I hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend.

I had a sincere paradigm shift this weekend. Before this weekend, I’ve never really connected to the meaning of Memorial Day. Fortunately, I’ve never lost a loved one due to the horrors of war. I’m ashamed to admit but before this weekend Memorial day was more about a “summer kick off”. It was a three day weekend. It was a “goal date” to be bikini ready.

Not anymore.

Our weekend started on Friday with a visit to Manasses National Battlefield. Saturday, we went to Harpers Ferry. Sunday, we went to Antietem National Battlefield. Yesterday, we went to Gettysburg National Battlefield.

After all that bikinis and BBQs seem inconsequential.

Freedom is not free.

With a sincere heart I want to say, thank you to all who have served.

It was hot and humid this weekend. In some ways, I think it made visiting the battlefields all that much more powerful. Walking 4.5 miles in cotton t-shirt and shorts during 90 degree weather is one thing. Walking 4.5 miles (Or more…much more.) in a Civil War soldier’s uniform of long underwear, shirt, wool hat, wool pants, and wool coat while carrying 45lbs of gear is another.

I have no excuses.

Week Four Results of Movement Matters 10,000 Steps a Day Challenge

5/22 – 14,009
5/23 – 11, 438
5/24 – 9,111
5/25 – 11, 095
5/26 – 11,395
5/27 – 8,022
5/28 – 11,933

Weekly average is 11,000 steps a day.

I’ve noticed that each week my steps have gone up a little bit. The funny thing is this has not been intentional. I think it’s the result of creating a habit. My highest day of 14,009 steps on 5/22 was spent in the campground but walking is mentally becoming such an important part of my day that I find myself wanting to get up and move more. For a slug like myself, this is quite the phenomenon.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Walking 10,000 steps a day is challenge.

Even with my new walking shoes.

I’m all over being barefoot. However, that’s not usually practical especially in the city. So I went on an search to find shoes that were as close to being barefoot as possible that didn’t look like frog feet and could be worn with dresses. Hello moccasins. Best. Walking. Shoes. Ever.

Anyway…

Week Three Results of my Movement Matters 10,000 Steps a Day Challenge 

• 5/15 – 9037
• 5/16 – 15,410
• 5/17 – 6707
• 5/18 – 13,151
• 5/19 – 10,656
• 5/20 – 15,995
• 5/21 – 7747
• Weekly average – 11,243 (A little higher than last week.)

Love walking around DC with this guy.

Unless, I’m sightseeing getting in 10,000 steps a day takes effort. On sightseeing days I walk 10,000+ steps without thinking about it.

But during an ordinary day I have to be intentional to get in 10,000 steps. This usually means a walk in the morning and evening if I have errands to run that day. If I don’t have errands it means adding in a walk in the afternoon.

It’s a little embarrassing how much I sit on a normal day. I sit to write. I sit to eat. I sit when we homeschool. I sit to drive. I sit on the couch with Brent in the evening. Often sometimes, I sit and do nothing. (And you thought my life was exciting.)

Before we moved into the RV, I moved more by doing stuff around the house like cleaning. However, the RV takes about 15 minutes to clean and it is 18 steps from the front to the back. Four steps from the couch to the kitchen. (Dangerous.) I could clean all day and walk 1000 steps. Maybe.

Anyway, we left Washington DC yesterday and we are slowing down for a few weeks before we head to Philadelphia and NYC. I only have a battlefield and one museum trip planned this week so I’ll have to be intentional each day if I’m going to walk 10,000 steps.

Also planning some workouts for the week after almost 2 weeks off.

• Monday – Walk
• Tuesday – Walk + Kettlebells
• Wednesday – Walk
• Thursday – Walk + Kettlebells
• Friday – Walk
• Saturday – Walk + Kettlebells
• Sunday – Walk

I hoping to get to workout with this lady, Lisa from Workout Mommy. She loves kettlebells too! We had dinner with Lisa and her adorable family last night. So much fun!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Movement Matters: Week Three Results appeared first on Girl Heroes.

This week has been a blur. We have been in Washington D.C and I’ve been trying to pack in as much as possible every day. The boys and I have been getting up every morning (except one) to go into the city around 9 am and returning home around 9 pm. While visiting D.C. has made it fairly easy to get in my steps, it hasn’t left me much time for blogging or editing videos.

Or workouts.

I didn’t get in the three workouts I had planned last week. I’m a little disappointed in myself but all I can do is admit I didn’t make working out a priority last week. My priority has been seeing and learning as much as possible with the boys. I had planned to get up early and workout before we went into D.C. but it didn’t happen. When we got home after 12 hours in the city I was just too exhausted.

This week I’m going to shoot for one full body strength training workout.

One.

Impressive, right? Rather, than feeling disappointed when I don’t do what I say I’m going to do, I’m just deciding right now that one workout this week is enough. We are still in DC for a few more days and the workouts can wait. I workout consistently so two weeks of straying from my normal schedule isn’t going to hurt anything.

While I didn’t get in my strength training workouts this week I did ride my bike and walk.

Week Two 10,000 Steps a Day Results

• 5/8 – 14,518
• 5/9 – 14,035
• 5/10 – 3376
• 5/11 – 10,034
• 5/12 – 15,575
• 5/13 – 7904
• 5/14 – 10,444

On May 10, I only walked 3376 steps that day due to lack of discipline and planning on my part. I got up late and skipped my morning walk because the boys and I were meeting friends, another fulltime RVing family, we had met in Austin, TX. Traveling in an RV is such a trippy life. I love it!

On May 13, we were in the National Museum of Air and Space where it should have been easy to get 10,000 steps. However, I got an unexpected bad stomach ache and ended up sitting down for a large part of the afternoon. I was much more bummed to miss parts of the museum than I was not to get in my steps.

So I didn’t technically reach my goal of 10,000 steps every day but when I averaged out my steps I got 10,840 a day. It’s consistency that counts right!

I hope you are having a great week and do some kettlebell swings for me would you!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Movement Matters : Week Two Results and Why I’m Not Writing a Workout Plan This Week appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I have trouble with “following through”. I can’t even count the number of things I’ve started to only give up on halfway through and it wears on my confidence. I’m determined to follow through my “Movement Matters” challenge this month and get in 10,000 steps a day.

Here are my the first week’s results.

• 5/1 – 10,706
• 5/2 – 10,504
• 5/3 – 9522
• 5/4 – 10,247
• 5/5 – 10,334
• 5/6 – 11,169
• 5/7 – 11,086

That’s an average of 10,509 steps a day. (Wow. I can use a calculator.)

It feels great to follow through even on challenge as small as walking 10,000 steps a day. It took me about 2 or three walks a day if we weren’t sightseeing. The best part by far was extra time I spent with my family. Every day I went on a walk with someone in my family. Sometimes it was just Brent and I out for an evening stroll. How I love holding his hand and walking under the full moon. Did you see that moon?!?!!? Other times it was just the boys and I.  I even made sure to use the walks to get some special one on one time with each boy.  Two nights was particularly sweet when Thing 2 wanted to walk with me. The sun had just set and a slight silver still hung in the air.  A group of tables sat near the end of the road and Thing 2 pulled me over to the tables by my hand. We sat down and he put his head in my lap. We chatted there in the darkness for about 20 minutes about life.

Yes, the benefits of walking are much much more than physical.

I got in two strength training workouts in addition to my walks.

This week’s plan is to continue walking 10,000 steps a day and three 20 minute full body kettlebell and/or suspension trainer workouts. I finally dug out my TRX because I was feeling like I wasn’t getting enough “pulling” work and I want to avoid imbalances.

Here is the plan.

• Monday – Walk (Done)
• Tuesday – Walk + Kettlebell or Suspension Trainer Workout (Done)
• Wednesday – Walk
• Thursday – Walk +Kettlebell or Suspension Trainer Workout
• Friday – Walk
• Saturday – Walk + Kettlebell or Suspension Trainer Workout

Well that’s it for today. I’m *hoping* to find time to edit another kettlebell workout this week to post to YouTube. We have been crazy busy. In the last three days I’ve been to George Washington’s Birthplace and two Civil War Battlefields. This week I’m in D.C. but I’m hoping I can get to it one evening.

Have a great day!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Movement Matters – First Week’s Results and Weekly Workout Plan appeared first on Girl Heroes.

May is the last full month of spring before summer “officially” kicks off with Memorial Day.

Longer days make summer the perfect time for evening strolls.

If you are like me (and most Americans) you could use a little more movement. This month in anticipation of my summer strolls (and if I’m honest, swimsuit season), I’m focusing on the most basic form of movement— walking. I’m taking on a personal 10,000 steps, the number most experts recommend, a day challenge.

Movement Matters May – A 10,000 steps a day challenge

A few years ago, I discovered just how love walking and its importance to my overall calorie burn. According to my Bodybugg, I burned way more calories on days I walked a lot than on the days I worked out but was otherwise sedentary. What I got what movement of all kinds, even the humble walk, matters. Walking has many benefits other than burning calories.

Health Benefits of Walking

• Our bodies are designed to walk
• Low impact – walking puts very little stress on the body
• Improves or maintains cardiovascular health
• Helps or maintains weight loss which results in a long list of health benefits.
• Reduces likelihood of some diseases such as diabetes
• Increases longevity
• Great stress reliever
• Improves mood
• Encourages mental clarity
• Can be meditative

And while this isn’t necessarily a “health” benefit, walking doesn’t require any fancy equipment. This month for my 10,000 steps challenge I’m going to be using a simple pedometer. I use the Omron HJ-203 Pedometer with Activity Tracker. It’s fairly inexpensive and seems to be accurate.

While walking boasts many benefits and is easy, I still often find myself putting it on the back burner in place of “more important” tasks at hand. You know things like Facebook.

Not this month.

10,000 steps a day.

Why walk? Why not do the 10,000 kettlebell swing challenge again?

While I enjoy more extreme challenges, I’m also trying to slow down, simplify, get honest with myself, and get back to the basics. Nothing is more basic than walking. Plus there are all those benefits I mentioned.

But…. but… but….

What if 10,000 steps is too much? Don’t fret! One study showed that “individuals achieving > or = 5000 steps had a substantially lower prevalence of adverse cardiometabolic health indicators than those obtaining fewer steps.” So if 10,000 steps seems like too many…start where you are. Try working up to 5000 first and then go from there. Eventually you will reach 10,00 steps.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Movement Matters May – 10,000 Steps a Day Movement Challenge and the Health Benefits of Walking appeared first on Girl Heroes.

On top of my kettlebell workouts we also hiked a lot.  I averaged 15,000 steps a day.  It felt amazing.  The more I walk the more I am CONVINCED it is actually exercise.  I never thought I would say that but my body has never felt better.  Truly.  Combine walking with a quality kettlebell program and you have a killer combination of strength and cardiovascular with practically 0 stress/impact on your joints.

One of my favorite hikes was up a river filled with boulders.  We went there twice.  Once with the kiddos and once alone.

I don’t normally hike in a bikini.  That would be weird (for me) but since we were in a mountain stream and no one was around I felt comfortable.

For some reason this picture cracks me up with the flower in the foreground.

Brent loves to get in mountain streams.  He calls it “refreshing”.  I call it CRAZY.

But after some coaxing….

….he convinced me that I should get in.

I don’t think cold was the right word.  How about PAINFUL.  I will admit after I got out I did feel refreshed.  Maybe hydrotherapy will grow on me.

Can’t go under it.  Can’t go around it.  Gotta go across it.  This tree was enormous.  Bigger than it looks in the picture.

Nowadays this is about as thrill seeker as I get.  Hope I don’t fall off.  That would be bad.

Whew we made it.

Not only did I get some quality time with Brent.  Thing 2 and I got some cuddle time.  He likes to call me “Cuddle Butt”.  I love it.

When Weewa, aka my mom, is around I don’t get much cuddles from Thing 1.

Brent works from home so one day hiked up to the top of a hill to set up “an office”.

That about sums up our trip unless you want to see the pictures of Snow White Gone Bad.

Don’t worry I put him right back and it’s a myth that mother ducks abandone their ducklings after being touched by a human.  You should have seen Mama Duck.  I’m just lucky I kept my fingers.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Hiking Does a Body (and a soul) Good appeared first on Girl Heroes.