Wednesday KickASSery!!!!

My trainer Rich has me on a weight program and I see him twice a week for that. It is assistant work that is very heavy weight, well heavy for me. In the middle of the week, he has me doing a javorek complex that he designed for me. The weight for the Javorek should be a medium weight for you.

Javorek is a olympic trainer who devised a cardio/weight program that has proven itself again and again. The method to the madness is that all exersices are done in a superset, one right after the other without a break. When the circuit is done, you rest for 30 seconds to a minute and attack it again 3 to 4 times.

Patty ‘Powerhouse’ Pittman’s

Home Routine

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 ~ Top 5 Gym Equipment To Avoid

I am brand new to becoming a gym rat. I have always worked out at home. I would scour freecycle, and yard sales for equipment. Friends would give me their year old barley-used cardio equipment. I once even picked up a stair stepper from the metal pile at the dump.

Last summer we had to move from our house, with the HUGE basement and into a smaller duplex, with half a basement and a dirt floor. All of my stuff is dismantled and piled up in the shed. My dining room has a corner in it with red milk crates holding all my weight plates and my table is in with the equipment in the shed so I can have room for the treadmill. There is just no room.

Wednesday's Workout ~ ChaLEAN Extreame REVIEW

I am writing a review of a workout that I first did two years ago. Why so long? Because ChaLean helped me reach my fitness goals.

I was just reading in SandMan's Blog how Maggi went to karate (kyokushin) to lose weight, and soon found herself saying " Ya know? I wanted to do Karate to help me get in shape but now I want to get in shape to do Karate" and she did. Maggi went on to lose 131pounds.


I started playing tennis at 240 pounds. At 5'6", it was not pretty, but I didn't care, I loved it. Because of my bad shape, I developed tennis elbow. I wanted to play tennis more than anything though so I looked up how to fix tennis elbow and found that weight training helped. It seemed silly to just train my elbow so I did a whole body program. I went through several, not finding my fit until I got ChaLEAN Extreme.

Fight Training, Gearing Up

The US Open has been scheduled for this spring in Connecticut. Shihan Fugiwara is going to be holding it this year. I was looking forward to it being here in Maine again. It would have been easier for me. With the husband being in the middle east, I want to try to have the least number of weekend away from the kids as I can.

Speaking of the husband, he is home right now. He is at the tail-end of this two week leave. In two more days he heads off for the rest of his deployment. Fight training would have started two weeks ago, but I got a pass because of his visit. I even got to drink! Shihan and his wife Sensei L met us at the Smiling Moose, where I enjoyed some margaritas with them. 

I know, I know. If I really wanted to concentrate on training, I would have found the time. The time for excuses are done. Today I do what I should have been doing before. Well for the last two weeks anyway. 

The problem now is which program should I follow. I like the ChaLean extreame, and did it in the past with great success. Chalean has great weight workouts, the cardio videos however is not my kind of stuff, so I would just do the weights.

I also have Insanity, another great program. Bodyweight only but a killer program. There is this one video called 'pure cadio' that is just intense cardio for 12 minutes. It is the kind of cardio video I can follow though. No sashaying around the room. Shaun T tells you what you are going to do, usually in sports terms, then you do it. Fast paced each exercise lasts less than a minute.

I have done P90X and have that as well, but I am not a big fan of that program. The weight training takes too long. Some of the cardio videos I like. Like Shaun, Tony tells you outright what you should be doing, and then you do it. simple. Takes too much time. I could also make my own program.

There is always the option of making up my own. Been weight training so long and reading up on fitness and nutrition for an even longer time, I could be a trainer.

Who Needs A Dining Room Anyway?

Last week Shiahn P gave me a heavy bag that is weighted with water. He bought it a while ago, sometime before I started. The first time it fell from it's hook and hit the floor, the plastic insert holding the water broke. So it has been sitting there in the back room, barley used, actually looks new. He said I could have it. I jumped at it. The plan is to use epoxy to fix the leak and then fill it with sand as soon as I can make it to the hardware store.

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.

Power Circuit Workout ~ Chest, Quads, Triceps, Core ~ Jackie Warner

I have always been told to do weights first, but that may because I learned fitness from a weightlifting forum on ShaprFit. My name is PandorasVise over there in case you want to visit. After reading Jackie's book "This is Why You're Fat" I decided to try her workout. It is the other way around, cardio first.

It starts out with intervals everyday for 20 minutes. I like interval cardio opposed to the chronic cardio. People who do chronic cardio, you will find visit the magazine rack before getting on a machine for the next hour. They get nowhere fast. I believe that intensity is the key to any work out. If you can read while cycling, then you are not cycling hard enough.