Category: Exercise

An Easy Way To Get Exercise In During Your Busy Day

Morning,

Are you like me? Tied to a computer for hours and hours a day?

If so, you know how difficult it is to actually force yourself to stop and stretch for even 5 minutes, let alone get some real exercise in. Right?

I’m happy to announce I’ve found a free alarm clock you can download straight to your computer, that allows you to set an hourly alarm, 1/2 hour alarm, etc.etc.etc. I’ve been using it now for 2 weeks and it really helps get me up and away from my work!

It’s called WorldTime6 and is downloadable from here. It runs on the PC platform.

World time 6

If you try it out, drop me a line and let me know what you think!

Enjoy,

Barbara

Agonies of The Biggest Loser

Morning,

I’ll confess – I don’t catch The Biggest Loser much anymore, but oh do I so adore reading what’s been going on!

I came across a superb writeup over at The Biggest Loser4 – Episode 3. It began:

We open with a challenge this week – Whoever eats the most calories gets to knock off 3 lbs. at the next weigh in.

No one gets to see what whoever goes into the room does… whether they choose to eat or not. But they have to spend four minutes in the room.

What torment!

Some of them could eat just one chicken wing if they really wanted… it’d be on camera, for all of America to see, but no one on the team would know…..MORE….

Do pop on over at Lady Delaluna’s blog – it’s a great read!

Barbara

ps – and if you’re looking for some neato Biggest Loser help, check out:

Free Diet/Fitness Custom Search Engine!

Well!

After this morning’s excitement (which I’ll post at a later time), I decided to buckle down and create a most useful tool for myself – a custom search engine that returns excellent answers regarding diet and fitness from the most respected sources online.

It worked out so well I want to now share it!

Visit the Fab Fit Mom Diet Fitness Search Engine.  Let’s say you want to find out what non-scammers are saying about, oh, hmmmmm:

What I really like about the search results is that people who answer generally don’t have monetary reasons to promote a product….so they give their honest opinion.

Give it a shot and if you like it, share it with your friends!

Enjoy,

Barbara

Backpack/briefcase arm curls

Need to pump iron, but you’re deskbound at the office?

One effective way to arm curl is to use your briefcase or your backpack as the weight you lift! I remember doing this myself when I was taking my kids to the Anime Conference – it was time for my usual bodyweight workouts and alas, the hotel at which we were staying had no fitness facilities. Wah!

However, by using the backpacks we had brought for our goodies, I was able to get quite a good workout in for my biceps. It wasn’t perfect, mind you, but did adequately well for my needs.

Barbara

ps – Looking for good briefcases for such activities? Consider:

Miracle weight loss cure – fling around rocks!

Well!

As you might remember, over the weekend the hubby and I started clearing out the garage for our town’s heavy item dropoff day.

Why stop there? This morning, we realized there were still bunches of rocks under the deck and living happily within unopportune places. So….instead of hiring someone to clean out the area, my kids and I used one of their purple plastic snow sleds, carefully loaded the bricks and rocks on it, and made about 17 trips to clear out the entire area.

Talk about a workout! But it was fun with the family helping.

Barbara

ps – you don’t have to use rocks for weight lifting, of course – consider:

When life throws you a curveball and messes up your exercise schedule

Morning,

Well, this morning I was less alert than a chunk of concrete due to my lack of sleep, getting up at 3am, and massive writing frenzy. I had planned on getting to the gym to do my 45 minute fast cardio workout on the treadmill when my husband mentioned, gee! I can take down the shutters on the house myself! (yes, this is actually a logical conversation flow; we were debating about getting new shutters and realized we had to remove the ones currently up first).

The thing is, though…once they’re down, what do you do with them? Recycling won’t take them; either I have to break them down myself, or bring them to Large Item Recycling Day (that just happens to be on tomorrow).

So! The husband removed the shutters and I stacked them up. Then I thought, hey, it’s not a treadmill, but this is definitely exercise! What else can I recycle!

To make a long story short, 2 hours later I had made several trips to the dump with a van-full of ‘stuff’ that had been begging for a new home for centuries. What a workout!

True…it’s not traditional…but hey, if life throws you a curveball and messes up your schedule, work with it! Don’t say, wheeeee! an opportunity to miss the gym…instead, see how you can really push yourself, break a sweat, clean up the garage, and make a spouse delirious with joy (all at the same time!).

I’ll probably still go on my circle walk later today….but it certainly was a good effort spent.

Enjoy,

Barbara

PS – here’s what we used to conquer the shutters!

My get-up and go, she got up and went

Morning,

So! At 3am I was seized by an insane desire to write. Having learned never to ignore such impulses, I rolled out of bed, rolled down the hall, and bonked up smack against that necessity of life – my coffee maker. Soon afterwards, I was diligently at my computer, typing up a storm.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is I’m less alert than your typical 3-toed sloth that had just taken Ambien. I did manage to sleep-walk my way thru making 4 kids’ lunches and one husband’s breakfast, plus I also managed to negotiate thru the hallway hazards of toys and homework to uncover the shower. ‘course, the challenge will be after the school bus arrives – do I push myself to visit the gym (my usual schedule) to tackle my 45 minutes on the treadmill (today is cardio day!) or do I take a nap first?

You know, I think reality shows must have blossomed off such conundrums. :)

To help me with my decision, I ventured over to TV Guide Listings – of course, it’s down at this particular moment. Joy joy joy. I normally catch How It’s Made or possibly a great history documentary – it really makes the time fly by.

Anywhos, I hope y’all are awake and alert and have a splendiforous day!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – thinking, as am I, about coffee? How ’bout:

I’m Hot, Part II! Kendo, Swords and Hakumas, Oh My!

Morning,

Life is utterly magnificent when you can look at yourself in a mirror and go OHMIGOSH I HAVE A WAIST AND IT’S LESS THAN MY HIPS AND WOWOWOWOWOWOW!

I experienced that zen moment yesterday evening; I attended my kendo (sword) class and for the first time, put on my hakuma (like a long skirt that covers the feet – samurai wore them ‘way back when). I had to do a double-take on just how superb I looked – I can honestly say I am quite the fab fit mom!

You know, when you’re dieting, working out and losing weight, you know intellectually that you’ll appear different – your body will change, your muscles will grow and your stamina will increase. But what you cannot truly internalize until it actually happens to you is emotional punch to the gut you receive when you’re faced with the stark reality of an honest mirror!

Gad I love swords class. :-) If you’re looking for super resources for Kendo, here’s what I’ve found:

  • E-mudo – Super Kendo supplier, excellent customer service
  • Kendo America – Dedicated to the promotion of Kendo in the USA
  • Kendo World Forums – Everything you could possibly ask about Kendo

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – And if you’re in the market for excellent martial arts thingees, consider:

When computers kill

Good morning,

Did you hear about the Chinese gamer who died after a three-day session on the computer? Apparently “Police have ruled out the possibility of suicide,” the newspaper said, adding that “exhaustion” was the most likely cause of death.

Wow. Talk about obssessions!

While most of us probably use our computers with more moderation, it does bring home the point – sitting motionless for hours and hours on end is as intelligent to do as is walking with your eyes closed in the traffic. Being oblivious to your body’s needs is sheer insanity.

This should be a wake-up call for you and your kids! True, I’m a fine one to speak, as I can easily spend 5 hours writing straight (and freezing my muscles into rather creative contortions as well)….but no more! Today starts a new era in the Ling Family like so:

Every hour or so, I now have my kids and husband extract themselves from their computers (crowbars are sometimes useful, mind you) and simply stretch. Then we walk thru our house 3 or 4 times (I’ve already created different routes and ‘treasure hunts’); this chews up about 10 minutes and gets their muscles much more flexible. And then they return to their computers happily ever after (need a freeware alarm clock that you can set to beep every hour? I just found the Swiss Army Knife of Alarm Clocks!).

There’s lots of desk exercises you can do while sitting as well! Consider:

Definitely check them out. Being sedentary can be the kiss of death (and the enlarger of your rearas well) – indulge in some creative exercise and get the blood flowing again.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – sometimes a great ergonomic chair can make all the difference! Check out what’s available now….

Shopping Cart Fitness!

You know, back when I was el-grando mommo, I found exercising to be very difficult indeed. Hated it then (love it now, mind you, you simply can’t help to adore it when you feel your body’s reactions to pushing yourself – it’s really enjoyable) and would think of every excuse NOT to waddle about.

That is, until I discovered shopping carts!

Did you know that you can push a grocery shopping cart up and down a strip mall…and eventually walk 1 mile? I found that out myself when I carefully drove my car down by the stores….3 one-way trips exceeded an entire mile in length. AND, it took me 20 minutes to walk!

Now, true, this isn’t marathon-preparing effort….but it WAS a start. And since them, I’ve realized that starting is key. You don’t have to throw yourself into aerobics or cardio or what have when you’re just beginning….you simply have to move your body in a positive direction.

I still have fond memories of my baby boy sleeping in the cart or waving to people as I walked on by. :-)

Barbara

ps – looking for some great pedometers? Consider: