MARK'S LIFE FITNESS

Hello hello hello (echo echo echo) Is there anyone there? Rob where are you? As you can see by the title this is becoming my blog. I don't want my own blog. I want to get motivated by stuff you, Lorrie, and friends are doing. I hope life isn't so busy and stressful that this is the last thing you want to do...don't worry if it is...I've been there MANY times for LONG period of times. Let me know if anyone is reading these and if they're motivating because I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself.

Mark, Jen, and Jonah 10

Standard workout went good Thursday morning...don't think anyone talked until about 20 min into it. We were all tired but doing what we knew we needed to do. Played a little fire/ice ball tag that afternoon and then Jonah and I did rows holding onto the bottom of the swing. We climbed the rope...Jonah climbed about 5 feet with just his hands. I tried climbing it upside down like I did last year...I did pretty good considering how long it has been...climbed a few feet. We also climbed the tree using the rope and walking up the tree with our bodies from between 45 degrees to almost parallel to the ground. My forearm knotted up so I did some push ups to loosen it up and then my right trap twinged...ahhh! I just got over my left shoulder problem. Granted, it crossed my mind I was going a bit too gung ho and didn't stop. I don't think it's anything major but will have to be careful with it. Still...once it heals and I get my upper back and traps up to par I'll video and post a upside down rope climb.

Mark, Jen, and Jonah 9

Did standard workout at 0530 this morning, everybody did good. We are all feeling pretty good and are in the groove. My shoulder is getting better. I'm still going at about 50% (on push ups and pull ups) just to be safe but I didn't feel it at all today. On my third round of pull-ups the first few reps felt like nothing it was pretty cool...getting stronger.

Mark's video attachment experiment 8

This is an older video from when we first moved into the house and imitated Sponge Bob's call - made the kids laugh. Noticed I could probably attach a video yesterday after attaching the photo...pretty cool...opens new doors for sharing motivating stuff. Seems to have worked but will have to see once it actually posts. Took two naps today was tired :)

Mark, Jen, Jonah, Rob, and Lorrie 7

Really good fun day. We all did standard workout. I think everybody did about 3 rounds each. Rob did the peg board pretty good and climbed the rope without using his legs...motivating. I think the best part was fire/ice ball tag with all the kids - a game that we morphed from water ball tag. Basically if you get hit with the ice ball your frozen and can only be unfrozen by being tagged by or catching the fire ball. If your holding the fire ball and you get hit by the ice ball the fire ball has to leave the game "blows up" and then all hope is lost and its just a matter of time until the freezer (the person who is "it") freezes you and everyone else, until everyone is frozen and the freezer wins the game. GOOD TIMES, GOOD TIMES. We've got a couple small sloping parts and about a two foot retaining wall in our backyard, so tag included some uphill/downhill sprinting and two foot running jumps up and down. It was so fun it was thoughtless exercise. Lorrie gave us some streching tips. It was a great day. Oh ya, we did a few rounds of monkey poses just kidding...not an exercise just a fun photo idea we did from the rope swings...I'll see if I can figure out a way to attach it. I can't wait to work out again Tuesday.

Mark, Jen, and Jonah 6

Good standard workout Tues and Thurs. Did the best I could with my shoulder. It's ok and getting better but I have to pay attention to it to not re-injure it. We're feeling good and being consistent.

Mark, Jen, and Jonah 5

Saturday's workout went good but my shoulder is hurting a bit from an injury like 5 years ago. I think it will be ok? Will find out at tomorrows workout. Still on the Tues, Thur, Sat schedule. Jonah did good Sat. He did 38 situps, 32 pushups, 10 pullups, 59 air squats, and 86 jumps jump roping. All reps were done in 60 seconds each exercise with decent breaks in between. Not bad for a 9 year old! I did ok - 49, 55, 19, 61, 162. After feeling my shoulder today not sure that I'll do max stuff for time anymore? We helped someone move and played tag with a water ball...tag was a good workout! It's been over a month now and Jen and I haven't had any junk food and it's starting to show a bit:) As for the surprise...we pay the kids for doing good in school and were going to implement a reward payment plan for exercise progress...thought I had a good idea/plan but still need to figure it out better.

Mark, Jen, Jonah, and Whitney 4

Still on track. Did a lot of yard and garage work on Saturday-too sore and tired to work out Mon. Doing Tues, Thur, Sat this week. Mon workout good. Wed workout better-I did 2 rounds (situp, pushup, pullup, airsquat, jumprope) round 1: 50,30,10,40,150; round 2: 50,40,15,50,220. Tomorrow going to surprise Jonah and Whitney with a motivating surprise. I'll post the surprise later so it stays a surprise-but I will say this we are going to do the above exercises as many reps as possible in 60 seconds each exercise (with breaks in between exercises).

Week in Review

Mon - Drove to work, no exercise, bad.
Tue - Biked to work, Crossfit WOD, good!
Wed - Biked to work, no Crossfit, OK.
Thu - Stayed home, MK birthday, GREAT! :)
Fri - Biked to work, taper for Sunday's races.
Sat - Rest & fuel for tomorrow's adventure.

Mark, Jen, Jonah, and Whitney

Jonah felt better and worked out with us Wednesday AM. He did good...he did 8 pull-ups on two of the rounds - he was pretty stoked. Jenny is doing good too. Whitney worked out with us as well Wednesday. She pretty much did everything except the cool down stretches - not bad for a 7 year old at 0530 in the morning - who woke up cause she wanted to workout with us! Jonah jumped the gun Wednesday? He was sick Thursday with a cough...so that was it for him this week. Jen and I felt like do-do Tuesday night - went to bed really early and had headaches most of the night sleeping but felt like it wouldn't be stupid to work out Wednesday so we forced ourselves to get up and kicked butt once we got going. Friday it was just Jenny and I. I finally completed 3 solid rounds. I did about 25 reps of each exercise each round...except pull-ups - those were 10, 10, and I think 6. Oh ya and I did about 150, 200, 150 jumps jump roping each round. I felt like I was going to puke after squats on my third round and had to wait about two minutes before jump roping. Not the "I'm being stupid and over doing it" puke feeling, but the "This is working me to my limit" and it's all good feeling. Jenny and I are stoked! We did good and our best this week - couldn't have done anything more...at least not yet...:)

Catching Up

Great posts, Mark! Your AM family workout circuit is very motivating. I'm looking forward to trying it out later this month!

SATURDAY
Ran 1:20 with Jack. Had planned on 16 miles, but listened to our bodies and cut the distance in half. Felt great the next day instead of over trained. Good decision to take it easier.

FRIDAY
Body still sore from Monday's Crossfit. Chest, arms, and abs were only muscle groups ready to be worked.

1. Row 1000m, easy
2. Superset: 3 x 10r of DB press 35, 40, 45# & plyoball sit-ups
3. Superset: 2 x 10r of DB curls 30, 35# & 45# triceps DB ext.
4. Swim 750m: 3 x 50 kick, 50 pull, 100 swim; 100 IM; 50 breast

Mark, Jen, and Jonah 2

Jonah had a fever for 3 days. He's finally better but didn't workout today. Jen and I started our new workout program today. Jonah and I have been working out for about 8 weeks - Jen for about 2 - and doing pretty good, but this new program is going to be perfect for our family's life. Stretch for 15 min, workout for 30 min, stretch for 15 min. Our 30 min workout is as follows: Sit-ups, Push-ups, Pull-ups, Air Squats, and then Jump Rope. We do as many rounds as we can with as many reps as we can with the following exception: We don't do so much that we're too sore to workout the next workout day. Our set in stone workout days are Mon/Wed/Fri, 0530-0630. We do this no matter what. Oh, and the first round is always a warm-up round. As time, energy levels, and motivation permit we'll do other exercises (rope climb, handstands, peg board pull ups, dips, etc, etc, in the PM after school/work. We're stoked cause we have a constant -our M/W/F which will keep us at the bare minimum level and it's motivating to think everything else is extra which makes me, at least, want to do more already! I'm learning to bank my motivation and energy so I don't burn out midweek and can still kick butt at my newer job and take good care of home life. Our family has never been more on the same page and psyched all at the same time for the same reasons!