Since today is Valentine's Day, I figured it would do my heart some good to take a moment and blog about recent developments and heart friendly activities. I love love love going to classes. Step aerobics, circuit training, pump it, ANYTHING that has another person (preferably a professional) guiding me and driving me through a work out. I try to do a class every day. For the past 5 weeks I've been doing a class AND I've been counting calories like crazy. I think the advice of "calories in, calories out" makes a lot of sense, so I'm trying to pay attention to what I'm eating as well as how many calories I'm burning. The problem with classes (and really, any type of machine) is that you never REALLY know for sure how many calories you've burned. I was watching Biggest Loser the other day (cause I do that now) and noticed that they were wearing these little black devices on their arms. No one was really talking about them, but I wanted to know what it was. So I did some googling and discovered that it is the answer to my current challenge. I want to know EXACTLY how many calories I'm burning. They use something called a Body Bugg. And from what I have been able to gather so far, you wear it all day (except when showering, it isn't waterproof) and it tracks how many calories you burn. You also enter how many calories you consume. There's a nifty web site and everything. Of course, there are other cheaper brands out there (some claiming to do even MORE then the bugg) and I'm doing some research to learn more before making a purchase. If you have one, or know someone who has one, please feel free to drop a comment and share your knowledge. Thanks!
This week, tonight in fact, I am going to add a new workout to my regiment. My husband has been doing Krav Maga every night at 8pm. About 2 weeks ago he convinced my baby brother to go with him and give it a try. He loved it. And has lost 12 lbs. (Men!) Tonight I am going to join them in the gut wrenching vomit inducing activity. I'll let you know how it goes. I didn't know much about it except that it is the preferred fitness activity of Hillary Swank. (I also don't know why I remember that little bit of trivia, but I do.) And now I'm going to see first hand what it's all about. I may get sick. I may fall in love with a new activity. And THAT will do my heart even more good! Right? Right! Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day.
UPDATE: Just in case you're wondering...I went to Krav Maga on Monday and loved it so much I went back again on Tuesday. And might even try to go AGAIN tonight. It's a lot of fun and it teaches self-defense...in fact, it STRESSES self-defense. The first 15-20 minutes of class is spent doing some sort of intense warm-up. Not like, step left step right now to a grapevine, type of a warm-up. More like running lines back and forth across the mat and stopping at each end of the mat to kick or throw a few punches. Awesome! Then we spent about 20 minutes working on the self-defense method for that day...kicking or punching. Then we get to do "practical" work. Which means you take turns standing in the middle of a group of 5 and close our eyes and wait to be attacked (a choke hold)...then you get to fight back. It's intense to stand there and wait for the attack, but it's a rush when your body responds automatically to the threat and you realize that the stuff you've been learning actually works. Anyway, if you get a chance to try it, I highly recommend it.
