THE OFFICIAL VNA EXERCIZE & FITNESS DEPARTMENT...

[Kirstie]

Lol, Walt!! xD

I probably wouldn't last five minutes in your class, Julie. I'd probably be writhing on the floor. XD

[hotjulie]

Last Saturday was the fem-sport competition, at last years there was about 50 girls competing, this year there was over 200! We have been training hard for almost a year, and we were pumped. I didn't compete cause of my surgery, so just coached. We were so close, less then a second in most cases, but in the end we came in third. From first to fifth the point difference was 8.4, so really close. Our girl Terri, she's 48 and the best damn athlete I've ever trained, won first overall for an individual. Her and another girl were tied with the car push left, both had to push a Grande Cherokee 70'. It was so close, but she did it, as both girls crossed they both collapsed from exhaustion. We had two doctors there, Gunther and one from Fort Saskatchewan, gave them both oxygen. It was a wild time and good to see some friends from other gyms.

Our girl Marlene that joined our gym almost a year ago came in 4th in the individual category. I'm so proud of what's she's done in the last year, she works harder than most and with a smile on her face. She's lost close to 80lbs, but her blood pressure is now normal and her self esteem is through the roof!

Next up is the "mud race" then Spartan, so still more training to do, fun, fun, fun.

After we went to the bar to celebrate and Terri has her son there, he's 30. One of our girls Danielle asks if that's her boyfriend and she says no my son. Danielle had a few by then and says "I bet all his friends want to fuck you!" Terri is in shock and I'm killing myself laughing, Danielle says, well I'd sure want to! Poor Terri didn't know what to say, so I told her "just hang your panties on the door handle like in university and I'll join you. Nothing happened but we did have fun partying, all the athletes were there so was great to get to know so many, and I told them we'll kick ass next time!

[WalterB]

That sounds like a lot of great fun. Congratulations, Julie. See? You are making a difference. You're getting those folks excited and involved. And they obviously like that.

Congratulations.

[Kirstie]

Just walked up and down the driveway for about two hours listening to Spotify. Probably didn't do much for me but at least I got some sun.

[stickyvicky]

Bad Kitty try jumping rope? Walking up and down the driveway must be boring. Julie can give you a ton of things you can do just using your own body weight, like squats, jump squats, burpees, pushups, situps.... there is so much you can do with no space required, no gym, no equipment... there is no excuse... I hate myself sometimes because I don't get to the gym enough it's 30 minutes each way, but really you don't even need to go to the gym you already have everything you need at home. Just need the motivation. I need someone like Julie to yell at me and make me do it.

[Kirstie]

I do have a jump rope...but I'm so not coordinated at all. I'll probably trip all over. Haha. I am pretty bad though...I can't even do a sit up unless someone is holding my feet or my feet are under something. And push ups, I pretty much fall to the floor without even doing one. I'm kinda pathetic. I also don't have any motivation. Dx I know there aren't any excuses but I'm screwed up in many ways.

[WalterB]

Awww, you just need a little self-confidence. Living out away from town like you do really limits your options, I know, so you've got to find ways to motivate yourself. Any kind of "forced" movement is good for you. Focused routines are better, because they will help you exercise the right things.

I'm certainly no motivator, But I know Julie will come in here and offer something for you. And Vicky is very experienced, too. Listen to her comments. Next time you're in town, buy yourself a set of 5 pound weights. Do some exercises with those. Move your arms, do high-steps in place. Walk around your home, or up and down the road at a forced pace. Even trotting or running for awhile. The thing to doing it is getting started. Don't just read these comments. Think about them, and make a conscious decision to do it. "That's it! I'm going outside tomorrow morning, and doing something!" Then, when you wake up tomorrow, put on your walking shorts, walk out the door, and get moving. The first step to getting more friends and feeling better is getting started yourself. No excuses. Just say, "Ya know what? That old fart is right! I'm gonna do it!" Attitude! Take control!

You know, that's the best thing about this place. It's not only about porn. The VNA has a LOT to offer, help of all kinds can be found here. Why? Because the people here care. I'm proud of the VNA. And I LOVE it!

[EmilyRain]

Bad Kitty try jumping rope? Walking up and down the driveway must be boring. Julie can give you a ton of things you can do just using your own body weight, like squats, jump squats, burpees, pushups, situps.... there is so much you can do with no space required, no gym, no equipment... there is no excuse... I hate myself sometimes because I don't get to the gym enough it's 30 minutes each way, but really you don't even need to go to the gym you already have everything you need at home. Just need the motivation. I need someone like Julie to yell at me and make me do it.

I started out utilizing the neighborhood park! The swings, bench, monkey bars!! A gym waiting to be utilized and FREE!
Try a walking push up...you walk it down, do a push up and walk it back up. Swimming!! I swim everyday! Swimming is a full body workout and fun. Squats and lunges...not much space needed at all. Squat in place. Start out using a counter top or ledge to help. My sister started out doing that.
My girlfriends and I had started something called "Drop Downs" it's where we would text each other during the day(at random times) and all the text would say is, drop down 25...or drop down 50. That meant, where ever we were, we had to drop down and do those squats. The looks you get in the grocery store check out while dropping down! Priceless!!

[WalterB]

A normal person would at least wait til they got outside, Emily.

[hotjulie]

Bad Kitty, so you trip over the rope, big deal, but I'll tell you, unless you try you'll never get better! Not sure how long your driveway is, but skip, or high knee march, but it's all about getting your heart rate up. Get it between 120-150 beats/minute, and keep it there for 20 minutes! There's so much good advice here, just takes willpower. If you can't do pushups from your toes, do it from your knees, or against a wall. There's progressions to every exercise, start easy, if it hurts your back your doing it wrong, adjust your body, use a pillow for support. Joint pain is bad too, but if you have muscle pain, well as I tell anyone that says that to me, "keep going bitch!" Don't worry I tell everyone the same thing, yes I'd even say that to Vicky, cause those that know me know I say it cause I care.

Being is shape isn't about being able to wear a bikini, it's about your heart, blood pressure, climbing stairs without stopping cause your out of breath. The work is only for 20,30,50 seconds, you can do anything for that short of time. So many exercises are easier to do when you tighten your abs and glutes and that takes pressure off your back. Do I sound like a bitch, yup I know I am, but I'm harder on myself then I am on anyone else. I don't accept anyone's excuses, cause I don't accept my own, and trust me I could say, oh that might hurt my chest. So many times when I tell people so suck it up, they have no idea that I'm looking in the mirror at myself!

Vickys, Walt's and Emilys post are awesome, with so much advice and wisdom, me I'm a rambling gym rat that just wants people to feel better about themselves. We can all just go out and have fun, I love the playground advice. I'm taking the afternoon classes to the playground and work their butts off, mine too

[EmilyRain]

A normal person would at least wait til they got outside, Emily.

No. That's part of the fun! Just let them go on thinking, what is the crazy lady doing? Or if there like my hubby, they're placing themselves right behind to get that ass view going down with the arch of my back sticking it out!!

[EmilyRain]

I love the way you think Julie!!! Also agree 100%. I am also off to the park....

[bryonyKate]

Julie you sound so much like my last PT. I saw her 2 days before a session, and my 20,000 word thesis was due in 3 days later + I had gotten sick from the kids at work and was like duuude I'm gonna have to skip this week and she literally yelled at me in the middle of the gym hahaha she was like NO this will help clear your mind blah blah..and it actually did. I had been so stressed and let it all out in that hour. You're right not many excuses are actually valid. One of my favourite quotes is "the only bad workout is the one you didn't do." and hers was "don't make excuses, make results."

BK search on youtube "toneitup" its 2 girls who have built a whole fitness business they have so many good short workouts with weights that you can just do at home with no gym. It all depends on personal goals. I lost 35lbs and at the start it was just about weight loss for me, so just boring old running/walking more but then I got focussed on actually being fit and strong. I got really into strength training over cardio for a long time, but then missed the cardio..but still find steady pace cardio so dull which is where classes are awesome because they're fun and you have everyone else there to push you. But if you don't have any locally there's some great DVDs...I'm crap at self motivating myself but if you're strict with yourself you can get a lot out of them!

[Kirstie]

I'm so depressing and sad anymore. I don't want to do anything anymore. I just want to sleep forever. Dx

[bryonyKate]

i feel ya I feel like all I've done is sleep and drink since I graduated lol! But today I went to a boxercise class for the first time since about April and omg..honestly you get such a RUSH. The endorphins thing is no joke. I was on a high all afternoon because of it. Just getting outside does the world of good...it's so easy to fall into that frame of mind but actually getting more into exercise a when I was about 20/21 is what got me out of some shitty stuff. put some good music on, grab a friend and go for a long walk and you'll feel amazing for so long after.

[Kirstie]

I got music and walking down...I just need friends to do it with! >:o

[bryonyKate]

haha let's facetime and walk

[Kirstie]

Haha awww. Or you steal me from Pennsylvania and to wherever you are now. It's boring as hell here, anyway. xD

[WalterB]

Facetime! There's an idea. I don't use it, because I don't know anyone who has it, lol. But that's a great idea.

[Kirstie]

I don't think there's Facetime for Samsung phones/Androids so I'd need something else. I have an S4