March Madness - Day 5: Working Out With the World's Cutest Personal Trainer

Ready to work!

Isabel is doing a Tortoise and the Hare skit at her after-care where my speedy little girl is the Hare. She told me some of her lines which involve calling the tortoise a slowpoke and saying "eat my dust." I laughed and said that was what happens when she and I run together. It's sad, but true. She's fast. 

So I think she was feeling bad about that, or about the fact that I didn't get a proper workout in, and she decided to not only train me, but to participate in some of the exercises. I had written out two different workouts, one that was from my friend Jodi and looks impossible and one that I found on Facebook or Pinterest or something. Even my seven-year-old was wisely able to spot the easier one and decided we'd do that one.

It was basically a cardio-esque workout that involved jumping rope for 30 seconds and then doing other exercises (lunges, squats, high knees, jump squats, etc…) She hung in for a while, loved the jump roping and the high knees and the squats but if we had to do 20 of something, around 15, she'd slow down and just start counting. By the time we got to the end with the burpees (with a pushup in them), she did three, and just started counting and clapping. I thought this was adorable. Until I realized she kept saying one more, like four times. I told her I'd done the required 10 and she's like, "yeah, but just one more, come on." Hard to argue with that little face! Around 20 I finally made her stop.

Unfortunately because she picked the easier workout, it only took about 20 minutes or so (even with the added burpees), and I was hoping for more exercise. So I hopped on my elliptical for 30 minutes while she laid on the floor and watched Jessie and complained that Suri had a cellphone and she didn't.

Then I told her we should end with some sit-ups, just because its always good to do a little bit of core, so she rolled out the mats and laid down next to me. We did regular crunches (which the little stinker is really good at), then crossover crunches (with one leg crossed at the knee with alternating elbows), then suitcase crunches, then bicycle crunches. We did 25 of each, and she tried all of them, but didn't really like the coordination involved. But her rolling on to her face trying to do the bicycle ones really made me laugh and distracted me from the soreness in my abs.

Then I added some old school sit-ups. Hands over the head and all the way up to the floor. I love them so much, but she struggled, but because she's stubborn like her mommy, she finally got it.

On the ground after our tough workout

And we ended with a few planks, from the up-down ones (where you go up to straight arms and down to your elbows), to some mountain climbers (which they do at gym and she's amazing at and made me feel old), to just a final plank hold for a minute. She wanted to drop so badly, but said she wanted to hold it as long as I did. And she made it. I was so proud.

So we got in a great workout, with a wide variety of exercises and then I let her have some ice cream… I've got to pay her somehow and I'm not a total tyrant. Might I also add, she passed out before bedtime, so I consider today a big win all around.

Day4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

This Week's Exercise: Phew! Are My Legs Tired

Didn't have a chance to sit and do my daily exercise round up, so figured I'd sum up this week.

Monday 3/19 - Chased after my daughter. Might not sound so hard, but she's six and was riding her bike at the time, for well over a mile. She looped four times around our apartment complex and expected me to keep up, and I did my damnedest. At one point I was ahead of her and she was shouting for me to go faster, and a neighbor laughed that I had a very tough trainer. Indeed.

Tuesday 3/20 - Training session with Kristin. I was complaining that I have actually gained half and inch in my arms, and that I haven't lost weight recently, despite my diet. Her solution. Just make me do a lot of reps of things really fast. She gets that little stopwatch out, hands me a 30 lb barbell and it was all downhill.

Thursday 3/21 - Another training session with Kristin, since she murdered my arms on Tuesday and they were like jelly, she switched to legs, with lots of weighted squats and some awful exercise that has the quaintly called good mornings. Who comes up with these things? Then I had some time to kill before yoga so I hopped on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. Went to yoga, where Adrienne was obsessed with planks, and made us hold full wheel for what seemed like an eternity. Was mostly just happy that I didn't cave and drop to the ground during it.

Friday 3/22 - Just a quick half hour on the elliptical at home after I put my crazy kid to bed. I think that it appreciated being used for something other than holding my sweaty gym clothes.

Saturday 3/23 - Had plans to go for a bike ride, but seasonal allergies and damp weather dissuaded me from that. So after trying hard to hang with Isabel on the monkey bars for a little bit (I still can't do them, or a chin up, despite my best efforts), I ended up getting stuck doing some household stuff and missing the gym altogether. But I got a bit of a workout when I helped my friend (a girl scout troop leader) bring all her 30 odd boxes of cookies into her house (up a flight of stairs) and then after they were sorted back down into the car.

Sunday 3/24 - Got up for my 8:30 AM yoga class, and lots of high planks were in store. She also really had us moving, and much as I may grumble and sweat while doing them, I love when we really get into the flow. I nearly passed out unconscious during Shavasana, and was almost completely able to tune out the screaming spinning teacher from across the hall. Then I had a little break when I saw my weight loss consultant, and headed back to the gym for a training session with Randi. Of course I thought it was at 11 and it was at 11:30. So I went upstairs and ran on the dreaded treadmill for about 25 minutes. Still hate the treadmill. No change there. And when I got down to the training station, I was still huffing and puffing and Randi wanted to know if I was OK. When I told her I'd just run, she told me that was stupid. I love some brutal honesty. She had me do some upper body stuff, and then some things that involved me hopping on and off the stair stepper, finished off with some tricep dips. I unsurprisingly passed out cold immediately after I ate lunch.

Hoping for the week to come to focus a little less on weights, and a lot more on cardio, just as a weight loss experiment, so we'll see how that goes.