Author: KickboxingDiva

50-something woman traveling around the world with her husband, exercising, eating, and enjoying.

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Exercise Fitness New York

One More Kickboxing Session on Friday and the Weekend Off

I think that I am building up a bit more stamina for the cardio rounds with the punching bag.  At least that is what I am telling myself.  😉

The Original Jacknobber II by the Pressure Positive Company
The Original Jacknobber II by the Pressure Positive Company

John had me go through a series of free weight exercise using the stability ball.  Unfortunately for me, John believes that should I push myself so I found myself doing rows and curls with 30 lb weights. LOL  My shoulder decided to rebel afterwards so my weekend included trigger point massage.

Here’s a link to a nice write-up on trigger point therapy/massage titled: Self-Treatment for Chronic Neck Pain, Stiff Neck, Pinched Nerve in the Neck, Crick in the Neck, Relief for Neck Ache, Sore Neck, Neck Arthritis

 

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Exercise Fitness Kickboxing New York sports

What Comprises a “Kickboxing Boot Camp”?

I’m feeling a bit smug.  I worked out today with John and felt as winded as I normally feel [as in “I’m going to throw up and die before the 4 minute round is over”].  After our session was over, we sat around chatting and watched a group class begin.  The four young women were in very good shape but seemed to spend a good deal of time standing around between each exercise. I asked what the class was called and was told: “Kickboxing Boot Camp”.  My response to John was that it couldn’t be correct because: [1]  the women were still breathing and [2] since when does boot camp allow you to just stand around for minutes at a time between exercises?  LOL

I shake my head sadly, however, because they all looked so young and in shape and could each probably do my workout with no issues……

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Entertainment New Jersey New York New York Liberty sports

New York Liberty Game in Newark, NJ

We went to see the New York Liberty play against the Los Angeles Sparks this evening.  The first quarter made me reconsider why we continue to support the Liberty. 

New York Liberty
New York Liberty

It was shockingly bad.  Now that Lisa Leslie is gone, I thought I may actually switch my allegiance to the Sparks.  They looked like an actual team.  Cappy Pondexter carried the Liberty and, believe it or not, New York won the game.  Bill thinks that the Los Angeles team got lulled into a false sense of security when they saw how badly the Liberty played in the first quarter.  It was good entertainment. 🙂

 

  

Categories
Fitness

No Exercise Today – Just Reading Dr. Oz

I’m taking the day off from active exercise.  Instead, I am making my way through the pile of magazines I have around the house.  The October 2012 Prevention Magazine article by Dr. Oz is good.  Some of the things Dr. Oz mentions are: stretching first thing in the morning; not stressing over the small things; showing up early minimizes stress; getting enough sleep will help in losing weight.

 Back stretch suggestions:

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Exercise Fitness Kickboxing sports

Excellent Muay Thai Body Kick Tutorial

I saw this video from Fairtex Muay Thai – it’s a tutorial on Body Kicks and it’s pretty good. Enjoy!


Fairtex Muay Thai – 02 – Body Kick by Hater_Huntin

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Calories Diet Exercise Fitness Injuries Kickboxing New York sports Weight

Light Kickboxing and Strength Session with John Salgado

Sadly, I weighed in this morning a half pound heavier than yesterday.  Yes, I know I’ve already written that a person should not weigh herself on a daily basis but I can’t help myself.  I’m not sure why it happened but I think it may relate to under-eating again.  The Fat2FitRadio.com pod casts repeated noted that under-eating would result in the body going into starvation mode and holding on to calories.   For the second time this week, I dropped under the calorie limits suggested by the Calories and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator.  I ate a little over 1600 calories yesterday, so I consumed at least my BMR of 1430 calories.  However, I didn’t eat enough.  🙁  According to the calculator, I should eat between 1907 calories for a Lightly Active woman (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) to 2150 calories for a Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk).

Today’s workout with John was lighter in deference to my knee and because I am fighting off a flu.  We spent a lot of time doing kickboxing strength exercises and drills.  I was still soaked in sweat but happy.

 I found this video on how to do a Back Leg Roundhouse Kick on the ehow.com site.


Women’s Kickboxing: Back Leg Roundhouse Kick — powered by ehow.com
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Calories Diet Exercise Fitness Injuries Kickboxing sports Weight

Another Excellent Kickboxing Workout

Despite coming down with a bug, I worked out with John Salgado today and did pretty well.  Because we’re still working around my cranky knee, we started out doing some drill on the Bosu Ball: jogging on it, Dome Toe Taps [you can watch the video below but I can say she’s a lot better at it than I am LOL],  side squats [again, very small movements because of my knee], and squat thrusts.

Other exercises for today included wall squats with a stability ball and a 10 lb ball.  A new item for today was assisted dips.  We rounded out the work out with punching and kicking combinations on the bag.

Wall Squat with Stability Ball by http://www.workoutz.com

The good news on weight loss and nutrition is that I am still within my recommended calorie intake for my BMR.  I must confess that I had vanilla ice cream with blueberries last night [yes, I entered it into the SparkPeople.com Nutrition Tracker and I remain in calorie range :-)]  I’m down another half pound but that could be just water weight.

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Calories Diet Exercise Fitness New York sports Weight

Light Strength Training at Crunch Gym

It’s been raining but I still made it to Crunch to work out with Frank.  We had another light strength workout in deference to my bad knee.  My warm ups comprised running sideways back and forth.  We then did a series of modified inchworms; modified planks, leg extensions [using the wall]; and standing abductions.  As I enter my workouts into the SparkPeople.com fitness tracker, I can see how much less I do at Crunch but I don’t mind as I’m feeling really tired and it’s about as much as I want to do today.  It’s still 100 percent more than I would do without Frank. 🙂

Nutritionally, I am staying within the recommended calorie range for my BMR.  Breakfast included my favorite fruit protein shake.  Dinner included a lovely spinach and feta cheese salad.  My weight continues to creep down.  Hooray! 

 

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Calories Diet Exercise Fitness Injuries New York sports Weight

Kickboxing with John Salgado

Despite the rain, I made it to the gym this afternoon. My knee was especially creaky today so we tried some modified one-leg-squat exercises. I did the easiest variation:  John had me sit on a chair, extend one leg and arms in front and stand up on one leg.  I then sat down on the chair while standing on one leg.  I still had to support the weak knee but it’s a start to try to rebuild leg strength.

Here’s a video link demonstrating the modified one-leg-squat exercises from eHow.com:


How to Do a Chair Pistol Lower Body Exercise — powered by ehow
 
 

Other exercises with the resistance bands for today included:

You can find other Resistance Band exercise suggestions at:

We rounded out today with punching and kicking combos on the bag.

I’ve tried to continue eating healthily- breakfast included a fruit protein shake so I had a kick start with protein and fiber;  other meals included vegetables.

Categories
Fitness

Short Walk Today

I didn’t make it to the gym this morning but went for a short 1 mile stroll.  I’m looking forward to kickboxing tomorrow.  I am down another pound!  Woo hoo!

I’ve read that people over 50 have a slower metabolism so it’s harder to lose weight.  Strength exercises help increase metabolism and muscle mass so your body burns more calories even while at rest.  Livestrong.com adds to that and says that:

the frequency and amount of food eaten affects how quickly the food is converted to energy. Skipping breakfast gets the metabolism off to a slow start. Eating large, infrequent meals causes metabolic rates to slow down, keeping the food longer, as if in a starvation mode. Eating smaller, more frequent meals allows calories to be converted more quickly to energy and increases metabolism. Proper nutrition habits include following food pyramid guidelines. Focus on nutrient-rich, and fiber-rich fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

I’m trying to not skip breakfast and will eat smaller meals.  🙂