Sorry I didn't post Saturday night ladies. We were in Bear Lake all week like I told you, then I ran the Wasatch Back Relay Friday and Saturday - got no sleep, had a great time, ran my tail off - we went back to Bear Lake and came home late Saturday night. I have a strict - no computer on Sunday rule, so I'm just posting your Monday's workout. Hopefully I'm not too late for you.

Warm-up and Cardio - 20-60 minutes
Squat with hand weights or Smith machine - 3 sets of 12
Plie with calf raise - 30-35 reps
Calf raise on stair - 24 reps on each leg (it will burn after doing the plie/calf raise)
Walking lunge with glute press - 3 sets of 10 on each leg
Standing Glute press - 20 on each leg - make it a bit different by leaning forward and bringing the leg behind you until it is level with your body, then squeeze the glute and raise it a few inches higher.
Side Lunge - 14 on each side
Cool-down and stretch

If you haven't done my contest yet, this is the last week. Think of a health or fitness goal for the week and then when you make your goal, e-mail me - camichecketts@yahoo.com. I'll enter your name in my contest. The prize is a copy of my book - The Fourth of July, which will be in stores this week.

Have a great day ladies. I'll be posting again this afternoon when I'm not so tired! Talk to you then.

Happy Monday ladies. I'm running around trying to get ready for vacation. We're headed to Bear Lake for the week with the Checketts' family. The boys are so excited. We couldn't get them to sleep last night and now I'm scrambling to keep them busy packing so I don't hear, "When are we going to Bear Lake?" twenty more times. You know the first nineteen I can handle, put that last one puts me over the edge and then nobody's happy.

Now don't stress about your workout. I'll post the week's worth right now and you can print it off or keep checking back. I know you'll miss my witty monologue -haha- but sometimes you have to be deprived of something to truly appreciate it. Think how excited you'll be to hear from me next week! Plus, next week we're going to change the schedule. I bet that got you excited.

Tuesday - Upper Body
Warm-up and cardio - 5-40 minutes
Seated Row - 3 sets of 14
Lat Pulldown- 3 sets of 12-15
Pullup - 3 sets of 12
Chest Press with hand weights or bar - 3 sets of 10
Upright Row with hand weights or cable machine/bar - 3 sets of 12
Outward Curl - 3 sets of 12
Hammer Curl - 3 sets of 12
Tricep Dip - 3 sets of 12
Overhead Tricep Extension - 3 sets of 12
Cool-down and stretch

Wednesday - Cardio - Intervals

Thursday - Lower Body - Circuit
Warm-up - 5-10 minutes
Narrow Squat - 2 minutes
Wide Squat - 2 minutes
Cardio - 5 minutes
Walking Lunges with glute extension - 4 minutes (as you lift out of the lunge, squeeze glute and lift back leg slightly)
Cardio - 5 minutes
Plie - 2 minutes
Plie with 20-30 lb weights in hands - 2 minutes
Cardio - 5 minutes
Lunge off of a low step or bench - 4 minutes
Cardio - 5 minutes
Glute Extension - 20 reps on each side
Calf Raise - 25-30 reps on each leg
Cardio and cool-down - 5 minutes

If you need to cut down the times, that's okay.

Friday - Upper Body/Plyometrics

Warm-up and cardio - 5-30 minutes
Pushups - 2 sets of 12
Squat Thrust - 8-12 reps - Crouch down to floor, thrust legs behind you, hold in plank position for two counts, do a slow pushup, jump legs back in, jump towards ceiling.
Bent-over Row - 3 sets of 12-15 - Using weights or a weighted bar, bend legs and hips and keep back flat, row up using your upper back muscles.
Lat Pulldown- 3 sets of 12 - if you only have hand weights try and do one more set of the row.
Lunge Jump - get into a lunge position - jump and switch legs in the air, repeat 12-20 times on each side
Incline Bicep Curl - 2 sets of 15-18
Bicep Curl - 2 sets of 12
Jumping Jacks - cross legs in front as you jump together, go as fast as you can for 20-30 seconds
Tricep Pulldown - 3 sets of 12 (if you only have hand weights do the overhead extension)
Tricep Dip - 12-15 reps - try to do them with legs straight or heels on a bench, since I'm only making you do one set
Squat Jump - Jump onto a step or bench, sit into a squat, straighten and step off - 20 reps
Kickboxing - Do 20 jabs front, 20 jabs side, 20 upper cuts, 20 kicks front - side and back.
Cool-down and stretch

Saturday - Fun Cardio

Whew. That's the week. I'll be in Bear Lake until Friday, then I'm running the Wasatch Back Relay Friday and Saturday, so I won't be around until late Saturday night, but I'll post Monday's workout then. If you have any questions e-mail me camichecketts@yahoo.com and I'll get back to you when I get back.

If you need exercise descriptions check my website www.camichecketts.com. It's on the links page - strength training guide.

Have a great week ladies.

We spent the day boating at Twin Lakes in Clifton, Idaho. Clifton is where I grew up and the lakes were a few hundred yards from my house. My parents have sold the house and it was kind of hard to go back and see it, yet all the memories it dredged up were fun. My honey almost caught me tearing up!

The thing that hit me the hardest was when we went by the home I grew up in. I had a great childhood. My parents were amazing and I loved my brothers and sister. I started wondering if my kids are having the kind of childhood I had - carefree and fun, yet we worked hard and took church and school seriously. Well, church at least.

I just have so many good memories and wonderful feelings about my family and the way I was raised. I think my dad is a saint, can't imagine there's a person alive or dead who would say something bad about him. He was so nice with us, but also made everything fun. And I adore my mom, she's one of my best friends.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with fitness, but you all know how I get when I'm typing these things late at night. It's kind of scary.

Monday is cardio and lower body.
Warm-up and cardio - 20-60 minutes
Plie with a calf raise - 30 reps
Clock Lunges - 6 times on each side
Stationary Lunges - 20 reps on each side
Squat with hand weights or smith machine (the bar that slides up and down at the gym) - 2 sets of 15-18
Leg Extension - 20 reps (you can do this with the machine at the gym or at home do it with a band or without resistance - sit down and wrap the band around both legs, extend one leg straight while keeping the other bent.
Cool-down and stretch

Have a nice Sunday tomorrow and sorry about the rambling.

I had to go to jury duty this morning. Luckily, the defendant settled for a plea bargain before they even summoned the jury. I had such a bad attitude about it. I feel bad because I know it's a good thing to do your civic duty, but I left a very sick baby at my husband's work and the other two with a friend. My husband had already been to the doctor before I got released and he burst his ear drum. I thought he was teething. Oh, the guilt.

Tomorrow is Saturday, so you get to do any kind of cardio you like. I'm going to play tennis, which should be hilarious for the people playing with me. I can't return my son's serve on ping pong. I should get some good exercise in running after the ball.

I need your help on something. I'm writing an article for my local RWA newsletter on fitness and writing. I'm going to post part of it here. If you have a minute read it over. If you can think of any suggestions to make it more reader friendly, send them to me - camichecketts@yahoo.com

#1 – Find out what you love and do it. Join a soccer league, go on a walk, join a gym, run, bike, dance, crawl. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you get away from that computer and move.

#2 – Wear a pedometer. Make sure you’re doing more than 10,000 steps a day and you will reap the benefits.

#3 – Eat in moderation. The best diets include all the good things nature has to offer: whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, dairy, etc. Throw in a little chocolate or Diet Coke for sanity’s sake and you’ve got yourself a winner.

#4 – Portion control. You can eat almost anything you want if you’ll eat small servings and keep track of what you eat during the day.

#5 – Turn off the television. Whenever clients tell me they can’t fit in exercise I ask them how much t.v. they watch a day. I’ve never had someone say zero. If you really must see American Idol, please run the stairs during commercials and stash a pair of hand weights next to the couch. It’s not the most effective exercise but it’s better than nothing.

#6 – Lift weights. Many women are afraid of weights. I’ve heard numerous excuses, but the most frequent are: I don’t know how to lift weights and I don’t want to look like a man. The fact of the matter is: Most women couldn’t bulk up even if they wanted to. The excuse that you don’t know how to lift weights may be a valid one, but easily fixed. I promise it’s not rocket science. Buy a book on weight-lifting, look online for advice, hire a personal trainer, find a friend who knows what she’s doing and trade a favor, or read my blog: fitmomma.blogstream.com.
Lifting weights will increase your metabolism, make you look and feel better, and is the best way to stay fit.

#7 – Try to move as much as possible. Pace or do squats while you talk on the phone. Run down the stairs instead of hollering at your kids from the banister. Dance around the kitchen while you cook. Replace your office chair with an exercise ball and squeeze your abs and glutes while you sit.

#8 – Remember to take baby steps. Start by taking a short walk every night or buying some exercise bands and playing around with them while you watch t.v.
Over the past five years I’ve significantly changed my diet with baby steps. I changed from butter to the fat-free sprays, gave up white bread, and crammed our dinners with veggies. Now if I can wean myself off the ice cream. Nah, I’d be so mean my family would have to move out.

It’s a gradual process. If you take it slowly you won’t feel frustrated or deprived. The important thing is to keep improving and realize these are life-long changes, not a crash diet or quick fix.

I am such a mess right now. Do you ever get so far behind you feel like you'll never catch up? That's me lately and then I miss deadlines and forget to pay bills.
Then I realized that I gave you all the wrong workout yesterday. It was supposed to be lower body/circuit, not upper body! Now you're being punished because I'm an airhead. The reason I say punished is because now tomorrow the workout is going to be lower body/plyometrics and you're going to be hating me. But it will make you tougher! I think we might even work it into the rotation when we switch things up in two weeks.
Warm-up and cardio - 5-20 minutes
Squat - 30 reps
Jump and squat onto a step - 20 reps
Walking Lunges - 25-30 reps on each leg (add a glute press as you rise out of the lunge to make it a bit harder)
Lunge switch - go down into a shallow lunge, jump and switch legs, repeat 12 times on each side
Plie - 25-30 reps - hold onto a weight if you want it harder
Plie and jump - touch the toes together, go back to plie position - 20 reps
Calf Raise - 30 reps on each leg
Jumping Jacks - 30 reps
Hamstring Curl - with band or cable machine - 20 reps on each side
Cool-down and stretch

If you're feeling really ambitious and can still walk you can go back through your favorite exercises again until you run out of exercise time.
If you have joint/health problems don't do the jumps, you can still do a lot of the movements, just don't leap with them.
If you need exercise desciriptions - www.camichecketts.com - it's under the links page and is called - strength training guide