Coyote Hills Hike

It's been a long long time!
I have had three tournaments and one house-move in between. That is not why I haven't posted. I haven't posted because my exercise routine has been zilch! I walk an hour when my son has soccer practice three days a week and the weekend throwball, but other than that, no Jillian, no running, nothing!
My son is a part of Tiger Scouts in the area. One of the reasons why we signed up for this was the adventures that we would go on. We went on our very first campout in September. I had smores! Smores! For the first time in my life, a camping staple, stuff that I'd only read about. Was awesome. The campout itself I think we were underprepared for, but managed to get by fine.
Then come the monthly hikes. This time it was Coyote Hills. The hike was planned for 2pm. Slathered in orange peel scented sunscreen, off we went on a merry hike! The kids were running! Up the hill! What in the world!! My gluteus maximus, solar plexus, and other major muscle groups could not take it! It was awesome! I have done Mission Peak but it was too crowded for my liking. Here the goat poop, bird poop were ours and ours alone, as was the dust that blew from the steep sides, the tiny rocks that rumbled and the ones that skid beneath our feet making us feel we were floating for a second- headed toward the ground for sure! The rocks were ours, as was the sun dried grass. The smell of mountains that we couldn't smell over our gasping breaths. The hot sun that was merry and the cold water that went down our throats.
We did two hikes in all for about two hours. The first one took us over the mountains and the second one took us over marshes and wooden bridges. We did the Bayview Trail and Lizard Rock trails. The Bayview trail was splendid, with distant horizons and sparkling water and seagulls. The lizard rock trail took us through winding paths of tall grass and cattails.We got to see egrets and a black tailed deer.
The visitor center had nice displays of the settlement and villages before it was urbanized. It was definitely interesting for the kids to look at the tools and weapons used during that time. Also displayed was the trading items, which happened to rocks (which hold particular interest to my son). Given a chance he would de-rocked the entire center and the trail too. There was also a nectar garden with monarch butterflies and a couple of other kinds I forget the name of! Very serene too.
A good hike without too much crowd!

Jillian Michael's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism

This!!!
This amazing kick butt of a workout!
This routine that had me dying for the seventh minute onward!
I can not stop gushing about it. Where the previous workout had me wanting cardio, this video delivered it with a kick right up my back. 50 minutes of non stop cardio. This workout sees 5 exercises in each section with 7 sections in all. Kickboxing, calisthenics, core training and more kickboxing feature in this routine that works because you are moving so much.
Some of the moves make you truly feel powerful. All the kickboxing moves that we go through, beginner or advanced, depends on an individual's comfort and flexibility. So where I did normal height drop and side kicks in the beginning, in the end I think my foot was higher than when I began. Some of the hard ones- burpees- my eternal bane; I won't rest until I conquer it. Standing mountain climbers- basically alternate upward punching with high knees thrown in. This was hard given that high knees are a problem for me. I started with a slower timing and then worked to the ones in the video. Still effective. Oh! Oh! There were the side knee crunches. I think there were points when my knees were doing it involuntarily because I had died by then. Scissor kicks that I ended up doing beginner level to decrease impact on knees.
In spite of the previous paragraph, I felt this workout was absolutely awesome. Let's face it! We get into it knowing what we are going into with Jillian. It is not going to be easy, but it is going to be exactly what we needed to get started. If there is a workout video that I'd consider buying this is probably it. Again I think this would be effective combined with the "No more trouble zones" DVD since that's all weight training and this is cardio. I can totally see getting shredded.
I had earlier planned on running more often but this video ended up being available sooner than I thought. I have given this my due diligence and found it good in the month and half that I worked with it. I still have a few more days to go before I return the video back. I still have not figured out what will be next, but am inclined towards running more. A Throwball team mate mentioned how she will be doing a marathon. Which has been a dream...but first I have to get back to running, hopefully I will.

Jillian Michaels' No more trouble zones

I wanted to take my time with this one. I truly wanted to give it my best shot; to see the results and then post about it. By now I've done quite a few of Jillian Michaels' programs. So I expected this to be as effective as the others. For me, unfortunately this did not quite cut it.
First and foremost this is not a 3 or 4 level circuit training that I have done with her other programs. In its entirety it is composed of 7 segments with 5 exercises, each done twice with the exception of the last segment. I did the entire DVD every day. It was pretty easy to keep up the energy. I did feel a lag a couple of times, when I did a less impacting version of the exercise for a couple of reps. Right at the beginning she mentions that all the exercises target trouble zones-arms, thighs, and abs to be broad. I used 5 pounds on each hand. It would have been more effective with 3 pounds but did not have those. The first five minutes- the warm up- incorporate a few cardio moves like jump rope, ice skaters and jumping jacks that are truly cardio moves. The rest is all weight training, with body weight and dumbbells.
She brings back mat work that uses body weight and that is awesome. Hollow man with scissor kicks, squirms, bicycle crunches, windshield wipers, pelvic thrusts, super man, rotating planks, planks with toe taps are all fantastic.
This DVD though is not easy on the knees, although we can modify to suit it to our comfort. She has two ladies working out along her but both of them do advanced moves and not a lot of beginners. Jillian does mention that we can ease up on the range of movement to suit our convenience. That's what I did. There is one in particular- the aptly named Surrender(!) that I ended up doing without weights because my knees wouldn't simple do it.
This DVD raises the heart rate and does burn calories, but to my surprise I found it less effective than the 30 day shred. Oh don't get me wrong! My biceps and triceps have risen to the surface, my arm is tighter and my thighs have a strong shape. I like to think the reason why I did not enjoy this one was because I was missing the high energy cardio moves. In spite of  the workout itself being good, I probably will not do this one again.
On the plus side, I am going to be running more regularly starting July. Hoping that will be a good change of pace.

Say my name..Wait! What?

I am named for my paternal grandmother- Meenakshi. Growing up I always had another classmate with the name. (I've also had someone in my class- school and college, the place I worked and when I did my Masters share my birthday too!!) In a bizarre turn of events I also had a room mate whose second name was the same as mine. I grew up not feeling particularly fond of it but for the sentiment attached to it. Although the shorter version of my name was used more frequently in our home and with relatives. I remember my mom used to be called "Meena amma". To this day a lot of people know her that way, just like how I am Kshitij's mom. And eventually I loved my name- hearing my full name with my fathers name is my ultimate joy. I thanked every person here in the USA that has said it completely right on the spot. They have issues with the last name- makes for a hilarious post later on.

Staying in the States, it has become easier for me to frequently tell people to call me by the shorter version. Even to those who can say it. My classmates, the billing agent on the phone, the DMV person and so on. I have been in so many situations when the sounds coming out of their mouths did not even match the letters in my name! So its been cut down to the first five letters because the English speakers could not capture the "ksh" sound convincingly enough and it was easier than repeating my name a lot of times (for native speakers only. A lot of my friends call me Meena too -familiarity breeds special privileges :P). Starbucks could find a shorter version- Mina! Worst of all, even after I say Meena, I have had questions like Neena? Nina?Ameena? Wait what?!

I now wonder if this is right. After all did we not make the effort to say Schwarzenegger? Not the best example I am afraid, but the only one off the top of my head. I am proud of my name and the heritage that it brings. And this when I was brought up in India for decades, having had time to say my name in the right way and truly let it become my identity.
The whole point of this post was to get to this- Kshitij is a beautiful name. It means "horizon". I fell in love with the name when we were looking for one. While it is a common enough name in India, it still poses challenges. All the letters in the word are meant to be pronounced. All of them. K its not silent, j is not y and t is th!I have taken to calling him K on social media posts and I feel if I am partly trying to alleviate other people's problems with his name. I should not be. How do I instill the love of his name? I do not want him growing up and wanting to change his name like Gogoloi from The Namesake. How?  

Ripped in 30- Week 4

We are stronger in the places we are already broken.
Jillian Michaels quotes Ernest Hemingway and proceeds to make me unbreakable all over my body because she how broken I am.
Looking back I have never seen a Week 4 workout in all the stuff that I have done from her line. 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack both have only 3 levels so I knew Week 4 is going to be a killer.
Am I the only one that is gleeful the harder the exercises are? Nope, the thousands of focused, determined individuals that work out to her tough tune are sure to love it. You know by now that I had my Throwball tournament (Did I speak of anything else?) over the weekend. The longest rallies, the toughest point by point fight and thanks to Jillian I did not zone out until the very end where my exhaustion went beyond social niceties and I would have slept in the wide open field given a chance. :)
This Mother of all workouts is everything she promises it to be. I have slowly and surely seen a tightening of my bicep/tricep muscles, my thigh and shin muscles. My tummy still needs work. I have another post on that lined up when I can get to it.
Sweet Spots- I can't even talk about the warm up being easy. The slow leg swings were definitely not easy.
Tough nuts- The video if full of them. Squat press and rows, Burpees (my eternal bane in life- if it were a person I would be trolling them on Twitter), Chaturanga pushups (side note- a couple of yoga based exercise routines in this week) and last but not least plie hops with scissor kicks (don't ask me! I did the easy version and knocked my heels together)
In the end more than the exercises, I believe that I have grown more motivated and determined, It's not easy doing these exercises alone, let alone daily. I am supremely proud to have walked out on the patio, huffed and puffed myself red and proven to myself that all I need to be the best version of myself is work on it and be me!

PS- Started No more Trouble Zones ( my muscles are still twitching from the 50 minute exercise video. Post about it soon)

Where every game shows your character

I have never been a huge sports follower, but I have admired sportsmen and women for the spirit and dedication that they show. Olympic medal ceremonies easily put me to tears thinking about the stuff winners/participants went through, stuff that they faced during training and what it means to represent their country in front of the world. I also truly believe that if you have trained hard and have a deep passion for your game, it does truly not matter if you win or lose, because the sport is richer for it. Just like different religions believe their gods get powerful with the faith of devotees, I believe sportsmanship survives time.
A lesson learnt, the best teams do not resort to cheap tactics of distraction, aggravation or intimidation. I know you are thinking.. how does a team game like Throwball in the Bay Area become subject to such negative qualities? Throwball is still a relatively unknown game here but gaining more prominence. I LOVE IT, I LOVE MY TEAM. Yesterday we attended a tournament. In the round robin, teams are divided into pools, made to play against all in the pool, the points put together and teams ranked in three levels- beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. We had decided before hand that we would play our best and get into Advanced level, because all of us felt we were slightly more mature in the game to get into Beginner or Intermediate. We did. We played our best and moved into Advanced level. In the semi finals though we went head on with the current champions in that level and..lost! We were proud. Disappointed yes, but lessons and strategy for the next tournament were already being discussed as the final for that level was going on.
Now I come to the title. We faced a couple of teams that were moderately good, but by benefit of negative attitude were trying to intimidate us. It did work for a couple of points. Then we came back stronger. We realized if we played a clean consistent game, we would not be called out for any fouls that we may or may not have done, mostly may not in our case :P. They had no answer. That is where I think we truly stood out. We could have taken the easier route and resorted to name calling and distraction and unsportsmanlike like refereeing. Instead we stood for what we believe in. And each point gained was the sweeter for it. That is how every game shows your character.
PS- We actually had two teams from our throwball group. Where we moved into Advanced, our sister team aimed at Beginner, got into Intermediate and won it like a boss!! Champions Titans :)
PPS- The longest rallies I have ever played for every single point were against the reigning  champions. Jillian Michaels IS awesome. She promised endurance and I got endurance.

Ripped in 30- Week 3

The penultimate week. No closer to getting ripped but definitely seeing the muscle tone. Had my annual physical- my HDL has never been this high! All because of the exercise that I have been doing :) feeling fantastic about that!
Going a little nuts this week Jillian really brought in the tough moves. She said she wanted me to curse her name and I was. But all in all my muscles were definitely working. The warm up segment was a little different in that they were three warm up exercises repeated twice almost like the exercise circuit!
Sweet spots- Say what??
Tough nuts- Duck walk, stork stance with reverse fly. rock and roll jump with reverse crunch, one legged hops (this was particularly daunting because I did not want the exercise to impact my knees), table stance with tricep dip.
All in all was a challenging week. There were a couple of repeats from 30 day shred- jumping lunge that felt much easier this time around. Seriously looking forward to next week which starts tomorrow. Final week also coincides with the weekend of tournament so pulling out all stops on this one next week.

Ripped in 30- Week 2

Was..huff..not...puff..prepared!
Continuing to indulge in self torture I went ahead with Week 2 of Ripped in 30. You know what kills me? The models that serve in the beginner/advanced pose demonstration make it seem easy. Even the beginner modes do the advanced level pose while Jillian herself asks them to do the beginner level poses! Man..way to show off.
With the same 3*3, 2*2, 1*1 mode of circuit levels, a lot of the exercises are variations of the basic poses. Incorporating more than one muscle group during the exercises are the easiest way to burn more calories.
Oh yeah! She makes no bones about even waiting for the actual exercise to kick butt. One in the warm up actually has a leg rotation kick..the kind you see in movies with martial arts. Felt immense pride doing that..hopefully the body later will thank me :)
Sweet spots- Jump rope with kick outs, Alternate table with ab hold
Tough nuts- Crow push ups (I know!!), Stork pull ups (whats with the fauna?!), Side lunge with leg hike (like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant)
At one point she talks about building endurance. I see marked increase in endurance. During throwball practice sessions, which easily go on for 3 hrs now, I am able to see higher levels of stamina, greater arm strength and throw, even breathing and faster reflex and movement. Heyooo!
Side note- Now I have my team mates warming up and cooling down too! Score for team spirit..the team that stretches together, sticks together!

Jilian Michaels Ripped in 30- Week One

Ok! Five months into the year? I am already planning my Halloween costume..where is the time running?
Disclaimer One- Throwball tournament coming up and I wanted to be stronger for that
Disclaimer Two- I was in no way, shape or form prepared for my ass being handed to me
Disclaimer Three- Really badly handed to me!

I am a fan of Jillian Michaels, you'd know from back when I did 30 day shred. So for the April vacation (which actually I need not have worried about, 'cos the food in the resort just spoiled me out of shape anyway), I started out with the 30 day shred and was inconsistent about it. I finished the 30 day shred in maybe 45 days :P (I know! I know! Read on though..) On an impulse I decided to rent out more Jillian Michaels DVDs. I got 4 DVDs! One week shred, Banish fat boost metabolism, Ripped in 30 and No more trouble zones. I have no idea what I was thinking, I was probably in food coma and out of my mind.
I am happy to say that I had to return the first two due to me working on Ripped in 30. Some other comatose idealist (a prayer for their soul and body) had placed them on hold so it went back to library. :P

So Week One! Having done 30 day shred program, I was mentally prepared for it to be trippy, but boy was I underestimating! This program comes in 3 circuits too, with the same 3-2-1 formula of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes cardio and 1 minute abs. It was basic moves, getting the form right and it still killed me. I was sweating worse than I did after a 5 mile run, and in under 30 minutes!! It was life draining, mind numbing and soul crunching- meaning it was awesome! I loved it..(Side bar- Kamal Hasan once said that only with the ache of muscles you realize how truly sweet pain is)
While 30 day shred had 2 exercises in all strength, abs and cardio moves, this one had 3 for strength, 2 for cardio and abs.
My mistake- the weighing machine still does not have batteries. :)

One thing that she really stresses is the meal plan, which unfortunately had a lot of meat in it. So I am trying to eat healthier with less processed food and lot more vegetables and fruits. 

Looking forward to 2017

Well I mean I really have no choice! Life is no bed of roses but it is what we make it to be and I certainly have seen proof of it. Lets get straight to it!

1. Fitness goals- Remain same. In fact an April vacation has spurred me into being more conscious of exercise and routine. Also I often underestimate the importance of home cooked meals. Working in a start up, it is so easy to get carried away with the food and not be sure of my portions. Steadfast decision to eat as many home cooked meals as I can and more vegetable/fruit helpings as I can.

I have also expanded my repertoire of home made cosmetics and essentials for skin care and I like that I am in control of what goes on my skin. I do not think I will change that. I see certain new things that will be in the way and I plan on getting them out of mind/way so that I concentrate on a minimal chemical invasion. Some are against my principle, I don't know why I decided on them, but enough said, this year will be the last.

Another thing on my mind- Henna for my grays has been my constant vanity. I want to be comfortable with grays but I still don't have the guts- will work on this too..

2. Personal goals- These are many many!

a. Visualization- Positive reaffirmation and visualization. We are what we think we are. Why not think better of ourselves? Picture ourselves where we want to go and start the journey to betterment.

b. Words- Words are powerful. This year I want to rein in my words. Even if it means some people are going to take advantage of it, let them. If a raised voice alone indicates negation, I am going to be so misunderstood this year. However, my point is to simply express my opinion in a tempered way and not too defensive about it. Being kinder and tolerant while sometimes mistaken for being a pushover speaks volume about personality. I would like to be firm but kinder with my words.

c. Pursue certain pet projects that I have been long incubating. At least read up on some of them and take the first step.

d. As always, read, read, read and know more.