“Happy Halloween Workout” Day 7

Hey Everybody!

I just finished the Day 7 workout and it’s one of those that is tough to finish quickly.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a quick workout, but I couldn’t beat Zuzana’s time for this one like I am able to with others.  I felt like each movement required me to take my time and take extra care to ensure that I had my form right.  At first it was frustrating, but then I remembered that it is more important to keep control in my movements and maintain proper form than to power through it at lightening speed.  You will hear me say that over and over 🙂  The next time you do this workout, you probably will be faster, and increased speed is a good thing–a sign of improvement in your fitness, but don’t beat yourself up just because you don’t finish as quickly as you thought you would.  Keep an open mind.  Be a student in your fitness journey.

Day: 7

Mood: Procrastinating (it took me forever to get off my butt)

Energy: Moderate

Workout: Killer Body Workout <—–Workout Link

Equipment: Timer

The Workout:

Rolling Jump Tuck (12)

Oblique V-ups (25 on each side)

Jump Lunges (20)

One Leg Bridge to Crunch (20 on each leg)

This is one circuit.  Complete a total of 3 to complete the workout!

My Time: 27 min and 47 sec

Modification Tips:

• Rolling Jump Tuck: You may have to rely on your arms a bit to bring yourself back up into the squat position after the roll, but be sure to engage your core muscles to get the momentum you need to come back up.  If the tuck jump is too intense, substitute it with a regular jump up–however high your fitness level will allow.
• Oblique V-ups: This one slowed me down a bit because as I started to fatigue, my oblique muscles began to cramp up a bit.  My modification advice on this one is to take your time if you need to.  If the exercise is too intense, keep your legs on the floor, lay on your side, and do side crunches rather than V-ups (with both your upper body AND legs).
• Jump Lunges: These can be daunting  because of the possible injury risk associated with them.  If you keep your form, stay balanced, and move as slowly as you need to, there should be no cause for concern.  These are great for shaping your legs and butt, not to mention they are a great cardio burn, however they are not recommended for people with knee issues 🙂  The best way to modify these is to take the jump out of it and instead do backward lunges (stepping your foot back into the lunge rather than forward).  Sink down as far as you can into the lunge (all the while keeping your front leg at a 90 degree angle or greater; knee behind your toes), and squeeze your glutes on the way up.
• One Leg Bridge to Crunch: These were the most challenging exercise for me, and I felt the strain more in my legs than in my abs.  If you cannot keep your leg up and pointed forward throughout the entire exercise, that’s ok: just keep it off of the ground.  Engage your glutes and quads (thigh) muscles to bring your hips as high up as you can during the bridge portion, and be sure to use your abs (contract) to bring your upper body up towards that raised leg rather than using momentum to force your body up <—-You risk straining your neck that way 😦

This was a great workout and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  Tomorrow will be a hard-earned active day of rest, which will be vital considering Wednesday’s workout is going to be a tough one!  Today is the first official day of our first diet challenge and I am sipping my water as I am typing this!  For everyone who missed yesterday’s post: We are starting a series of diet challenges (like Zuzana did) to improve our eating habits and support our training.  The first one is to drink more water, preferably 64 oz a day (half a gallon).  Drink your water and enjoy your training!  I will be back with a new post on Wednesday!

Thank you for the workout Zuzana!

AND

Thank you to my readers for the feedback and time scores!  I’m ecstatic every time I hear from one of you!

-Lauren ❤

“Today’s Workout–Friday, October 30, 2009” Day 6

Good evening!

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing Sunday 🙂  Mine was great!  I just finished today’s workout and it zipped by.  Push hard and feel the heat!

Day: 6

Mood: Happy

Energy: Rejuvenated

Workout:  Cardio Strength Drill Workout <——–that’s the link!

Equipment: Timer

The Workout:

Divebomber Knee Tucks (8)

Side Jump Lunge (10)

Dancing Crab (12)

This is one circuit.  Repeat 4 MORE times for a total of 5 to complete this workout.

My Time: 18 min and 28 sec (Woohoo!)

Modification Tips:

• If you do not yet have the upper body strength to do an unmodified Divebomber Knee Tuck, do the Divebomber part from your knees.  Then, come back up onto your toes for the knee tuck part (if you can) for maximum burn.
• Side Jump Lunge: These are really not that difficult, but if you are having difficulty jumping to the side with both feet together, then leap instead.  Sink your butt down into the lunge as low as you can, and try to keep your thigh parallel to the ground.
• Dancing Crab: It can be difficult to keep your balance during this exercise, but squeezing your buttocks together and driving your hips up will help.  Make sure you’re not hyper-extending your wrists as you try to keep your balance.  If it is too difficult to balance on one leg and one arm, keep both arms down and just lift your leg up instead.  Squeeze!

This workout seemed to defy the space time continuum!  Before I knew it, it was done… and only 18 min later!  Some days you will have more energy than others.  If a workout seems to take you forever, think about why that might be.  Are you sleeping enough?  Are you taking at least one day off from your training every week?  How is your diet?  My diet is where I have been suffering lately.  I find that when I don’t take the time to prepare my food ahead of time, it gets down to the wire, and there’s nothing in my lunch box, I gravitate towards the junk.  Know where your weaknesses are and arm yourself against them.  If I know that I go for the grease when the pantry is bare, I know to never let that happen.  Go grocery shopping when your stomach is full and you’re with someone you want to impress 😉  That way your pantry will be full of healthy, nourishing foods.

Now that we’ve got a week of workouts under our belts, lets focus on healthy eating.  Don’t panic, I’m not going to throw you headlong into it!  We’re going to ease into it and create one healthy habit a week (simultaneously eliminating one unhealthy one).  Today is the first day of a new week and a perfect opportunity to start fresh.  This first two week period of our new program is the most challenging time in a fitness journey.  It is so easy to give up sometime in the first 14 days because it takes at least that long to create a healthy habit… so in light of that, our first diet challenge (Zuzana did this too and I loved it) will be nice and easy: Drink at least 64 oz of water a day.  There is some debate as to whether drinking that much water is necessary, but in my opinion it is vital when you’re working out as hard as we are almost every day.  It is important to keep your body hydrated: it is good for your organs, your skin (which is the largest organ), and it keeps your energy up.  Did you know that the human body is made up primarily of water?  Whether or not you need the prescribed eight 8oz glasses of water a day, we will never really know, but drinking that much definitely won’t harm you.  So swap out those soft drinks and juices for a nice refreshing glass of water 🙂

Tip: I carry a 64oz filtered water bottle with me everywhere I go.  It is a constant reminder to me to be mindful of my water intake, and I am successful with it almost every day!

Good luck with a brand new week of training and your first DIET CHALLENGE!  If you fell of the wagon last week, don’t sweat it!  Just dust yourself off and get back on again 🙂

Thank you for the workout Zuzana!

-Lauren ❤

“Today’s Workout–Thursday, October 29th, 2009” Day 5

Good (late) evening everyone!

Now I know why I don’t wait until the end of the day to do my workout. Haha.  I was pretty low on energy most of the day, and had originally planned on doing my workout earlier, but never got around to it.  I have this really bad tendency of letting go of my healthy diet habits on the days that I either skip my workouts, or even sometimes on my active rest days, and I frequently end up eating junk.  It’s like when I start my day with a workout, I don’t want to ruin it by eating badly, when when I don’t, what do I have to lose?  The answer is everything.  A fleeting experience with greasy fried foods is not worth the regret you’ll feel for sabotaging what you’ve been working so hard for.  While I was at work, I had a fried appetizer platter from one of the nearby restaurants and afterwards I felt terrible.  I had eaten too much and given myself a stomach ache, not to mention I felt regret knowing that I had put poison into my body.  It’s ok to fall of the wagon every once in a while–we’re all human and should be allowed to make mistakes, but let them be every once in a while, and when you have the option of eating healthy and are feeling internally strong, don’t allow yourself to be tempted into holding yourself back.  Fortunately after binging like that, my workout felt extra gratifying!  It was tough convincing myself to do it because I felt like a bloated slug, but now that I’ve done it I feel strong and refreshed… like I could run a mile in the 30 degree weather outside–and it’s almost

midnight!  Stick to your guns even when you don’t feel like it.  You’ll be grateful for it later 🙂

Day: 5

Mood: Content

Energy: Oddly high

Workout: 20 Minute Challenge  <———–Workout link

Equipment: Timer

The Workout

Complete 6 rounds of the following exercises for time:

Crossover Lunges (5 on each leg)

Santana-Zuzana Push-up (6)

Side Lunge Jump (5 on each leg)

My time: 26 min and 41 sec

***

Don’t forget to record your time!  It’s important because it gives you the opportunity to mark your improvement when you finish the same workout faster and in better form the next time!

Modification Tips:

• If you have trouble keeping your balance during the crossover lunges, hold onto a chair.
• If the regular Santana-Zuzana push-ups are too intense for you, do the pushups from your knees and balance the side plank on your bottom knee with your top leg straight and locked, so that the weight of your body is shared between your bottom arm AND knee rather than just your arm.
• If the side lunge jumps are too intense, take the jump out of the movement, and focus instead on sinking low into the lunge and keeping the bent leg parallel to the floor (knee bent no further than a 90 degree angle).

If you are following along with these workouts, but want to know what lies ahead (muahaha), take a look at this list.  It is a list of all of the workouts I will be doing on this site in order from oldest to most recent (the oldest being at the bottom of the page).  I know I like to start mentally preparing myself for a tough workout the day before, so I thought I would offer you the same liberty >:)  If you use the page, you should leave a comment and thank the creator for the resource–it’s a really amazing site!  I hope you all enjoy the workout, and try to beat my time!  Sorry it’s going up so late   I definitely won’t be making a habit out of working out after 10:00 pm.

Thanks for the workout Zuzana!

Your Night Owl,

Lauren ❤

“Today’s Workout–Prison Cell Exercises” Day 4

Good Morning Everyone! 🙂

Today’s workout was given its title because every exercise in this workout can be done in an environment with limited space, such as a prison cell.  Don’t think for a second that it’s easy just because you’re not running around!  This one wore me out!  I woke up at 7:00am this morning to do my workout because I knew I wouldn’t have an opportunity to do it later today, and let me tell you: it was tough motivating myself to get out of bed to do my workout.  It took about two seconds after I woke up to realize that the last three days of working out had made me really sore, and I was quite comfortable right where I was… but now that I’ve done it, I am so glad that I made myself get up!  My energy has sky-rocketed, by body feels awake and alive, and I’ve boosted my metabolism which will be heightened for the rest of the day, helping my body burn the unwanted fat.  Those are just a few of the benefits you will experience by starting your day out right!  Now get out of that bed!

Day: 4

Mood: Distracted

Energy: Groggy

Workout: “Prison Cell Exercises” <——-link to the workout!

The Workout

Walking Lunges (30)

Prisoner Burpees (10)

Over the Chair Round Kicks (30)

This is one circuit.  Do 3 more for a total of 4 to complete the workout.  Record the amount of time it takes you to complete the whole thing from start to finish: That is your score.

My Score: 34 min and 28 sec

WOW this one was tough!  Hello upper body… I almost forgot about you.  I haven’t worked you out in almost a month.  Thanks for reminding me.

I  felt like this one took me a while, but I was pushing at my max effort.  The pushups slowed me down because I have lost a lot of upper body strength–I had to take a month-long break to let an injury heal.  I was determined to do them all unmodified (if you are doing the exercise correctly, there should be 60 total), but I had to modify the last 18 prisoner burpees by doing the pushups off of my knees.  At first I was discouraged, but then I realized that being too stubborn to modify exercises earlier may have been what had caused my injury.  Know when to modify.  You will develop the strength you need to do the full exercise with time, and it is better to push yourself and be safe than to overexert your muscles and injure yourself!  I finally caved and learned a big lesson today.  Even after adding the modification, the pushups were still tough!

Modification Tips

• During the walking lunges, your knees should both bend to about a 90 degree angle (no more than that!).  If you cannot sink down that low into the lunge, only go as far as what your strength and flexibility will allow.  Move slowly if necessary to make sure you’re keeping good form.  It’s easy to get sloppy with lunges!
• Prisoner Burpees: If jumping your feet back into the plank position is too intense for you, simply step back into the plank position one foot at a time.  If you need to (I did) drop to your knees for the pushup.  It’s still a great upper body exercise, but it takes the pressure of your entire body weight off of your arms.  Try to come back onto your toes for the plank knee tucks in between pushups to add some intensity to the exercise, but listen to your body!  If jumping back into the squat after the pushups is too intense, just step your feet back up to your hands, one at a time.
• Over the chair round kick: It is hard not to get sloppy with this one.  I ended up kicking my chair a few times   To prevent that from happening, squeeze your glute and abdominal muscles as you kick your leg over, and move slowly if you need to.  This will enable you to kick a little higher.  If your flexibility doesn’t allow you to kick that high, use something shorter, like a small stool.  If the exercise is still too intense, just do front kicks (one leg at a time).  Keep your foot flexed, extend your leg, and kick as high as is comfortable.

Great job everyone!  Tomorrow is an active rest day and you earned it!  I hope you’re enjoying the workouts 🙂  I know they’re tough, but they are making your body stronger!  Have a great Friday!

Thank you Zuzana!

Yours winded,

Lauren ❤

“Today’s Workout–15 Minute Challenge” Day 3

Hey Everybody! 🙂

I hope you had a great Tuesday– I know mine was extremely busy!  Yesterday was one of my active days of rest and is was definitely active.  Before I move on to the workout, I want to take a moment to explain the importance of active rest days.  To improve, your body needs time to recover from strenuous strength training so that it can repair your muscles and make them even stronger.  The same goes for your joints.  If you were training for a marathon and ran long distances every day with no variety in your routine, you would eventually wear yourself out.  Your body would feel tired, you wouldn’t be able to push as hard, and before long, your knees, hips, and feet would start to ache.  You’d probably notice a decline in your performance, and after a while might injure yourself, taking yourself out of your sport for an extended period of time to allow the injury to heal.  It is the same with your daily workouts.  The beauty of body weight strength training is that you can do it several consecutive days without having to worry about splitting your days up into upper body and lower body.  Because you are not lifting weight heavier than what your body is naturally designed to lift in proportion to your stature, your muscles undergo less stress and damage, and therefore do not require as much time to repair in between…however, it still important to take 1-2 days a week off from your strength training to allow those muscles a break!  It is beneficial to continue to stay active… even on your rest days, but do something else like taking a jog around the neighborhood, going for a swim, or taking a hike (lol).  Have fun!

With the occasional exception, my schedule will like go like this: Workouts on Sun, Mon, Wed, Thurs, Sat and rest days on Tues and Fri.  That way I’m working out 5 days a week and taking two active rest days throughout the week.  You’re welcome to follow along, or to create your own schedule as you see fit, but I definitely recommend establishing some regularity in your routine 🙂  If you plan ahead, you will be a lot less likely to skip your workout!

Day 2

Mood: lazy

Energy: sleepy (I didn’t get my butt in gear quickly enough haha)

Workout: 15 Minute Challenge <—— link to the workout on Bodyrock.tv (there is no video for this workout, but it is a fairly simple one and the descriptions for the exercises should be clear enough!)

Equipment: Timer

The Workout:

This workout is only 15 mins long, but it is TOUGH!  My legs feel like jell-o and I couldn’t be happier because I know I pushed hard!  You have to give these workouts your max effort to get the best possible results!  Feel the heat! 😉

Low Jacks: 10

Core Exercise: 10

10 reps of each of these two exercises is 1 round.  Complete as many rounds as you can in 15 mins!

My Score: 16 Rounds!!!  I am really proud of this number!

Tips:

• For maximum intensity, stay as low as you can in both positions of the low jack (feet together and feet apart).  Make sure your knees stay behind your toes, and sink your butt down as far as you can like you’re sitting in a chair.  Try to keep your chest facing forward (in other words look ahead, not down at the floor).
• I wanted a good burn in my legs, so I did squat jacks: do a deep, wide legged (or plie) squat when your jump your legs apart, and stay low as you jump them back together.  If I had done regular low jumping jacks, I probably could have completed more rounds, but maximum burn was more important to me.
• During the core exercise, keep your chest lifted so that you are using your abs to pull your legs in and out.  Don’t allow your upper body to sink back, and make sure to keep it in one straight line.
• Keep moving!  Take as few breaks as possible.  You should be pushing yourself!
• Don’t forget to warm up and cool down!  You’ll be grateful you did it tomorrow.

Modification Options:

• If you can’t sink down as low into the jack, only go down as far as your strength and flexibility will allow.  Your strength and range of motion will increase with time, and it’s more important that what you are doing feels intense for YOU!  If you start to fatigue, just switch to regular jumping jacks and keep moving!  Don’t give up! 🙂
• If you have issues maintaining proper form during the core exercise keep your hands on the ground behind you to help you keep your balance.  This is what I did 🙂
• If the core exercise is still to intense, do a regular crunch.  You’re still working those muscles and getting stronger!

After the first few days of blogging and recording my scores, I’ve got to say I’m really enjoying it!  It makes working out even more fun.  I hope you are enjoying it too and are getting as much out of the workouts as I am!  I’ll be back with the next one tomorrow.

Thank you Zuzana!

Have fun :),

Lauren ❤

“One Legged Gypsy Workout” Day 2

Good afternoon everybody! 🙂

How are you feeling after workout number 1?  I was a little sore when I woke up this morning, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I actually enjoy a little bit of soreness because it makes me feel like my workout the day before was productive.  No pain, no gain right?  Today’s challenge is only 16 minutes long.  The goal is to complete as many circuits as you can of 4 exercises in those 16 mins.  You should be able to complete at least one circuit.  If you complete 2 whole circuits, you are impressively fast, but if you complete more than 2, you are likely moving too fast and may be sacrificing your form.  If you are able to complete more than two with proper form, more power to you, but make sure you are watching that form!  It’s better to move slower and get more out of each repetition than to speed through haphazardly and complete more rounds–sometimes moving slower is actually more challenging!  If you haven’t figured it out by looking at the title: “One Legged Gypsy Workout”, the entire workout consists of exercises that are performed on–you guessed it–one leg!  Good luck and don’t lose your balance! 😛

Day: 2

Mood: Content (I moved into my day nice and slow this morning)

Energy: Moderate

Workout: One Legged Gypsy Workout  <——-link alert! 🙂

The Workout:

One Leg Wall Sit (25 on each leg)

One Leg Crawl (10 on each leg)

One Leg Sit-up (25 on each leg)

One Leg Dead Lift (25 on each leg)

My Results: I  completed one whole round plus all 50 one leg wall sits, all 20 one leg crawls, and 25 of the one leg sit-ups in the 16 minute time frame, however I was determined to finish the second round, so I did it after the timer went off (otherwise it would have bothered me all day).  Like Zuzana said on the workout description for this particular workout, it is up to you whether or not you stop as soon as the timer goes off, but that extra effort will be apparent in your long term results.

I know the workouts are tough, but I feel such a sense of pride and accomplishment when they’re over and know that I made it through… and I know you will too!  Sticking with it will result in a stronger, leaner, more toned body.  We can do it together!  Good luck 🙂  I hope you’re keeping track of your results.  Remember to follow the link at the top of the page to the Bodyrock.tv site for a video tutorial and more detailed break-down of each exercise!

Happy Sweating,

Lauren ❤

“Today’s Workout–Balance, Strength, Agility” Day 1

This is the first workout I have done in about 3 weeks, and it was tough!  By the time I was finished, I was a sweaty mess… but you know what?  I feel like a warrior, and I hope to share that feeling with other people too 🙂

Day: 1

Mood: Determined

Energy: Moderate

Workout title:  Balance, Strength, Agility <———that is the link!

Workout

Jump squats with diagonal touch down (20 reps)

Skaters (15 on each leg)

Reptiles (20)

One leg hop kick (20)

Repeat this circuit 4 times to complete the workout.

My time: 20 mins and 0 sec

***

Modification tips- if some of the exercises are too intense at your current fitness level, you can still join in!

• If you need to, remove the jump from the squat jumps, but sink deep into the squat to make up for the decreased intensity
• You can touch your foot to the ground after each movement in the skater exercise if you have trouble with your balance, but again sink down low to make the exercise count!
• If you cannot maintain a plank position throughout the reptile exercise, do them from a modified plank position on your knees.
• If you cannot stay balanced throughout the one leg hop kick exercise, step instead 🙂

Remember: It’s supposed to be hard.  If you still look cute when you’re done, you didn’t push hard enough 😉

I hope everyone has as much fun doing this as I did.  It kicked my BUTT!  Check out the “Before pics and stats” page on this site for that information.  Enjoy your workout!  Thank you Zuzana!

yours exhausted,

Lauren ❤

PS: Bookmark this site: FitnessAlloy–it has a list of all of Zuzana’s workouts in order from bottom to top.  Today’s workout is the first one.

My Fitness Journey: Day 1

My name is Lauren.

I am (pretty much) just a typical girl who is in love, trying to survive college to make a life for myself, hoping to achieve, and wanting to look my best.  I am a 23 year old Journalism major in community college and I love to write.  I have always wanted to have a blog, and have tried countless times, but never felt like I had anything going on worth blogging about… then Bodyrock.tv happened.

…Rewind…

For the years after high school graduation before I was introduced to Bodyrock.tv, I had developed many unhealthy habits: I stopped exercising completely, I adopted a vegetarian and later vegan diet (which was terribly unbalanced and caused health issues such as malnourishment and anemia), and I picked up smoking.  I was frail; too weak to work out even if I had wanted to.  Shortly after I turned 21, I introduced dairy and meat back into my diet, and although I felt better, the return of extra calories and lack of exercise (not to mention I was working at an Italian restaurant) caused weight gain.  I have never really been overweight, but the 15 lbs of extra cushion I had acquired made me feel sluggish and unmotivated.  Almost a year later I fell in love, and shortly after quit smoking–cold turkey.  For whatever reason, it was not difficult for me even after having nursed the habit for three years of smoking anywhere from 1/2- 1 1/2 pack(s) a day.  For these reasons I am in a very meaningful and exciting relationship, breathing more easily, and feeling more satisfied by my food.

Now that you know a little bit about me, I can move on to why I created this blog.  Right around March of 2011, one of my coworkers introduced me to Bodyrock.tv, a (seemingly best-kept-secret) fitness site, hosted by a woman named Zuzana Light.  The site included diet advice, free written workouts, and video demonstrations of how to perform each exercise.  You can find the site here .  I was immediately blown away upon the discovery that such valuable information was being provided free of charge, and on top of that the workouts were INTENSE.  In many other workout videos it appears as though the host is breezing through the workout they are demonstrating like it’s a walk in the park, but you could see Zuzana suffer through each repetition in her videos.  This is one of the things that got me hooked on the site: it was so real.  According to interviews of Zuzana, the workouts she posted on the Bodyrock website are the only ones she does to maintain her fantastic physical shape and fitness level.  She claims she used to be slightly chubby, and that the Bodyrock.tv workouts are what brought her to where she is now.  After my first attempt at one of her workouts, I believed her.  I very quickly became hooked, and checked the site daily for updates and new workouts.  Zuzana never let me down, providing a new free workout almost daily.  She became my role model and working out became easy, not because it wasn’t difficult, but because aspiring to become the best version of myself, like she did, helped me develop the discipline I needed to make it though each one.  I have been utilizing her workouts since then, and have enjoyed it every step of the way.

Now

In October 2011, Zuzana and Freddie (Zuzana’s husband, photographer, editor, and owner of the site) announced they were splitting up.  At the time they lived in Las Angeles, CA and Zuzana had recently hinted at a mysterious project that she was putting together (commercialization of Bodyrock. tv?  One could only guess).  Zuzana stayed in LA, and Freddie moved back to Canada, taking Bodyrock with him.  Zuzana slowly began to fade from the Bodyrock site, not because people weren’t asking about her, but because her videos were becoming fewer and further between (she had stopped making workout videos altogether and was only posting “coffee chats”), and her pictures were disappearing.  New hosts took over the workout creations and demos, and Bodyrock became a completely different site.  I don’t resent either of them for this change, but I was not as inspired by the new hosts as I had been by Zuzana.

In the beginning of January, Zuzana launched a new project and Youtube channel with new workouts, referring to herself as Zuzka Light.  She is now completely separate from Bodyrock.tv (which is doing very well), and taking off with a fury.

What’s going on with me?

December brought a holiday induced slump with it, and I strayed from the routine I had developed of eating very healthy and doing Bodyrock workouts about 5 times a week.  January was worse.  I had started school again after taking a year long break, and started work at a new job, during which I was finishing out my two weeks notice at the job I was leaving.  Needless to say, I was busy as hell.  Throughout January I ate a lot of junk, didn’t get nearly enough sleep, and became fatigued and lethargic.  I have also likely put on weight (I don’t know because I refuse to weigh myself).

That being said…

I have decided to start fresh with a brand new fitness journey and blog about it to hold myself responsible, to offer others the ability to follow along with someone who may or may not be close to their fitness level, and hopefully to be a source of inspiration to them.  I am not Zuzana, nor am I trying to become her.  I am not famous, movie star-hot, and I don’t have much money either.  But I can hope that maybe… just maybe I can be a Zuzana to somebody else. 🙂

The Plan

• To eat a healthy, LOWER complex carbohydrate and higher protein diet (I will be posting about my diet and recipes as well)
• To do “Zuzana workouts” 5 times a week, starting from the first one she ever posted on Bodyrock, all the way through the list to the most recent, in order.
• To record the written workouts, post my scores, and record my progress every time I complete a workout
• To hold myself accountable and NOT GIVE UP!

This site has a list of all of Zuzana’s workouts listed in chronological order.  I will be starting from the first one, and working my way up the list (the oldest workout is at the bottom of the page).  There are only two workouts that are out of order, and those are the very bottom two–I will figure out when to incorporate those later.  I invite those who are pursuing their own fitness journeys to join in and sweat with me!  Please compete against my scores and post them in the comments.  A solitary journey is meaningful in itself, but numbers bring strength, power, and depth.

I will post my first workout today, along with my weight and measurements, and a “before” picture.  Unfortunately I do not have an accurate way to measure body fat percentage right now, which is the most accurate way to measure body composition and fitness level… hopefully I will acquire this in the future, and will share that information then.  Post your own before pictures in the comments, or keep them to yourself.  I think this will be a fun way to measure progress and be proud of what we’ve achieved.  So now I’m off for a bite to eat and to do my workout!  I’ll catch up with you in a few hours!

Ecstatically yours,

Lauren ❤