Oscar worthy arms
I spent last night at a very intimate and exclusive Oscar Party. Although the attire was extremely casual, dinner was cooked to perfection, the wine was meticulously paired and the conversation flowed, as did the wine. For me, the red carpet pre-show is just as if not more important than the awards show itself. I love seeing the dresses, the shoes, the jewelry, the arm candy. One trend that I noticed last night was sausage arms (arms that look like sausages, no shape, no definition, just a sausage shaped appendage coming out of a shoulder socket).
Maybe it’s just me, but if I were to walk a paparazzi lined red carpet, wearing a custom made strapless gown, half a million dollars of jewelry (with a security guard discretely following behind), in shoes that are so high and uncomfortable but oh so fabulous (that I hope that I can make it down the red carpet and can’t wait to kick off as soon as I sit down), with hair that had taken all day to construct, and make-up so flawless (except to hdtv), you could be damn sure that I would have taken some time over the last 6 weeks with my trainer to work my arms!
Don’t get me wrong, I do not expect a gun show, but just enough tone that tells me that you have taken just as much time focusing on your fitness as you have on promoting your movie.
Now it wasn’t all bad, there are a select few that I would like to give a woohoo to…Sandra Bullock – great arms, great outfit, congrats on the Oscar, J-Lo – good arms and not of the anorexic kind, Cameron Diaz – great arms, always looks fabulous, Kathryn Bigelow – good arms and congrats on beating the pants off your ex, Demi Moore – great arms, great everything, Sarah Jessica Parker – good arms, great dress (please have some respect for SJP and leave her alone, she is Carrie Bradshaw for crying out loud), Elisabetta Canalis (George Clooney’s girlfriend) – good arms but not sold on your tattoo placement (and I am a fan of a or several tattys), Kate Winslet – good arms, great look and last but certainly not least Hillary Swank – great arms although with a dress like that, who even noticed your arms!
So with just over 3 months to the Tony Awards and bathing suit season there is no excuse for less than fabulous arms. Ensure that your arm plan includes exercises for biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest and lats, such as curls, extensions, presses, pull downs, push-ups and planks. NO MORE SAUSAGES.
Number 12
When you reward yourself before the goal has been completed you have no choice but to complete the goal, if you didn’t it would be cheating right? The reward, Lululemon groovy run shorts in coal/tang light and a power y tank also in tang light (and a travel pooch bag, but that doesn’t really count because I was going to buy it anyway), the goal, the Green Thumb 1/2 marathon. I am registered and officially on taper. No pressure.
Champy at 10am?
Today was a big deal, today was graduation day for the Intermediate Road and Trail Clinic. In true road and trail fashion we ran a little road and a little trail in and around Kanaka Creek Park. Although it was a little chilly to start the sun was shining, and we were all down to our base layers by the 20 minute mark. Everyone felt and looked great, and were fast too, we had to add on extra time to make up our 60 minutes so we did a victory lap around the parking lot.
Anna and I secretly planned a little celebration for after the run, she brought the champagne (2 kinds even, a sweet and a dry) and orange juice “to cut it” (you rock Anna) and I brought the muffins (I never bring muffins, I always bring chocolate dipped strawberries, but a website that I often read started an “out of the box challenge”, this week’s challenge was to make something from scratch that you would normally buy, not one to back down from a challenge…voila lemon poppyseed muffins. I impressed myself and I think some of my group, Conny had a second so they must have been good or she must have been very hungry!).
We raised our party cups and toasted to the group’s success. Congratulations gang! Ah, Saturday mornings don’t get much better than this 
Anna brought the party
Happy Graduation
Upper Body Exercises
Article Post: myfitnesstunes.com
With bathing suit season just around the corner, many people start to consider changing their diet and improving their workout routine. Over the next few weeks, My Fitness Tunes will help you get ready by providing you with exercises targeted at specific body zones. Whether you want to improve your arms, abs, or glutes, we will have an exercise for you. All of these exercises can be done at home without any special equipment.
With an opportunity as simple as this, why not give it a try? (Of course, you should check with your physician before starting any new exercise regimen.)
III. Push-ups from Keri at Iron Mountain Movement
1. Place hands under shoulders, slightly wider than shoulders.
2. For those just starting, work from your knees, start with neutral spine (head and neck in line with your spine, think about “bracing” abdominals, which also will engage erector spinae protecting your back.
3. Lower your body toward the mat by bending your elbows and push back up to start position. Inhale to lower, exhale to lift.
4. To increase intensity try working from toes instead of knees or changing arm position (ie – keep elbows tight to body – elbows “tickle” ribcage when lowering and lifting.
Things to remember:
To insure correct form, try to perform these exercises in front of a mirror. Once form has gone, stop exercise, focus on quality of the exercise over quantity of repetitions. Read more
By Michele
Good morning to me
It seems that as I turned my calendar from February to March, Spring magically appeared. My daffs are up, I was bitten my a mosquito (thank goodness for my anti-malaria meds), the frogs are singing and in the large puddle in my backyard, as we affectionately refer to as Cawthorne Lake, the ducks are swimming. Ahhh, Spring in the sticks, sounds quaint doesn’t it?
Not so good at 5:30am.
If I had to describe myself I would say that I am an after 8′er. I like to wake up gently, the process is usually a couple of snoozes, followed by 10 or so minutes of listening to the radio, the Charis Report and the song that follows the Charis Report. Even after all that I am still not much of a conversationalist until I am well into my first cup coffee, which is usually sometime after 8. (here goes a left turn in the story…I have a client who sets his alarm for ungodly hours like 5am, when his alarm goes off he counts to 3 or 5, I can’t remember the actual number, but when he hits that number he immediately gets up. No snooze, no contemplation, just gets up. This is also the same person who when grocery shopping takes a trip down the chip isle as purely as a torture exercise.)
The last few mornings, what feels like the middle of the night for me, I have been woken by Aflac the duck. How does does a duck wake you, it quacks and quacks and quacks, just when you think it has stopped, it starts again, incessant quacking! Ever seen those Aflac insurance commercials with the duck (I think in the latest one the duck is snowboarding) at the end of the commercial the duck quacks “Aflac” (hence why I have named the duck Aflac). That’s what is sounds like at my house at 5:30am, over and over again, that is until my dogs have been stirred from their beauty sleep and start barking. So now it is 5:35am, Aflac is quacking, my dogs are barking to go outside to see what the hell. .
How can you possibly go back to sleep when you have already got out of your warm cocoon, had the chilly morning air touch your face as you open the door to let your (ready to tear Aflac limb from limb although they wouldn’t know what to do with him if they caught him) dogs out the door, and then climb back into bed where there is a now a purring and drooling cat (yes, he drools) waiting for a little lovin’?
So yeah, for the last few mornings I have become an early bird. No worms here, but I am up to date with my paperwork, we haven’t been late for school all week, it’s no wonder I need a nap most afternoons.
I wonder how well ducks deal with daylight savings time?