Posts Tagged Exercises
“All Star” Kermane of OH
Posted by buffmother in Success Stories on August 16th, 2010
Kermane is not only our All-Star of the day, but It’s her birthday Today!!! Happy birthday Kermane!!
Kermane has an amazing testimony; she is a true NO EXCUSES kind of a gal! You name the obstacle, she’s overcome it. Now with the support of the Rally Room and with Hormonal Timing she has built herself the best body of her life. She never ceases to amaze me with her progress and her determination to be a GREAT example for her son. She is on fire to build a legacy of health for him and is currently attacking a new goal to run a 5k race in the near future!!! Kermane just celebrated 6 years cancer free last Friday~ NOW !! that’s something to celebrate!! I am so, so happy for her and blessed that she’s have shared 5 of those past years with TEAM BUFFMOTHER !! ♥ I love you!
You can follow Kermane on her AWESOME blog: KERMANE THE FIGHTER
www.kermanethefighter.blogspot.com/
Kermane’s thoughts on Hormonal Timing– as a Mother and Cancer survivor:
This is a picture of me AFTER I came home from having my son. I was sleep deprived, fat, depressed and miserable, plus I had a little one who was depending on me for everything and I could barely take care of myself at the time. It was my worst picture, because during my last trimester I just ate whatever I wanted and didn’t work out at all. After fighting breast cancer, chemo and reconstruction surgeries I was ready to take care of me again so I decided to go for my goal.
The Hormonal Timing System helped fill in the missing pieces when it came to diet and exercise for me. For too long I was getting discouraged when I would fall off the wagon, not realizing my hormones had a lot to do with that. From tracking my cycle with Hormonal Timing I realized I am full of energy the first two weeks of it and start to feel less energetic the closer my period comes. I realized about two days before my period I was zonked and should not try to kill myself working out then. It helped me gear my exercises towards my hormonal cycle in a positive way. I think the key point of Hormonal timing is that we have to realize that our bodies are ruled by hormones, like it or not and that we should allow our bodies to follow our natural cycles and not try to push ourselves beyond that because that makes us more prone to failure.
Why Kermane LOVES the Rally Room!
I have always been interested in exercise. As a child I had excess babyfat to go with my glasses and long hair resulting in some self esteem issues. By the time I hit fifteen I was what you would call a cardio bunny. Also I was skinny fat, I had no muscle tone but growing up in a household where my Mother was obsessed with cardio I didn’t realize at the time there was other types of exercise. Cardio was great for sweating but I still wanted to eat like my friends and ended up battling bulimia for about three years in the closet.
About the time I married my husband I realized I should be lifting some weights and bought 6.6lb dumbbells thinking I was the bomb! Ten years into my marriage I had dumbbells up to 10lbs and did all kinds of Jane Fonda type weight lifting. My Mother passed from breast, liver, colon cancer 3 days prior to my son’s birth, depression hit hard but I lifted myself out of that for my son and husband. When my son was about two years old I started the Atkins diet and lost some weight only to be diagnosed with breast cancer. I was depressed. I was 34 years old and afraid my 35th birthday would be my last. I gained about 25lbs thru the long process of recovery and reconstruction. After my main battle was over I realized I felt sluggish and I wanted to lose the weight I gained.
While reading a website I found an article by Michelle about why muscle burns fat. Something clicked in my head. I went to her Buffmother website and read all the articles, I joined her Michelle Berger group. I was embarrassed to post my workouts because my weights seemed small compared to everyone else’s. Then Michelle started the Rally Room site for women only which I joined and my love of strength training began. I joined contests on the Rally Room site to motivate me and they did.
I’m addicted to it now, I like how everyone encourages everyone and if necessary tries to get someone to see it is necessary to eat, you got to feed those muscles. I have made so many friends here. If you’d asked me a year ago if I would be friends with people living in Canada, Texas, Florida, Tennessee and Michigan I would’ve said you were crazy. But I have. There are women on here that know more about me than my best friend, I am that close to them. If they needed me I would fly there in a heartbeat to help the out with any struggles they might be suffering.
When I joined the Rally Room I was depressed and my body image was low, I struggled with self-doubt and had to fight the urges of bulimia. Now I realize that though my body became sick it is a miraculous thing. It has recovered and rebounded. I can bend in some amazing yoga poses that normal people probably could not do. It gave life to my son and he is a beautiful creature. My body is strong, stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. My Mother was not the most positive role model and delighted in bringing my self image down and I am proud to say if she was alive, no matter what she could not bring me down right now.
Since joining my hips went from about 43 inches down to 37inches, I have lost 3.5inches off my waist. My strength has increased tenfold. I can leg press a 380 pound man if I wanted, and squat a 180lb person. My chest which was ravaged thru surgeries and reconstruction is becoming stronger everyday and it will be only a matter of time before I can bench press 100lbs. My arms used to look like chicken wings, they now look like my arm idol Jennifer Aniston.
I realize that cardio is not the only type of exercise. I strength train my body 4 to 5 times a week now and delight in my strength increasing. I realize its ok to have a day off from working out now, in fact it is good for your body. I love encouraging people to realize that no matter your age or current fitness level you can achieve your goals. If people can look at me and be encouraged from my struggles in life then I am willing to tell my story to any woman who wants to listen.
I’ve discovered that my body needs extra supplements that I am low on them and when I take them my mood swings improve tenfold. I’ve also discovered cardio doesn’t have to be hours but can be as little as 20 minutes if you do interval training.
The Rally Room has given me great support and all the wonderful ladies in in encourage me when I am depressed and lift my spirits to get back on the fitness wagon. More than anything it gives me the spirit to continue when the body is weak and I thank you for it Michelle!
Bulgarians / Single Leg Squat
Posted by buffmother in Fitness, Legs, video on July 23rd, 2010
BuffMother — September 18, 2009 — How to do a Bulgarian or Single leg squat by BuffMother, Michelle Berger www.buffmother.com
Category: Howto & Style
Tags:
squaqt single leg squat bulgarain exercise how to butt
Outline:
What’s in a Name
Basics First
Setup & Form
Balance
Variations
Switch Starting Legs
Transcript: Bulgarian or Single Leg Squat – no weight
Hi. The interesting thing about a lot of exercises that you deal with in bodybuilding and weight training is that there are several different names for basically the same exercise. It all depends on what you grew up calling it, what your friends call it, what your colleagues call it. There’s definitely, with the Bulgarian, there’s a lot of different names for this exercise. You can call it a split squat, a one leg squat, a Bulgarian. Then there’s different variations you can do of the same exercise. So just because one person does it one way doesn’t mean that’s the only way to do it.
Now there’s definitely safer ways to do it, there’s more effective ways to do different exercises. And what I like to teach people are the basic ways to do the exercises first. And stick with the basics at first. Then once you get a certain level of fitness you can tweak them, do different variations, and your body will be ready for those variations. If you don’t have the base core strength, the base leg strength, the base back and upper body strength there’s certain exercises you should not be doing – certain variations of certain exercises that you should not be doing.
So, I’m going to show you just the basic Bulgarian or single leg squat. Now the way that I start is that I have a bench behind me and I step out in front of the bench about 2 to 3 feet. So a good way to start would be to actually have something to hold onto when you’re first starting to do this exercise. I have the stand right here by me. Now simply just place your leg behind you on the bench. You know the bench is there, just lift up your leg and go behind you –you’re holding on so you shouldn’t lose your balance. Then just lower down. You want to lower down to where your knee does not extend over your toes. So you want to have your lower leg pretty much perpendicular to the floor, over your ankle if possible. So you lower down kinda going back, pushing our butt back. Then as you push up, push up through your heel.
So, we can hold on during this just to keep our balance. Because it is, it very much works your balance – your balance of your ankles, hips. You don’t really want any weight pushing through that back leg, you want all of the weight on the front leg. So think about this (front leg) as the leg doing all of the motion. That’s just back there to help you, for your balance and help you isolate this front leg.
Now, if for instance you want to do a variation of this exercise you can take a bigger stance. And typically I do mine with a bigger stance – I like to really stretch my glute. The closer in you come the more you work your quad. As you stretch out – say for instance if I add a foot out in front of me this way you can see that I stretch more in this area. It will activate my hamstring and glute more. And you can come straight up and down – that’s one variation. Or you can come forward. Like, if I have dumbbells I’ll come forward like I’m a sprinter getting ready to start my race. This will activate your glutes even more. Alright, so that’s a Bulgarian with a couple of different variations.
Now, you want to start with opposite legs each time you do a set so that you don’t overwork one leg and neglect the other. So you want make sure you do the same exercise with the other leg. So we’ll go ahead and do some reps with our left leg. When you’re first starting, like I said, you might want to hold onto something for balance, or have it there just in case. Once you get that you can move to having your hands on your hips or on your leg. This is good, it helps you with your balance. Then we’ll do a couple with the bigger stance here, leaning forward, like I have my dumbbells. You can pretend like you have dumbbells before you even use dumbbells. This is how I would hold them on this variation. That’s basic training on how to do Bulgarians.
I’m going to go ahead and take a little breather. Then I’m going to do a set with dumbbells, so I’ll be back doing that for you.
Ahh, the Peace!
Posted by buffmother in Fitness on February 3rd, 2010
I love PEACE! It’s been crazy around our house the past 4 days due to the snow and snow days. Thankfully the kids are back in school today~ Awww….the PEACE!!
Cycle day 3 was yesterday and I’ve come to realize that it’s typically a “tired” almost “sick” feeling day for me. I think the hormone levels coupled with blood loss can make me feel pretty ICK! Anyhow…today is better, my MOJO is rising and I have a bit of focus again! I did get a workout done yesterday at the gym…it was a good escape!
Here’s the workout:
Warm up elliptical- I actually did intervals for 9 mins
Bench
45×20
25push ups
95×10
20 push ups
ABS
9x10x4 or 5 more sets
15 push ups
ABS
Incline flys
30′sx10x3sets
paired with
tricep push downs
80×10
95×10
80×10
Posedown bicep curls
30×15
40×10
40×10
paired with
2sets cable flys and stretching
Cardio- boxing drills in aerobics room, approx 20 mins
I am still struggling with my butt, but I’ve decided with the prodding of my DH, to try and just “leave it alone” for a week or so…meaning- NO STRETCHING, RUBBING, POKING, TESTING etc… I have a tendency to constantly fiddle with my injuries- which may lead to them not being allowed to “rest” and heal. So that’s my new idea for the week on it :hehe:
Today’s focus is Balance, so my plan is to do several balance type exercises during my leg workout. My MMA class got canceled for today, so I’ll be doing a small leg workout and running at the gym instead. I plan to go this afternoon.
I also plan on catching us up with our Just Do it posts:
Day 15 Diet
Day 16 Balance
Keep workin’ it and stay focused!!
PEACE OUT,
Michelle
p.s. today’s workout:
warm up 8 mins r bike
run intevals- most off mins at 7mph on mins @8 or 9 at about 8 mins into it
i did an entire 1/2 mile at 9mph= 3:20
25mins of running total- total distance 3.1miles
Lower back extensions 2 sets
Abs on extension machine 2 sets
Leg extensions 4 sets with stretching to the side (hip/obliques) and standing quad stretch
Leg curls- these were crazy weak on my left leg (did single legs on these) really light 4 sets
Single leg press 3 sets- these felt good…I’ll have to do more of these while my butt is being stupid
one set walking lunges no weight and some walking calves
Just do it! 6 Week Contest
Posted by buffmother in contests, rally room on January 14th, 2010
Just do it! 6 week performance results based contest is set to Start on Monday the 18th!!
The coolest thing about this contest is that it’s YOU competing with YOU!! We are going to have 5-6 TESTS that you will do the first and last weeks of the contest so that you can see how much you’ve improved in each area of your “fitness” over the 6 week time frame. Each TEST will also have a point system attached to it so that you MEASURE your results against others results too also, which will help the judges determine who wins! YOUR goal will be to improve on each of the TESTS as much as possible over the 6 week time frame and therefore get as many points possible. The cool thing is that once you do the contest once you could always repeat it in the future and compare your points from your previous results.
You may be wondering, What are the tests? Well….I’m not going to tell you ahead of time! I don’t want anyone to get a “head start” or be concerned about how good or bad you may do on the specific tests until it’s TIME to do them, lol! The element of surprise is key to getting your baseline, starting test results. I will assure you that the TESTS will be stuff all of you can do! There will be built in substitutions for various fitness levels or physical constraints.
MY goal during the 6 weeks of the contest is to help you with weekly tips on how to improve in each of the TESTS. The first time you test may be the first time you’ve ever done it, that’s okay….that only means you’ll have an even bigger chance of improvement.
The HELP I’ll be giving will be instructional, educational and applicable to making you perform better for your end of 6 week testing session. I’ll be uploading video, photos, articles, insights, tips, exercises, drill, etc… to the Rally Room throughout the 6 weeks so that you can see great gains in your performance!!!
I thin this contest will be a blast! You’ll love it because it’s not all about visual or weight results it’s about PERFORMANCE RESULTS, so anyone can compete and anyone can win!!
Details:
Start date~ January 18-26, 2010
End date~ February 28th, 2010
Prizes; TBA; They’ll be good, promise!!
Judging criteria- Points and Participation (blogging your journey and encouraging/helping others through theirs)
Prize eligibility requirements:
All contestants must be active members of the female only Team BuffMother Rally Room (www.therallyroom.com)
All contestants must officially enter by simply posting a comment in the contest post in the Rally Room(late entries will be allowed through Tues, Jan 26th)
All contestants must submit via e-mail a final entry form to michelle@buffmother.com by March 8th, 2010- I will provide a simple “form” for this and will include your basic information, a photo of you, start and finish testing results and your thoughts on the contest
So…If you want to join us on this fun Fitness Adventure, just sign up at www.therallyroom.com!! Everyone can do this!!
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