Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Ashley's Army

I am slowly progressing back into my "healthy lifestyle."  I wouldn't exactly say I left it, but I was not moving anywhere fast last week.

Yesterday I enjoyed some ice skating with the kiddos and today I made it to the gym for some weights.

I am part of a fitness challenge with about 10 or 20 other healthy lifestylers.  Most of us met through working at the YMCA and as our jobs changed and we met other women at other YMCAs, we now have a group that is scattered throughout the Greater Charlotte region.  Many still work for the YMCA as personal trainers, swim instructors, etc.  Others, like me, have moved on to other organizations!

Our fitness challenge group (Ashley's Army- as we have coined ourselves) breaks down like this:

The challenge lasts for 2 months.  (November-December, January-February).  Each week of every month we have a goal or target amount of work outs.  It includes 120 minutes of cardio in at least 3 separate sessions (not 120 minutes each session- but 120 minutes total throughout at least 3 sessions).  We are also required to do 3 strength workouts per week but we can substitute one of those workouts for Pilates or Yoga.  Each month Ashley creates a new strength workout that we can follow.  Or we can choose to participate in a total body or body pump class.

Angie, one of our more-organized participants, created a calendar we can use to help us track our workouts.  And with Ashley's permission, I am also going to share this month's workout with you.  Feel free to follow along with a cyber-fitness challenge and if you have questions about the workout feel free to ask.

So here is my calendar for the month:
Click the photo to enlarge

You can see I slacked off quite a bit last week!  I also skipped all strength sessions the week before the marathon so I wasn't sore.  So far I have missed a total of 9 workouts/cardio this month!

Below is January's workout.  Ashley's goal this month was to incorporate two or more muscles into each move to maximize our time and workout.  This is a tough one and when doing 3 or 4 sets it really makes your muscles work hard.
Click the photo to enlarge.

This is the workout I did this morning and boy are my arms tired.  I took it easy on my legs because they are still sore from the marathon.  I was planning for some cardio this morning as well, however, I got to talking to some friends at the Y and lost track of time.  My ankle also started feeling a little tender and I decided to wait until the doctor's orders tomorrow before attempting any machines.

If you can read the calendar you can see that I intend to do some intense swimming and running this week/week-end.  I really am hoping my ankle is ok and I will be able to accomplish these goals.  I would love to get a good heart-pounding workout in this week!

At the end of each month Ashley's Army meets for an accountability dinner where we compare calendars and shoot accusing looks across the table at those who missed their workouts.  (Just kidding).  We keep it friendly but motivate ourselves through money.  If you miss a workout it costs $2.  At the end of the 2-month challenge we vote and decide on a charity to donate our dollars to.  I really like this component and am anxious to vote on a charity this time because I can already tell I will be donating plenty of dollars!

But just so you know- and for bragging rights- I did not miss a single workout in all of December!  Take that busy holidays.  And in case you are forgetting, I did run a marathon this month, so I feel I deserved the break!

Have you ever participated in a fitness challenge with others?  Is it something you would be interested in?

No comments:

Post a Comment