Be a CHAMPION of your Mind Games

In this Fitness Resolution Series, I have been sharing tips to get you to stick to your goals and actually do it! I first had your state your general goal, then last week we talked about goal planning and now this week we will battle the biggest obstacle. Your MIND! How many times do we hear that we become our biggest enemy by discouraging ourselves, talking about ourselves . . . or being the most important person who doesn't believe in our dream?

I most certainly am guilty of that. Lately I have allowed myself to be consumed in negative thinking that I have discredited what I'm worth even when others encourage me. I know it is because I have been slacking in my relationship with the Lord, and even that has only slacked because of the devil filling my head with negative thoughts.

So one day I sat down with my BF and we brainstormed inspirational thinking and put together this acronym to help you on your way to positive thinking when it comes to looking at yourself in the mirror or how you approach each rep, each second of your workout!

Oh and as a side note, those of you who don't know, I used to be an English teacher and using acronyms to teach a concept is a fave among us teacher nerds! lol! So here it is:


C-onquer your minis
You already set up your mini-goals when you did the S.M.A.R.T Plan. What this does is prevent you from feeling defeated. For each mini step you complete you set your mind into a position of knowing that you are moving forward. Focus on the idea that it isn't about how far you have to go, but rather how far you have come!

H-old yourself up to a higher standard
Don't beat yourself up over things you shouldn't do or eat, but also hold yourself to a higher standard. Make the right choices but if you make a mistake, let it go. You must believe in yourself enough to know that a minor set back, a missed workout, eating 3 pizza slices, isn't the end! The next meal is the next chance to make it right. It ain't about winning every battle, it is about believing in yourself that you WILL win the war!

A-mple positivity
You must be present to your negative thoughts. Be active in your feelings throughout the day. If a negative thought comes in your mind, take a mental stop and fixate on the opposite of that thought. Keep a mini-notepad around and write the positive opposite down. When a down time come, as it will in any journey, you can pull out those thoughts and read them to lift yourself back up. Get on Pinterest and read inspirational quotes. I even have a whole board devoted to quotes I'll read often to motivate myself. You can check out my board HERE.

M-otivate
Encourage others. Get on Facebook and share quotes that you love. Get a partner, a buddy, someone you text or Facebook often to hold each other accountable. Get on MyFitnessPal and take part in a community of people wanting to make good food decisions. When you try to help others who want the same goals as you, you feel empowered. You will feel accountable. (I guess that is why I do this blog!)

P-ump yourself up 
Pick your own theme song. When you are feeling down or negative, play that song. Heck even football teams have a song that pumps them up when they run out on the field! Listen to it on the way to work, the gym, to your next social gathering, own yourself! My two songs are Britney Spears' (no surprise there) Work B**ch and Katy Perry's Roar.

AND because Pug Fest is tomorrow, I must share a pic of my beloved pug!

I need you to share with me any profiles you have: MyFitnessPal, Pinterest, Instagram. . . if you are on those sites, let's motivate each other! Also, what is your theme song? Maybe we can build a motivational playlist!

Comment below or comment on The STRONG Life Facebook Page. We got this!

New Year Fitness Resolution Series Part One: Think SMART

This first post in the New Year Fitness Resolution Series came out later than I planned thanks to a few bumps in the road that I have had to deal with this week. More details to come as I outline my journey to being STRONG in future posts, but for now let's focus on our commitments to making our Fitness Resolutions actually stick this year!

Last week I had you write down your general Fitness Resolution statement and this week we will hone it down so that you can make it realistic and attainable. One of the ways that we fail to get anything done is not making a detailed plan on how to get there. I wrote about this topic way back in July of 2012 (whoa) so it doesn't hurt to talk about it again.

Now that you have set your overall goal, now you gotta get S.M.A.R.T about it! I'll explain what I mean if you haven't heard about setting smart goals before as I apply thinking SMART to my Fitness Resolution Goal.



(S)pecific - Give yourself an actual number or one sole thing to focus on
It is not enough to say you want to lose weight, or be healthier or more fit. If it is too general it will be harder to hold yourself accountable to it. You want to lose weight? Great. How many pounds? You want to be healthier? Great. What is your vice? Sugar? Okay, let's make a goal to cut out sugar from your diet. You want to be more fit? Cool. Fit how? Run a mile in less than 10 minutes? Crank out 20 real push-ups? Now we are getting somewhere! You gotta give yourself something specific to work towards. For me it's that pesky 30 pounds that creeped up on me last year. ;-p

(M)easurable - How will you track your progress towards your goal?
I can say I want to lose 30 pounds but I'm not going to get anywhere if I'm not finding a way to measure that progress. Exercise and healthy eating will get me there. I will use Myfitnesspal to make sure I stick to my calorie goals each day. I will use my chart to track my workouts each week (more on this in a later post). I will also use a scale to weigh myself weekly to be able to track that progress as it goes down. Now I've made my goal tangible and trackable.

(A)ttainable - Be realistic! Think baby steps.
Lose 50 pounds in a month? Yikes! If you find a way to do that, than kudos to you! You reached your goal! BUT you'll likely put it right back on right away and in the mean time, you probably developed unhealthy habits. A goal that you give yourself needs to be a journey. It needs to be transforming. Lose 2-3 pounds each week? That's realistic. Now I'm getting somewhere. If you've never run before, you likely aren't going to be running a marathon next month. So what's the baby step you'll take? I took my 30 pounds down to 2-3 pounds a week. Take that running a marathon goal down to running your first 5k. You want to be the 2014 Burpee-thon Champ but can only bust out 5 burpees before having to take a break? Shoot for 10 burpees before dying. Then your big New Year goal becomes less daunting and you feel better as your reach the attainable baby step goals along the way.

(R)elevant - Light yourself on fire. Give yourself a purpose. A reason. Answer the WHY part of your goal. 
Why do I want to lose 30 pounds? Of course there is the vanity reason. I wanna look good. I want to fit in my clothes again. I want to feel confident. And of course there is the healthy aspect. But why now? What's going to be the real drive that will make that goal relevant to my life? Maybe for you it is a wedding, a reunion, a trip. I want to inspire people. It is not enough for me to live this life and leave no imprint behind. I know I am better than my current situations that bring me down and that God has a greater purpose for me. I want to hold myself to a higher standard because I know my value. I will not be taken for granted or unappreciated or disrespected. So eating crap and gaining weight was the ultimate way that I disrespected myself. I keep allowing outside influences affect my self-worth when it should be God defining my worth. Why do I want to lose 30 pounds? I want to be an example of a STRONG woman in order to leave my imprint in the world.

(T)ime-Bound - You need a deadline. 
We've all done it. Procrastinate. I am absolutely horrible with it, so if you struggle with this, we are in this together! When I come up with a fitness program plan, I like to do it in the 30-Day or 90-Day set up. Each month I'll have my 30-Day plan to lose 10 pounds. 30 pounds in 90 days. Starting next week, along with a weight-loss challenge we are doing at my work, I am going to begin my 90 day or 12 week journey. By April 13th I will be 30 pounds lighter!

Now it is your turn. Go back to that piece of paper or journal from last week where you wrote your New Year Fitness Goal and answer those SMART questions:

1) What is your specific number or sole thing you want to accomplish?
2) How will you track your progress to reach your goal?
3) What are your baby-step goals that will lead up to your big goal?
4) WHY do you want to reach this goal now?
5) What date is your deadline to reach your goal?

I just put my goal and plan out there. Now I feel like I have to do it now that I put it out for everyone to see. Talk about accountability! So, won't you do the same? Share in the comments below your answers to those questions or head on over to The STRONG Life Facebook Page and share your answers. You'll be glad you did because I'll be right there to cheer you on as you go on your own journey. :-)


P.S. Today I celebrate the 1 year anniversary of my boyfriend, my partner, and I being together. Time sure does fly and I am looking forward to us growing together in our journey to live according to GOD's will and plan for us. Here is to our next year together baby! I love you! MORE CHANGED LIVES ;-)

The Resolution to Train Mean!

You might have seen at the side of the blog the main categories include Training Mean, Eating Clean and Inspiration. Since I'm easing myself back (ideally at least one post of each category a week) I'm doing one or two posts to help myself reach my end goal of being a blogger again!

So when I thought (lots of thoughts) on what to start with for my first real post I figured, "Might as well go with Training Mean!"

Working in the fitness industry the most common thing I see, well we all see, is that come New Years we are all gonna lose weight! Right?

Not gonna lie. . .

I'm one of them, I already admitted that I have gained 30 pounds last year. . . :-/

The bottom line is we all wanna feel better, be better, and let's be honest in our vanity, we wanna look good. However, what good is looking good if we don't feel good? (the purpose of my blog!) ;-)

But like I mentioned before I'm going to focus this post on Training Mean so we will look at the mental development of that.

Alright, so take out that journal or piece of scrap paper, and write your New Years Resolution for Fitness. You will use that for the next few steps that I think might help you keep on track. In the blogging world, this is what we call a set up for a Blog Series! For the next 4 weeks I will have posts focused on getting that Fitness Resolution to happen.

I guess if I am making you do this, I'll do it too. . .

My New Years Fitness Resolution is:

Now it is your turn! Share in the comments below or head on over to The STRONG Life Facebook Page to let me know. In fact, if you want to take a pic like I did, post it on the Facebook Page! One of the keys to success is accountability ya know!

Next week I'll cover the first step towards making sure you stick with it.

No go. Tell me. What is your New Year Fitness Resolution?

2-Week "Just Move" Challenge

When it comes to fitness the best way to keep up with a plan is to plan ahead for the pitfalls. With the holidays coming and family making tons of food or going out of town, it is easy to fall off your routine. Once that happens, it's even harder to get back on.

I am finding that now that I am a certified personal trainer, I stopped working out. It wasn't because I got the title but because of the timing of my life. I was able to make working out a part of my life on a daily basis without thinking about it for a whole year. I could have planned ahead for going out of town or for the holidays, but I didn't plan for divorce and moving and having to work to find employment and start up my dreams of running my own business.

I guess what I'm trying to show is that nobody is perfect. Not even someone who wants to make it a profession can be perfect with workouts. Are you struggling to keep up a routine or get back to a routine after falling off it like me? You aren't alone!

For me though, it isn't because I don't like it or don't have time or don't want to. It is because I got into a different routine that didn't include working out. Break one routine to get to another and you find yourself frustrated. However, I know that my routine of getting up, having a small breakfast, not eating all day, not exercising and then having a big dinner is only killing everything I worked hard for in the past year. I also know that it is dangerously close to gaining weight back.

So how do we bust our current bad habits to form the new good ones and make those a part of our routine? Well everyone responds differently to stimulus and change, but I'll share how I'm going to do it. It's the beginning of November! I should make this my month to get my routine back with or without a gym! I'm gonna call my strategy the "Just Move" Challenge!

Short cardio session boost (2 weeks) -
I'm going to (starting today) go for a 30 minute run everyday this week. I won't worry about weights, I won't worry about my diet, I'm just going to get my body back to moving. If I worry about anything else, I'm likely to stress about it. I do this for fun, so baby steps!
Next week (week 2) I'm going to alternate a 30 min run with a Bodyrock.tv session each day. Again just moving and then adding challenge. Like I said before, I'm not going to worry about anything else but just to get the cardio done.

Bring back the weight (2 weeks) -
The metal kind that is! After the 2 weeks of getting moving, I'll get back to my alternating of working out the upper body and lower body with cardio workouts. I wrote about that plan when I reviewed a booty workout that I wanted to try. I'll spend the last two weeks of November making that part of my routine again. (Assuming I haven't been hired anywhere and get a gym membership by then) Either way, I'm doing the cardio, adding my weight training but not changing anything of my diet just yet. Like I said, I just don't want to stress. (Of course this doesn't mean I'm going to eat like a pig!) 

This will bring us into December! I'm hoping by then workout is a part of my routine again on a daily basis and then I'm going to hone down on dropping my new bad eating habits I developed after my separation from my husband. :-/

Anyone in the same boat as me needing to develop or get back into a routine? How 'bout try my "just move" strategy with me! In fact, I challenge you to join me ;-)

Be sure to Like The STRONG Life on Facebook and let me know if you plan to join in! Let's keep tabs on each other. :-)

Homemade Booty

I fought back and forth with whether or not to share about my divorce, however, I knew I had to share because I couldn't continue blogging the way I had before when my blog had a focus on marriage. I put it out there and the response I got warmed my heart so much! This week is a rough week (I'm going to be signing divorce paperwork for filing this week) and hearing your supportive words was exactly what I needed to get through my day. I am actually on the road back up to the Florida Panhandle to get the rest of my things and to sign the paperwork. It is going to be a miserable trip since my biggest fear is that this would be the last time I see my husband ever again. . . :-(

But, let's not dwell on sad things! Fitness makes me happy and fulfills me so much so I am so excited to be able to share anything I learn or find with you. :-)

If there is a fitness website I am obsessed with it most definitely is FitnessRX for Women! I learn so much about fitness and clean eating along with learning new exercises and strategies for working out. I used to have access to the base gym for free when I lived with my husband. Now that I live with my parents, I live in an active town with many gyms, but, alas, I have no money yet (working on that!) to pay for membership. I'm sad that I don't have the equipment anymore to build muscle, but that doesn't mean I can't still tone and shape my body! I know it is a common issue women have of getting to a gym  so I am excited to be forced to workout at home for a while and get creative with it.

So of course, I found this article from FitnessRX titled Strong & Shapely Glutes: The Ultimate Butt Lift Program and automatically wanted to use it since my lower half is my number one goal to whip into shape. (Follow the link to the article and they also have a chart of the exercises you can print out)

Source: fitnessrxwomen.com via Melina on Pinterest

The workout can be done at home as it only calls for simple equipment:

Dumbbells

Stability Ball

Bench

A Mat if you are working out on a hard floor

Jump Rope

I say simple but I know maybe not all of this equipment is in your home. I personally don't have a bench and I left my stability ball back at my husband's house so I had to modify a bit.

This is what I use:

8 pound and 15 pound dumbbells (I'd recommend 3lbs & 8lbs or 5lbs & 10lbs whatever you can handle at doing 10 reps where the last two are hard)

A stable chair

Come to find out that my mom just bought a stability ball, but I'm going to stick with a chair for now. I'll explain in a bit. You can find details of the exercises and their explanations in the article. I'll share below my version of the plan.

Monday: Lower Body & Cardio
Tuesday: Upper Body/Abs & Cardio
Wednesday: Cardio
Thursday: Upper Body/Abs & Cardio
Friday: Lower Body & Cardio
Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: Rest

Lower Body Exercises as listed with a few mods:
~ I use my 15 pound dumbbells for all the leg exercises
~ 1-Leg Squat done with a sturdy chair instead of a bench or box
~ Rope Skipping done without a jump rope, I just mock the motion of jumping and moving my arms
~ Step-Ups done on a sturdy chair instead of a bench or step
~ It says for intermediate and advanced to do the circuit 2-3 times. I would say I am in shape with the exception that I started this after 3 1/2 weeks off of training. Starting this week, I could only do it twice and was sore for days. So if you are new to exercise, I would recommend 1 circuit if you want to try this. It really is a challenging workout!
~ I am also adding to the circuit since I felt that the workout does a good job working the glutes, quads, inner thighs and calves, but my hamstrings felt left out. I'll be adding this: Dumbbell Deadlift 15 reps followed by High Knees (just cuz I like those!)

Upper Body Exercises as listed with a few mods:
~ Seated Dumbbell Press done with the heavier weight and the Shoulder Sunrise Rotations & Side Lateral Raises done with the lighter weight. I use 8 and 15 pounds but as I said before, use what you can do for 10 reps of the exercise.
~ I know that my core isn't as strong for me to do the stability ball knee-ins, thanks to my loathing of ab exercises and therefore hardly doing them! So instead I planked with my legs elevated on the chair (extra challenge for the shoulders), beginners can just plank on your hands and feet on floor, and then bring each knee up towards your shoulder for a good core and oblique workout. The trade off in the exercise doesn't necessarily work the exact muscles but it still strengthens the core and I have a primary focus on my obliques anyway.
~ I do V-Ups on the floor since my chair has a back and gets in the way.
~ It says 1-3 reps of each exercise, I'd definitely shoot for 3.
~ I did all 3 reps of an exercise with a 1 minute rest period before moving on to the next exercise doing the same.

Cardio is pretty much my own thing:
~ Cardio on Lower Body days is a moderate intensity, steady state jog around the neighborhood for about 30 minutes.
~ Cardio on Upper Body days is the interval training as laid out by FitnessRX in the plan for running but outside instead of a treadmill since I don't have one (and I hate the treadmill anyway).
~ For the days that are just Cardio, I'll either do a moderate intensity 30 minute jog or a Bodyrock.tv workout depending on my mood or the weather.


Always know your limits and always listen to your body. Read the article for proper technique and be sure to ask me if you'd like a suggestion for an alternative exercise to one of the ones listed in the program or a modified version of an exercise to make it easier.

I plan to do this routine for the rest of October, maybe perhaps even through November with a different upper body/abs circuit. If you end up trying this workout, let me know what you thought of it! It's a toughie for sure!

Any programs you are doing this month? Do share because I love expanding my library of workouts to try out. :-) And be sure to Like The STRONG Life on Facebook to get more inspiration and fitness related findings that I only share on Facebook!

Running, Relationship Status: On a Break

I love running. I don't even think about the benefits or even how it makes me a better person when I do it. I don't do it for the amazing high afterwards when I am sweaty and proud to have done it (okay maybe that is part the reason why I do) but the real reason I do it is because it really is the best therapy I can have.

I haven't been my best, and I do proudly admit that I talk to someone to help me through my issues, but running, now, that is where the true healing of my soul lies! I can hardly believe I say that because I used to be the person who looked disgustingly at runners thinking, "Why would anyone want to do something that hurts so bad?!"

Source: etsy.com via Melina on Pinterest

Now I understand that the hurt, the effort, the will-power, is what fuels the runner. It's what fuels our souls. I was the girl who would say that I didn't believe in running and now I'm the girl who can't live without it. I remember I had a bit of a shin injury after a serious Zumba workout and I was devastated that I couldn't run. I was off of it for 2 months before getting back to it but by that time the lovely weather of Florida's humidity and heat has hindered my running progress. I can still run but running the 4 miles I used to be able to get to? Not happening!

So I've made the hard decision of not making running my main cardio anymore. At least not until the fall. And here are the reasons why, well, the reasons why I have to take a break from the boyfriend a.k.a. running that I just can't live without. . .

1. I started adding more H.I.I.T. workouts (high intensity interval training) in the form of BodyRock and other interval exercises to challenge my muscles more. Because of this, my shins are feeling more challenged during a run. 

2. H.I.I.T is better for fat burning without compromising the muscle building I am working hard to gain. (I have Bikini Competition dreams in my head) 

3. My weak area and my most unappealing area is my backside. I have decided I want to focus my training more on my booty. Thank goodness for the Booty Beautiful Series from FitnessRX! I have learned from the Booty Beautiful Program that running is not the proper cardio for booty building. I learned that I need to focus my efforts more towards stair-steppers, incline walking/running and plyometrics (which I get from H.I.I.T) All of these are cardio workouts that works the booty at the same time!

Running is still a great workout. If I hated it, it would be easy to be like, "Hell yea! No more running!" But it really hurts me to not run as my primary cardio. If it weren't for the humidity and heat of Florida, I would be all about running a 10K every weekend! I love running and it really does heal me.

So I'll be backing off running, but I will still meet up with my run once or twice a week. When you are a mess like me, you just have to hang on to the thing that helps you clear your head!

Are you finding a workout or exercise that you love but have to give up due to an injury or are you like me having to give up a workout or exercise you love just because it currently doesn't fit in your workout goals? Or just tell me how much you hate or love to run! :-)

For more on Fitness, Faith and Love, be sure to Like The Strong Life on Facebook! 

5 Ways to Break Free from the Scale

I'm sure we've all been there. We start working out, we start eating right, our clothes start to feel better, but the scale won't budge.

Then you've probably heard that because muscle mass is denser than fat but leaner, that it weighs more but you get smaller. That's where the measurements of your waist and hips and other places help in showing you that you are progressing.

But it still gets frustrating when you get on the scale and the number is the same or more. . .

I know the truths, I've read years of articles from my subscription to Self Magazine to hear the same things over and over. It still doesn't change how I feel!

This is the struggle I am having right now and while I know I am improving and can feel and see it in my body, the scale has gone up. I am going the right direction in my behavior, but I can't help but feel deflated when the scale is up 6.5 pounds from just 2 months ago.

Often you would hear me get on the scale and yell, "I give up!" (Though I know I'm not really going to give up!) But how will I ever reach my 10 pound loss goal this month if the scale won't budge!?

The scale is like that person in your life that knows you are becoming a better person, and encourages you sometimes along the way, but then sometimes, when you need it most, doesn't offer any encouragement. When that happens, we usually will seek out our more supportive friends and family in our life right?

Same goes for fitness.

When I feel defeated after getting on the scale, I find myself easily slipping into thinking what I could've done differently yesterday, or kicking myself for taking a bite of those peanut butter bites in my fridge. But then I have to quickly kick those negative thoughts to the curb and tell myself to forget yesterday. It's done. Focus on today and making good decisions today and believing that I'm headed the right direction no matter what the scale says.

Distract yourself. Feel empowered with encouraging yourself in other ways. Go seek out your other "friends"!

Here are the ways that I do it:

• Checking off workouts in my calendar

Really on top of it!

Though sometimes not...

• Putting on that goal outfit (in my case a cute dress) and making a mental note of what looks better and where it fits better.

• Noticing my improvements such as being able to do more weight on my barbell squat from the week before. Actually noticing the improvements and being proud of it!

• Looking at my "Before" photos (scary but it helps!)

• Telling myself that it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. I'm not going to see the results I dream of in a month. But in a year, I'm going to look fantastic! 

Source: east-coasting-it.tumblr.com via Melina on Pinterest

Eventually your grumpy scale friend will lighten up and encourage you again, you just gotta give that buddy some space!

In what ways do you feel prisoner to your scale? How much weight do you give it when it doesn't "tell" you what you wanna hear? What are ways you break free from the dreaded scale?

Share in the comments below or share on The STRONG Life's Facebook Page!

Yoga Mix - One

Since about February, I've been incorporating Yoga into my workout routine, but if you have seen my workout calendar for this month, it seems like I am biting off more than I can chew. Half way through this 2nd week of the first month of my 6 month plan, I'm finding that Yoga is taking a back seat to my cardio and weight training. I keep finding that putting in my 30 minute Yoga DVD isn't happening and I'm beginning to think that I like more just doing the Yoga exercises while my tv show is on, or while the food bakes in the oven.

I get that it probably defeats the breathing focusing and the meditation aspect of Yoga, but for my current fitness goals, it works for me. (using yoga for flexibility and balance) As far as the mind and spiritual aspect of Yoga, running does that for me! 

I love when I do a good stretch, and I feel so refreshed and not to mention accomplished when I can balance on one leg longer than my hubs can! lol. 

So to fit Yoga in where I just get up in the middle of the living room without setting a specific time aside or hogging up the tv with the DVD, or needing a time of peace and quiet where I can hear the video playing on my laptop or phone, I'm just going to have a set of moves I learn and do for the week. This is also just fun for me and I thought I'd share it with you! :-)

I found this app called, Pocket Yoga, that has this cute library of all the Yoga exercises. Each week I'm just going to scroll and press to pick out 6 exercises. This way I can expose myself to new moves and hopefully learn more since I'd love to teach it someday!

I'll be doing this specific routine for at least 2 days this week holding each pose for 5 deep breaths. I used the names from the list of Poses from the Pocket Yoga App, some of the poses are variations of the poses that I have linked to from Yoga Journal. The app is $2.99, free when I got it, so it bums me out to recommend a non-free app. However, it really does have a good pose library with really good descriptions. Of course you can always Google search these poses!

Yoga Mix One

1. Revolved Chair - lower back stretch
2. Gorilla (Big Toe Pose) - hamstrings, calves stretch
3. Mountain with Arms Up - strengthens thighs, knees, ankles
4. Supported Shoulder Stand - stretches shoulders and neck, tones legs, butt
5. Warrior Twist - opens chest, stretches pec minor
6. Seated Forward Bend - Stretches spine, shoulders, hamstrings

Be sure to Like The Strong Life on Facebook for more on fitness, faith and love! Until next week's Yoga Mix, have fun!

LiveFit Inspired Plan

Source: bodybuilding.com via Melina on Pinterest

I was so excited to start Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer back in April and I did awesome going to the gym everyday according to the plan until I hit Phase 2. That and the hubs stopped going with me to the gym so I had to adjust the exercises to ones I am more comfortable with thanks to my lack of confidence in the gym. It is also the military base gym so it is always packed with military dudes and not many women in the weight machine area.

I didn't stop going but I ended up just following the plan with my own modifications (different machines or exercises for certain muscles). I also find it to be a problem to do supersets with some of the machines because our gym is small with basically one of everything you need. However, that means hogging up two machines to superset makes me feel bad.

Maybe as I go further along in my own 6 months workout plan, which incorporates Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the LiveFit Trainer, I will have to get myself to the gym in the wee hours of the morning to actually do the exercises exactly as they are outlined in the plan. For now, Weeks 5-6 of Phase 2 are the basis for which I base my June workout plan on.

This is my June workout plan! It also incorporates Bodyrock and Yoga just because I love doing those things and I don't want to not do them. Call me crazy but I don't have a job and it is bikini season and I need to drop the last 10 pounds to reach my goal weight! (That and I have a crazy idea of maybe going to a competition at the end of the year!)