Legs Do It! Challenge - Week 3 Update

I altered my original plan a bit from what I wanted to do just based on how the week went. No worries, however, because my weight is finally moving back down and my legs feel like they've gotten a workout this week - which means I did something right!

Here's the snapshot of the attention my legs got this week:

Monday/Wednesday: Strength
I did 22 minutes on the bike on both of these days, followed by a routine on the weight machines. I did increase my weight on one more machine this week, so this means that my legs are getting stronger. I am VERY excited about this!

Thursday: Run-ning (like Forest Gump... ha!)
Thursday is Youth Group day, which means my time is crunched. I went to work and used the treadmill there to get some time in on my walk/jog routine (I'm trying to increase my time until I can jog for the straight half-hour; I'm almost there, I did 18 jogging minutes and 12 walking minutes). Here's why I'm counting running as some attention my legs get and not just general cardio: every time I jog (I'm not quite at "running" yet, I don't think), my legs feel like they've been beaten. I never ran much growing up, so training myself to do something new is good but means muscles that don't normally get used - get used. And appreciate it. And show me that by being sore.

Yay!

Friday: ZUMBA!!!
Zumba is a full body work-out, but your legs get a ton of attention because you're dancing. And your soul gets some attention because you're having fun too - especially when you're doing it with other beautiful women who you love dearly (it was part of our Youth Group girls' night, my great friend Priscila was recently certified and taught an amazing class). LOVE IT! We went for about 50 minutes or so, and I think I could have done another half hour easily!

Saturday: Sculpting/Stretching:
This morning I got up and did:
- 35 jumping jacks
- 10 burpies (which are hard, and look like this)
- 25 lunges w/ 3.5 lb. weights
- 20 squats with body weight
- 20 side leg-lifts per leg
- 20 front (flat) leg-lifts per leg
- 10 minutes of old-school color guard stretching focusing on my legs

When I did these, I put my Pandora on the "Just Dance" station I have; there's something empowering about doing exercises to songs like "Sexy Can I" (Warning: explicit lyrics!).



I feel great - probably the best I have all month. Excited for next week - going to give it my all and go into my Disney vacation feeling amazing, I can feel it!

Hopefully next week I can give myself a gold star.