It's the Little Things in Life

Well, I can say that I hit my 12-minute goal today but it wasn't quite the accomplishment it could have been. Got to Planet today and embarked on my running routine, starting with the usual 2-minute warm-up before moving into a jog. Around the 8 minute mark though some awful side cramps set in. Now, I always hear people saying "push through it" but that method has never worked for me...I don't respond well to torture haha. So, I managed to get in another 2 minutes of running after a 3 minute walking break but that was it, the tummy was just not having it tonight.

So, after feeling like I at least gave it my best shot, I ventured upstairs to do shoulders. Man was the weight room packed tonight! And despite that fact, there wasn't much to look at for motivation haha...
Today's routine consisted of 3 sets of 8 arnold curls (one of my favs because it really makes your shoulders and biceps bulge while in position so I always feel really strong while doing it!), 2 sets of chin-ups (the cheating kind where you can adjust your weight so you aren't doing your full body weight; something I would only do in the "judgement free zone" haha), 2 sets each of 8 front shoulder raises and 8 latteral shoulder raises, and finally 3 sets of 8 reps on the lap pulldown machine.

Ready to go back downstairs to finish with abs, the guilt of not hitting my 12 minute goal set-in. So, seeing that the stretching area was rediculously crowded, I decided to get in those last 2 minutes. I grabbed a treadmill in the last row and to my delight, there were built-in fans! Ahhh running didn't seem so bad with two fans blowing cool sweet air in my face...okay, so more sweat smelling than sweet but it's the little things in life that mean the most!

Finally I ventured back over to the stretching area and decided it had been a few too many days since I did my all-time-favorite ab workout, so I grabbed a bench, a stability ball, and a 7.5 lb. freeweight for 3 sets of 8 leg lifts. Basically, you sit on the ball with the bench behind you and place the weight a few feet in front of you. Then bend backward so you grab the bench behind you. Lastly, grab the weight with your feet (really tight so you don't drop it on your head and crack your skull!) and lift your legs perpendicular to your torso. Then, bring them back down so your body is parallel to the floor but not any further (that's where you really feel the squeeze!). It's a bit hard to explain so I'll be posting some pics at some point in the future but I swear, no ab workout has ever shredded my abs like this one!

Lastly, I ended with some simple balancing bench crunches (3 sets of 12), some ham/glute/quad stretches on the mats and I was out the door. Okay, so after today's attempt I am not going to guarantee that I'll make it to 14 minutes tomorrow but we'll see. Maybe I'll plop myself next to a hottie so I feel compelled to "push through it"...