You are capable of achieving more than you think!

Today’s Jump Start mental focus is on Digging Dip. They give the example of the season 6 contestants doing that 6 am to 6 pm hill challenging and hiking more than a marathon in hills that day. All the contestants learned that they were capable of achieving more than they thought. Seriously if someone told you today you are going to spend 12 hours climbing a hill and going over 26 miles doing that I am pretty sure you’d think they are crazy too.

The moral of today’s mental aspect is this: “You are mentally and physically stronger than you think you are. Try pushing your limit a bit farther than you have in the past in your next workout and you may just surprise yourself.”

This was the perfect thing to read before I did my two workouts to make up for missing out the past two days. I got lucky though as both did not include cardio – phew! Here is the lowdown on what I did today.

36 minutes HIIT’s on the treadmill – increasing the grade (going up a hill) and speed every 30 seconds

Next was strength training – I did them like a circuit running through the series (twice) with no breaks in between and doing between 12-15 sets. I used 2, 8 lb dumbbells for each

* Bent-Over Rows
* Chest Press
* Bi-cep Curls
* Tri-Ceps Extensions
* Overhead press

Then, some body weight & mobility exercises – same concept – I ran through the series twice with no breaks in between.

* Toe Touch Reach (giant squat type exercises with arm work) (8×2 each side)
* Push-Up Plank – Held it for 1 minute twice
* Cobra (like a superman) held for 1 minute twice
* Opposite Arm & Leg Reach (alternating for two sets of 1 minute)
* Bridge (2 sets of 16)

Finally, some nice stretching – each pose held for about 3o seconds.

* Static Chest Stretch
* Static Lower-Back Stretch
* Static Should Stretch
* Static Tri-Ceps Stretch
* Static Bi-Ceps Stretching
* Misc leg and arm stretches once done

Tadah! All caught up on my two days missed. I have to fit in my 200 crunches (100 for each day still) so I will probably be doing that later tonight. I’ll be sure to report back and maybe even add a tracker widget on the right.

After my workout I was definitely ready for a snack. I broke out one of my new TJ’s 0% Greek Yogurts and added a splash of Pure Vanilla Extract & Dark Agave Syrup. I topped it with 1/2 cup of a super juicy and sweet mango.

Absolutely delicious! I LOVE how the extract makes it taste like vanilla yogurt with the sweetness of the agave. I used about 1/2 tsp of each. If you don’t like the bitterness of plain yogurt – this is your solution. With the sweetness of these plus the fruit it is better than any pre-sweetened yogurt you can find.

The new TJ’s 0% plain Greek Yogurts rock!!! Super creamy and thick with no bitterness at all – LOVE it!

We spent the rest of the morning/afternoon running errands. We stopped at a local deli for lunch. The Jump Start called for a 360 calorie cheesy roast beef melt with a salad. I am not a huge fan of roast beef so I opted for a turkey & AVOCADO sandwich. Note to self – ask what type of bread next time. You can’t assume that just b/c all the other sandwiches have wheat yours will too. I also said hold the mayo but that didn’t happen. I did my best to scrap it off – bleh to mayo! I had 1/2 of this gigantic sandwich.

It was tasty and filling. Instead of fries (yes, it was soooo hard not to get their amazing fries) I asked for a side salad with balsamic on the side.

This lunch has really held me over pretty good! We stopped for an iced tea at Starbuck’s and I picked up some fun reading at Sam’s Club.

I sort of have a magazine addiction – even though I subscribe to way too many I can’t help picking up ones that catch my eye. Hello Burgers from every state or Rachael Ray’s Free Stuff and well Eating Well just speaks for itself. I have all of Emily Giffins other books so I had to add this to the stack.

Rachel & I plan on going to the Hungry-Girl book signing in SF this month so I needed to get my copy. An afterthought….hmmmm, I wonder if you have to buy your book at the book signing? Oh well, if so, I will get another. I really liked her first book and can’t wait to check this one out too.

Wow, that was a really long post – kudos if you read it all! So much for short and sweet 😀

Off to do some crunches, make up my grocery list, shop, (laundry is started) and get back in time for some sort of date night with The Husband. We haven’t decided if we are going out or staying in…..But, I will be sure to report back whatever we do.