Good builds....more good.

Good MORNING Kittens!! How has your week been? I'm still in Vegas so there's that. (Translation: counting down the seconds until my flight leaves tomorrow.) 

Actually, I should be a little more nice to Vegas. First and foremost, this time, I'm having a fabulous hotel experience. I'm staying at Planet Hollywood and the customer service here (and the rooms) are exceptional. So, that makes my stay a bit better. The CES convention is just so huge (like 140K people) it is rather overwhelming...hard to make connections considering the scale of the event. 

Anyway, sorry again for not being able to post some vlogs. I could smack myself for not bringing that blasted USB cord. #Fail on my part.

The title of today's post is "Good builds....more good" and by this I am referring to this concept I've discussed here before. When you start doing something- anything really- it can easily become a habit. And this goes for good OR bad practices.  When you stop working out, each day, it becomes easier to NOT workout. You are used to finding reasons and excuses, your body is used to lack of activity so you aren't mentally or physically anticipating it. 

When you start something GOOD- like working out, a better "diet", whatever, it may be an effort, but with each time you do it, you are BUILDING on it. I have found that since I started my "official" 30-Day No Loose Ends Challenge with Sherry- (focusing on the "diet" philosophy of Tim Ferris' 4-Hour Body and consistent training) each day gets easier. My mind is EXPECTING me to fit in a workout. My mind is starting to jump in and argue with me when I want to "cheat" or have food not really on my plan. 

I'll give you an example. Yesterday was my "cheat day"- I decided this kind of late in the day- and a business contact of mine and I went for Mexican food. I had a margarita (YUM) and steak fajitas- which incidentally I would have ordered on a non-cheat day). So the margarita was a cheat and the chips were a cheat- very yummy. Then I did order a dessert. That night we had to go to some parties, I had about 1/2 of one dirty martini (was not yummy) and then when I headed to my room, my tummy felt empty- I grabbed a big water bottle and a bran muffin at the gift store. That wasn't a HUGE cheat day. I won't lie. I woke up this morning and thought to myself, "Well Kelly, You didn't really START a cheat day until dinner...why not order Eggs Benedict for breakfast instead of only scrambled eggs and coffee?" -- then I realized ok, if I do this all the time, I'm back to NOT GETTING THE RESULTS I WANT because I'm cutting corners. That would be a "loose end" I'd be wondering about....no more. I had 3 eggs scrambled and coffee with cinnamon and a splash of sugar. 

I am in it to win it, and in that case- DETAILS COUNT. I'm about to do a killer HIIT workout followed by an awesome TRX circuit workout in my hotel room. What is YOUR plan today? I found this short kettlebell workout when I did a search for the image used above. Kids, if you haven't tried Kettlebells yet, you are missing out. Sherry just tried hers for the first time this week and was BLOWN AWAY. Looks are deceiving. Sometimes the moves (to me) look simple and not as difficult as they really are- all of them incorporating kick-butt core alignment and BOOTY!! ;-)

I also found this great video of a shoulder routine with Monica Brandt- some interesting pointers she shares here, check it out:

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Did you make ONE new year's resolution or several small ones?

Happy New Year 2011!!! BOOYA!

Happy New Year Kittens!! 

Are you hungover, or hanging TOUGH? I'm not hungover in the least bit, in fact I didn't drink at all last night. I had some red wine on Thursday night and that was PLENTY. Anyway, I hope y'all had fun whatever you did last night. Personally, I'm not a big party person for NYE, I'd rather hang out with my family and friends kind of low-key, instead of running around, fighting drunk crowds and watching couples get in fights. NOT good times in my book. 

So....I'm going to be implementing a new little weekly tradition here- Saturday posts will be "Saturday Summary" posts, where I look back on my week and evaluate how I did and what I want to do better in the next week. 

So....for this first Saturday of my 30-Day "No Loose Ends Challenge"how am I feeling? 

A little something like THAT. I am SO on fire, I am feeling SO GREAT, I can TOTALLY SEE RESULTS (my mom stopped by yesterday so I could show her some circuit moves for HER workouts and she said about three or four times she could see I was losing weight! AMEN!) and I LOVE WHAT I'M DOING. 

2010 was my warm-up year after being kind of "on the bench" in 2009 for myriad reasons. 2011, I'm simply.....OUT OF THE GATE and UNSTOPPABLE. This 30-day Challenge is just the right thing- the right thing for me to get in the habit of recording/tracking everything (which I believe is KEY KEY KEY to short term and long term success....something I haven't done in AGES) and to get in the habit of consistent and varied training. When you track everything and evaluate your actions, your diet and your results, you SEE WHAT YOU MISSED (if you did) and you see WHAT WORKS and what you need to tweak.

What are my main goals?

1. Consistency. I will train 5x a week minimum, ideally 6x week. 
2. Variety. I will not just do my favorite workouts. I will hit all areas of the body and balance out isolation training with circuits, balance high intensity cardio with lower intensity cardio, balance out everything with Yoga at least ONCE per week. 
3. "Diet". I will be faithful to my diet that fuels my body and allows for fat loss and then building solid muscle. 
4. Go Big or Go Home. I'm not in this to just play around. I'm not in this to just look "ok" for my age. I'm in this to play tough and win big. I know what I WANT and I'm doing this FOR ME, not anyone else. 
5. Fear is my friend. Why? Because I can now recognize it when it enters into my mind, and that is precisely when I stop being a wimp and start OWNING IT.                                                              

I know I've said this a LOT the last quarter of 2010, but for the first time in YEARS, I truly have no doubt about the future. I have no doubts anymore about getting in the best shape of my entire life this year and then....continuing to only get better.

So....what will 2011 look like? 

A lot more running. I am SO PROUD OF MYSELF for listening to Amy and starting it and DOING IT. I love running. And then....

Crazy Plyometrics and madness that usually will be found doing Crossfit (can't WAIT to start):

A whole lot more of Tony Horton and P90X, Insanity and RevAbs:

Yummy. 

Of course, I'll be doing isolation training in the gym, that goes without saying. Hoping to bring y'all some JAY WORKOUTS from Ft. Lauderdale!!! Watch out for that madness. And then.....

A lot more Yoga. And Hot Yoga weekly when at all possible. Amen. I LOVE IT. 

So- QUESTION OF THE DAY: What does YOUR New Year 2011 have in store? What are your top 3 fitness goals?? 

No Loose Ends.

Hey Kids!! Having a great day?? ;-)

I had another KILLER workout today. Wow. I did RevAbs for cardio and then Tony Horton One On One: Bun Shaper. Honestly, I had such killer DOMS in my legs today, I didn't think it was wise to try and do a leg workout so I chose this. 

For those of you unfamiliar with RevAbs, here is a peek- sorry they don't have up any videos of the individual workouts (annoying):

This was a lovely sweatfest workout that burned a total of 675 calories. WOOT!!! My "diet" is just spot-on. I'm following the principles in Tim Ferris' book, The 4-Hour Body. (plus I had just started The Primal Blueprint before that- "paleo" in nature). I feel GOOD. Not getting stomach-aches and I do feel- call me crazy- that even in a few days (we "officially" started our No Loose Ends 30-Day Challenge on Sunday) I can see a difference in some weight lost. BUT- I must persevere!! I'm nowhere NEAR my goal. That's ok- because I WILL GET THERE. No doubt. 

Just to clarify- this "NO LOOSE ENDS" mantra I'm throwing around and this 30-Day Challenge. What IS this all about anyway? Well, as I've shared before, 2010 was my "back at it" year, after a year of BLLLAAAAHHHH. So, it really was great to be "back at it" but I'm at the end of 2010 and I'm not anywhere NEAR my fat loss goal. That kind of bites. So, I can choose to whine and complain about it, or I can choose to figure out WHAT WAS MISSING.

When I really analyzed my workouts and my eats- or WHAT I REMEMBERED OF THEM (hint hint because I haven't been TRACKING THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY SO I REALLY ONLY HAVE A GENERAL IDEA!! NAUGHTY!), I realized that THERE WERE A LOT OF LOOSE ENDS. 

I realized that I could - in no way - look back at the last 90 days and say, "Well, I've done my workouts every week and I've been spot-on with my diet...". No. Way. Kelly. 

Many of you give me props because I travel and still fit in workouts. Yea- life as a road warrior is a huge challenge; trying to eat right and fit in workouts in different time zones when you are booked from morning to late at night. But it CAN be done. I know this. 

If I look back to any week on the road, I've always packed my workout stuff- but I'm usually packing at the last minute in the morning, hoping to throw everything in my suitcase before the limo shows up. This is NOT like me, I'm a major pack-in-advance-person but I have been so busy this year, I've allowed time and work to overwhelm me, and thus I'm flustered and running around like a madwoman ALL THE TIME. Anyway, I go on my trips and yea~ I'll fit in a great run, or a hotel room workout but NOT ALL OF THEM. And I'm not eating bad - but here or there you eat in an airport and get a sandwich or a sushi meal with a client and those are calories that can get HIGH when you aren't tracking.....

YOU CAN GAIN WEIGHT OR NOT-LOSE-WEIGHT BY EATING TOO MUCH.....OF ANYTHING. OF FRUIT. OF CHICKEN. OF TOFU. TOO MUCH IS TOO MUCH. 

So, the more I looked back over this week and that week, it was really again and again- a bunch of weeks that I'd give myself a "C+" for diet and workouts. Then I get home and I'm so beat/exhausted, I skip another workout. I comforted myself that hey- I'm not eating bad....so it's not that bad.....but guess what?? It all adds up. Activity or no-activity. It adds up. Eating a bit too much here and there in addition to not enough activity = SUCKY. 

I refuse to go through another month and look back at results like that. To me, that kind of "winging it" approach is simply unacceptable. I realize how much the days blend into weeks and weeks blend into months and suddenly wow, it's the end of the year and you aren't at your goal! SHAME!!!

That's when it hit me- while reading Tim Ferris' book- THIS MAN TRACKS EVERYTHING. And he urges everyone to TRACK EVERYTHING so you can see what works and doesn't work for YOUR BODY. Remember, we are all unique. How can I complain about my results if I don't really even know what I did for the past 90-days?? 

ENOUGH. 

Sherry and I committed to each other- to go 30-days with NO LOOSE ENDS. We took our measurements. We are taking pictures this week. We are tracking EVERY WORKOUT AND EVERY MEAL. We will go 30-days SPOT ON (we are both following the 4-Hour Body diet philosophy) and then analyze our results. 

When this 30-days is over, we start tracking again. Never again will I go without monitoring my efforts and measuring the results. What is the point of buying running shoes and workout clothes and equipment if you are going to "wing it"?? 

FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL. 

Here is my first vlog, shot after I did RevAbs for cardio:

Wow! Vlogs UNDER 10 MINUTES!! SCORE!! I shot another quickie after I did the Buns of Fire with Tony Horton. Wow that sounded dirty. WHAT?

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you track your diet and your workouts? Why or why not?