Well I finished my steps just before midnight, and I forgot to mention I got my step goal Sunday too. At least 6,500 steps and at least 3 miles. I haven't been doing the rest of my exercises until after midnight. On my tracker for Fitbit, I enter the exercise time into the current day for a more accurate calorie count, but I count it mentally as the 9th becuase that's what date it was when I got up. Therefore, this morning sometime between midnight and 7:30 AM, I have completed my Day 9 Challenge Exercises.
For the Eat Drink and Be Skinny (eatdrinkandbeskinny.com) Planks and Push Ups Challenge, I managed to do 20 knee push ups this time. This is the first time I have done more than my benchmark day. I had to readjust my position a few times until I got to where they were a little easier. I still couldn't push any farther though, but I am happy with finally beating my benchmark for once. I do have a little tenderness in my right upper back area now though. This is why I had been afraid to do push ups ever since my car accident. In my upper back on the right side, I fractured 7 ribs and my shoulder. A couple of years later arthritis really set in causing a lot of pain. I do understand that exercise helps with the pain, and I have been exercising my upper back and shoulder/rib areas for years, but I have been afraid of causing more pain in the process, and I was afraid I wouldn't be strong enough to do push ups anymore. I am thrilled that I am trying and doing as well as I am at this point. A little soreness is nothing considering I am strengthening myself so that I will be able to keep mobility in my arms longer in life.
For the Blogilates (blogilates.com) challenges, I did exercises off the Butt Lift Challenge First, then the Flat Abs Challenge, and then the Thigh Slimming Challenge. I didn't do these all at once. I did them at 3 separate times. I find that with my stomach hurting a lot right now with my period and the nausea an dizziness I was having the past couple of weeks... that it's easier for me to do my exercises in sets... like one set do exercises off one challenge sheet and then rest for 30 to 60 minutes and then do exercises off another sheet. This keeps me moving and resting so I get the exercises in but don't end up getting sick as easily. Up until this week, this way of doing exercises was really boosting my metabolism too. This week my metabolism is wrecked from my period and eating junk food over teh weekend. I won't be able to get back on track until the water weight goes away to see where I am again. Anyway, the Blogilates Exercises/Challenges are my favorite ones. I look forward to them the most right now. Day 9 for the Butt Lift Challenge was 10 squats, 10 Pointed Butt Lifts each side, 10 Fire Hydrants each side, and 7 Heel Kicks each side. For the Flat Abs Challenge Day 9 was 10 Roll Ups, 10 Ankle Reaches, 10 Double Leg Lifts, and 7 Reverse Crunches. For Day 9 of the Thigh Slimming challenge, I did the 10 Plie Squats, 10 Leg Swings each side, 10 Side Lunges each side, and 7 Side Leg Lifts each side. I can't wait to see what challenge Cassey comes up with for next month.
I am thinking I may not do challenges next month because I think I want to do the Mandy Ingber Yogalosophy Y28 Program from her book (http://mandyingber.com/), and I want to focus on just that for April I think. However, I still may do some of the Blogilates Challenge Calendars because they don't take very long and I really enjoy and look forward to these exercises. I love the transformation they are making for my body in such a small amount of time each day. I will just have to wait and see.
Lastly, I completed Day 9 from the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans (shrinkingjeans.net) Lose the Love Handles Challenge Calendar. Day 9 was 12 side planks each side (knees for me), 12 Russian Twists, and 15 Bicycle Crunches. Last month I did 1 set of exercises the first week, 2 sets the 2nd week, and 3 sets the third week (I didn't complete the 4th week because I had taken a week off in the middle of the month when I was ill). I really dreaded doing these exercises last month because there were so many of them, and I put them off until the last minute before bed quite often because they were very hard for me. Now, they are still tough, but not almost un-doable like last month. They are easier, and I am only doing 1 set a day because that is how I am doing the rest of my challenges. I started out doing the side planks with my legs fully extended last month and could barely lift my hip off the floor. I then discovered I could do them on my knees instead and that made it easier but they were still nearly impossible for awhile. I am now happy to say it is getting a lot easier and I am even considering going back to my legs extended after day 14. I will have to see how it goes the next few days first though before I decide. I want the exercises to be challenging enough to work for me, but not so challenging that I dread doing them. I like to enjoy my exercise.
After I finished these exercises, I did a few other stretches while I was on the mat, just to stretch my legs and hips and back out some more. I am really missing Yoga because I haven't done it in a LONG time. I really can't wait for this period to be over, so I can start doing some Yoga videos again most days too. Even with just the few extra stretches I did, my stomach started hurting moderately again. I know my period belly doesn't like me moving things up too much, so for now it's just the walking and challenge exercises. I just have felt so bad for so long now, I am practically dying to feel better so I can get some Yoga and other exercise videos in. I can't wait! Hopefully by Saturday or Sunday I will be able to start doing more again.
I hope everyone else has been doing great at exercise and eating right (I got back on track with my eating a lot more Monday and plan to do even better Tuesday). I can't wait to read everyone's exercise stories here pretty soon, so I can find some other things to start getting into when I feel better!