challenge – Whole Heartily

30 Day Arm Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

Now I know (because I’m feeling it) that this can be intimidating for several reasons, but what if we just started small? What if we created a step-by-step stairway, instead of running into a wall and trying to scale it with zero momentum?

We began with a 30 day walking challenge to get our legs moving and to open up our heart and lungs! We followed that with a 30 day squat challenge and a 30 day plank challenge to strengthen our muscles! Now let’s continue strengthening our muscles by starting a 30 day arm challenge that begins with 4 each of the three exercises on the first day, and by end of the 30 days we will able to perform 40 of each exercise!

I recommend breaking the exercises up into sets as the numbers climb higher, please do not try to do them all at once!

Here we go!

30 Day Plank Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

We began with a 30 day walking challenge to get our legs moving and to open up our heart and lungs! We followed that with a 30 day squat challenge to strengthen our muscles! Now let’s continue strengthening our muscles by starting a 30 day plank challenge that begins with holding the plank position for just 10 seconds on the first day, and by end of the 30 days we will able to hold it for 2 minutes!

Here we go!

30 Day Squat Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

We began with a 30 day walking challenge to get our legs moving and to open up our heart and lungs! Now let’s take the next step and strengthen our muscles! Let’s start a 30 day squat challenge that begins with just 5 squats on the first day, but by the end of the 30 days we will able to do 100 squats in a day!

I recommend breaking the squats up into sets as the numbers climb higher, please do not try to do them all at once!

Here we go!

30 Day Walking Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

So first step, let’s get our legs moving and open up our heart and lungs! Let’s start a 30 day walking challenge that begins with 15 minute sessions and by the end of the 30 days we will be walking for 60 minutes without stopping!

Here we go!

Thank you Ring Fit Adventure, I’ll Take it From Here!

In my Ring Fit Adventure Challenge – Reboot post, I posed the question: Can playing a video game really help you and I get fit? More specifically, can Ring Fit Adventure help you and I get fit?

For three months now, I have played 30 to 40 minutes of Ring Fit Adventure a day and my conclusion is: yes, but it takes a lot of time.

Ring Fit Adventure was released Saturday October 18th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. It comes with a squeezable pilates ring to hold and an elastic leg strap for leg movement. It piqued my interest because the main part of the game is a story where you need to travel across maps and defeat monsters to get to the boss who you also have to fight using different work out moves. The more you experience you get, the more you level up and acquire new workout moves to complete your journey. It is delightfully entertaining, adding plot and challenges or battles to cleverly distract the player from their workout, but if you’re looking to get down to business and workout quickly and efficiently, this is not the experience you’re looking for.

If someone were to play this every day for a long period of time they could make progress, I have lost six pounds since May and the exercises have become easier to perform and sustain, but the amount of time spent playing does not equal the amount of time spent exercising. When I say I played for 30 to 40 minutes a day, that equaled out to about 10 minutes of active workout time (which the game will track for you). The rest of the time is spent going through setup, menus, preparation, and story dialog. Calculating from my experience, you would need to play about 3 hours to reach 60 minutes of active workout time. Unfortunately a lot of people do not have the time for that, including myself.

I want to thank the game for its ingenuity and beauty, and for getting me started. I believe it inspired me to get up and get moving, but now I feel I would be more effective working out on my own.

Have you played Ring Fit Adventure? How is your progress? I would love to know!

Ring Fit Adventure Challenge – Reboot

Can playing a video game really help you and I get fit? I believe Ring Fit Adventure can and I’m going to test it out!

Ring Fit Adventure was released Saturday October 18th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. It comes with a squeezable pilates ring to hold and an elastic leg strap for leg movement. It piqued my interest because the main part of the game is a story where you need to travel across maps and defeat monsters to get to the boss who you also have to fight using different work out moves. The more you experience you get the more you level up and acquire new workout moves to complete your journey. It is delightfully distracting and entertaining!

As you might have gathered, I am not the epitome of health I would love to be, and to speak plainly, I haven’t been for a long time. This is uncomfortable for me to tell you, but I currently weigh 170 pounds. I feel heavier and far less graceful on my feet than I ever used to, and I want movement to feel easy and comfortable instead of a chore. When I was a teenager, I was more active and fortunate enough to have a good metabolism; I weighed 110 pounds and, at 5’2” tall, I felt comfortable in my own body. Since then I have put on more and more weight as my metabolism has slacked off and my bad habits have grown. Now I am a freshly minted, new mama and I’m looking to get back into shape and lose my baby weight plus a little extra! I’ve indulged myself for a little too long and it’s time to get back on track!

In addition to the game, let’s talk about my variables:

I’ve been practicing up to 20 minutes of yoga daily.
I’ve been taking my daughter out in her stroller for 30 minute walks daily.
During this shelter-at-home order, I’ve started intermittent fasting and only feel like eating 2 large meals a day.
I am making an effort to drink at least 78 oz. of water a day.

Confession time: I started this challenge back in October when the game released, and I dropped the ball. Months went by and I started doing my daily yoga and walks. This has made me feel better than I have in a long time (being pregnant and having a baby is no joke on your body) and with a stronger foundation, I wanted to give this challenge another try!

Let’s do this! Follow along with me on here and Instagram!

Happy Birthday Stephen King!

stephen-king Today one of my favorite authors, Stephen King, turns 69 and I’d like to celebrate this birthday and the next by attempting to read all of his fictional novels within a year!

If my research is correct, I believe this is about 66 books including the 11 collections, and each collection ranges between 4 to 24 stories.

Can this be done? Has anyone done this before?

I could feel daunted by the sheer number of books and their length, but one of the things I love about Stephen King is the flow of his work and how easy it is to become completely invested in the story. I really couldn’t help myself and already began reading on September 1st, thusfar I’ve finished Carrie, ‘Salem’s Lot and The Shining. I’m feeling really positive about finishing before his next birthday!

~~Carrie~~
~~‘Salem’s Lot~~
~~The Shining~~
~~The Stand~~
~~The Dead Zone~~
~~Firestarter~~
~~Cujo~~
~~The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger~~
Christine
Pet Sematary
Cycle of the Werewolf
The Talisman Written with Peter Straub;
Thinner Published under pseudonym Richard Bachman
It
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
Misery
The Tommyknockers
The Dark Half
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
Needful Things
Gerald’s Game
Dolores Claiborne
Insomnia
Rose Madder
The Green Mile
Desperation
The Regulators Published under pseudonym Richard Bachman
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
Bag of Bones
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Dreamcatcher
Black House Sequel to The Talisman;Written with Peter Straub
From a Buick 8
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower Grant
The Colorado Kid
Cell
Lisey’s Story
Blaze Published under pseudonym Richard Bachman
Duma Key
Under the Dome
11/22/63
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
Joyland
Doctor Sleep
Mr. Mercedes
Revival
Finders Keepers Second novel in the Bill Hodges Trilogy.
End of Watch Third novel in the Bill Hodges Trilogy.

Collections

~~Night Shift~~
Different Seasons
Skeleton Crew
The Bachman Books (Rage, Long Walk, Roadwork, Running Man)
Four Past Midnight
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Hearts in Atlantis
Everything’s Eventual
Just After Sunset
Full Dark, No Stars
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

30 Day Yoga Challenge Results

The 30 days in my 30 Day Yoga Challenge are up and as you can see, I did not complete the challenge completely. Bummer!

I was able to practice Yoga 26 of the 30 days and I am satisfied with that. I feel more relaxed and more limber than before, but less so than when I’ve practiced yoga in the past. I believe this may be due to cutting down on my sugar intake during these past 30 days too, and the effect that has had on my body as I detox has not been enjoyable. In fact, some of the days I didn’t practice I was feeling extreme fatigue and/or suffering from headaches.

Moving forward, I do feel confident that I’ve broken in a new habit. I fully intend to keep practicing yoga at least 3 to 4 days a week! Who’s with me!?

Yoga Challenge Update

Alright, I am about halfway through my 30 Day Yoga Challenge and I decided to check in and let y’all know how I’m doing…

I missed a day…blargh! It was a Saturday. The day went by and before I knew it I was crawling into bed, dozing off and jolting awake when I realized I’d neglected my yoga! Part of me feels terrible, but I do realize I want to create a lasting habit out of this challenge and some days will be missed. I didn’t use it as an excuse to give up and I won’t give up!

30 Days of Meditation

Yesterday I posted a challenge to myself to complete 30 Days of Yoga; no excuses, no exceptions. Today i’d also like to throw some more fuel on that fire and give myself another challenge to complete 30 days of meditation.

Sometimes I think about things a little too intently and I build up a lot of pent up anxiety about a wide variety of mostly meaningless topics. I think taking the time to clear my head and focusing myself each day will do a lot of good in my life.

To get myself started, I downloaded the Stop, Breathe, and Think app on my iPhone/iPad which provides different focuses of meditation based on how you’re feeling. You can either complete their self assessment exercise and they will recommend meditations for you or you can select your own without the assessment.