Moved and Moving

So... over the weekend I did a lot of cardio at the same time that I was doing weight lifting. How? By lifting these boxes which weighed between 7kg and 14kg each. They were moved from the storage shed to the truck and from the workplace to the truck. I helped with that part. I didn't unload because I had a sick daughter at home. Ha! So Friday, Saturday and Sunday we moved, Monday we ached.

Doesn't matter. I'm still one bruised little coconut. The new warehouse is not functional though needs some final touches to be called 'ready' and I'm home and have finally, formally worked out now. Because I have the best friends in the universe, one of them tagged me in this photo on facebook today:

I got through two round that were totally modified to buggery. Push ups on knees, high knees were mid knees and finally steps, squat jumps were just squats by the end of the second round and I didn't do the third because I couldn't breathe and my face went purple and I thought I was going to puke. I'm still pretty tired from the business move and pretty unfit from doing stuff all the last few years so... I'm happy I got through two rounds and am sure I'll do more next time.

 I'm one sore girlie swat! Thanks KarenLuvsLife!

Next post is the one that should have been my first. Before photos. My arms have already shown improvement but the rest of me is still soft n squishy, flabby, extra me. 

Green Smoothies are awesome!

Once again it's lunch time and I've not eaten. I'd love to say I hit the ground running but that would be a fib. But I got out of bed and straight into the office and... time does fly doesn't it?

I love green smoothies. As someone who eats a predominantly raw food diet I like to pack in a lot of nutrition. One way to do this is to eat a lot of greens. But there's only so many greens I can physically chew through before I get really sick of them. I love this way of having greens though because it's quick and easy. I make a 1 litre smoothie like this, and drink it over a 40 minute period. 

The fibre from the highly mineralised greens helps to keep me regular, as does the fibre from the fruit, and sweetness of the fruit overrides the flavour of the greens.

2/3 Vitamix jug of greens
Flesh of 1 mango
3 frozen bananas
1/4 lemon, peeled and seeded
12 mint leaves
Small knob of organic ginger
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder

Blend until smooth, sip until gone.

To easy! To learn more about Green Smoothies from the Green Smoothie queen herself, click HERE.

*Note, these links all go back to Raw Pleasure which is my business. I only sell products that I fully believe in and if I didn't sell them I'd link elsewhere.

Remember To Eat!

An interesting start to the week. I run my own business (www.Raw-Pleasure.com.au, raw food, not porn! Check it out, we're awesome) and Mondays are our busiest days. So Sunday night I convinced myself that I would rise just 10 minutes earlier and get on the rebounder. Woke up Monday and that didn't happen... I have my BEST intentions just before I fall asleep.

So Monday after work I got on my rebounder and started bouncing away, only to fall right off it about 30 seconds later dizzy as all get out. Lesson of the day, EAT! It was so busy Monday that I literally didn't eat all bloody day. Annoyed with self.

Tuesday I got up and ate right away, but we had our biggest ever day in the office which was great! By the time I finished work, then made dinner, then spent time with the kids, then spent time with the hubby, it was after 10pm and I was done in. We received a delivery though and helping lift the boxes of the truck and running to the storage facility with them was enough to raise my heart rate for a bit so that's ok at one level. At least one of my friends will shake their head and say "No Excuses Jen" and I'm grateful for that. Thanks!

Today rebounded away with weights for 10 minutes, 2 minutes warm up, 2 minutes doing 2-arm-tricep-extensions (good for coordination on the rebounder!), 2 minutes bicep curls and 2 minutes of another tricep exercise that I can't find a name for and another 2 minutes doing twists. I did three of these with my legs in a squat position so yay me!

Right after that I did some yoga. From Yogabody's* Gravity DVD I did the Hamstrings and the Shoulders exercises. Gravity yoga is about holding each pose for between 2 and 5 minutes.  My son joined in too! He's got very tight legs and always has had so I was delighted when he wanted to work out too.

I've had breakfast and a snack after my workout of tomatoes and raw hommus made by one of my favourite farmers at the Miami Markets on the Gold Coast. I chose this snack because I luuuuurve tomatoes, and the hommus is based on sprouted chickpeas which are said to be high in protein which, I hear, is good for muscle recovery 'n' stuff.

Remember this people:

It's good advice. :)

* A note on Yogabody, I purchased the DVD in a pack that offered one month's free coaching. I did have questions and emailed them. It took days to get a response if at all, and when I did finally hear something from them it was to say that Lucas would address my question's in his next email. Well I must have counted through 20 emails before I unsubscribed without hearing anything about any of my questions. The DVD is great but I wouldn't pay for the ebook and was glad it was part of the package as all the information in it forms the basis of their newsletters anyway.

This being said, the DVD is great. The instruction on it very clear and I really like the Yogabody supplements. If you're after good products but don't care less about other areas of service, then go for it! They post quickly too. :)

I did it! When I didn't wanna...

I wasn't planning on posting today but I'm feeling called. It was a very busy day with an early morning market visit to get all of our organic veggies, greens and fruits, followed by a follow up shop to get the other stuff that we can't get organic and also some back to school shopping. By accident I managed to get myself a belt and a lovely new shirt so I'm quite happy.

This afternoon I didn't want to workout. Honestly, at this stage, I hardly ever do. What I want to do is curl up with a good book, or even a mediocre one, and disappear into fantasy land. But, I must be disciplined. I decided that today I would do a rebound workout with weights.

Usually this is a 10 minute workout for me, so I decided to redesign it, spent 15 minutes updating my interval app and hit save, and... it didn't save. So I did the 10 minute workout which included:

• A 1 minute warm up
• 1 minute of twist jumps (knees go one way, shoulders the other like doing The Twist)
• 2 minutes of jumping with bicep curls, 1.5kg weights
• 2 minutes of squat jumps with 1.5kg weights, raising weights to shoulders and then lowering them to straight again (Update: bent over rows)
• 2 minutes of high knees jogging doing runners arms with 1kg weights
• 1 minute of jumping
• 1 minute of cool down bounce

 After that I started doing tricep dips but my heart wasn't in it and I only did about 20 of them but you know what? It's better than doing none hey!

I worked out in as little as possible today. That is GString and bra. I'm sorry if your in-brain-eyes want to burn themselves out with the mental image, but I have found that watching all the bits jiggle often keeps me going. But not today. By the time I was starting my Tricep Dips I was very annoyed with my mirror self. Next time I will cover up a little more. When I finished my workout I was pissed off because of the combination of the phone not working, a fast paced day with no down time, for being unfit, not having the strength to do as much as I wanted to do and... that's about it.

But then... my daughter worked out not long after I did!

I like to think that I had a part in motivating her by exercising when I'd rather have be getting flayed with a rusty spoon. Not long after she started doing her thing my son joined in so it had a run on effect which made me feel happy!

Realisation of the day... I need to learn the names of some exercises so I can explain them better for you.

Action of the day, apart from working out, I bought a book to use as an exercise journal. I'm going to google what other people put in theirs so I can get some excellent ideas for my own.

Post 2 - Hot!

According to the Four Hour Body by Tim Ferris (not a veg*n book), fat loss is helped greatly by having 30g of protein within 30 minutes of rising. So as soon as I could after getting out of bed I hit my body with this protein smoothie...

 ...which had around 26 grams of protein and it was yummo!

1 scoop Ezy Protein Powder, chocolate flavour
1 frozen banana
Water to desired thickness

Blended it up in my little Tribest blender and drank it as we were getting ready to go out.

It promised to be a warm day here on the Gold Coast today so I dragged the kiddies out of bed early, grabbed my hubby Bill and off we went to Burleigh. Twas a perfect day for the beach...

...and we had a lot of fun with the frisbee and tennis ball.

We saw first hand the devastation that the beaches and complacence can create though when all of a sudden a huge group of people furthest from shore started waving their arms for the lifeguards, who were busy in a huddle and didn't see them, for a women unconscious in the water. A lesson for those who cannot swim well to be careful in our rough seas and also for lifeguards on duty to be on guard. The young girl was attended to by locals and when she came to the guards drove her to the carpark where she was met by an ambulance. It wasn't like Bondi Rescue at all believe me! So I had a bit of a teary moment there. But ah well...

When I left you yesterday I was on my way to to the Bum Bum workout from the Brazil But Lift series. I'd love to tell you that I completed the whole workout but that would be a big fat lie! I did exactly half of it. I walked away feeling a little sheepish that I didn't do more but today I am glad that I stopped when I did! I definitely worked out! My ass and thighs are aching like you wouldn't believe. I expended a lot of energy this morning so I'm pretty happy with that.

Post 1

I've decided to blog because I want to be accountable to someone. So please like and follow me! Offer your comments, positive input as well as helpful criticisms when you feel it's needed.

I'm 40 and feel like my body is falling apart! My body has had quite a journey. I was never into sports ever as a kid. I didn't like the Fit Kids who gave me a hard time because I was too slow, couldn't jump far enough, or because even with glasses I can't catch a ball or throw one in the right direction. Those kids were mean! In hindsight I know a few of them were like that because they had parents treating them that way when they didn't perform well, but now we're all grown, I know some of them are just asshats.

I've attempted to get fit a few times and didn't really like it. Pain sucks!

Running, which is the only exercise I can say that I have loved, played hell with my knees. Partly, this was because my form was laughable. Really laughable. When I went to a physio with my knees, he had me run on camera, and when we watched it on screen he laughed until he had tears. So did a guy who happened to be walking past. So did I... but I was also mortified! I didn't run again for a long long time.

The physio did point out that my IT bands were some of the tightest he'd ever seen (sitting at a computer for 12 - 16 hours a day will do that to them) and started to massage them loose. I ended up purchasing this monster:

A foam roller. Hurts more than a broken heart but has good benefits. I bought the Monster about a year ago and over Christmas decided to use it daily to loosen up those bands so I can start running again. I did this, sweating, just about vomiting in pain for three whole days until I had to get back to work and now it's collecting dust again.

Seriously Jen? It takes around 10 minutes max to roll out all the kinks. Sheesh! You're worth it...

You can see why I need to be accountable. In the next few days I'll post more about my journey thus far, but for now I'm going to go and do the Bum Bum video workout from the Brazil Butt Lift fitness series. Kills but you know, my butt is falling and I want it perky again. Wish me luck!