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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Lord Jesus its a Gut!: Ain't nobody got time for that!

So I have a confession, I've been on a junk food bender since mid December. I guess this isn't really news if you've been reading my blog.  However, what might be shocking is the denial I've been in.  I didn't think it was catching up to me, or else I deluded myself into thinking I could out exercise my bad diet.  That was until I saw this...

Every now and again RR will record me so that I can see my form (whether its good or bad), because when you're lifting especially when you're lifting heavy good form is important.  He wanted me to look at my form but all I see in that video is my gut.  It just plays in slow motion in my head.  It gave me nightmares last night. (ok now I'm just being dramatic) But I went from this

          and this   

to that. Its upsetting because it means I've undone a lot of hard work for some junk I don't even remember eating. But fortunately its the kick in the pants I needed to finally do the 2 things I've been talking about doing but not really doing.  The first and most important is to actually fix this sloppy diet of mine, and the second is to do more cardio.

You might be wondering why I'm not planning to rush out and do a bunch of sit ups, or posting an ab day workout.  Its not because I'm holding out on your guys, (I swear!) its because I don't really do abs.  I have good core strength and I do, do ab workouts.  

The secret to a flat tummy/6 pack abs is really a 2.5-3 step process.  

Step 1: Build Core Strength (BKA- Muscle)

I personally, already have step one (more or less) taken care of.  When I was in high school, I fell in love with Tammy Lee Web's Abs of Steel video. (Did I just age myself there?)

Image source

I did it EVERY night, until I reached the point where I could do all 3 sections in a row.  I still have the VHS and bought DVD of it last summer when I needed more ab strength for Aerials.  I still do it every now and again, but not like I used to.  If you don't have much core strength I strongly encourage you to get Abs of Steel DVD or just follow along with this youtube video until it gets easy, then get the DVD and start doing the other sections. Its old, its basic, her outfits/music/hair are cheesy but IT WORKS!  Trust me!

Step 2. Burn fat  

Since I already have the muscle, I want to burn the fat sitting on top of it. The trick to that is to

       2a. Limit my intake of fatty sugary foods that will only turn into more fat, and 

       2b.  Cardio to burn off the fat that's already there. 

Fixing your diet really should be a step all on its own, since its the most important and will yield the most dramatic results but since I'm feeling lazy we're going to call it a half a step. Let the uphill battle begin!

On the straight and narrow,

Candydiva04

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