Being Published

GOOD NEW! GOOD NEWS!! I am a published author now!! Wrote about tabata intervals in Osu Magazine. download your copy for free. I had the copy on my desktop forever and didn't know I was in it. I was waiting for a magazine with a different name

 http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/324920

Proper Push ups

The Proper Push Up:

The push-up, or press up if you are in England, is one of the most basic forms of exercise. It works the pectorals, triceps. It also has benifits to your core and deltoids. It is common to sports and the military for fitness and for punishment.

We all know what they are and we have all done them in one form or the other. This simple exercise is one of the best ways to develop upper body strength. It works out all the muscles in the upper body and build optimal strength in the forearms, wrists, upper arms, shoulders and chest. 

To get the most benefit from the push up, you must do them properly.


How To Do the Basic Push Up:

Wednesday Workout ~ All About Legs

I have been training for a fight, which is next month. I, like always, can see a kinds of shortcomings in my techniques, especially with my kicking. Today I thought I would focus on legs. I am going to miss tonight's class and tomorrow I have a business dinner to go to, so I am going to KILL my legs.


This is in typical Cardio Kickboxing format. You will need a round timer, I suggest Speed Bag Forum Free Online Timer, if you don't have a Gym Boss. These are all two minute drills, so set your timer up for a 2 minute round, with a 30 second warning, 30 second rest. . I will be at the dojo so I will be working with heavy bag, speed bag and a couple of chairs. Grab some water and a towel to soak up the sweat.


When doing any exercise, don't be a hero. Do your best, but if you need a break, take one. I do, then I jump right back into it.


Ding Ding Ding ~ Begin

Wednesday Workout - Jump!

Todays workout is brought to by the letter 'J'. 'J' stands for jump rope, of course. It isn't just for little girls in the play yard or big boxers at the gym. It is for everyone and in every shape.

Nothing is better for bringing up the heart hate than a jump rope. Skipping rope for 15 minutes burns about the same calories as a 10-minute mile but a lot less impact on your knees. Besides being a great fat-burner, jumping rope tones your upper and lower body muscles at the same time. It increases your endurance, stamina, and the light impact will even increase your bone density.

The Top 10 Fitness and Health Trends of 2010

Who doesn't love a trend? When it comes to fitness and health, I love to be the first of my friends to try something new. Being a child of the 80's, I wore leg-warmers over my acid-wash jean while getting frustrated with my Rubik cube in between turns on my Atari.  I remember gyms filled with beautiful people wearing full make-up, spandex, leotards, and sweatbands. My mom did chronic cardio in the form of aerobics with Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda. She ate lots of grapefruit, sometimes only cabbage soup, and dealt out ultra low fat Deal-A-Meal cards.

Power Circuit Workout ~ Glutes Shoulders Core ~ Jackie Warner

Today I really didn't feel like working out. I am beat. Last night was kickboxing and Sensei Kris taught it. It was a rough workout, but more on that later.

After sitting around trying to find excuses to skip working out, I finally got off my butt and did it. As always, I am glad I did it. After the elliptical interval workout Jackie prescribed on Monday, I got to the power.

Power Circuit Workout ~ Back, Hamstring, Biceps, Core ~ Jackie Warner

Today's workout was another good workout. I can really feel it in a good way. Tomorrow might not be so good, but it is the kind of pain I like. Pain that I earned.

Did the elliptical Intervals that I did the other day. I am really not minding doing the same thing for the third day in a row for cardio. I have been making it a game. Trying to go just a bit 'further' than I did yesterday. I think I will start writing it down so I can see my progress. Also mixing up the past paced tunes helps too. Today I listened to pop. Eminem, pink, pussy cat dolls, all kinds of pop that will probably melt my brain, but it kept me moving. I just think to myself that I can do anything for just 20 minutes.

"This is Why You're Fat" ~ Jackie Warner Review

Jackie Warner's This is Why You're Fat (and How You can get Thin Forever)

I got this book while looking for a new healthy cookbook. I got drawn away from the soups and cakes to the fitness shelf, like I always do. I usually flip through the pages of diet and workout books first. I can usually tell if it is a book for me or not, by the equipment that they use and their ingredients. I really don't like to use much equipment or search some specialty store for ingredients I never heard of. Jackie's book only had free weights, so I gave it a chance.

A Visit from Reliv - Fat Analysis

Fat Analysis

Last week, Wednesday. after kata class and during the beginning of full contact, Shihan had some people from the Reliv company come and do body fat measurements. I went first so I could get back to training. I stood on a scale with a metal plate and held these handles that came up from the scale. They input my age and height and the machine spit out a bunch of numbers. 

Funny thing, when I told the lady my age, Jared says, "you are not 39, Patty. cut it out!" I looked at him and could tell he really thought I was messing around. So I didn't say anything, and neither did anyone else, but I did smile.

Teaching Kickboxing Class w/ Tabata

Last night I got the chance to teach the cardio kickboxing class at the dojo. It was my first time teaching, and I think i did well. I had been asked the night before if I would do it, and I jumped at the chance. Sensei Kris is the usual teacher and she was there, in case I needed help.

I had some ideas and wanted to make it my own class, so I changed up the format a bit. In Sempai Scott's kickboxing, the warm up is shadow boxing, Sensei Kris has us do relays with a partner. I decided that we would warm up with three rounds, 2 minutes each, of cardio.I was hoping it would be okay, and it was. I made then sweat. More than one time I was asked if I were trying to kill them. That was the best compliment.

Cardio Kickboxing Class

The End Of Overeating by Dr Kessler

The End of Overeating by Dr David Kessler

I thought that today I would write about a book that changed my eating habits. It is one of my  favorite books when it comes to nutrition. I picked it up at the library. I opened it thinking it was a diet book. I was very wrong.


The End of Overeating has more to do with how our food is processed and how the processing effects our bodies. Knowing how certain food can effect your desire to eat too much is very powerful to learn how to stop overeating.


Dr Davis Kessler is Harvard-trained doctor, lawyer, medical school dean and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. That is a lot of credentials. Even armed with all that knowledge, he was overweight man and a yo-yo dieter since college.

What I Feared; Stress and Weight

I had been doing very well with maintaining weight during my recovery, until last week. As tons of weight loss pill ads will tell you, stress will make you keep fat. Chronic stress can elevate cortisol. Cortisol can slow your metabolism, alter your blood sugar levels, causing mood swings, fatigue,and cause our bodies to want to conserve fat.

Stress was once great for the flight or fight response humans needed to survive in the world. Now the stress is a constant in a lot of people lives, as it is in mine.

Q&A Rock Bottom

I belong to many 'groups', and most I have left behind. This particular group, wannabeabigloser I joined as it started and then I faded away. Recently I found it again in my quest to help people that used to try to help me.

Q:     Well, I have finally reached a weight that I have been dreading for a long time. Ugh. I am so sick of my bad eating habits. But every time that I try to change them, I eventually go back to the the old ways again. And every time I go back to the old ways, I end up heavier than I have ever been before.

How do I break the cycle?

- S

Those Nasty "W"'s Retro Post: May 29 2009

I started this blog in January of 2010. I have a lot of journals that I have been keeping about my weight loss and karate. I thought I would share a happy moment that happened May 29, 2009

For those of you do not know ladies clothing sizes, let me tell you there are different categories not just size numbers. Where men's clothes, as is my understanding, go by the number, waist by length, or chest size with a long, short or regular, or even as simple as small, medium, large ect.

Woman's clothing has complexities. We have small, medium, large, and extra large, 2X large and so on, but it depends on the manufacturer. One can wear a size medium in Walmart, and a size x-large in Aeropostle. Then, in the same store, we have, misses, junior, and women's. Now all these sizes pretty much goes by two's and the sizes overlap. Misses, is the regular clothing size, usually you can find sizes like 8-10, 10-12, 12-14, 16-18. Juniors, caters to the teens, goes my 2's like 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19. Womens, signified by a large 'W' at he end of the size number is for fat chicks. We sometimes start at 14W, but usually 16W and goes up by 2's for infinity. Strange thing, junior size 17 is bigger than a woman's 18W. I think closer to fitting like a 20w. A person in a woman's 14w can't necessarily fit into a 16 misses. Hips and proportions are too different so a 14W is still too big.

Fat Story

Recap of this karate girl's weight issues: I have been a big girl all my life. I was born over 10 pounds. Always wore 'husky' as a child. Besides spring baseball, I didn't do much of anything but watch TV growing up. I thinned out some when I was a teen, by thinning out, I mean size 14, which really isn't thin, just smaller than I was.

After my first child, I ballooned up to real fatness. After I left my husband, i lost some weight and went back to size 14. Never did know how much I weighed at my biggest at the time.

New husband, more kids, up to 200. Quickly, i would lose a few pounds with a new diet, slowly I would gain more. New husband goes on deployment to Iraq in 2004, when he comes home, I am over 240.