Start/Week 3 day 1

Squat jumps – 27/32

Push ups (modified) – 22/28

Burpees – 13/15

High knees – 38/62

Switch lunges -22/32

Tuck jumps – 19/26

Straight abs– 13/22

I have been posting daily updates on my Facebook page. I thought I would post them here in one spot as well.

Jan 16

Did hot yoga this am and completed day two of challenge. Day 2 routine was insane. Holy aching muscles batman.I did all 12 modified sans sand bag half way through I questioned my sanity signing up to do this but it was just 12 min some I just got through once man my hip flexors are sore! Felt good though. Will be curious if 12 minutes enough.

Jan 17

Ok today’s workout was pretty tough to follow especially not having the balls or bag. Pretty upper body focused but good. I had a hard time with the jumping out to side knee elbow tuck jump one. It did wear me out though. Want to take a nap. Lol.

400 reps took me – 8:52 Did Sean’s routine in 12:43. My hip flexors were absolutely screaming from the high knees, it took everything in my might to get my knees up for the last 75. OMG. Then the half burpees I really hate those. LOL.

Jan 18

Body rock day 4. Holy Hannah drying my hair this morning was not fun. My whole body is sore but it feels good!

Jan 19-REST

Jan 20

Day 5 this morning. Yowzers my hip flexors were screaming after the 400′s and those half burpees/rows from Sean are soooo bad and yet so good.
If you are looking for a super quick-easy to do at home kick butt workout you should try the 30 day bodyrock challenge

Jan 21- REST

Jan 22-REST

Jan 23

Week 2 Day 1 at the gym. Kicked my butt! Not sure if it was the jump rope at the gym or that I am a dork-but skipping rope for 50 jumps proved to be a challenge- do you land on same foot each time? Then I tried double feet no landing in between-could do maybe 10-15 before tripping on rope. Yup-there were people at the gym and I felt a bit embarrassed but chose to risk feeling like a dork and kept doing the jump rope intervals anyway. Something about BodyRock makes me want to succeed at work out more than care how dorky I look. Sean makes the pushups using ball and only one leg look like a reasonable exercise but I had to do knees down on ground pushups because my arms were shaking so much. When I got to the close diamond pushups I could only do 6 of the 15. Was great workout! Feel sore but good.

Jan 24

Week 2 day 2. pike pushups are insane. Thank goodness the workout was only 12 minutes. I have been feeling so flat out lethargic- not sure if it is the overcast days- not drinking enough water- or my body adjusting to these workouts or that I am getting sick. I am just getting sick of feeling this way. Ughh.I did day 2 tonight. Man those jack presses were nearly possible had a tough time with exercises tonight. I feel so sore. I know I will be better at pushups by the end of the thirty days. Hope I am pushing myself enough.

Jan 25

Did week 2 day 3 today. I used the medicine ball instead of the sandbag for some- curl bar for a few others, for Sean’s lunges I used a 15 pound dumbbell instead. Used the assisted pull up machine instead of the dip station. Only problem is I can’t do the switch lunges-it’s like my body can’t register how to do them or my legs are too tired. Took me 18min 10 seconds to complete Sean’s workout. Those jump squats were torturous-I think I lost count the second time through. Great workout though.

Jan 26

My neck hurt on those 5 star sit ups. Were we supposed to go to full sit up? I still have hard time counting reps when following routine. Too much for my brain to absorb at once. LOL. I did the press up and squat jump up to the step in basement-not nearly as high as a trunk. The sit back I used Trey’s little tyke table and two 5 pound weights held in front of me- didn’t jump too high but on last round really felt my neck was aching. Tap jumps-used stair- at first I felt like my ankles were going to crack in half-it hurt then I just tapped instead of jumping up onto step completely then did mountain climbs. I did count the last round and I did 7 press up burpee (felt like same as did first two rounds-lame), 24 star sit ups (first round was 17 second was 18, Sit back on chair-no clue lol-probably like 9 maybe 10, tap jumps/mountain climb- I did 10 each for 5 rounds I think. My butt hurts.

Jan 27

Week 2 day 4 – I started doing workouts in the morning then it moved to afternoons/evenings. This is why I am posting on the day prior. Yesterday was pretty simple workout – 4 combo exercises 3 times through. I like the variety. Just jumped up on step-didn’t have a high trunk and don’t think I could have made it onto one if I did. The sit back/press up jumps were killer. My neck was a bit achey after the triangle abs but overall it was a great workout. I don’t think it is my imagination…I swear my body is really changing-especially my glutes. So happy about this! So glad I kept up with the routine even through those few days of feeling completely worn out.

Jan 28

Can barely type my biceps are in spasm.
Trey had a playdate after school and then we went to friends for dinner last night so I skipped Friday and did week 2 day 5 this evening. 600″s are killer but I liked that there was only one set each exercise. I love that these workouts are same basic exercises with slight modifications and a total different routine every day. A part of me is starting to look forward to the workouts. Part of me. LOL. High knees are really hard-wasn’t sure how to count so I counted both knees up as 1. Couldn’t hold weights for lunge kicks-had to use my arms for balance. Same with squats used weight for first 15 then had to put down weights. Can’t believe how hard the abs are for me still. Did routine in 18:20. The bicep curls- got 88 in 3 min then the rows-my biceps were screaming – only got 81 in 3 minutes with lots of grunting and swearing.

Jan 29 – REST

Jan 30

Fit test was harder than I thought.

Switch lunges were easier using my arms-swinging. If that makes sense. LOL. I used my steps for the press and dips. For 21′s I did straight push ups without legs, the close grip I got barely 3-4 and the diamond ones- maybe one-they are impossible so I did reg pushups. Didn’t record amounts.

I asked Amber to share a bit about her background and how she came to practicing Ayurveda. She will be sharing her first official post in the next week or so. Feel free to post any questions you have  for her here in the comments or over on her blog.

Looking back it was inevitable really, my path to take. Raised on real food, without dairy, white flour or sugar I’ve been fascinated with foods’ affect on the body for most of my life. First I rebelled against my upbringing eating sweets and processed foods acknowledging how awful it made me feel but continuing anyway. When this got old I returned to what I knew worked for me and then began experimenting further. I eliminated foods, tweaked when I ate, incorporated herbs and natural supplements for any ailment I might have looking for a more natural cure and I soaked up as much knowledge as I could.

Knowing there are so many different schools of thought and views on nutrition I’ve just pulled what works for me from what I’ve learned. Then one day it became apparent that I needed to share this fascination, this love of health, food, nutrients, well-being and I heeded the call. The idea of researching, learning, writing, sharing, consulting and advising on a topic I was so captivated with full time was truly a dream come true. And so it is.

After missing out on another opportunity I happen to enroll in a mini course on Ayurveda Nutrition in New York City. Ayurveda which translates as the science of life is a study of self-healing from India known to be over 5000 years old. As I listened to the teacher it quickly became clear that this is where I was meant to be, what I was meant to share. Simply put, my teacher explained that Ayurveda teaches to know the individual and their specific needs and then adjust according to the seasons. Just like in nature what we need to be healthy in the humidity and heat of summer will differ than what we need in the cold dark days of winter. Ayurveda found me, it has changed me and I feel blessed to be following this path.

Being a small business owner, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer. Over the past couple years I have noticed my posture has become somewhat hunched and my back has started to hurt at times.  Turning 40 this month felt like a real wake up call. There are a lot of back problems and arthritis in my family and I know that women over 40 have to work hard to maintain muscle and bone strength. In my twenties I did strrength training at the gym about 3 days a week. After I started teaching full time, I stopped going to the gym regularly. I have since struggled with getting into a regular exercise routine.

Last year when I heard about Crossfit from Deb Schwedhelm, I thought it looked pretty awesome and I was excited to give it a try. When I looked into it I found that it required $150 or more a month and the class availability wasn’t ideal for me, so instead of Crossfit I tried the Shred DVD, then running, and a last ditch effort on some random DVD’s…but nothing really stuck.

Last September Terry and I decided we really needed to start a regular exercise routine. Both Terry and Trey play tennis and are members at a local center that has a gym. It seemed to make the most sense for me to join as well, so that we could take advantage of the free child care and maybe even have Trey take a tennis class while we work out. We found a groove that works pretty well for us as a family. Trey and I meet Terry after he gets out of work twice a week. One of those days Trey takes a tennis class and on the second day he plays in the child center. Our workout time is limited though because we need to get home eat dinner and get Trey to bed for school the next day.

In October I also started doing a 30 Day Yoga Challenge. I really enjoyed the class and it reinforced that yoga is great for my mind and body. Despite it feeling good,  I fell out of the daily routine during the holiday season. This past Monday I headed over to The Yoga Spa, with my friend Amber, for a great hot yoga class. I will definitely try to make it to at least one hot yoga there each week, and hope to incorporate the 15 minutes routine from my 30 day yoga class, before bed each night.

Having just turned 40 this month, I find myself longing for increased strength and stamina. I need and want a challenging workout. I know that hot yoga will challenge my mind and my flexibility, as well as improve my strength but I feel like I need something else. I try to challenge myself with compound exercises at the gym and have seen a change in my body, but it is tough to keep up the intensity when I design my own workout.

There are three things I need to motivate me to try my best (I can be pretty lazy):

1. An instructor that has a lean and toned body. I am visual and need visual motivation.

2. A workout that is challenging enough that I can believe it is the primary workout of the instructor-again I have to believe that I will see my level of fitness (body) change as a result.

3. A workout that can be modified as my level of ability progresses. This ties into #2. I want the instructor to be working their butt off too. Clearly if they are breaking a sweat and are out of breath, I will not be able to do that level, but if I can do a modified version, then I know I can progress and won’t outgrow the workout.

4. The instructor can’t be annoying. When I am exerting myself physically I can get easily annoyed by strange things.

I think I found a workout that fits this criteria in  BODYROCK.

This is why it excites me.

1. It seems very similar to crossfit in that it doesn’t require much fancy equipment, it focuses on compound exercises and it will make you strong.

2. The instructors have amazing bodies. I am fully aware that I will never look like them but…it is motivating to me all the same.

3. It is free!

4. They show you how to do the exercises in a video but you only watch the video to understand the exercises, you don’t watch them while doing your own. Instead they give you a list of the exercises, and the timing to use. Then, you do as many reps as you can in the given time. This means it’s impossible to get annoyed with the instructors. I think watching the video will hopefully be motivation enough.

5. The instructors are completely out of breath and sweating when they do the routine exercises. It is sooooo motivating! I completely buy that I can change my body by doing the workout. (For years I worked at a gym and worked out regularly but didn’t see the changes in my body that I wanted because I struggled with my diet. I started a pretty extreme food plan about 3 years ago – I completely eliminated all flour and refined sugars and follow strict portion sizes. I don’t prescribe this for everyone, it just works for me. As a result of this change in diet, I have been able to maintain a 40 pound weight loss for almost three years. )

6. I can do it in my basement.

7. It looks like the workouts are all less than 20 minutes! One of my close friends has been doing just 20 minutes a day of intense exercise and her body has totally changed (yes Jess I am talking about you-you motivate me girl). This in combination with #5 has me sold that these workouts could get me strong and fit.

So today I started the 30 day BODYROCK challenge. The thing that scares me the most is being so sore that I won’t want to do the exercise the next day. I am a big baby when it comes to pain. If you have any suggestions on how to work through this part please leave a comment below.

The first workout is a fitness test. It takes 7 minutes. I don’t have the handy dandy timer they use, so I googled timer and used my laptop.

You are supposed to do as many of each exercise for 50 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds while recording your reps. I set the online timer for 50 seconds and then counted to ten and reset. I put on a workout track on 8 track Handcrafted internet radio (totally better than Pandora in my opinion) and did my best. In thirty days I will repeat the test and see how much I have improved.

Starting fitness level -

Squat jumps – 27

Push ups (modified) – 22

Burpees – 13

High knees – (I counted both legs for 1- on my 4th one I thought my ankle was going to crack- focused on landing on heels and it was much better) – 38

Switch lunges – (thank goodness no one was in the basement watching me do these- wow- I kept switching from jumping lunges to slow grandma lunges) -22

Tuck jumps – 19

Straight abs (my weakest area) – 13

I took a before picture this morning but my husband didn’t want me posting it. I will take a less revealing one tomorrow and share it at the end of the 30 days.

I had just finished my yummy lunch and decided now was the time. I had my favorite pen, my journal and a prompt. This self portrait is of the moment before I started the timer for 15 minutes of writing.

I have a complicated relationship with writing. It can feel burdensome, restrictive and time consuming to sit down and type an email or a blog post. My thoughts move around and shift from topic to topic in a sequence that makes sense to me but that sounds scattered when I read back what I have written. I despise the idea of being misunderstood, so I spend time editing and splicing, and so the story goes…writing takes too much time.

I photographed a writer a couple weeks ago that I have admired a long time. She recommended a book called Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within.
After reading the first couple chapters, I decided to follow the first prompt: Sit down and write freely with no contraints other than writing for a set amount of time. It felt really good to just write, without the pressure to communicate my thoughts clearly. It opened me up a bit to the idea that writing doesn’t have to be so constrained.

I cannot believe I am going to be 40 Jan 4th. I am just astounded. I don’t feel 40, yet I am proud to be turning 40. It will warrant a lot of reflection.

It is a dream come true to be teaching along side such talented artists at Squam.

For each of the past 4 years, I have come home feeling inspired and further along my creative journey. The location, the teachers, the classes, all the courageous attendees who create the possibility for themselves to attend, and most of all the visionary behind it all-Elizabeth-make any session a life changing retreat. Sharing what is closest to my heart- my photographic process is sure to be the icing on the cake.

I have poured my heart into creating a class where you can safely explore seeing and the act of being seen. I have been dreaming of working with a group of creative souls to share this process with, and I couldn’t think of a more magical place to do this than at Squam.

I would love for you to join me on an adventure of connecting to your inner light and radiance. To journey with me on the unfolding that occurs in front of the camera when we are truly seen and celebrated.

Head on over to the gorgeous new website to see all the yumminess there is being offered.

Registration begins January 9th!

I hope I have the chance to see you step in to your light and capture it with my camera.

xo

Thea

I will be teaching one day and offering a limited number of individual Spirit Sessions, at a special rate for Squam attendees, on the other days.

More details will be sent in my newsletter.