Upperbody Strength: My Circus Obession

Hola fit friends,

I think I've said it before but I am obsessed with all things Circus related. I had planned to re-enroll in circus aerials by now, however I'm waiting until April for my friend, Mary, to catch up to my level. So I'm in a little bit of circus withdrawal.  Fortunately, April is JUST around the corner and I'm gearing up to get in shape for Aerials.  Which means, that I need to stop slacking on upper body days.  Last time I talked about upper body strength, I focused primarily on biceps.  But obviously, you need more than strong arms to balance yourself on someone's forehead. You know... if you're into that sort of thing! ;)

Admittedly this is hand balancing and not aerials, but its still requires a level of strength, balance and grace that I don't have... YET!  Not to mention, I would love to one day take a photo like this.  Although, I know for a fact, that RR will not let me even attempt to balance myself on his forehead, ever.  Yes, I know this because I asked him, LOL.  Fortunately, balancing on one of his shoulders isn't currently out of the question! So in preparation, I'm working on my handstands.  A few months back RR found the picture on the left, and sent it to me as a challenge. His exact words may or may not have been betcha can't do this! After a quick test to see whether or not I could do it, I dragged RR into one of the empty rooms at the gym and made him snap the picture on the right.

I then posted this photo on my facebook page with the caption, "The Challenge and The Victory" (or something cheesy like that).  The very next day the Alvin Ailey facebook page posted the picture below, which I've decided to take as a personal challenge from Alvin Ailey to me. LOL.

I'm clearly not ready yet, but I'm working on it.  If I can do this, I can probably strike this same pose on RR's shoulder, provided he stays VERY still.  So in preparation, I'm working on my splits and flexibility, but more importantly working on my core, shoulders, lats and back muscles in addition to the standard bicep and tricep work. But first things first, I can't hold a handstand (without a wall for support) for more than 3-4 seconds.  I need more control! To help me get ready to accept my Alvin Ailey Challenge, I'm currently working on these.

Yep, I can do these! :)

 I did about 3 of these yesterday.  One to make sure I could do it without falling on my face, the one RR recorded for me (above), and then one at the end of ballet class, because my ballet, circus and boot camp buddy, Mary, simply couldn't envision my verbal explanation.  I'm rather proud of myself for being able to do 3 of them, after a full shoulder and laterals workout last night.  I think I'm going to try my hardest to do 10 of these a day.  I think it'll also help with my pull up goal. I want to be able to do 5 pull ups in a row by the end of April, I can currently do 3.5.  (feel free to hold me accountable fit friends!)

 I stumbled across this video, its occasionally a little awkward, but overall I think its got a lot of good pointers for learning how to do a handstand.




Also as a bonus, and to further emphasize my love of all things circus, here's the video I forgot to post about my flying trapeze experience!  I think this was my 1st run, I don't know if my SIL or Brother have video of my 2nd run which I think/hope was a little better. (hint, hint Ms. Jackson! You should share all of your videos and photos from this trip!)  I don't really like the way I flop around when I bring my legs back down.  Dah well. Enjoy!

Keeping life challenging,
Candydiva04

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Form and Function: Upper body strength

A few months back Livingsocial made me a deal, that I just couldn't refuse, a 2.5hr class consisting of Flying Trapeze, Silks and Trampoline, topped off with a cupcake tasting at the Trapeze School of New York- Washington, DC.  That is like my perfect evening!!!  So I signed up, so did my sister in law, Miekspeak, and my friend and fellow blogger, CO.  After months of anticipation, we ran off to join the circus yesterday. 

Ready!

I LOVED it; I believe Miekspeak and CO enjoyed… parts of it.  LOL.  Apparently, after climbing the ladder of death, they spent some time on the flying trapeze platform cursing me for suggesting they join me on my circus adventure.  I know this because when I climbed up the 2^nd time and the new guy asked my name, he said something to the effect of “OH!! YOU’RE Candydiva04, your friends are loving you right now!”  We had a brief chat about my circus interests and why I was there, and then I was off soaring through the air again.

Ecstatic!

From a fitness perspective, these activities require a ton of upper body strength, and I was reminded that women in general lack the upper body strength of our male counterparts.  The guy in the background of the photo above us, looks skinny but easily has more upper body strength than the 3 of us combined.  Believe me; I know building upper body strength isn't fun, or even sexy, but I think the ability to support your body weight is important.  Not just for “extreme” activities like Rock Climbing and Aerials, but upper body strength is great for general fitness, and every day activities like lifting heavy objects, opening jars, carrying heavy purses, or bags of groceries.  Before I started lifting my “shoulders” (I now know this muscle group to be my traps) were always sore, I mean ALWAYS! A few months ago, I realized that for the past year, unless they were sore from a good workout, my traps no longer hurt, likewise with my lower back.  

Don't be this guy!

 After all, how many of us have chuckled at cartoons or gifs depicting men with a HUGE muscular upper body and little scrawny legs, mocking the fact that most guys don’t work out their lower body.  It looks funny, but if we don’t work on the muscles above our abdomens, we’re essentially doing the same thing!  Ladies, we gotta do better!!  So grab some dumbells and come join Michelle Obama and I at the gun show!

For those of you new to lifting or unsure where to start here's a little video from fitsugar.com with some great arm workouts, to help get you started.

Armed and dangerous,

Candydiva04

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I took on the Circus and I won!

The Circus is in town!!!  (It might be, I don't really know)  But for me this means I'm getting back in to Circus Aerials classes.  I took a break because the school is simply too far for me to attempt the commute in these Northeast winters.  However, I've decided the worst of it is over (I hope I'm right) and attended a Aerials workshop last night, so I could figure out what level I am currently.  The workshop is very basic, its an introductory course for anyone thinking about trying aerials, so we didn't do anything too strenuous  we climbed, we inverted (on the ground *sad face*), I did get to do this a few feet off the mat (no these photos are not of me, I need to kidnap a friend and a camera so I can have more photos of me and my repertoire of tricks)

and an upside down descent which made me happy.  Oddly enough the nasty rope burn I got doing this last summer, hasn't ruined my love for this move. 

Imagine her sliding down to the floor like this... upside down descent

Then we moved to the static trapeze and practiced pike-ups (i forget the real name for it is, it might be rock and roll, but for today I'm going to call them pike-ups), 

side star

 birds nest,

 standing on the trapeze, then front and back arabesque, 

front arabesque, the back is the same thing except you lean backwards instead of leaning forwards, like she's doing)

Then finally a Star

After this we moved over to silks, where i got to do some climbing, a foot-lock and another upside down descent, while some of the other other girls hammock-ed and did spins.

Today my traps and delts are sore, and its a good feeling.  A long time ago I reached the oddball gym rat stage where I love it when I'm sore.  I'm happiest with my workouts when I'm sore afterwards because it makes me feel like I actually did something, and am one step closer to my achieving my goals.  So everytime I stretch, reach for something, or try to fix my hair, I get a little tingle that lets me know, I waged a war with Trapeze, Corde De Lisse and Silks, last night and I won!! Next weekend, I'm taking a field trip to DC where I plan to add flying trapeze to the equation. Considering I've recruited a few friennds in the form of Miekspeak and CO from FFF.  I'm really looking forward to this trip!!

Until Next Time,

Candydiva04

PS- Any (real life) friends in or near Philly who want to spend an hour watching my class and taking pics/video of me? That way next time I post about Aerials I can have actual photos of ME!!!! And I'm pretty awesome to watch, I'm just saying! lol

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We found a gym!!

After hitting what seemed like every gym in the area (which it probably was!) we FINALLY settled on Gym number 2. The body builder gym!!  Its not 24 hours and I hate the locker room, but its really the best gym for us. Are you surprised? 'Cause you shouldn't be!

In other news, RR has decide this will be a cardio week for both of us. (WOOHOO!!) I was actually really sick of lifting.  I'm pretty sure that means my workout needs some changes, or else I need to get back into aerials ASAP, but it JUST.KEEPS.SNOWING!!!! UGH!!  So no aerials just yet for me.   :(  But I intend to make the most of this cardio week, so that hopefully when its over, I'll be sick of cardio! (yea right!)

So in other news, I've finally decided, after pigging out yesterday because it was Superbowl Sunday, that I'm going to buckle down and get back on track with my diet.  I've started logging my food on Myfitnesspal.com, if you're on there feel free to add me, I'm (obviously) Candydiva04!  My meals are open so you can see what I'm eating, good or bad.  But hopefully all good from now on.  I'm also going to start wearing my fitbit again.

What the Fitbit Ultra should look like

What my Fitbit looks like

I've thoroughly beaten mine up, as you can see... (and clearly need to cut my nails, YIKES!)  I had previously said I was going to get another tracker for the winter, but since I didn't and Fitbit released a new device that I can sync to my phone,  I might upgrade to the new Fitbit One or Flex.  We'll see.

Fitbit Flex

   

Fitbit One

In other news, I made a pizza for Superbowl Sunday. We typically, use whole wheat tortillas or those flat sandwich bread thingees (who's name has clearly escaped me, as evidenced by the fact that I called it a thingee), to make pizza.  However, I've been CRAVING real doughy pizza.  So I dusted off my bread machine, used the following dough recipe, and made a whole wheat crust. We topped it with tomato paste, some leftover baked chicken, turkey pepperoni and fat free cheese. It was delicious!

Bread Machine Pizza Dough With Whole Wheat Flour
http://www.food.com/recipe/bread-machine-pizza-dough-with-whole-wheat-flour-137143

1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons yeast
Directions:

1.  Add ingredients in the order given into the bread machine pan. (my bread machine recommends that, I add the dry ingredients first, so I did that, however I did reserve the yeast for last)
2.  Start dough cycle. (On my machine this took 1.5 hours).
3.  Once the dough is done remove it from the pan onto a floured work surface.
4. Roll dough to fit the shape of your pan. This recipe makes two 14 inch round pizzas.
5. Brush lightly with olive oil and add toppings. You can hold this dough, with just the olive oil, for a couple of hours in the fridge covered in plastic wrap.
6. Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.


Until next time, 

Candydiva04

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Fitness Alternatives part 1

I can't be the only one who gets bored in the gym? I can only do so many bicep curls or squats before I start thinking isn't there a better way to get fit without doing this!?!?!?  By now I know the answer, more or less, is not really.  At least not for the type of results I want.  


So to help combat that boredom, I've been exploring alternative workout options for the past year or so and listed below are some of my favorites. As this is a never ending pursit with me, I'll keep chronicaling them for you all.  I should probably point out that the goal here is to supplement my current workouts not replace them, although RR will tell you I occasionally get that backwards....  So the most recent supplemental exercise was a boot camp class that I found on Groupon.com.  

1. Fit Body Boot Camp  -     An hour-long, high intensity workout.  This particular boot camp was very much like doing an Insanity with a group of friends, in a gym.  Which I prefer to the actual Insanity workouts.  When I do workout videos, I generally get tired or fatigued and either sit down and watch them, or meander into the kitchen for a glass of water, and then stand in the doorway to kitchen watching the video.  In class, there's an actual person, who will get in my face (in a nice way) and motivate me to keep going.  Apparently, if done correctly, I can expect to burn about 1,000 calories during the hour, with a good amount of after burn.  The workout is mostly things like burpees, planks, sprints,squats, etc.  but done in short bursts, with even shorter breaks in between, which IMO made it a great cardio workout.  So far I don't feel sore, I feel really good, however  I did feel like I ran a marathon afterwards.  The next day my lats my were sore, but that was the only soreness I experienced. 

2. Circus Aerials - Hands down my favorite workout, its a AMAZING full body workout.  However, its also a *GREAT* and girlie way to develop upper body strength.  I took an 8 week session of classes last summer, thinking "I lift 5 days a week, this will be cake!"  I soon realized that my current workout had some serious holes in it, and knew that if I didn't start to address those holes, I'd not only continue being insanely sore, but also not be able to do all the cool tricks I wanted to do.  Unfortunately, the only place near Delaware that teaches Circus Aerials is about an hour and a half from me and that's not a commute I want to make during the winter, so this is currently a spring-fall workout for me... well obsession is probably a better word for it.  I am obsessed with Aerials, and recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and unique workout that will actually help you to get stronger.

3. Ballet - inspired by my love of Circus Aerials.  The good Aerialists look like ballerinas who've learned to defy the laws of gravity.  So in the interest of being a better aerialist when I begin classes again, I've begun taking ballet classes.  So far ballet has never made me sore, or even feel like I'm getting a serious workout, but I'm pretty sure, my legs are starting to look better and more defined.  Either that or running around in tights and a leotard has made me more comfortable with my body, especially my legs.  Before ballet class, I was staunchly anti-tights and leggings unless I was going to Ballet or Aerials.  Then I started wearing leggings to workout, now I've started wearing them out in the world as part of an outfit.  I'm clearly  starting to enjoy the way I look in and out of clothes.   

I've found that now that I'm starting to like the way I look,  I  take more pride in how I look. During the "fat" years,  I found that I focused a lot on just my hair and shoes, everything in between kinda got left up to chance.  Now,  I've started painting my nails again, accessorizing, and putting more time and thought into wearing a COMPLETE (head to toe) look, which occasionally includes leggings, lol.  But I've noticed similar changes in some of the my colleagues at the gym.  Everyone starts off working out in baggy (sometimes ratty) sweats and t-shirts,  and as they lose weight their work out clothes become nicer, more fitted, and better coordinated.

Besides lifting and cardio what other activities do you do? Also, have you noticed that you pay more attention to your appearance as you begin (and hopefully continue)  to make progress, or is that just me?
Fighting the war on boredom, one activity at a time,

Candydiva04

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