This is my final workout for you. Cami will be back on Monday and ready to get you going for Tuesday. Thanks for letting me be a part of your world this last week. I am going to put you back on Cami's schedule, so here is your Monday workout:

Chest/Back (5-10 minute warmup)

Chest:

Incline Chest Flyes-

Lay on an inclined step with arms extended above the upper chest with elbows slightly bent, hands close together and palms facing. Open arms and chest wide counting down one, two, three, four and then press up in two counts (up, two). Hands/weights should come down to be fairly even with your shoulders as you lower the weights, and you should feel a good stretch across your chest. Do four at this cadence, and then pulse at the bottom of the lift four eight (this is where the arms are wide and weights are just above shoulder height). Do four sets of this. Make sure your weights are heavy enough that you are struggling to do that last set of eight pulses. If it isn't tough at this point, then you will know that you need to up your weights the next time. This exercise can also be done lying on the floor if you don't have access to a step.

Inclined Bench Press-

Lay on an inclined step holding dumbbells with arms extended above the upper chest, and palms facing away from the body. Make sure you do not lock the elbows. Bending at the elbows, lower in counts of down, two, and then press up, two, three, four. Do four at this cadence and then pulse low for eight. Do four sets of this. Make sure your weights are heavy enough that you can hardly do that last set of eight pulses. If you do not feel that kind of fatigue at that point, then your weights are not heavy enough, and you need to up the weight the next time. This exercise is simulating a bench press and can also be done lying on the floor.

Around the World Push ups-

Start with your left hand on the floor at the left end of a step and your right hand on the end of the step. Do four pushups at regular pace and then pulse for eight. Walk your hands to the center of the bench with both hands on the step now, shoulder width apart, and do four regular and pulse for eight. Then move to the right end of the bench with the right hand on the floor and the left hand on the end of the bench. Do four regular and then pulse for eight. Then move back to the center and then back to the left end repeating the same sets. That is one time through. Do this 2-3 times through if you can. If you don't have a bench, then just do regular pushups on the floor doing four normal pace and then eight pulsing. Do four sets of this.

Back:

Lawn Mower Pull-

With your left knee on the bench, step or a sturdy chair and bending at the waist with the left hand on the bench, step, or chair for support, hold a weight in your right hand with the arm extended toward the floor and palm facing the bench, step, or chair (like you are kneeling on a chair with one leg). With the right leg extended behind you with the knee towards the floor, pull the right hand up toward the outside of the rib cage and right hip. Keep the weight in close to the body. Think about your lats and your shoulder blade controlling the movement. It's like starting a lawn mower. Pull the arm up for two counts, and then lower and extend for four. Get a nice extension and stretch when you extend and lower the arm. Do four slow and then pulse for eight. Do four sets of this. Then turn around and set up everything the same way, but with the right knee on the bench, step or a sturdy chair with the left side doing the work. Do the same sets.

Variations to this are: Sitting in a chair, sitting on a fitball, or standing--just move the arms and upper body as explained above and sit or stand instead of kneeling on something.

Upper Back-

Using a long piece of tubing or band, hold onto handles and then grab the center of the band (choke up) with only about six inches or less of tubing between your hands. Keep the band taut. DO NOT wrap the band around your hands or wrists. With arms raised to chest height and elbows directly to the side, squeeze your shoulder blades together as you open the chest. Control this exercise with your shoulder blades, not your arms. The cadence is to squeeze, two the shoulder blades, and then as the shoulder blades pull apart count 4, 3, 2, 1. Do this four times and then pulse for eight. Do this for three sets, and then do this with single shoulder blades for three sets each side. If you can keep going, then really drive it home by ending with both shoulder blades pulsing together for eight one last time.

Bent Over Flye-

Hold medium-sized dumbbells in both hands, stand tall, abs are in and then bend slightly at the waist. Keep the neck and spine aligned. Arms extended in front with palms facing, and a slight bend in the elbows. Squeeze the shoulder blades together, open the chest, and lift the arms while leading with the elbows. Cadence is up, two, down, two, three, four. Then pulse for eight. Do four sets of this.

If you have time to get in 20-30 minutes of cardio after you lift, that would be great!

I hope that you get a great workout with this. It's been really great getting to spend my week with you. Good luck with all of your fitness goals, I know it isn't easy. Many of you have young families, and it's tough to get a shower let alone get in a workout every day. I've been there and I know that it can be extremely frustrating and disheartening. But I tell you what. You will be a much better wife, mother, and functioning human being if you can take a little time out for yourself. It will build your confidence and your stamina. It will reduce your stress helping you to be healthier just in that aspect. The key is to always jump back on if you fall off as soon as you possibly can. Have you ever heard of the saying, "This too shall pass?" Well, I promise it will. I know, I've been there. I've been where you think that you never have a moment to yourself, and that you never will. It goes much quicker than you realize, and when you get there, it is joyful but also sad because of the reality that the kids are all old enough to be in school. Even though now may seem like an eternity, one day you will turn around and wonder where the time went.

Enjoy every stage in your life, and always do the very best you can with it. You are welcome to write me with questions, comments or to just vent some frustrations any time at nicolleclay@yahoo.com. Best wishes to you all!

Okay. So what I wrote yesterday was this: The Achievement Day girls came to my house and we had our little activity. Well, the other evil leader taught us how to make peanut butter popcorn with a whole lot of peanut butter, sugar, and karo syrup. It doesn't get much more fattening than that! Well, she gave me my little blob, and it was goooood. So, as soon as everyone left, I had to make some more--for my family of course. Well guess who ate most of it? You got it, me! Not only that, it was pizza night at my house, too, and you know that I didn't buy the delite thin crust pizza. Oh no, it was the 5-meat stuffed crust pizza. I tell you what, nothing comes closer to feeling like being 9 months pregnant and being ready to deliver, than what I felt last night. My back even hurt! Pathetic! Remember when I was whining about flabby abs last Wednesday? Well, I deserve every bit of that roll on my belly.
E-v-e-r-y bit of it!

Well, on to the good stuff. I want to tell you about my friend Stacey. She has been entering Cami's contest since November, and she has made an amazing transformation. She is only 4'11", so every inch and pound are noticeable on and off from her. When she started in November, she didn't really track her weight and inches loss, but it was definitely noticeable that she took some off. Well, I saw the slimfast.com website written on some of the Slimfast products, and out of curiosity I looked it up. I found that it is really a great website. It will calculate how many calories you need for weight loss or for maintenance. It also gives you a menu for an entire month with all of the nutrition facts. Of course it promotes their products, but you can substitute snacks and meals of your choice for any of it, and it will calculate the nutrition facts, and you don't even have to use their products. This becomes your food journal. It tracks your water intake, your caloric intake, and your activity level. I think it is really awesome. Well, Stacey has been really faithful in entering her food and water intake, and her activity level. It has really payed off for her. She looks incredible. She has also done a really good job in taking classes faithfully five days a week as well, and working out in the weightroom with me on two of those days after class. I have never personally known anyone who has made this big of a transformation. She has probably only lost around 12-15 pounds and similar inches, but she has completely changed her shape. I attribute much of that to holding herself accountable for what she eats by keeping a food journal. Studies show that those who faithfully keep a food journal are most successful in their weight loss, and most importantly, in maintaining that weightloss. So way to go Stacey!

By the way, the Slimfast website is free to join, and it doesn't send any solicitation except for a weekly motivation letter. You have to look for boxes that are checked for solicitation, and uncheck them, and you don't have to fill in your personal information (name, address, etc.) when it asks. So really read what you are doing so you don't have any unwanted solicitations.

Another great site that I enjoy going to is bodyforlife.com. It has some great food and recipe ideas, and of course, great workout ideas.

Anyway, I hope this will motivate you to track what you do. I promise you that you will be much more successful--quicker--if you will do this.

Have a great night and weekend!!

Nicolle (nicolleclay@yahoo.com)

Okay. So I spent about an hour and a half writing about the diet tips I promised you, I submitted it, and it didn't submit. I ended up losing all of it. So hopefully I can find some time tomorrow to rewrite it.

Thanks for your patience!!

Nicolle

It's awesome to hear from Cami, isn't it? We're all freezing here, and she's off basking in the sun. How fair is that?

Also, who can ever get tired of Cami? It is so fun to read about her daily happenings, and her workouts are great. You probably are just the opposite of what she thinks. You can't wait to get back to normal business with her, and I don't blame you a bit.

Well, I have some diet tips that I want to talk to you about, but I don't have the time right now because my little Achievement Day girls are coming over in an hour and a 1/2. So...I'm going to give you tomorrow's workout, and then I'll follow up later with some great diet tips. Stay tuned, and have a wonderful weekend!!

We are doing cardio interval again. Remember the 5,5,6,7,8,9,; 6,7,8,9,; 6,7,8,9; 6,7,8,9,10,10, and a 5 minute cool down and stretch. This is the workout we did Tuesday and Thursday.

Hey girls. I've been missing all of you, but it looks like you've been doing better without me. I told you Nicolle was amazing. I should be following the workouts, but what's vacation for if not sleeping in and eating ice cream?
We've had an amazing time. The boys love the beach, the pools, and the water parks. They aren't quite so excited about all the museums and tours. We went to Kennedy Space Center today and it was - long. It's an amazing place, but I think the boys aren't quite old enough to appreciate it. When Stan asked if they had a good day, the older two smiled and said, "Yeah. It was great. Can we go to the beach tomorrow?" Translation - why did you spend all that money and wear us out when we'd be thrilled to swim and boogie board?
So tomorrow, we're going to spend as much time as possible on the beach adding sunburn to sunburn and loving the sand and the waves.
I hope you're all doing well. I really appreciate Nicolle taking over the blog and doing such a wonderful job with it. You may never want me to come back!
Love you all. I'll chat with you next week - Cami