I've decided that my sweet mother is nuts. Seriously. My parents are leaving on a vacation in the morning and she just left a message on my machine saying that if she died on this trip she wanted me to have her nativity. Who does that?

It's been a hard day. Two of my boys are sick and I had to eat a lot of chocolate to deal with the crying!

Tomorrow, I'm going to do the stairmaster and elliptical machines for twenty minutes each, then I'm going to do the following lower body exercises.

Squat
Feet shoulder width apart, sit back like you’re sitting in a chair, raise hands in front of body for balance. Sit until knees are almost parallel with hips, making sure your back stays straight and your knees do not extend past your toes. Raise yourself to starting position, squeezing glutes. Repeat. 4 sets of 12. On the last set, jump toward the ceiling as you come up.

Clock Lunge
Taking a giant step forward, bend both knees until back knee is almost touching the ground. Repeat the move using the hands of the clock. 12 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6 with the right leg. 12 – 10 – 9 – 7 - 6 with the left leg. Do 3 sets of 4.

Lunge Jump
Step back into a lunge, jump and switch legs, repeat twenty times.

Leg Curl
If you go to a gym, use the cable machine. If you’re at home, use a band or just do it without resistance. Wrap the band around your ankle, step on the other end, slowly curl the leg up past ninety degrees, lower and repeat fourteen times. Switch legs and repeat.

Dead Lift
Holding a 10-15 pound dumbbell in each hand, slowly lower the weights down to your ankles. Keep the weights close to your body, your back flat, and look forward (into the mirror) the entire time. You should feel a pull in your hamstrings, slowly roll back up, then repeat. 3 sets of 12.

Do 40 jumping jacks.

Calf Raise
Standing on a step or bench, drop heels off the back, raise and lower heels.

Have a great workout. You should feel this one in your glutes. The lunges are great definers of the backside.

Hope you're all doing good with those resolutions. I brushed my teeth after I ate my bowl of ice cream and I swear I'm not going to have any more treats tonight! Pretty big of me since I already downed my ice cream and I'll be going to sleep in an hour.

Tomorrow's workout is mostly cardio. I'm going to run 5-6 miles. Then do some abdomen work. I'm sadly in need. It's hard to tell though what's flab and what's just stretched out, I've housed too many babies skin. Oh, well, until I can afford a tummy tuck I'll just keep doing ab exercises.

Curl: Laying on back, feet flat on floor, knees bent. Tilt pelvis, suck abs in, tuck bum under. Hands behind your head, looking straight up slowly raise shoulders off the floor a few inches, then return to start, repeat 12-20 times.
Side Curl: Laying on back, let both knees fall to the left, fingertips behind the neck for support, raise shoulders off the floor 3-4 inches. Lower and repeat 20 times. Switch sides.
Back Extension: Lay facedown on floor, hands behind head. Slowly raise chest off the floor a few inches, then slowly lower. To increase difficulty, raise your legs off the floor at the same time. Repeat 12-20 times.

Yeah. I'm finally back. Christmas and New Year's were great, but then the baby got sick and I have been out of commission for way too long. I had some good snowshoeing and running workouts over the holidays, but today was my first day back at the gym.

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions? I'm thinking the usual: lose ten pounds, be more fun for my kids, give up chocolate - nah, that would make me ornerier with my kids.

Since I've been a flake lately, I'll give you a great combination workout to get you started on getting fitter for the New Year. Begin with twenty minutes of cardio. Then do the following exercises. Before you switch to a new exercise, do twenty jumping jacks to keep your heart rate up.

Squat Press - Holding 8-10 pound weights, elbows bent at 90 degrees, palms facing forward. feet facing forward. Lower body as if sitting in a chair, don't let toes go past knees. As you come back up, press weights overhead, lower dumbbells to shoulders and repeat. 3 sets of 12.

Lunge and Tricep Kickback - Take a huge step forward with right foot, elbows bent, palms facing in holding 10-12 pound weights. Bending both knees, lower left knee straight to the ground. As you lower, kick the weight straight back. Straighten legs and bend arm to 90 degrees again. Repeat. Do 3 sets of 10 on each leg.

Plie Curl - Step straight out to the side, turn toes out, arms straight down, palms facing out, bend legs and curl arms up. Straighten and repeat. Do 3 sets of 15.

That's it for tomorrow. Not too many exercises, but if you do them right you should feel it. If you still have energy at the end. Do some squat jumps. Sit down in a squat, then jump as high as you can, land soft on the balls of your feet. Repeat for one minute.

Have a great day!

Sorry I didn't blog last night. I'm going to be hit and miss until after the New Year. It was my oldest boy's b-day last night. We had a great time. The problem is we started parties last Friday and we don't quit until the 26th. I'm sure a lot of you are the same. I've already gained two pounds. Two dang pounds that were harder than crap to get off.

Some tips to help you not gain two pounds in the next week.

1- Only eat something if it is truly a Christmas treat. Just because they make Oreo's in red and green does not mean they're a special treat!

2 - Turn on Christmas music and dance with your kiddos.

3 - Go ice-skating or sledding.

4 - Go for a walk outside. When the temperature is below 50 or above 80 you burn more calories.

5 - Enjoy your family and forget about everything else. Stress makes you gain weight, look older and just isn't fun. The only thing that really matters is your family. The rest is just stuff. Play with your kids. Read Christmas stories and thrive on their childlike joy. Snuggle up with your sweetheart and burn some calories kissing in front of the tree. The stress will melt away.

Have a great Christmas!

Hope you're having a great weekend. My son's birthday is on Monday so we started parties yesterday and we don't stop until after Christmas. Good times.

No run today it was bitter cold and I'm trying to finish the edits on my newest book so in my free time I built a fort for my boys instead of working out. The boys and I did get some dancing time in and I ran twenty flights of stairs, so at least I don't feel so guilty eating holiday treats.

I won't workout tomorrow. Monday I am concentrating on lower body. Do each of the exercises, then do one minute of plyometrics (box jump, ski jump, squat jump, etc.) then repeat the entire cycle three more times.

Walking Lunge
Make sure you have plenty of room to move. Take a huge step forward, bend back knee until almost touching the floor, bring back foot forward to meet front foot, switch legs
and repeat, walking across the room. Make sure you go straight down with that back leg, do not lean forward. Do 14 on each leg.

Squat
Feet shoulder width apart, sit back like you’re sitting in a chair, raise hands in front of body for balance. Sit until knees are almost parallel with hips, making sure your back stays straight and your knees do not extend past your toes. Raise yourself to starting position, squeezing glutes. Repeat 14 times.

Glute Press
You can use a cable machine on this or do it without resistance. Standing with one foot slightly behind the other, press straight back, squeezing the glute. Do 15 on each leg.

Calf Raise
Standing on a step or bench, drop heels off the back, raise and lower heels twenty times.

Side Lunge
Holding a weight in your left hand, take a large step straight to the side with right foot, bend right knee, keeping left knee straight, take weight across body and tap floor with it, raise back to start and repeat twelve times, then switch sides and repeat twelve times.