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

Read more »

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

Read more »

Balancing Act

I recently did a “strange” thing, which isn’t really that strange if you know me, but if you’re a stranger reading this blog it is. I started a bakery. Almost a decade ago, someone asked me in an interview what my passion is? It took me several more years before I figured out that I was passionate about baking. Nothing brings me more peace or happiness than the art of creating something by hand that other people eat and enjoy. Even more so when, my baked goods are able to enhance someone’s special occasion, I would love to enhance my skillset to the point where I can do Wedding Cakes. Anyways, after years of people telling me I could and should sell my confections and me balking at it because I didn’t want the necessity of it to suck the fun out of it. However, I recently realized that as long as I don’t quit my day job, I really don’t have much to lose because if it starts sucking the fun out of baking for me, I can stop and go back to baking for leisure.

However, I would love, Love, LOVE for this business to be successful enough for me to open a storefront. Ideally, I’d open a bakery/coffee shop, maybe next to my RR and his brother’s auto boutique so that people waiting on their cars can eat, drink and hang out. But either way, it works out, it’s a dream I’d love to see come to fruition.

Why am I babbling about my bakery and love of baking on a fitness blog? Because eating test cakes and spoonful of batter to make sure the ingredients I occasionally add all willy nilly, actually make the batter taste the way I want it to, are KILLING my weight loss goals. I made some serious progress the week before I officially launched my bakery, now that it’s up & running, and I have a few orders and requests. I bake almost every day, and in the past week I’ve gained 3-4lbs. I also took 5 days off from the gym to hang out with a friend who was in town, but I’m wondering how I’m going to align my work out goals with the career goals associated with my 9-5, and the career goals associated with my new bakery. It might require me to start doing 2 a days, maybe some morning yoga while RR showers, and then my standard evening workout… and a few weekend work outs… I don’t know. But I’m going to have to find a way to make it work!

Today’s weigh in – 142.2

Read more »