FITMOM Ottawa Motivated Mondays - Challenge 8

Welcome to the start of another great week! One that I'm REALLY looking forward to. I'm taking my nearly teenage son to Paris for a quick holiday to visit one of his best friends. I've never talked to anyone who doesn't LOVE Paris, so I'm looking forward to my first visit there!

This week, I thought I would share my personal top Five reasons for working out. Perhaps you have a similar list. Please feel free to share what motivates you to make time for fitness every day.

What motivates me to work out?

5.  To sleep better.  The fitter I am, the better I sleep. And I love to sleep ALL night. When your body is physically exhausted, it has no choice but to shut down and rest, which means that you can sleep all night and feel refreshed and ready to go in the morning. I still enjoy my coffee first thing in the morning, but when I've slept well, I don't NEED it.

4.  To feel happy.  Exercise helps release stress and makes me more patient.  It's how I got through my toddler and preschool days without losing it. And now, with kids right around the corner from entering their teens, I suspect my patience will be tested even more! Feeling less stressed and more patient = a happier mom.

3.  To eat what I want.  I generally eat a well balanced diet, but I have a few weaknesses that I am able to indulge once in a while, because I'm burning calories. I don't have a sweet tooth, but I do love to eat cheese and put cream in my coffee, two things that come with calories! Being active every day allows me to indulge guilt free!

2.  To feel good about myself.  Being fit gives me confidence and energy, makes me stronger and helps me with my volleyball game. All things I love. But it also makes me feel good about my body and the way I look. We all have things we don't like about our appearance and I'm no exception. But, being fit goes a long way to loving myself fully. I didn't really understand this until I had to lose over 50 lbs when I had my first born. Pushing my body through exercise was how I was able to feel much better (and lose the weight!). It also made me more fully appreciate the struggles associated with weight loss.

1.  To stay healthy.  I want to live a long life. My father died of heart disease when I was 21. He's missed graduations, weddings and grandchildren. I don't want to miss any of those things. He loved sports (watching them from his arm chair) and I miss having him on the sidelines of all of the sports his grandchildren play. He had a quadruple bypass at 45, followed by 2 heart attacks. He died before he was 55. I'm almost at the age where we found out he needed open heart surgery and I REFUSE to let heart disease take me down also.

FITMOM Ottawa Motivated Mondays - Challenge 7

Welcome to the start of another great week!

This weekend Jen, from FITMOM Durham had the opportunity to take part in Tommy Europe's "Shred It" Bootcamp in Toronto.  Most of us probably know Tommy Europe from the Slice Channel's Bulging Brides and The Last 10 lbs Bootcamp shows that were recently popular, where he is portrayed as quite intense and even a little bit scary.  He has since shifted his focus slightly and is now going across Canada running his popular "Shred It" Bootcamps for he general masses.  Lucky for Jen, she was able to take part this time around and says that he's a lot nicer in real life!

Jen says she found the bootcamp a challenging, fun and positive experience for her and two of her FITMOMs who joined her. They spent the hour squatting, lifting and lowering their bodies and challenging their core, using just their body weight.  What they discovered was that it felt great to push themselves and experience just how much their bodies were capable of.  

While I wasn't able to join them in Toronto this time, I was inspired to push my own body.  Teaching FITMOM classes keeps me in relatively good shape, but I don't often push myself as hard as I could (I still have to be able to show you what to do and use words to motivate you through your workout!!).  So, I decided to do my own workout and see how far I could push myself.  Since most of my FITMOMs and FITWOMEN did tabatas last week, here is the set I did:

1. Pushups
2. Step-ups
3. Reverse flies
4. Jump squats
5. Plank on the ball
6. Reverse plank to hamstring curls on the ball
7. Bench tricep dips
8. Running with knees up

I struggled through the tricep dips (in women, it's our weakest muscle), but managed the rest.  It was a tough workout and I haven't pushed my body that hard in a while, but it felt good.  Since I was alone, I had to play a few games with myself to get through the 7th and 8th set of some of the exercises and push harder to finish up.

This week, I encourage you to push yourself and see what you are made of.  Instead of stopping your workout when you normally do, go for a little longer.  Run a little farther or walk a little faster.  Add 10 more reps to your set or try a new exercise.  I am sure you will be surprised by what your body can do!

And, finally, check out how great Jen looks hanging out with Tommy!  Lucky girl:)

Jen & Tommy at Shred-It Bootcamp