30 Day BodyRock Challenge

Have you ever heard of Bodyrock.tv?  Basically it was a site created by a married couple involving HIIT- High Intensity Interval Training.  Zuzana, the wife, did the tutorials and Freddy, the husband, was behind the camera and in charge of the site. Well long story short, over the last couple of years the site changed a lot. It is now Daily Hiit and it is run by Freddy and his current girlfriend.

A few years ago my sister in law was really into it.  She invited me to join her in the workouts. I really enjoyed them. I really loved the way my body was getting into shape with these workouts-they only took around 16 minutes to complete. But I had a love/hate relationship with Bodyrock. I hated the way the site sexualized everything. Who goes around working out in practically their underwear? The names of the workouts can be a little raunchy. It wasn't a very family friendly website.  Also over time they started using more equipment and I didn't want to pay to get equipment.  But I loved how motivated I was by Zuzana and her workouts. I'll admit that her tiny figure intimidated me. One thing I loved is that she made every workout possible. Zuzana showed modifications to the exercises. When I originally started Bodyrocking I had just had a baby and couldn't do very much. It was awesome to see myself improve and slowly be able to do more, to be less modified in my workouts.

My sister in law challenged me to go back to Bodyrock for 30 days (30 workout days, which will be 5 workouts a week).  I decided to take on that challenge. We have not done the workouts in a long time because they have changed so much. I don't like change. When I find something that works, like HIIT, I like to stick with it. I don't like it to be different than what I know. I decided to go through all the older workouts and find ones from when I was doing Bodyrock before. I found a lot of good workouts.

This is how the 30 day challenge will work. The challenge will start on Monday.  Below are links to 15 Bodyrock workouts. The first 15 days we will do the workouts in the order that they are listed, then repeat them again the next 15 days. Each day I will post my scores. I encourage you, if you choose to take on this challenge, to post your scores in the comment section as well. I am hoping to improve my scores the second time around. I will post a before and after update on my body for this challenge.

I want to apologize ahead of time for a)the names of the workouts. I did not create them. and b)if you do the workouts there is a half naked lady in the tutorials. Oh and c)yes I will be recreating some of the pictures in these workouts. I think it is important to show crazy fit vs normal. At this point in my life I consider myself normal size (not fat, not too fit, not crazy skinny).

Here is the thing about HIIT. Because the workouts are shorter, you HAVE to put maximum effort in. I know in the past I have not given my all in these Bodyrock workouts, so my goal this time around is to give 100%.

Here are the workouts:
Day 1/16 Smoking Hot Body Workout
Day 2/17 Sexy Fit Beast Workout
Day 3/18 Wow Booty Workout
Day 4/19 Sweat is Sexy Workout
Day 5/20 Gaga For Tight Booty Workout
Day 6/21 Boom Boom Workout
Day 7/22 Sexy Shape Shifter Workout
Day 8/23 Fit Tight Hot Workout
Day 9/24 Tight Jeans Booty Workout
Day 10/25 Brunette Beating Blonde Workout
Day 11/26 550 Rep Fat Massacre Workout
Day 12/27 Bubble Butt Workout
Day 13/28 Sexy and Jacked Workout
Day 14/29 Real Hot Workout
Day 15/30 Bang Bang Workout

Now you will sometimes need a stopwatch and/or interval timer. I use this stopwatch. And I use this interval timer. Sometimes they have you use a sandbag. I don't have a sandbag. You can do the exercises without the sandbag. My sister in law used to use a huge bag of rice. I also do not have that dip station thing. I use two chairs for that.  I will post more modifications if I come across them.


I am really excited for this challenge.  Now that I am taking a break from running I am ready to tone my body.  If you are ready to take on this challenge, let me know! I would love to motivate you in this endeavor.

-Kate, your not-too-fit guru

What's Coming Up This Month

A new month is a great time for setting challenges and goals. This month I am going to focus more on nutrition. I will be posting recipes for healthy smoothies, raw foods, clean foods, etc throughout the month.

Since I am training for a half marathon I will be posting a lot about running, but it is not the only thing I am interested in. I also decided to challenge myself to try new/different exercises this month.  I will post videos, pictures, and my personal thoughts on the different exercises I try out. A few I am going to try are Zumba, water aerobics, and prancercizing (that's right, folks!). If there are any exercises you would like me to try or blog about let me know. I am up for anything!

-Kate, your not-too-fit guru

Running With a Stroller

On my training schedule for my half marathon I was supposed to run a 5k today. My sister-in-law is hosting a free 5k next week so I decided to switch around a few things. Now instead of a 5k I was supposed to run 7 miles. That didn't happen.

I have been struggling with running with the stroller. Over the last couple weeks I have figured something out.  A few weeks ago I ran 5 miles. I was home alone with my daughter so I took her in the stroller. After that run my right calve muscle was really sore. It got better as I ran but it was super sore for a while.  Last week when I ran my 6 mile run alone my leg felt fine by the end. After that I had no problems... until this week, running with the stroller.

I have discovered that I run differently when I am pushing the stroller.  I don't use my arms as much because they are pushing the stroller. I am not running as tall. I slouch a little. When running up hills I hunch over the stroller and rely on it to hold me.  I run in some way that either pulls a muscle in my right leg or makes it sore.

Today when I was running I felt that muscle hurting. After running 3 miles I decided to stop. I don't want to injure myself anymore. I don't feel bad about stopping today. It wasn't like my 4 mile run this week when I wanted to end it early.  I felt like I knew my body needed a break. I am going to have to figure out a way to run this next week on my own (until my hubby comes home and can watch the kids). Curse the wretched stroller that changes the way I run!

For those of you who are running, I hope you are fairing better than me. Happy running!

-Kate, your not-too-fit guru

Couch to 5k

First off, I just want to thank everyone who has been reading my fitness blog.  I know it isn't always written well and I kind of go all over the place sometimes. I really appreciate all the support I have been receiving. You all have motivated me to keep going even when the going is rough.

I had a friend ask me if I have ever used a couch to 5k program and I have heard a few other friends talking about doing a couch to 5k program, so I wanted to talk about them for a moment.  I have done several different 5k programs in the last few years.

4 months after I had my son I wanted to get into shape. I used this couch to 5k program. It is a 9 week program that takes you from the couch to running (well jogging and honestly I don't understand the difference) 3 miles.  I really liked it because it started out really slow--running 60 seconds and walking 90 seconds, alternating for 20 minutes.  Honestly, when I started it that was almost more than I could handle. Jogging and walking for that 20 minutes was agony for me. I am sure there were times when I ran less than 60 seconds and walked more than 90 seconds. And I am not sure that I ever finished the program. Excuses always came up to keep me from running. This is a good program if you haven't been physically active in a while.

Last fall when I was preparing for my first 5k race I did this 4 week training plan. I had been working out more regularly and was in better shape when I started this program. Here is what this plan looks like: 

On the first day of this 5k training plan it says "run 2 miles easy". I'm not sure what that means but I know I took many walking breaks. I did stick with the program this time around. I think it helps when you actually sign up for a 5k race and have a date that you want to finish the program by.  I did ok with this program, but I didn't push myself as much as I should have.

Side note--through running for the past 8 months I have really come to find that a big part of running is mental. If I think even a small amount that I will not do well on a run, I usually don't. Even on my 4 mile run on Tuesday I was thinking a little negatively and I did horribly (even though I ran 6 miles on Saturday in almost the same amount of time). My advice to you is to give positive encouragement to yourself and focus on the accomplishments you are making.

The half marathon training program that I am using now has you starting out at a 5k running level (meaning being able to run 3 miles without stopping). I decided to do a 5k training program to prepare for it. this is the program I used to get ready for my half marathon training program. I even found a free 5k to run.  This program worked really well for me since I had been doing P90x prior to starting the training.  I liked that you ran for like 20/25 minutes during the week on on Saturday you actually ran a certain milage.  This last 5k was my fastest one so far.

There are so many 5k training programs out there. Do what works for you. If you are training on a treadmill you can try this couch to 5k treadmill plan. You also don't have to stick to the plan. You can adjust it to work for you. In my most recent 5k training I changed my running days from Mon/Wed/Sat to Tues/Thurs/Sat so that my husband could run with me.  I completely moved the days around in my half marathon training program to work around my family's busy schedule. It is ok to tweak the training schedule. And don't forget to stretch!! That is really important so that you don't get injuries. Stretch really good after you run.  Youtube has a lot of stretching videos if you need ideas.

"No one cares if you walk, they only care that you cross the finish line". It really is ok to not be perfect. It is ok to have set backs. We are only human. We can only do our best, and our best may not be perfect.  I hope these programs are helpful to you. If there are any other questions about going from a couch to 5k let me know and I will do my best to answer them! Happy running!

-Kate, your not-too-fit guru