A Plan with no Plan is still a Plan....right?

 
Total Workout (TWO) today.  It felt really good.  I haven't worked on my legs like that in a while and those lungs and stretching moves really push me.  I am slowly getting better and better as I recognize which muscles to activate and re-activate with each move.

On Teresa Tapp's FB she posted about an awesome deal that I just couldn't pass up.  I got THESE new workouts.  Then when I checked out the Tapp Club specials I couldn't pass up THIS deal!  I am way excited to add them to my collection of awesome workouts! 

I have decided that if I plan too much then all my energy is used up in the planning and not in the executing.  So my plan now is really to have no plan.  Well, to clarify... I plan on working out at least 6 days a week.  If it is only BWO+ for those 6 days than so be it!  But my tentative plan is to do a full workout which is usually around 1 hour, 3x per week and then a chill & fun 15-30 min workout for the other 3x per week.   Push hard then take it easy and back and forth like that.  So my plan is to always exercise, but to let the choice of what new workout I will learn and master be the exciting and non-planned part. 

I never did share with you all that WAY back when I was being consistent, I was choosen to win one of the gift bags that they give away at the Retreat.  AWESOMENESS!  I loved the treats.  The soaps and other beauty products are amazing.  I got my own T-Tapp T-shirt and cloth grocery bag.  Thanks again to the T-Tapp family for choosing me.  I hope to WIN this 30 day challenge and get to see you all at the next retreat!

Just to let you know how good I am doing with my diet....I am not.  I think my food today mostly consisted of the cookies I made last night (chocolate and butterscotch).  I should really know better.  Though I won't be having cookies for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner everyday.... I know that T-Tapp can still make up for my slippage every once in a while. 

Arms baby, Arms.

Just in case you thought I might end up looking like this by doing T-Tapp...I want to reassure you that I won't.

Today I did things a bit different.  Life was busy today so I only had time this morning for a BWO+.  So I decided that later today I would try out my newly purchased and unused for 3 months T-Tapp Tempo Series ARMS.  It is 27 min of the BWO+ with a strong emphasis on the ARMS!  My Lats and Deltoids are burning up.  My body is still sweating, but it all feels strangely soooo good! She uses the usual workouts that we do on the BWO+ and the TWO and then adds new moves.  The one I really loved was the SKI move.  It is like you are Cross Country Skiing and is a powerful move!  Good thing tomorrow is Sunday and my regular rest day.  Gonna be good to let these arms recover!

The more consistent I am doing T-Tapp, the more I realize how my bad posture contributes to my seemingly lack of muscle and definition in my upper body.  When I walk around I might not walk with my butt tucked and tummy in all the time, but there is a huge difference when I walk with my shoulders back and my lats engaged and ribs lifted.  Try it.  You might like it!

Let me 'esplain

For my few followers of this blog, you might already know about some of my personal life's most recent events.  But let me 'esplain for those who don't know; no, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Last September (2010) I started my own personal challenge using the T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus program and for 30 days tracked my progress in inches lost.  I continued that challenge for the next 30 days using the T-Tapp Total Workout program.  Then I found out I was pregnant. 

I have a bit of a paralyzing fear of working out while I am pregnant.  I have experienced 2 miscarriages during my second trimester of pregnancy and I have a fear (one of many) that I am the one causing these miscarriages by being too active.  Does that make sense?  Not at all.  We do irrational things when we are afraid. 

Once I found out I was preggo I stopped T-Tapping.  I dropped off the blog world, cause I didn't want to share that I was pregnant yet with others for fear that I might lose this baby too soon.  I was physically tired and just didn't feel I had the mental strength to make even a 15 min daily workout happen, even a few times a week.  I was living in fear and in excuses. 

Last Tuesday, Jan 18th, I went in for my 17 week check up to once again find that our baby had no heartbeat.  We went to the hospital that day to deliver our 3rd son, Collin Maxwell Bartmess.  He joined his big brothers Spencer Mark and Evan Riley in Heaven.  The emotions of this experience have been all over the place.  Physically I am doing extremely well.  The delivery was the best of any of this kind that I have had.  With the older 2 boys, we didn't find out that they had passed until I was nearly 20 weeks.  So finding out at 17 weeks this time was helpful because we might be able to find more information from the baby's tissues that we couldn't on the others since they had passed around 17 weeks and we didn't find out till around 20.

I know that I have many emotions that I don't know how to deal with right now, but I will have to face them sometime.  That is why I posted what I did on Monday, Jan 24th, which was also my birthday.  It was a great day for New Beginnings.

Tuesday I saw that T-Tapp was beginning a new challenge from Jan 27th to Feb 27th.  I was WAY excited to see this challenge, because it gave me something to focus on and work through my grief by getting physically stronger so I can deal with the things I need to emotionally. 

Thursday the 27th was the BIG day!  I took my photos and measurements and even though it was 9pm, got a BWO+ workout in.  This morning I woke up and tried a new workout by Teresa Tapp called the T-Tapp Broom.  I wasn't able to do all 1 hour 45 min worth because of my schedule today, but I did get in 75 min of moving my Lymph around and it felt GREAT!  I am constantly surprised at how simple the T-Tapp movements LOOK, until you are trying to do all KLT, Tuck, NBT, Lats and Shoulders movements at once while implementing her other workout moves too.  It is a little workout with a big KICK!  A Kick in my Booty!

At this point I don't have a specific plan for what workout, when, just that I am going to try and do some T-Tapp with a minimum of 15 min, 6 days/week.

I just finished my registration on T-Tapp.com tonight and uploaded my pics and measurements to the website.  I will try to get them up here too.  Pictures are always a bit embarrassing, but we gotta start from somewhere, right?

So now that it is actually 12:09am on the 29th I should get to bed.  Part of losing weight is getting good sleep.  So off to bed I go.

A NEW BEGINNING

We all need this. 

I have decided to rename my blog for a couple of reasons.  I still intend on using T-Tapp as my basic workout regime, but my life has changed, which shouldn't be a surprise really, and I need a place to write my thoughts and process things other than focusing on one specific exercise program.

I have come to believe that as humans we are all experiencing the mourning process in some degree or another at all times in our lives.  I don't view that as a bad thing at all, because it makes us human and able to learn and grow from all of life's experiences.

I also feel that when our bodies are strong, we are then able to process spiritual and emotional feelings that otherwise we keep repressed because we physical can't handle the drain it is on us.  Our bodies know this and protect us from ourselves.

I know that there are things in my life that I need to work through and I honestly want to work through them so I don't want to back down from the challenge.  I want to help my soul heal and I intend to start that process by making my body strong enough to let it know that I can now process the emotions that lay dormant and stuffed down in my basement.  I trust my body and trust my spirit to come together on this one and I will be better for it.

So here goes my Everyday Exercise Therapy.