Hope you all had a great Mother's Day. I finally got a little sleep last night, so hopefully I won't wax philosophical on you again.
Mother's Day was great, but I've got to stop letting myself completely go on my free day. I get in my head that I've eaten good all week, so on Sunday I should be able to eat anything I want. It's not good. I eat myself sick. Yesterday it was Godiva's chocolate and cake from my son's birthday party. Bad news.
Now I've got a new rule that I can only have one treat on Sunday. We'll see how long I can keep to that before I cheat! (Don't tell my friends)

Tomorrow is upper body.
Warm-up and cardio - 20-40 minutes
Pushups - 3 sets of 12 - Start on hands and toes, butt down, abs in tight. Your body should be a straight line from your head to your heels. If it gets impossible - drop to your knees, but keep that straight line.
Lat Pulldown- 3 sets of 12
Bent-over Row - 3 sets of 12
Bent-elbow lateral raise - 3 sets of 12
Twisting Bicep Curl - 3 sets of 12
Bicep Curl - 14 reps
Tricep Dip - 3 sets of 10 - to make it harder straighten legs or place feet on a bench
Overhead tricep extension - 14 reps
Cool-down and stretch

If you're short on time or just starting out only do pushups, bent-over row, twisting bicep curl and tricep dips.

Have a great workout!

Okay. I've probably already talked about this, but my honey and I were just talking about what a difference it makes when a woman stands up straight and is happy with herself and what she is doing with her life. I haven't always been confident and even at thirty-two there are still times when I feel out of place or not good enough, but when that happens I just try to push past it, put a smile on my face and fake it until I believe in myself again.

I think something we women do too much is compare ourselves to others. Stop it. Be the best you can be and try to help others be the best they can be. That's the reason I do fitmomma. That's the reason I am typing to you at 11:30 the night before Mother's Day, when I'd rather be snuggling with my honey. It's not so you'll feel guilty if you're not working it. It's to try and help you be more healthy and fit and hopefully help even one of you feel better about yourself. But the key is you don't have to be fit to be happy. Happpiness is a decision. A decision only you can make.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Let's not waste it feeling like we're not good enough moms. Let's enjoy every second of it. Enjoy your kiddos. Love your honey. Eat chocolate and know that it's good for you.

Monday's workout is cardio and lower body.

Do 20-40 minutes of your choice of cardio.
Lunges - Front foot on bench (8-12 inches high) 20 on each side
Walking Lunges - 20 on each side
Narrow Squat - 3 sets of 12
Wide Squat - 3 sets of 12
Hamstring Curl - 20 on each leg
Cool-down and stretch

Hope your Mother's Day is full of lots of kisses and no dirty diapers.

Good morning all. I'm going to talk a little bit about cardio today. What kind of cardio you do and the intensity is dependant on the equipment you have at your disposal, your interests and your fitness/health goals. If you are trying to lose weight or improve your fitness level you need to kick your cardio up a notch - either go longer or up the intensity. If the main reason you exercise is to be healthy you can take it easy and just enjoy the movement of your body.

People who are trying to lose weight and hit a plateau can do a myriad of things: add weight training, reevaluate your diet, up the intensity and length of cardio or change the cardio they are doing.

Your body is an amazing machine. It is designed to adapt to the stresses being put upon it. Very good for the cave man, not so good for our overindulgent society. What this means to you is if you want to lose weight you have to keep changing what you do or do it harder. Luckily you have me to keep the weight routine fun and interesting (haha). It's up to you on the cardio. I'm always telling people to change what they do, but it's hard for me. I'm pretty stuck in the running, Stairmaster, elliptical rut. Luckily summer is coming, so I'll also add swimming and an occasional hike to the rotation.

If you have a chance to do something different, do it. I couldn't catch a ball if it hit me in the chest - it'd just flatten something I don't want flattened. I avoid group sports like the chicken pox. If you like group sports, you are a lucky gal. Get involved. Even playing soccer with your kids in the backyard counts (I can do that, but my eight-year old is already better than me). Also, you can try borrowing Pilates, Yoga or kick boxing videos from the library or video store to give you a change if you're stuck at home.

The bottom line is it's easier to change your routine than to invest more time in it or push so hard you want to crawl home afterward. Think of something you'd like to try and then make your honey babysit the kids and go do something for you.

Have a great weekend!

Tomorrow is my favorite workout ever! We get to do jumps. If you detest jumping around like a bunny rabbit, you don't have to do them.

Warm-up and cardio - 5 to 30 minutes (depending on your time restraints)
The last four reps of the last set I want you to really slow it down, count four up - four down and I'm taking one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi... None of this 1-2-3-4 as fast as you can count!
Lat Pull-down - 3 sets of 15
Seated Row - 3 sets of 14
Jumping Jacks - 40 reps
Pushups - 3 sets of 10 - to increase intensity put your feet on a ball or bench
Overhead Press - 3 sets of 12
Box Jumps - 20 reps
Tricep Dips - 3 sets of 12
Tricep Pulldown - 20 reps (If you don't have a cable machine, do the tricep kickback)
Ski Jumps - 30 reps
Bicep Curl - 3 sets of 14
Twisting Bicep curl - 20 reps
Quick Lunges off a step - 40 on each leg

Cool-down and stretch

If you have health/joint problems don't do the jumps. If you want you can do variations on the moves. Instead of jumping jacks do step touch. Instead of box jumps, climb stairs. Instead of quick lunges, alternate tapping toe off a step or bench.

I was a bit sluggish getting into the interval workout this morning, but after a long warm-up (thirty minutes!) I finally did five really good sprints that were almost two minutes each. I also got some great news. My first book is going to be released by The Wild Rose Press on June 25th. I'm thrilled. Also, I might be doing the Wasatch Back relay. It would be good for me to have a reason to kick the running up.

Tomorrow is lower body-circuit.

Start with a ten minute warm-up.
Squats - 3 sets of 15 - to increase the intensity step to the side and squat down for four, up for four, then repeat other side.
Cardio - five minutes
Lunges - 3 sets of 10 on each leg - to increase the intensity place your back leg on a bench or step, but make sure you step far enough away so you aren't bending forward over your front toe.
Cardio - five minutes
Glute Presses - 24 on each leg - go really slow and use a cable or band if you have one.
Calf Raises - 24 on each leg
Cardio - five minutes
Step-ups - 30 on each leg
Cardio - five minutes
Plies - 3 sets of 12
Cardio - five minutes
Cool-down and stretch

If you're short on time just do the strength training moves. Also, you don't have to do everything, just do what you can.

Have a great workout!