of 10
Squat Press - 10-12 - squat down, kick legs out, hold plank, do a pushup, jump legs up, jump to ceiling
Plie with calf raise - 30 reps
Incline Bicep Curl - 3 sets of 10
Plie with outward bicep curl - 30 reps
Squat - 3 sets of 12 (use a ball against a wall if you have one)
Triceps Dip - 3 sets of 12-14
Tricep Kickback with lunge - 12-20 on each side
Side Lunge - 20 on each side
Cool-down and stretch

If you have time, you can do some cardio.
Take care,
Cami
www.camichecketts.com

I'm in a rush, big surprise for me! Sunrise Elementary is having parent-teacher conferences this week, so Memphis is home with me. It's great to have him around, but I'm having to sneak into the office to get this blog done and I have to plan on not writing anything. That's okay. It's more important to enjoy the cute little fart.

I was in the shower a few minutes ago, my bedroom door was open and a full-grown person walked into my room. I screamed and tried to cover up, it took me half a second to realize it was Leslie Pocock! We both laughed our guts out and now she's got to rid her memory of that mental picture!

Tomorrow is cardio. Try to push yourself with some intervals. If you walk, try to speed walk, jog or add some hills for intervals. if you jog try to run or do hills. On a cardio machine up the RPM's to over 200 for a minute or so at a time.

I'm heading to take Denver to lunch at A&W. It's depressing to me because he's burned out of Firehouse Pizzeria (which I love) and I'm burned out of Pizza Plus (which he loves). So the compromise was A&W or Wendy's. I'm one of those awful mothers who cannot stomach McDonald's. My kiddos only get that treat with Grandma and Grandpa or Daddy when Mom's gone.

Have a great day and make sure to lock your bathroom door!

www.camichecketts.com

Hello ladies. Hope you're having a good day. I'm a bit frustrated - my thimble on my nubbin is not working anymore. I meet with the prosthetic specialist next week. I guess I'm going to have to rig something else up so I can type until then. Right now I'm using my ring finger for e, d, & c and it actually isn't too bad. I think it might be faster than hacking with the thimble.

Our friends are hosting a murder mystery party this Friday called Margaritaville. We all have characters we're supposed to act out and somebody gets murdered. It sounds like a lot of fun, except my character, Cotton Candy, is seriously a hoochy. She's a gold digger and thinks she's hot stuff. The real problem is I only know the hosts at this party. I told my husband if I live the character up I'm going to get voted the most hated character and none of them will know that I'm normally a decent person.
Oh, what the heck, I get to flirt with all the men and not get in trouble for it! Should be a fun night.

How have you liked splitting up upper body the past two days? I like having more time to focus on each muscle and feel like I'm really targetting them well. Let me know if you have complaints/concerns.
Tomorrow we're on legs. Let's do a circuit.
Warm-up and cardio - 10 minutes
Lunge - 24 on each leg
Clock Lunge - 6 reps at each spot
Lunge and jump change - 20 reps
Cardio - 5 minutes
Plie - 36 reps
Plie and jump to center for two - 14-16 reps
Cardio - 5 minutes
Step and squat - 20 on each side
Squat - slow, down 4 up 4 - 12 reps
Jump onto bench or step, squat, then step off - 20-30 reps
Cardio - 5 minutes
Hamstring Curl - 20-24 on each leg
Front, side and back kicks - 20
Calf raise - 20-30 on each leg
Cardio - 10-15 minutes
Cool-down and stretch

www.camichecketts.com

We're home from our trip. It was fabulous - good weather, good food, good 4-wheeler rides and even a couple of good runs.

I just read Leslie's entry. Isn't she amazing? Her willpower and dedication inspire me and she's so fun to be around, I'm bummed when I miss one of our workouts! Isn't it interesting and honestly a bit depressing that she didn't lose weight until she changed her diet? That always bums me out - I have to monitor the chocolate intake if I want to look good. But I truly believe that if you want to look good for life you have to exercise and weight training is so ideal because of the way it increases your metabolism and makes you look so great. The thing that happens if you only diet is your metabolic demands keep decreasing as you get smaller, so initially you can lose weight but then to keep losing or even maintain because your metabolic rate is low - you have to keep decreasing your food intake. I don't know about you, but I like to eat. I'd ten times rather eat reasonable meals, healthy snacks and workout rather than starve myself and not improve my body composition. One other bummer about dieting alone - even if you lose weight, you're a smaller version of yourself. In other words you haven't changed your shape so it's hard to see the results from all your self-denial. With weight training, you increase muscle mass and you look toned and fit. Also, you can change your shape, making your shoulders a bit broader and your waist smaller gives you a better figure.

Okay, enough preaching about how great weight lifting is. Here's tomorrow's workout.
Chest-Shoulders-Triceps
Warm-up and cardio - 5-40 minutes
Pushups - 3 sets of 12 - try military style until you shake, then drop to knees
Chest Press - 3 sets of 12
Fontal Raise - 14-16 reps
Lateral Raise - 14-16 reps
Upright Row - 14-16 reps
Triceps Dip - 3 sets of 12-14 - just for me do one set with your feet on another bench or chair, make sure you dip close to the bench and are bending your elbows, not just dipping your bum
Triceps Pulldown or kickback - 3 sets of 12
Ten more minutes cardio if you have the time
Cool-down and stretch

If you need exercise descriptions, check my website - www.camichecketts.com

Have a great day -
Cami

Hey there! I’m Leslie, Cami’s friend, and she asked me to write my “story”. I’m not very good at saying “no”, especially to good friends, so you’re stuck with me! I’ve never done anything like this before and feel a little intimidated. Sorry if my writing is a little amateur. I’m just going to go for it.
My story starts a little over a year ago. I was one of those mom’s who put on weight gradually with each baby. I noticed I was getting overweight, but didn’t let myself think about it too much. I also happen to have the sweetest husband who is so supportive, and compliments me constantly. He really did not mind one bit about my weight. However, his non-judgment did not help my drive or desire to lose weight. I had reached … (here we go) … 220 pounds. And wore size 18 or 20. I rarely weighed myself, and did not even own a scale.
Cami worked out every morning, of course. She happened to go to a gym where I had a free membership. The sad thing was that I was not taking advantage of that membership at all. She found out, and started inviting me to join her early morning workout. I did not know what an awesome opportunity I was passing up.
Around that same time, my younger sister and mother were also struggling with their weight. They went to a doctor for help, and found out they were insulin resistant. Being one step away from being diabetic they had to start changing their diets, taking drugs and getting shots daily.
I have to admit, that scared me. I knew I was not far behind them.
I shortly after started getting up early and going to the gym with Cami. I started going every day, and was surprised how much I liked it. I still had not changed my diet at all. After about a month, a couple friends found out about our morning routine and wanted to join us. The four of us went together every morning and had so much fun pushing each other, reaching goals, and learning to make daily weight training and cardio exercise a lifestyle.
After 3 months I still had not lost any weight. (I was gaining muscle though) I knew I had to buckle down and change how I ate. My friends and I started writing down everything we ate each day and reported to each other weekly. We set goals, and by the next month I had lost 10 pounds. I was so excited and, of course, kept going. The next month I lost 10 more pounds. I can’t say that I kept averaging 10 pounds a month, but I did gradually keep going down at a healthy rate.
8 months later I was down 50 pounds. I am now wearing a size 10. I actually just bought a size 8 skirt the other day that fits perfect. I now weigh 170 pounds, and am stronger than I’ve ever been. I’m still working on getting closer to 160. I’m 5’10” so that weight works for me.
I am so happy with the new me, and so is my cute husband. He is right there cheering me on! I am so grateful to Cami. It would have been much harder without her. She makes exercising doable and fun.
I am still going strong, and having a healthier life is now a priority to me. I plan on working out regularly the rest of my life. I’m hooked!
I’m sorry I’ve been rambling on and on. I just hope this “story” has reached someone that needed to hear it, or helped motivate someone to live a happy lifestyle of healthy eating and regular exercise.
Well, I’ll let Cami take over again!
Later!