Color Me Rad – Bethlehem

They say a pictures says a thousand words….so here are a few thousand!

Team Rad, White, and Blue!

Super fun, really crowded, didn’t get as colorful as I thought (but I think the clothes I wore slicked off the color), the color came off easily in the shower, however, the RAD temporary tattoo did not!

It was kind of rainy but once we were running we did not mind, the run was not timed, there were no bagels at the end, the blue Color Me Rad shirts they gave out were super comfortable, the blue sunglasses were very helpful, and I am glad I did it…I never had so much fun running a 5k before!

Have you ever done a color run?  Would you?

Thankfulness

 

As I drove to Tabata around 5:30 this morning, I passed people waiting for the buses outside and men walking or riding their bikes to work, as I often do.  Maybe because it is getting lighter earlier or maybe the warm weather brought more people out, but it just seemed I was passing more than the usual few early risers getting to their destination by foot, bike, or public transportation.

And I thought to myself how grateful I am to have my means of transportation.  And how much I have to be thankful for, how much I take for granted, and how quickly I forget all the good things in my life! I know what it is like to not have a car, and it has its perks, for sure (not paying gas or a car payment)! But the luxury of being in an automobile is not lost on me!

When my sister and I moved to Arizona, we basically just packed a few bags and hopped on a plane. We did not have much, and most certainly not a car. We walked or rode our bikes (that always seemed to get stolen!) EVERYWHERE. A simple trip to the grocery store was not so simple, a 2 mile commute to work was not so easy (especially in 100 degree weather), and a relaxing Friday night to the movies or out to eat was not always so relaxing. But it was still so much fun and I wouldn’t trade the adventures for anything!

I am REALLY thankful we got to see the Grand Canyon, too!

Just a couple other things I am thankful for today…..

I am thankful for my John Macarthur Study Bible. It has opened my eyes and explained many things I did not understand…I still have A LOT more to learn and understand and grow, but I am very grateful my brother and sister-in-law got this for me… and now, years later, I am truly making the effort to read and understand it.

I am thankful to be working. I mentioned in another post that I have had many different jobs throughout my life, and many that I did not like at all. So I am especially thankful to have a job (officially for one year now) that I actually don’t mind waking up for…and I certainly can not complain about the view from my office over looking the golf courses!

I am thankful it is almost summer and for this beautiful, warm Thursday!!  I am so ready to go to the beach and wear flip flops! I think sunsets and sunrises are some of the most beautiful sights, especially over the water…in the summer!

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. - 1 Chronicles 16:34

Composing a Fitness Class

I read an article the other day in my IDEA Fitness magazine about group exercise instructors planning, creating, and documenting their classes.  Some instructors find it helpful to pre-plan the whole class from start to finish, some refer to notes or cue cards, some just make it up as they go, some jot down what they did and new ideas after the class…

When I first started teaching classes, I would pre-write my class before hand and try to memorize it or keep the written plan under my sweatshirt during class in case I had to refer to it.  Once I got the feel for my bootcamps and was less nervous being in front of a bunch of people I didn’t know, I cut WAY back on the planning.

This does not mean that I don’t think about what I am going to do in this Thursday’s class all week, because I do. I think about it as I am driving, before falling asleep, or just while I am brushing my teeth or something…  I am always on the look out for new exercises and inspiring ideas.

Now though, I usually just mentally, or sometimes on a note card, plan a few different ideas or new exercises I want to include in the class, and then just kind of put them all together on the go. I have done enough exercises in my life to put together a class at the last minute and not think twice about it.

However, teaching one class to strangers is one thing, teaching one or two classes a week to the same group of participants, is a different story. You have to be sure not to repeat all the same moves, to keep the class interesting and moving, and to make sure people are improving and pushing themselves.

Here are a few tips I try to use when I create my classes…

1. Pick a Theme: To give myself direction and focus, sometimes I like to pick a theme for the class. Many people also only workout in the group ex settings, so they are unfamiliar with the variety of ways a person can train strength or cardio wise.

Examples of themes: unilateral training, slow reps coupled with fast pulses, high reps with light weights, heavier weights with less reps, functional training, HR recovery training, working opposite muscle groups together (back and chest, tris and bis), cardio interval training, timed circuits

2. Spice Up a Regular Exercise: Maybe you do lunges or squats every class (I am a big fan of lunges so I usually do them every class!), so add something to it for a change.

For example…
Spice up a lunge: add a core twist, bicep curl, walking lunges with front kicks, jump lunges, or lunges on a step

Spice up a squat: add a torso twist with opposite knee to opposite elbow on up phase of the squat, do squats on a BOSU ball, do them against the wall with a stability ball, do them with back against the wall and hold the squat position, keep knees together during squats, plie squats (toes pointed out), or wide stance squats

3. Incorporate Core throughout the Workout: Most classes put abs at the end of class, which you can still do if you prefer, but you can also do exercises that incorporate your core through out the class as well. It is an important component of posture and everyday living, as well as most people’s big problem area.

Ways to incorporate the core: sun salutations into a push up, lunges or squats with torso twists, a variety of planks in the middle of the workout, mountain climbers, spider man push ups

4. Change the Music Up: I have only taken a handful of spin classes in my life, but I took 2 at my last gym and both times were the same playlist! May just be bad luck on my part, I understand as an instructor you will repeat your music sometimes, but it turned me off from going back to a class I don’t REALLY love. When you have new exercisers, who feed off their emotions more than the fact that working out is an important for your health no matter how fun it always is, it is important to ensure they feel motivated, encouraged, and stay interested. And music can really make or break that sometimes. Try to get people pumped up with the warm up by having music that is between 120 and 140 beats per minute.

5. Throw in Different Formats: I love teaching bootcamps because as an instructor you can pretty much do whatever you want! Your class is your canvass to create a masterpiece!

Examples of formats: Pilates at the end of your class as a stretching/ ab session, include yoga in the cool down, do a couple tabata circuits through out the class, or add some kickboxing moves.

6. Use Equipment to your Advantage: If you have access to a variety of equipment, don’t be afraid to use it! If you are unfamiliar with any piece, just research different exercises you can do and try it out; the internet is great that way!

Some forms of equipment include: ropes, bands, kettle bells, medicine balls, stability balls, sandbags, bars, sliders, foam rollers, etc.

The more you can teach and inspire your participants to do, the more they will appreciate you and your class, and the better chance they will have at being successful in their health and fitness journeys.

So, now that we have all these great ideas, let’s put them to use.  I am going to compose a class with the theme being unilateral training, I will spice up a regular squat and bicep curls, I will incorporate the core throughout class, have awesome music of course, I will add some kickboxing  moves to the class, and I will do new exercises using a medicine ball…..

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SAMPLE CLASS:

Active Warm Up: 5 minutes (jumping jacks, side lunges, high knees, butt kicks, fast paced squats, etc)

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Unilateral training and spicing up squats:  20 reps – squats with one foot only slightly touching the ground with toes (so weight it mostly on one side).  20 reps on the other side

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Unilateral training and kickboxing:  10 reps  - Step right leg back into a lunge, as raise back up, forward kick with right leg, then step right leg back into lunge. 10 reps on the other side

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Kickboxing:  3 min – Series of forward, side and undercut punches with 3 – 5 lb dumbbells

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Spicing up bicep curls:  2 sets of 15 reps – Bicep curls to shoulder press with 8 – 10 lb dumbbells

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Unilateral training:  15 reps – Single leg dead lift with 8 – 10 lb dumbbells. 15 reps on the other leg

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Core:  30 seconds: Side plank with outer leg raises, switch sides

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Unilateral training and use of the medicine ball:  15 reps – push ups on knees with one hand on medicine ball and one on the ground. 15 reps on the other side

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Core and use of medicine ball:  1 min – Standing torso twists with medicine ball

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Spicing up squats:  30 seconds – Squat jumps

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Unilateral training and spicing up bicep curls:  10 reps – Stand on one foot and perform bicep curls with 8 – 10 lb dumbbells. 10 reps on the other foot

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Kickboxing:  2 minutes - Hold 8 – 10 lb dumbbells in front of chest and perform a series of front, side, and back kicks on one leg, switch legs after 1 minute

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Core:  30 seconds – Mountain Climbers

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Core and use of medicine ball:  45 seconds – Plank on medicine ball

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Cool Down/ Stretch:  5 – 10 minutes

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As I posted the other day, I am participating in the Under Armour What’s Beautiful campaign.  So, as one of their challenges, they asked participants to take a photo or make a video of a move they invented (I am sure I am not the first person to do this, but whatever!)… so here is my first official live video!

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Have you ever ‘invented’ a fitness move? If you are an instructor, do you have any best practices when you teach classes? 

#DrinkUpLinkUp, a Beautiful Challenge, and a Round Up

For The Purple Giraffe’s #DrinkupLinkUp today, I wanted to share one of my faves: A Margarita on the rocks!!

I love margs, but I hate it when I order one from a restaurant and it has sooo much sour and hardly any alcohol, bleh! So, be forewarned, this is a strong one, but its all natur-al! I also don’t really like measuring and dirtying unnecessary dishes (probably one of the reasons I am not the best cook!) …so my recipe here is based on eye-ballin’ it! 

6 Tips to get the Most out of your Workout

You may have heard the expressions “Mind over matter” or “It is 99% mental”, and more times than not we may stop before we absolutely have to. Can your legs literally not take one more step? Could you really not lift 2 more reps if your life depended on it? Here are a few ways to get a little more out of your next workout:

Bridal Bootcamp with Sandbags

So I went to a bridal party this past weekend and amongst some other gifts, decided to give the bride-to-be something I made myself: a colorful workout sandbag and a personalized Bridal Bootcamp!

Pretty snazzy, eh!?

Patience

It has been a busy week and I have not had much time to post. I have found myself stressing about things I cannot control lately and wanted to share some thoughts on PATIENCE. I wrote a post a while back about my New Year’s resolutions.  I have always sucked at them, and continue to not be that good at them. However, one of my goals was to read a bible verse a day. I have stuck to that pretty well, and have started trying to read more than that (clearly I did not set that goal very high). So I read a few, well many, versus that really spoke to me this past week about life and I also came across a post the other day about patience…and it was perfect timing for me.

Bootcamp Madness and Core Strength

So it is the fourth week of Best Body Bootcamp and we are almost half way done! Every two weeks participants are sent 3 new strength workouts as well as carido workouts to do each week.  I have been doing my own cardio so have just been doing the strength training portion so far. Even though I am playing soccer and run on my own, I probably should do a couple cardio workouts soon! I could use the kick in the butt when it comes to running.

Prayers for Boston

After reading all the stories this past week and watching the news this morning, I figured for my post today I would just do a round up of posts about first hand experiences, ways to help/ donate, and just  info you may like to hear about. I noticed on Twitter that cities all over the US are organizing a #runforboston to show support.  One quote I read said it pretty well:  

10 Things I’ve learned from being a Group Ex Instructor

Happy Monday!  And happy belated birthday to my sista.  We had a nice weekend celebrating her birthday and now it is back to the grind!

My mom, sis, and me

I put together a list of the top 10 things I have learned in my few years of being a Group Ex instructor.  I compiled the list from my instructing experiences, group exercise class observations, and feedback from my fitness survey.