Step 1: Decide on your location: home, neighborhood, town, park, etc.  Your location could be a combination of all these places, but make sure you’re incorporating bikes, walking, physical movements to get from one place to another.  Try to use the car sparingly!  Remember our goal is to keep moving with our own motor!

Step 2:  Decide on a time. Is their a time limit? or Until everyone finishes their quest?

Step 3:  Design the meat of the scavenger hunt. List the questions, items that are being searched.  For instance, a neighbor down the street might have a unique mailbox that the children can find and take a picture or describe on the answer sheet.  If the hunt is in your yard, find a unique feature or hide a soccer ball for the children to find.  Then have them complete a physical activity in that location like skip to Question 2 from the mailbox or kick the ball ten times to each other before advancing to the next clue.

Have fun with creating, watching, and participating in the Scavenger Hunt.  The children will be problem solving, getting rid of some energy and staying active.  Plus, Mom, that’s one less day to worry about for the summer!

I’d love to hear some of your ideas or how your scavenger hunt went.  Send me some pictures and I’ll post some great Scavanger Hunt Days and Sample questions/answers to help moms make it through the summer.

Cantaloupes are on sale!  I love late spring/early summer fruits.  The lovely sweet flavor of a juicy cantaloupe will be a perfect reward for your post workout snack. Test your fruity strength abilities.

Warm Up:

1.  30 Side to Side Twists with arms parallel to the floor while holding the cantaloupe at chest level.

2.  25 Squats with Cantaloupe extended in front of you.

3.  10 more Squats while lifting the cantaloupe above your head.  Forearms come inline with your ears as you stand up and arms drop down toward the floor.

How are you doing:  Are you ready for the Main Course???

1. Balanced Cantaloupe. Keep arms outstretched and balance the cantaloupe in one hand.  Guide the cantaloupe to one side of your body, keeping your arms parallel to floor.  Slowly lift your opposite leg as high as you can at your side while maintaining balance.  Hold 2 seconds, return foot to floor.  Bring cantaloupe forward and to the opposite side of your body, lifting opposite leg.  Repeat 12 times.

2.  Cardio Cantaloupe. Place cantaloupe on the ground.  Jump over cantaloupe side to side for 30 seconds.  If you can’t jump, don’t worry.  High step by lifting your knee as high as possible toward your chest and side stepping.

3.  Cantaloupe Overhead Lifts. Pick up cantaloupe, lift it overhead and drop cantaloupe behind your head.  Keep elbows facing forward and arms in line with your ears.  Force the Cantaloupe up toward the sky.  With controlled speed, pump that cantaloupe toward the sky.  Keep going for 30 seconds.

4.  Cantaloupe Circles in Reverse Lunge. Stand up tall.  Step back into reverse lunge.  With straight back, lean slightly forward to circle the cantaloupe around your leading leg.  Complete 10 circles and return to standing position.  Repeat 12 times.

5.  30 Cantaloupe Jacks. Start with your feet together and the cantaloupe at your chest.  Push the cantaloupe toward the sky as you jump out with your feet.  Return the cantaloupe to chest when feet come together.

6.  Cantaloupe Alphabet. Position yourself in a half squat.  Tuck in your abs.  Breathe.  With the Cantaloupe outstretched trace the upper case alphabet.  Keep your arms extended and make the letters large and exaggerated.  This is a great one for the children!

7.  Cantaloupe Crunch. Lie down and place the cantaloupe on your stomach.  Watch it drop as you slowly lift your shoulders in a basic crunch.  Concentrate on having the cantaloupe sink down.  20 more.  You’re almost done.

8.  Long Legged Cantaloupe Toe Touches.  Hold the Cantaloupe in your hands.  Straighten your legs.  Take it overhead and lift your whole body up toward your toes.  Slowly roll back to the floor vertebre by vertebre.

Congratualtions.  One Cantaloupe Circuit Complete.  Are you ambitious enough to go for the entire circuit again?  Are the little ones begging to snatch your cantaloupe away and join in on the fun?

Pass off the cantaloupe and tell them it’s theirs until you catch the cantaloupe.  Give them ten seconds and chase  Play this game for as long as your little one wants (or as reality hits, when you’re just too tired to chase the little bundles of energy).

Alright!  Are you heading out to the store pick up your next cheap workout piece of equipment:  THE CANTALOUPE?

Have you worked out for at least 30 minutes?  What a refreshing, exciting time at home.  It’s time to clean up, cut the cantaloupe and enjoy your nutritious treat.

sodium       counterproductive   fat

twenty       blood sugar level     carbohydrate

two           kilogram                 power

low            ten                       ergonomic aids

resistance   protein                  carbohydrate

one             500                     polyunsaturated fatty acids

1. Drink at least ______ cups of fluid 2 to 3 hours before exercise or competition.

2. Replace sweat loses during training and competition every ___ to ___ minutes.

3. Drink 3 cups of fluid for every ___ lb of weight loss.

4. A 6% _______________ solution with water, as found is sports drinks, is ideal from the standpoint of gastric emptying and intestinal absorption for reducing mental and physical fatigue during both stop-and-go sports and endurance sports, for encouraging drinking during physical activity, and for improving performance.

5. Sports performance is related to the ability of the athlete to overcome _______________ and the ability to sustain _______________ output.

6. Clients wishing to increase muscle mass should perform exercises needed to enlarge muscle mass and slightly increase daily caloric intake by _______________ (the max range).

7. An athlete’s strategy to reduce fat mass and maximize muscle mass through diet by dramatically lowering total energy intake is _______________.

8. Athletes should consume between 6 and 10 grams of _______________ per kilogram of body weight.

9. The glycemic index is a measure of how different carbohydrate foods affect the _______________ level.

10. Athletes interested in lowering either weight or body fat levels should consider focusing on foods with medium to _______________ glycemic index.

11. The adult athlete requirement for _______________ is between 1.5 and 2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight.

12. _______________ have a tendency to lower blood cholesterol and contain lots of vitamin E.

13. _______________stay in the stomach longer than other energy nutrients which make us feel fuller longer.

14. The _______________ provided by sports beverages helps to maintain blood volume, a factor that is critical to maintaing sweat rates and performance.

15. Carboyhdrates and water are _______________ that have been shown to improve a person’s capacity to perform better.

As each blank is filled in, someone else can come along and finish off the answers.  A comment an answer.  Let’s see how you do!

For the past several months, I took on new responsibilities as Quality Control Specialist for the trainers, expanded my training hours, and present personal training packages to new members.  My schedule is finally stabilizing and I’ve cut back on a couple of those 5 AM mornings. I look forward to returning and sharing my experiences.

In the meantime, I am excited to share that I completed my first article for the Spring issue of Breathe Magazine , a magazine for active women in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast that offers fresh perspectives on women’s health, outdoor adventure and green living.  The article shares tips and ideas for Moms to stay active.

Go Workout Mom is also listed as one of the Top 100 Healthy Mom Blogs!
Thank you!

In the meantime, computer access and blogging is taking a backseat.  I hope all is well for your new year and you’re continuing to progress with healthy habits and lifestyle.  It’s a constant journey well worth taking and I hope to return soon to share more tips and ideas to further advance your journey.

I am temporary suspending Goal Call Monday.

Goal Call Monday is your opportunity to be focused, accountable, and motivated to make your goal a success.

This week’s winner is…Shen-Li. Your special reward will be determined when we make contact!  Congratulations!

Ready to Share?

1. Enter your goal in the comments (anytime during the week).

2. You’ll be listed in the Goal Call section next Monday. Enter your results/progress to be entered in the drawing.

Why You Want to Participate:

Focus on your top one-week goal in health, diet or exercise.

Accountability is shared here in the comments and by coming back with the results.

Motivation will be provided through your desire to achieve your goal and return with good news or the challenges you faced.

As an extra motivation, I’ll enter anyone who participates in a random drawing to receive a surprise reward (different prizes given each week).

Goal Call

How did you do? Did you accomplish your goal, get stuck, have a funny story to tell? This week is filled with great accomplishments. Keep up the great work everyone. You’re doing fantastic.

• Blaine:  40 to 80 miles depending on the calf muscle recovery.   21 miles for many of us is a goal of several months!  Great job.
• Shen-Li: Three cardio sessions for the heart!
• Anita Keep eating healthy (especially after the holiday weekend) & to keep my water intake up.
• Asithi:  3 sessions of circuit training, approximately 30 minutes long.  A nice sore (without pain) day is a good feeling:)
  

I look forward to hearing how you did with your goals. Great job focusing on the small steps! A surprise reward will go to one of you for commenting on the results (good or bad)! Check in and report any time during the week before the next Goal Call Monday is posted! To see their original goals, click here and read the comments.

With Thanksgiving behind us, my family is already looking forward to Christmas and New Year’s Day.  The tree’s been decorated.  I’m designing our Family Christmas Card inserts, and we hope to get all the lights strung by the end of the week.  It’s easy to think, ahh, what the heck, I’ll wait to the New Year to X (workout), Y (eat right), and Z(catch some ZZZs).  But, there’s no need to wait.

I’ve noticed the gym isn’t nearly as full as it was a couple of months ago.  I’m looking at how I can motivate and invigorate my clients over the last month of the year.  Here’s what I plan to have them do:

• Share with me the best health or fitness moment of the year.
• Share your main goal for December and post it up on your mirror or refrigerator.
• How do you plan on achieving the goal.
• Write down one positive experience from each month of this past year that was personal, emotional, or professional!

We need to be proud of our achievements. We often look at our children and can rattle off an answer for each one of these points, but for ourselves?  Now, that’s a bit tricky.  I often forget to sit down and think about the positive things that I’ve done.  In my mind, I review the failures and try to plan on how to battle my weaknesses–Not today!  Let’s take a moment to reflect on all the positive things you’ve achieved.  I’d love to hear your answers!

Goal Call Monday is your opportunity to be focused, accountable, and motivated to make your goal a success.

This week’s winner is…Asithi. Your special reward is a Subway Gift Card.  Congratulations!

Ready to Share?

1. Enter your goal in the comments (anytime during the week).

2. You’ll be listed in the Goal Call section next Monday. Enter your results/progress to be entered in the drawing.

Why You Want to Participate:

Focus on your top one-week goal in health, diet or exercise.

Accountability is shared here in the comments and by coming back with the results.

Motivation will be provided through your desire to achieve your goal and return with good news or the challenges you faced.

As an extra motivation, I’ll enter anyone who participates in a random drawing to receive a surprise reward (different prizes given each week).

Goal Call

How did you do? Did you accomplish your goal, get stuck, have a funny story to tell? This week is filled with great accomplishments. Keep up the great work everyone. You’re doing fantastic.

• Blaine:  Fantastic Running.  Great time for a little R & R.  Get some good mid-week long runs in while I ramp up my training again before my mid-December taper for the 50 mile race.
• Asithi:  3 sessions of circuit training, approximately 30 minutes long.
• Shen-Li: Week four to keep up the workout at home DVDs so still the same goals for this week.

I look forward to hearing how you did with your goals. Great job focusing on the small steps! A surprise reward will go to one of you for commenting on the results (good or bad)! Check in and report any time during the week before the next Goal Call Monday is posted! To see their original goals, click here and read the comments.

Goal Call Monday is your opportunity to be focused, accountable, and motivated to make your goal a success.

This week’s winner is…Shen-Li. Your special reward to be decided. Congratulations!

Ready to Share?

1. Enter your goal in the comments (anytime during the week).

2. You’ll be listed in the Goal Call section next Monday. Enter your results/progress to be entered in the drawing.

Why You Want to Participate:

Focus on your top one-week goal in health, diet or exercise.

Accountability is shared here in the comments and by coming back with the results.

Motivation will be provided through your desire to achieve your goal and return with good news or the challenges you faced.

As an extra motivation, I’ll enter anyone who participates in a random drawing to receive a surprise reward (different prizes given each week).

Goal Call

How did you do? Did you accomplish your goal, get stuck, have a funny story to tell? This week is filled with great accomplishments. Keep up the great work everyone. You’re doing fantastic.

• Blaine:  Pushing into the 90s!  Great progression.
• Asithi:  So excited to win!  Keep it up girl.  It’s worthy of all Award Acceptance speeches.  Maintaining the same goals for this week…3 strength training sessions of approximately 30 minutes each, walking around in order to get 10,000 steps.
• feener:  In the gym on Thursday and run 3 miles at least 3 times a week!
• Shen-Li: Three home fitness workout sessions of at least 20 minutes each.  Great work with the at-home videos!  The best part of learning to train with the little one’s around is that you take advantage of any time you can! Keep it up.  Soon he’ll be working beside you!

I look forward to hearing how you did with your goals. Great job focusing on the small steps! A surprise reward will go to one of you for commenting on the results (good or bad)! Check in and report any time during the week before the next Goal Call Monday is posted! To see their original goals, click here and read the comments.

First, it’s time to clear the home of the little ones! I recommend trading days with a friend for kid watch or dropping them off at a family member’s home for a few hours. It may be time to let the husband skate by and take them off your hands for Daddy time.

Second, tackle the house with intensity and speed. Housework is hard and a dedicated two to three hour cleaning will result in a full body workout. It’s not fun, but necessary. It’s best to knock it out before the week of cooking and final touches for decorations.

Calorie expenditure can range from 422 calories to 740 calories during the two to three hours of a focused scrubbing, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, decluttering marathon.

I am not looking forward to the decluttering efforts in our office/open family room area (aka. space for the guests and extra seating for Thanksgiving dinner)! Which area are you avoiding?