Tough Mudder Workout

So this is the workout that my husband and his good friend Chris showed me. It is painful, it's stupid, it works, and it gets you in and out of the gym in an hour. So I apologize in advance if you decide to try this, you will not be able to sit on a toilet, lift your arms, or even walk correctly for a couple days. I did it yesterday for the 2nd time and I couldn't finish the run (I made it to 21 minutes)

http://toughmudder.com/training-prep/
The Tough Mudder Workout consists of 16 exercises that collectively work every part of your body. Some of these can be found in our favorite YouTube Tough Mudder training video (shown above), although be aware that one contains some extra crazy exercises as well.
We know that you’re a busy person. So, each exercise is a 60-second station designed to challenge your heart and lungs, as well as your muscles. The final product is a high-intensity circuit designed to torch everything from your chest and legs to your abs and arms, sending your fitness to an elite Tough Mudder level. You’ll sculpt a rugged, gritty, and classically athletic body that’s built Mudder Tough.
Do the Get Fit circuit 3 days a week and perform each exercise once, one right after the other, spending no more than a minute on each one. Do as many reps as you can in that time, then move on to the next station, limiting yourself to 15 seconds of rest in between. Build your endurance to the point where one week before Tough Mudder you can comfortably do the circuit twice. Make sure to use a weight that’s challenging for the 20 or so reps you’ll be doing for each exercise.
You can use dumbbells, kettlebells, or anything heavy with a handle for most, if not all, of the exercises below.

Exercise 1 – Running Man
To get yourself in peak cardio condition, you can either:
1) Get on a treadmill. Start jogging at a slow comfortable pace for the first 5 minutes, then increase the speed to a full sprint for a full minute before reducing the speed back down to a jog for a minute or two. Alternate this jogging and sprinting for 35 minutes. Build up to 1 hr.
2) Free run. As you head outside for a jog, choose a point or landmark in the distance that’s reasonably far and sprint to it. Do this 10 or so times throughout the course of your run, paying attention to mixing in jogging and sprinting equally. Again, build up to running 3-4 times a week and increasing your distance gradually until you can comfortably run 5+ miles.
Related Obstacle: The Braveheart Charge (& all of Tough Mudder)

Exercise 2 – TM PUSH-UP
Start out in a regular pushup position with two dumb bells in each hand. As you push your body upwards, rotate your torso at peak height and bring your right hand up behind you so that your hands are in a vertical line. Lower the weight so that you are once again in push up position. Do a push up, repeating with your left hand.
Related Obstacle: Boa Constrictor
Exercise 3 – THE FIST AND THE FURY
Grab a dumbbell, kettlebell, or anything heavy with a handle, in one hand and let it hang in front of you. Lower the weight below your hips and let it swing between your knees and legs. Try to keep your core sturdy and straight, explode upwards and swing the weight up to about eye level in a fully upright position. With control, do this as many times as you can, spending about 45 seconds on each arm.
Related Obstacle: Berlin Walls

Exercise 4 – SCISSOR KICK
From a regular standing position, take one big step forward and lower yourself into a forward stepping lunge. This is the start position. From there, explode off the ground, getting enough air under you to scissor kick your legs and land with your opposite leg forward and ready to crouch down to the lunge position. Keep doing this, alternating your legs on each jump/repetition for 60 seconds.
Related Obstacle: Fire Walker

Exercise 5 – BACK ROW
Grab a pair of dumbbells or kettle bells and bend over, holding them in each hand, making sure your back is parallel to the ground. Keep your core steady and pull the weights in a controlled manner up to your chest, hold at the top for the rep, pause, and repeat.
Related Obstacle: Hold Your Wood

Exercise 6 – DUMBBELL SIDE LUNGE
Grab your dumbbells and let them hang by your sides. Take a lateral step with your right leg, completely straightening your left leg. From there, bend forward at your hips, and touch the dumbbells to the floor by your right foot. Push off your right leg and make the same lateral lunge on your left leg. That’s one rep.
Related Obstacle: Swamp Stomp

Exercise 7 – PUSH UP + ROW
Grab two dumbbells and assume a pushup position, with your arms straight. Perform a regular pushup, but as you fully extend your arms at the height of the push up, take one dumbbell and bring it all the way to the side of your chest. Lower your arm and descend back ot the start position. Repeat with the other arm. That’s one rep.
Related Obstacle: Devil’s Beard
Exercise 8 – LUNGE + TWIST
Grab a heavy object and clutch it tight to the middle of your chest as you stand with feet shoulder length apart. Take a step forward as you would with a normal lunge, but as you lower your body with the weight, twist your torso to the right, pause, and return to a full upright position. Do the same with the opposite leg. That’s one rep.
Related Obstacle: Sweati Yeti
Exercise 9 – SHOULDER PRESS
Grab some dumbbells or small kettle bells in each hand and spread your feet shoulder length apart as you would for a squat. Bring the dumbbells up to your shoulders as if you were doing a shoulder press. Lower yourself as you keep the weights cocked at the shoulder, as you explode upward from the squat position, push the weights up and above your head.
Related Obstacle: Cliffhanger

Exercise 10 – DECLINE PUSH UP
Simple, quick, and easy. Get into a normal pushup position, but put your feet on top of an elevated park bench or box, arms extended out in front of you so that your body is perfectly parallel to the floor above the ground. Begin to do as many pushups as you can in the next 60 seconds.
Related Obstacle: Kiss of Mud
Exercise 11 – Quick Feet
Staying in the pushup position, rapidly bring each knee towards your chest, as if you were sprinting in place or pedaling a ridiculously small bike.
Related Obstacle: The Bastard

Exercise 12 – Tough Chin Up
Just like your old man used to do, hang from a bar with either an overhand or underhand grip and pull yourself up – be sure to try and touch your chest to the bar, or get as close as you can. This will get progressively harder as the set wears on. Remember to do as many as you can for the full 60 seconds. Even if you have to take a slight break, be sure to finish the set.
Related Obstacle: Underwater Tunnels
Exercise 13 – Superman Plank
Get back into the pushup position you’ve grown accustomed to, placing your forearms on the ground and keeping your core – abs and hips – tight as possible. Hold this position for a full 60 seconds.
Related Obstacle: Greased Lightening

Exercise 14 – Drunk Superman Side Planks
Get on your side and hold yourself up by left forearm, creating a half triangle between your lats, forearm, and ground. Like a regular plank, keep your core tight – flex if you have to – and hold the position for 60 seconds, then alternate with your right side and repeat for another 60.
Related Obstacle – Walk the Plank

Exercise 15 – Angelina Jolie
Get in between two chairs, bars, or if at a gym, a dip machine. Grab each bar or handle with each arm and lower yourself slowly and with control, as you push up with your arms try to explode up, lifting yourself completely off. Be sure to start out slowly until you get used to jumping off and regaining control of the bars.
Related Obstacle: Ball Shrinker

Exercise 16 – THE TOUGH SQUAT
Take a dumbbell, kettle bell, or large stone, anything you can find, and hold it in front of your chest. Stick your hips out behind you, bend your knees, and lower yourself until you’re in a full squat position. Pause for a second for the burn to really set in and then push yourself back to the start position.
Related Obstacle: Death March

Never Underestimate the Power of a BackPack Leash

Its hard to explain to somebody who has never been fat what your inner fat kid is, why you can't say no to one more slice of pizza or why spending 3hours in the gym isn't a "fun" activity for you. I think of him like a Thurman merman type kid wearing a backpack leash that I have to drag around everywhere, somedays he is small and easy to carry other times he is a 300lb linebacker pulling ME.  The fat kid has a unique ability to grab my by my belly fat and pull me towards a open pizza buffet. (This may disturb some of you, and for those with a weak stomach I recommend moving to the next paragraph) Its like I have a belly button ring that is attached to a string and this string is attached to my inner fat kid who will only pull me to bad food and my couch.The fat kid pulls me until I reach one of the two and it hurts until I get to where the string wants me to go but once I get there its a great feeling. I enjoy the bad food, how can you not love cheese, sauce, pepperoni, sausage, and dough??? I have no need to run 26.2 miles, do an iron man, or eat tofu. I know its good for me and I know people think that it makes you a better person. I do want to be a better person, I want to be a healthier person, and more than anything I want as much time as possible with my family and friends.

So unfortunately its Day 1...again. Time to get back on the wagon. The wagon is filled with other foodaholics so that is nice. I have noticed that when foodaholics get together all we talk about is the food we miss. This cracks me up, and I am as guilty of it as the next fatty. The trainer that kicked my butt on a regular basis before the wedding has her own fat kid. We went out to lunch the other day to a great restaurant that has healthy options and is delicious (even her firefighter fiancee likes it), we both ordered giant salads with yummy toppings and after we finished catching up and gossiping it started to become a conversations about all the bad food we missed and how bad we used to be (aka eating a whole pizza or dipping oreos in PB). Once I am on the "wagon" It seems like I put food on a pedestal. Things that wouldn't normally bother me such as ice cream, start an immediate drool train. The things that normally I like but I now eat on a regular basis get old quick. I need to figure out a way to change things up. Lunch and breakfast are the hardest because of time. I think I might have to tap into my inner hippie and start going to farmers markets for cheap fruit and veggies. I love fresh fruit and veggies but because of the cost and ease of frozen or prepackaged food, I tend to take the easy route.

So if you see me feel free to give me a swift kick in the ass. I will not go back down this route of self hatred and doughnuts. But its day 1, time to focus on my 30 day fatty chip.  So Eat Clean, Enjoy Life, and Laugh at the people who run for fun (they are dumb).

WOO HOO NEW RECIPE!

I love greek food, I could eat gyros every day and we buy hummus by the gallon. This is a great low cal, easy week night meal for us. It takes about 20 minutes to make from start to finish. We use the low carb, whole wheat tortillas instead of pitas and it makes a easy switch to cut calories (plus its a pain in the butt to find whole wheat pitas)

Ingredients

• Chicken:
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 16 (3-inch) strips
• Sauce:
• 1/2 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt (such as Fage)
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Remaining ingredients:
• Cooking spray
• 4 (6-inch) pitas
• 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
• 8 (1/4-inch-thick) tomato slices

Preparation

• 1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
• 2. To prepare chicken, combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss well to coat. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes.
• 3. To prepare sauce, combine yogurt and next 4 ingredients (through 1 garlic clove), stirring with a whisk.
• 4. Thread 2 chicken strips onto each of 8 (12-inch) skewers. Place kebabs on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until done.
• 5. Place pitas on grill rack; grill 1 minute on each side or until lightly toasted. Place 1 pita on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1/4 cup lettuce and 2 tomato slices. Top each serving with 4 chicken pieces; drizzle each serving with 2 tablespoons sauce.

Amount per serving (yields 4 servings)

• Calories: 384
• Calories from fat: 23%
• Fat: 9.8g
• Saturated fat: 2.1g
• Monounsaturated fat: 4.1g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 2.7g
• Protein: 34.4g
• Carbohydrate: 40g
• Fiber: 2.5g
• Cholesterol: 64mg
• Iron: 4.3mg
• Sodium: 821mg

Therapy for the fat kid.

Ok so for the past week or so I have been mad and not just mad, extremely pissed off. It of course has to do with food, for whatever reason this week has just made me mad. I WANT to eat bad food, I WANT to be skinny, I WANT to be healthy, and I WANT it to just be freakin EASY. I know how childish I sound but that doesn't stop me from wanting to scream, cry, and stomp my foot on the ground. I have all these emotions running through me like a hormonal roller coaster and even though I know they are childish, and wrong I have them anyways. So excuse me while I bitch and moan for a few sentences. Its not fair (yes I am aware of how lame that sounds). Every time I see a skinny girl whine about how fat she is as she slides into her (GASP) size 4 jeans, I want to punch her in the face/cry. I worked with a girl the other day who said that she eats taco bell every meal!! Of course she is tall and skinny. A small but evil part of me is thinking well at least I know she will have clogged arteries. Its frustrating, If I even look at a taco the wrong way my butt starts to expand. I wish it was easy, I wish I didn't enjoy bad, fatty, greasy food so much, I wish I could enjoy exercise more, and I thought that egg whites were the greatest food on the planet. So this week I didn't say no, I didn't think about my clogged arteries, I didn't think about what I was doing to my blood sugar. Now I regret it, its like having buyers remorse. I wish I could take back the Italian sausage sandwich with fries, or the cookie pie but that's called bulimia and I'm pretty sure its frowned upon.

Well that was actually kinda therapeutic (sorry for the whining fest)

Thank you all for being there for me and believing in me, you have no idea how much it means to me and my cholesterol levels. I will be better about blogging more, I know I have been slacking lately.

Food Diary
2 soft boiled eggs, 1 bagel thin
steak sandwich, sirloin steak 4oz, pesto, light mayo 1tbls, 1/2 roasted red pepper, 1sl skim mozz, 1 sandwich thin
sugar free jello
lean cuisine
coffee, coffee, and more coffee

Positive Reinforcement not Treats

I read a quote yesterday that said "Don't reward yourself with food, You're not a dog!"
I really like this, it makes me take a step back and think. Its more of how I need to rewire my brain to think about food. There are other forms of rewarding myself instead of using food. I can't let myself go out and binge or eat whatever I want every time I hit a mile marker. Sorry for the rant, I seem to have a very hard time not eating fatty, sugary, bad foods on weekends and after I hit a weight loss goal. I finally lost the weight I regained, and I lost 1 more pound. The 10lb mark is usually my hardest goal to get past, I can usually lose 10lbs pretty quick and then I stay at that weight or I start gaining back. So to lose that 1 lb is a big motivator for me. Have to keep going and keep my nose to the grind or in my case the mouth to the veggies and the feet to the treadmill.

Last week I went to Barnes and Noble, while we were there I went to go check out the cookbook/dieting section. I was looking for a book that had low calorie food ideas that was also budget friendly. I also looked for something that might help my with my food addiction. I wanted to read something for people like me, people who LOVE food but can't eat whatever they want. There was NOTHING.... plenty of low calorie recipe books, and even some that were budget friendly but none that had on the go options. There was were plenty of "diet books" the Atkins, the cookie, south beach, etc etc. But I have said from day 1, this isn't a diet. This is a lifestyle change and I was looking for something that I could use everyday and use in real life. Real life does not allow me to cook a 3 course meal in the back of the Ambulance. So I kept looking and finally I found a set of books called EAT THIS NOT THAT. They are amazing! Scott bought me the Eat This Not That NO DIET Diet. It has options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It shows you what to order at restaurants to make a wholesome low calorie meal, fast food or sit down. There are items to buy at the grocery store, and recipes to make at home. It has everything! I have used it all week and with results. Places I thought I had to stay away from I can now go back to and order the right meal for me and my lifestyle. Its great for in a pinch or on vacation. You can't always make every meal and you can't stay at home and never eat out so this is a great tool to have handy for whenever you do go out. I keep it in my purse and whenever I need it, its right there.  The Fat Kid is jumping up and down while screaming like a little girl with excitement... I can go to Arbys, I can go to MacDonald's and not feel starved or cheated.

This journey never fails to amaze me with what I have learned and continue to learn.

One more Quote...

"I am getting rid of the weight, not losing weight. Losing implies that you plan on finding it again"

You are what you eat

If that's true then I need to eat a skinny person.

 What I eat definitely affects how I feel, greasy or high carb foods tend to make me feel really bloated and fat. Anything leafy and green or types of fruits make me feel better. Its amazing how just a few days of bad eating can make me feel like complete crap. I am not sure why but for most of this week I have eaten whatever I wanted and I had no self control. I am fighting myself and the fat kid to get it back. Last night I took control and even when I wanted to quit I didn't, I ran for 1 hour and ran just over 5 miles. Its not anything crazy but it makes me feel like I have gained back part of the control I lost somewhere at Filibertos between the refried beans and rolled tacos.
 I think its going to be harder at work to stay on track, my partner Ryan who was also trying to eat healthy and lose weight left our shift for bigger and better things. In our business most people eat fast food for every meal and I have a really hard time eating my salad or grilled chicken breast while the other person downs a burger and fries. So it will be more exercises in self control and saying no. It helps me to go back and read the first couple of blogs that I posted. I like reading how far I have come and ideas I had to keep me on track, I have to remember to think of bad foods as cigarettes. They can kill me, they turn other people off, and they don't portray the kind of person I want to be.

My first of three half marathons is exactly 1 month from today. Time to really start pushing myself in the gym, this first 13.1 miles is going to be my easiest one. I will be keeping pace with my mom and sticking with a jog/walk pace. For the next 3 months I will have a half marathon every month. The Susan G. Komen in November, Rock N Roll Las Vegas in December, and Rock N Roll (PF Changs) in January. I ran PF changs last year and finished the half in 2:35. My goal this year is to finish the first one with my mom, finish vegas in the same time or better, and finish PF Changs in 2 hours. I will be picking the brains of some runners I know to try and write a running program to decrease my time and increase my endurance. If anybody out there wants to run with me, I am always looking for a gym buddy! I am going to start by running 4-5 days/week with a long run on the weekends. Last night I ran 5 miles in 57 mins, I started with a 5 minute warm up (3.2mph, level 15) then I started running at 5.7 mph at level 2. I would walk for 1 minute everytime I hit a mile interval. In order to finish in 2 hours or left I will have to keep around a 9min/mile pace.  or a 6.5 mph pace. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
sorry kind of had to freak out for a second. For me that is really fast and by really fast I mean I don't run that fast unless there is somebody in a ski mask waving a gun behind me....

Today I will keep working on my self control...To bad I don't have the negative reinforcement that White Goodman had in Dodgeball (but slightly less creepy)

And the Inner Fat Kids sneaks in for the Wine! Umm I mean the Win...

My weeks are normally pretty busy. I work anywhere from 36 hrs(minimum) to 96hrs (maximum) per week and trying to balance that with being a wife, a dog mom, a sister, daughter, aunt, friend, etc etc can sometimes leave me pretty tired.When I get this tired I tend to have nightmares, I have had them since I was little and they more often than not are nightmares about random grown up weird stuff like paying bills, car accidents, or this Tuesday nights special, a helicopter crash (Don't ask, I have no idea why).This week I only worked 36 hours (I'm working 72 next week to make up for it) and I had spent Sunday-Wednesday having strange nightmares that leave me in a panic. So Thursday finally came along and I decided that I was NOT going to clean, or even act like a functioning member of society. It was AWESOME. I read vampire romance novels, watched TV, did some facebook stalking, didn't make it out of my PJs and was just a bum in general. Along with this awesomeness came a set of cravings that I had thought myself above. All of a sudden I was a 12 year old on the first day of summer. I wanted to eat myself into a diabetic coma, anything sugary and sweet was on the menu. I managed to curb these cravings and when I joined Scott for lunch at the good egg, I had a egg white omelet that was delicious. Of course the inner fat kid ate the potatoes before I had even realized what I was doing, he can be a very sneaky SOB. We had Stuffed Bell Peppers for dinner. I switched up the recipe a little bit and instead of ground lean turkey I cut up some artichoke and cheese chicken sausages that I had found at Costco. It turned out pretty good but I think I will go back to the lean turkey just to keep it healthier. Friday came along and I just let go, I am not sure why but I was bad. I had 3 soft boiled eggs with wheat toast for breakfast, then I ate some of my nieces mac and cheese, then I had some leftover pasta, and I still went out to dinner! I shared a bottle of wine, and a hummus appetizer with some friends and had a beef gyro for dinner.

So no big shocker I gained some weight, the weight that I swore I would never put back on. I am upset with myself and I don't know why I wasn't able to say no. I read in a magazine that no matter what you will end up cheating, that is life and denying yourself lifes special treats will only lead to unhappiness. I know that but I also don't think its ok to just eat like I did for two days. This is a lifestyle change, I had a attitude setback yesterday but its a new day and time to get over it. Just because I cheated on Thursday and Friday does not give me the right to say "well guess I will start over on Monday, the weekend is already ruined" No. If I mess up then I can get back on track during my next meal. I can gain control I am 24 years old if I can't control myself now then how will I ever?

So now to regain control. Time to clean my house, wash my dogs, make my food for the week and listen to some loud music :)

Todays Menu:

2 cups coffee( for my heart of course )
1 trenta green tea with 1 sweetn low
spinach egg white wrap (280cal)
Lean cuisine
pb sandwhich
Dinner at Culinary Dropout with some awesome friends 

Following the Fat Kid

OK so I know there have been some problems with being able to leave comments and follow my Blog. I have spent the last couple of days trying to figure out how to fix this issue. I have spent more time than I feel comfortable on the blogger forum. It seems that this is a problem that a lot of people have. The main culprit seems to be internet explorer, if you use google chrome, or firefox then everything is just hunky dory (Ya I said it!). I changed the posting so that a window will pop up, from there you will have to enter the captcha (odd assortment of letters, it keeps spam from popping up) and pick a user id. This could be your google log in or sign in as anonymous and just sign your name at the bottom.  Let me know if you have anymore issues. Thanks :)