Archive for April, 2010

–>  IT’S OVER!  <–

The 12 week competition for the Kansas City Fitness Magazine is OVER!  Still hard to believe that 12 weeks has come and gone.  I finished the competition at 195.2 lbs and I couldn’t be happier.  I lost weight EACH and EVERY week.  It might not have been much but I lost…I NEVER gained weight.  I worked really hard and the hard work is paying off.  I’m very happy with my new look and I’m looking FORWARD!  Forward is how I will reach my future fitness goals.

Stay tuned to read more about my workout regiments and goals as I move forward.  Thanks for all your continued support and THANK YOU for reading this

The LAST, “last chance workout”!  Its scary to think that the KC Weight Loss Challenge is coming to an end tomorrow.  It does NOT mean that I’m done working out.  It just means that I’m on to the next phase of my fitness goals.  This is a LIFE CHANGE and I’m not about to quit.  I will NOT gain this weight back again.  I do NOT want to be heavy again in my life.  It is NOT fun to be fat and unhealthy.  With Kevin’s continued  support, I know that ANYTHING is possible.  I WILL continue to strive for the best possible Nicole!  It IS possible

Kevin and I hit the Kettlebells hard today!  It was a full body workout and very functional for my body.  I really pushed myself to do everything I could and as fast as I could.  I want a good loss on the scale tomorrow.  I know its possible if I work hard enough!

–>  The first set was JUMP ROPING and alternating Kettlebell swings.  I put jump roping in capital letters because I am not really good at it.  I know we learned how to jump in Kindergarten but for some reason I can’t do it.  You are supposed to jump every time the rope comes around but instead I have little tiny bunny hops.  I jump all the time and the rope only goes under my feet every other jump.  I think its mental.  Its a mental block that is keeping me from being able to jump correctly.  I will get it eventually…and its getting easier but I still can’t really do it.

I did a minute of jump roping followed by 30 alternating swings with the 20 lb Kettlebell.  The hand swap happened on the fly.  I did 3 rounds.

–>  Kettlebell curls with arm raises – front and side.  I stood on Kevin’s Longboard while I did curls and arm raises.  The Longboard forced me to balance my body during the exercises.  I did a curl between every arm raise.  It was curl, front arm raise, curl, side arm raises, curl…etc.

After each set of Kettlebell curls and arm raises, I ran a lap to and from the curb.  It really kept my heart rate up and made it tough to catch my breath.  Wow, its been a long time since I had such a hard time catching my breath!

–>  20 lb Kettlebell squats and jump squats.  I did 10 deep squats while holding a 20 lb Kettlebell.  Then I dropped the Kettlebell and did 10 deep squats with a jump.  It really burned my inner thighs and that makes me happy!  After the 20 squats I ran to the curb and back to round it out.  I did 3 sets!

–>  20 alternating snatches with the two – 10 lb Kettlebells.  I had one hand up and the other down…with each snatch, the other bell came down.

Lastly I ran from Kevin’s apartment to the fitness center!  It was a great way to end a great mid-morning workout.  I LOVE this new Nicole!  She loves to workout and get healthy

Its hard to believe that the end of the Challenge is upon us.  Where did the 12 weeks go?  The end is bittersweet but overall it has been AMAZING and I’m so glad that I was invited to participate.

Today was another great workout with Kevin.  I finally achieved my run at a speed of 6.0 for 10 minutes or 1 mile.  It was a great accomplishment and I really pushed through to finish.  There were several points where I thought I was going to need a break but I tried to focus on the goal.  SUCCESS!  Now I just have to keep working to achieve this goal…master it, if you will.  I’ve done it once, can I do it again?  And again?

After a tough run, I did heavy weights…my favorite workout.  The *hurt* is a great feeling.  “No pain, no gain”….right?  That’s my philosophy when the scale doesn’t cooperate and go DOWN after lots of crazy workouts.

• Leg presses at 180 lbs!  I did 3 sets of 12.
• Dumbbell presses with two – 25 lb dumbbells.  I did 3 sets of 10.
• Heavy squats – 50 lbs on my back.  I did 3 sets of 10.  It was a great challenge to keep the weight in my heels!
• Arm presses with 20 lb dumbbells – angled back position.  I did 3 sets of 10.
• Alternating dumbbell lunges with one – 20 lb dumbbell.  At the bottom of my lunge I did a press with the dumbbell.  Otherwise the dumbbell was held securely at chest level.  I did 3 rounds of 20 alternating lunges!