Recovery

Recovery…yeah right!

Ok so today is Day 4-Recovery! Here I am all excited because the workout is only 33 minutes long and I thought, “ooh this probably won’t be too bad.” WRONG! Shaun T’s definition of recovery includes tons of squats, lunges, pulses, balancing, ballet…well not really ballet, but ballet like moves...lol; I was so irritated.

Over the past 3 days I have consistently burned over 900 calories in the 40-minute workout; today, I burned 800. So I ask, is that really “recovery?” For those fitness buffs who will provide me with the “yes, it is recovery because you must do such & such and so & so for your muscles…blah blah blah...” with all do respect, please save it because I like being mad at Shaun…lol

I am a little worried about Day 5 since today was “Recovery, but I am so glad that DAY 4 IS IN THE BOOKS!

P.S. No pictures today because I have an attitude…lol

Until tomorrow,

Butterfly

Revelation

During my journey through P90X I would analyze each workout and try to figure out why Tony Horton would put together workout that consisted of “dive bomber” push ups. My diagnosis…Tony wasn’t hugged enough as a child and P90X is how he deals with his anger…lol As for Shaun T, well I think one of his 7 dimensions of wellness is definitely out of sync …his mental health because today’s workout was so foolish that this man has to be “insane.”

SN: if you want to know about the other 6 dimensions check out www.cwuwonline.org.

As for my revelation, I actually like Insanity. I like Insanity over P90x because I like cardio and Insanity is high intensity cardio. I’m not a big fan of bands, bars, or bells, all of which are in P90x; and most of all, I like that the Insanity workouts are short. Please don’t mistake my fondness of Insanity as anything other than that. I cannot make it through the 10 minute “warm up” without my chest feeling like it is wide open and my heart is exposed, I still cuss Shaun and call him really bad names, and I still feel as if I am going to toss my cookies during the workout. However, I like the workout and the sense of accomplishment that I feel when I turn off the dvd knowing that I was able to “Dig Deeper.”

Dorian & T’Lai, Day 3 is in the books!

Until tomorrow,

Butterfly

Sh**, that was the warm-up?!?!

Today, along with my husband and baby daughter (it really helps to do this with support), I completed Day 2 of Insanity-Plyometric Cardio Circuit. All I can say is “sh**, that was the warm-up?”

Shaun T is a two-faced type of dude. In the beginning he flashes his pretty smile and emphasizes the importance of warming up.  However, the pretty smile is just a front for the evil we were about to face. Shaun’s warm up is not your average “run in place, jumping jacks” type of warm up, this dude has included 7 different moves which are repeated three times for a period of 10 minutes. During this time, this man takes it easy on you during the first set and all of sudden he says something like “now do it again…faster!” WTF!?

After the first round, I thought,  “that was a good warm up” because I had a worked up nice little a sweat. However, by the time I finished the 10 minute warm-up I said “sh**, that was the warm up?”  My freaking heart rate was in the 170s and I was soaking wet with sweat. 

After that, I developed a bit of an attitude with this dude and really felt like stopping, because I had been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok by this so called “warm up”…lol. However, I redirected this energy and mentally prepared for the unknown.

The remaining moves were definitely intense, however when I finished the entire 41 minutes (the inserts say 40, but that is so not true…lol) I felt great because we finished. Now don’t think for one minute that I was able to keep up, but I was able to keep moving and I really did “Dig Deeper.”

All in all, Day 2 of Insanity was hard but I am going to keep digging. I am so glad my husband, Dorian, and my baby daughter, T'Lai (ta-lay) are in this with me; it really helps.

Oh, for the record, we did not pour water on our faces, this is actual DNA removal (sweat).

Until tomorrow,

The Martindales are "Insaniacs!"

Butterfly

Utterly foolish or unreasonable

One definition of insanity as stated on Merrian-Webster.com is “something utterly foolish or unreasonable.” This definition of insanity appropriately describes my latest adventure; today I pushed play and was formally introduced to Shaun T and the Insanity Workout.

 Although I have successfully completed 141 days of P90X, it still did not prepare me for the 25 minute fitness test that is performed on Day 1 of Insanity. The purpose of this fitness test, which is performed every 14 days, is to help track your progress during your 60 days of Insanity. Although I am not a big fan of my heart beating so hard that I felt as if my chest would explode or feeling as if I would benefit from a little oxygen, I must admit, after I finished I felt pretty good. My heart rate was consistently in the 150-160s and I burned 440 calories (mind you, this is the fitness test). 

Overall, I remain excited about what Shaun T has in store for me for the remaining 59 days (yes, I’m counting). It is my plan to do my best with this program and "Dig Deeper;" I will keep you posted.

Until tomorrow (I hope)

Peace & Love

Butterfly

Deenie and Darnell

All I know about scolosis is thanks to Judy Blume's book "Deenie" back in the day.  Physical beauty was so much apart of Deenie's life - she abhored the fact that she had scolosis and knew her life would be forever scarred as a result of having to wear a brace to correct it.  Deenie was even such an outsider that the only person who would talk to her was a pitiful girl with eczema.  That damn Judy Blume - that book terrorized me and every time we had to bend over and touch our toes at the yearly school scolosis exams, I would hold my breath and hope I didn't have scolosis.  I mean I may have had coke bottle glasses, braces and a jheri curl.  Lord knows I sure didn't want to add a scolosis brace in the mix.  Yikes. But I never saw a black girl with scolosis in the hood.  Nobody jumping double dutch in my neighborhood in reciting in the easter pageant.  Figured that was a middle class white girl thing like anorexia or cutting.

Two weeks ago, during his yearly exam my son's nurse practitioner asked me if he was screened for scolosis.  Nope, I said.  She said okay let's screen him now.  He bent over and she touched his back and asked me if there was any family history for scolosis.  None on my side, I said.  Wasn't sure about my husband's.  Nurse Practitioner wanted to get him in for an x-ray, so since he (right now) is a child with a parent with health insurance.  He got the x-ray the same day as his exam and the results later that night.  Scolosis.

What?  How could my breakdancing, skateboarding, football playing, biracial prince child have a white girl's disease? What the hell?  I immediately took to the message boards, scheduled an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic specialist and prayed.  Checked out surgeons from DC to Georgia and thanked God and the federal government that we found out about this while I am a federal employee with health insurance.  I also had mommy guilt - how the heck could my child have scolosis and I not know it.  Not see the curve in this back.  I'm not some un-connected, un-knowing mom.  No Columbine planning going on under my roof.  I go through laundry baskets, journals, e-mail, cell phones.  I know every book, magazine, t-shirt and pair of jeans in that child's room.  I have come home five minutes before my child has gone to sleep and notice a scar that hub didn't during a whole afternoon together.  So the thought of missing something as serious as a curvature in the spine - is tripping me out.

Anyway - I got my list together for the doctor.  Sent hub and kid to the doctor with the list and we're now moving forward with getting a brace.  We're also looking at baggy clothes again.  Bought our first big t-shirt yesterday to accomodate the brace.  Need to figure out how skinny jeans will fit in the equation. 

I think Judy Blume may need to write a sequel to Deenie and call it Darnell!!

For more information about scolosis, check out www.scoliosis.org - and get your kids screened!

P90X Round 2...I'm bored

I have successfully completed 1 round of P90X and working on Round 2. I have to admit that Round 2 is just as hard as round 1; probably because I waited almost 9 months between each round. I did continue to workout, however it was not as intense as P90X.

I decided to start a 2^nd round because I am training to walk 60 miles over the course of 3 days for the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure and I think it will help with strength training. However, I am on day 47 of round 2 and I am becoming increasing bored and irritated with the sound of Tony “the evil” Horton’s voice, the routines, the music, looking at the same people, and did I say Tony’s voice…lol I am not saying that the workouts are not challenging because that certainly is not the case. My issue with being bored makes my desires to “push play” diminish. P90X is like any other workout for me, I can only do it for so long before I lose interest and need find something new.

 As a result of my boredom, I think I have become a bit insane and ordered “Insanity.” This workout is said to be just as tough as P90X, but the workouts are shorter in length (average 45 minutes vs. P90X average 60 minutes) and the time commitment is shorter (Insanity 60 days vs. P90X 90 days.) I have been looking around Facebook for pictures of “real people,” you know those of us with cellulite, muffin tops, and a 6 pack that is not visible, and I was impressed with their before and after photos. Therefore, I will begin my journey with Insanity as soon as it arrives, hopefully by April 25^th.

I will keep you posted on FB and here on the CWUW blog. In the meantime, I will continue to “Bring It” with Tony Horton, make healthy food choices (which includes a cheat day and Meatless Mondays), pray & meditate with the goal of keeping all of my 7 Dimensions of Wellness intact.

Until next time,

Peace & Love

Butterfly

Healthy Community Design

Center of Wellness for Urban Women understands that how your community is designed can directly effect health outcomes. This is why we are a neighborhood based organization working with communities to be as healthy as possible. This is an article from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the topic.

http://cdc.gov/Features/HealthyCommunities/

Community design directly affects your health. Choose to live in communities that encourage physical activity as part of your daily routine. Join with your neighbors to make your community as healthy as possible.

The way we design and build our communities can affect our physical and mental health.

In the last fifty or sixty years, a new design for communities has become typical in many parts of our country. It's a pattern called "urban sprawl" and is based on the ready supply of automobiles. Some features of urban sprawl include:

• Low density land use where people live on large tracts of land
• Low land use mix so that homes are spread apart from workplaces, recreation or schools, making the distances that people have to travel longer than ever before
• Homes are far away from where people work, worship, learn, and play
• More dependence on the automobile
• Fewer sidewalks and bike paths

These features of urban sprawl present us with some advantages but also many challenges to our health and well-being. They include:

• More driving and less physical activity
• More air pollutants from automobiles
• More injuries from car crashes and pedestrian accidents
• Less sense of community
• Less contact with nature
• More greenhouse gases contributing to climate change

All of these features of community design can affect our health in many ways. They can even increase the risk of some of the most common and stubborn disease that we face: heart disease, respiratory disease, cancer and others. That calls on us to design the healthiest and most wholesome communities we can as a way of protecting public health. A set of principles known as "smart growth," "traditional neighborhood design," or "new urbanism" promotes not only livability, but also healthy places to live. These principles include:

• Mixed land use and more land density to shorten distances between homes, workplaces, schools and recreation
• Transportation alternatives including bicycle trails, sidewalks and mass transit
• Affordable housing so that people of all income levels can afford to live in healthy communities
• Town centers close to where people live so they can walk or bike to shopping, everyday errands, places of worship and social activities
• Greenspace, trails and parks to provide more opportunities for contact with nature.

If we understand that community design directly affects our health, then we need to take steps to make our communities as healthy as possible. The very same changes that make communities more livable are also environmentally sound and healthy and make good economic sense. We are seeing change around the country. In more and more cities, people who want to live healthy lifestyles or who are simply fed up with commutes are choosing instead to live in compact walkable communities.

Designing and building healthy communities can improve the quality of life for all people who live, work, worship, learn, and play within their borders—where every person is free to make choices amid a variety of healthy, available, accessible and affordable options.