gonna make you sweat!

hmm..i'm not so sure what to blog about today. I really need to get a video-blog up, but my memory is about as good as a goldfish. My sweet ass moms got me a new gym bag. Not that I necessarily needed one-but I wanted one, which is really just as important, she's prettty awesome! I have nothing constructive to do today other than bum around and wait for cardio and biggest loser time, and since those things aren't all occuring until later in the evening, i'm just waisting time vegetating :).

let's chat a little cardio-that's a question I get asked a lot. how much cardio do you do, what kind of cardio, in the morning or in the night, fasted or not fasted..etc.

How much cardio I do varies on my particular goal. For maintence I do about 5 days of 30 minutes of cardio, 2-3 of those being high intensity intervals, one being steady state, and one being a spin class. 30 minutes is easy for me to get through and doing it makes me stay relatively tight-as long as my food intake is clean and on track as well. If i'm trying to lean down I bring the length of time up or add a day, but I try not to exceed an hour, that's craziness. And I don't think you can keep up with an hour of HIIT-well maybe YOU can, but I cannot!

What kind of cardio I do depends on my mood. My staple machines are: stairmaster (or stairmill-whatever the hell it's called), elliptical (with arms), elliptical (without arms), treadmill, spin bikes, and the recumbent bike. For the treadmill I like doing interval runs (2 min run, 2 min incline walk) and I like doing high incline hikes (downhill and uphill). If i'm feeling real energetic I'll take dumbells up there and do lunges (very slow speed on treadmill) or do an incline walk with them-- thank you sarah cincotta. :) For the stairmill I usually alternate between all of the workout selections you can choose from (this is the only machine I don't do manual on-it's hard to motivate yourself to change the levels and speed), I do about a level of 7-15 depending on my energy level and I range from 15-30 minutes at a time. On the elliptical with arms I do intervals with a constant speed of around 9-11 and I just change the resistance level up and down. For the elliptical without arms I kinda just chill ;). That's the cardio I do when I don't really wanna do cardio! For the recumbent bike I like to alternate the resistance level for a few minutes or I do 40 second sprints with 20 second recovery time. The recumbent bike is my new found cardio love :)

Actually I like doing my cardio later in the day, right before my last meal of the day. A lot of people like doing their cardio early in the morning, and on days that I don't have a lot of time-I usually do that too. But I find that when I'm trying to lean out it's easier for me and my body to do it at the end of the day because then I can use all the rest of my energy and then be able to relax the rest of the day. Doing crazy cardio first thing in the morning sometimes wipes me out for the entire rest of the day!

If I do cardio first thing in the morning I like to eat some fruit before I go. I can't do ANYTHING on an empty stomach, so I have a few strawberries on my way and then eat a real breakfast afterwards, that seeems to work best for me. There is a ton of controversy on fasted/non fasted cardio, and although I'm sure there are a lot of benefits -I can barely function on the couch without food, I can't do anything physical without it either!

Speaking of food, it's about 30 minutes until meal time so i'm going to go sit and stare into the kitchen until go time! Happy sweating :)

--------------------------------update!

Okay so it's now 9pm and i'm watching the biggest loser which is pretty much the highlight of my Tuesday's-yes i'm super exciting.

I just wanted to add a quick point that between training hammies yesterday and my running intervals/lunges on the treadmill my lower back is certainly broken. Yep, I'm convinced tomorrow i'll be in a back brace. I'm ibuprofen 800'd up with a heating pad on my back, tomorrow is going to be horrible.

new roles, new goals!

Ahh, oh my goodness I cannot believe it's been so long since we've chatted (or i've talked and no-one listens!) -regardless it's been a while! Lots of stuff has been going on that i'm really excited about!

I recently attended the SNCAE Spring Conference along with Amelia who is the current president on our leadership team for the UNCW-extension chapter. We had a great time, met some amazing people, and learned some great great things. Some of the sessions we sat it on were:

• Constructing and building successful SNCAE chapters- Rodney Ellis


• Becoming politically aware- Sean McKillop


• Cecoming an activist, are we losing the american dream? - Sean McKillop


• SNCAE business meeting, nominations and elections


• Classroom management strategies- Angela Farthing & Tia Shue


• Parent/Community Partnerships -Keyth Harrison


• Becoming the best teacher you can be! -Cindi Rigsbee


• Surviving the First Year-Sean McKillop


• Surviving Student Teaching


• What it takes to be a great educator -Sheri Strickland

The information was overwhelming yet very helpful and beneficial to strengthening your teaching career. I have a stack of papers and notes to go through and organize, next week of course ;). Procrastinaton is a teachers middle name! I've never met so many powerful people in one room and I'm blessed to have the opportunity to work with all of these people in the future!

Also, fabulous news. I ran and was elected the State Secretary of the Student Association of Educators. Running for office was something I thought would be a good idea, but due to my lack of experience, it wasn't something I thought I would get over some of the other great people running. Needless to say when my name was called, I may have teared up a little and had trouble breathing. It's a honor to get to work with so many driven educated people and I plan on making this the best year the organization has ever seen! I am glad to have passed down my position at the university level to very motivated woman, and am excited to step up and take a larger role (that I can't wait to throw on a resume!)

I wanted to share a quick resource that I am so excited to use. This is a blog from a teacher who also has a fitness passion- so she must be smart! She is formulating an idea of having "sight word buddies" using beanie babies (or any stuffed animal). You name the beanie baby "Mr.(sight word)" and put a name tag on the bear. Each week the student picks a buddy to put on their desk and take care of through the week. She also talks about having the students use the sight word buddy in the line up process, yet this has many many many opportunities for disaster (little ones can find almost any way you attack another student!)

http://sneakerteacher.blogspot.com/2010/04/sight-words.html

A final education point..

"MISSING: EDUCATORS SINCE AUGUST 2009. THANKS TO BUDGET CUTS"

May 15 NCAE is holding a rally at high noon! We will be yelling loud and clear to the nc legislation exactly what we think about the budget cuts! There will be tons of local teachers and administrators as well as the NCAE community making sure that the state knows how we feel and if nothing is done they'll have to hear from their educators! I cannot wait, mostly because i like to yell but also because the projection for teacher cuts is 300,000 for next year. THREE HUDNDRED THOUSAND TEACHERS will be cut in the upcoming year, lawmakers need to know that 50 full inclusion students in aclassroom with one teacher is not going to yield educational success, and we aren't going to stand for it. BE THERE! -contact me for more details. I'm planning on lunch, petition, shopping, ya know the usual ;)

Tomorrow is my last day in the classroom-wrapping up my part of the citizenship unit and handing my kiddos back! I'm relieved yet I miss them already. We start serious EOG review next week, so I'll be taking over the math review with them so that'll keep me occupied. I also get to spend some time in my sisters 1st grade classroom, I love my 3-5 kiddos to death but I miss the little ones sometimes! I also get to play with some technology in my girlfriends high school classroom- I swear I'm lucky I can turn a computer on. I'm ready to play with some fancy technology!

I'll be stuck unit plan writing/babysitting all weekend so I'll have plenty of time for posts, I may even be inspired for a video blog, so much fun!

Random Ramblings

I want to give a quick shoutout to my savage south ladies that ROCKED the N.C. NPC state show in High Point this past weekend! I'm so proud of you ladies, 2010 is going to be a great year! I love my coach and my entire team- http://www.cathysavagefitness.com/

Okay, I don't have a blackberry, but I have an iPhone that lives in my hand and I should not be in class right now using such technology! I am coming to the end of my internship and instead of thinking of the ten thousand things I need to finish before it's over i'm rather focusing on the fact that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel and it's so close I almost need my sunglasses! So i'll admit that I'm not fully attentive to these lectures on unit organizing or the fact that i have a citizenship unit sitting on my desk unfinish- oh but there is plenty of time for all that hoop-lah. (I'm sure that isn't a word, but this is my blog and i don't have to be gramatically correct!)

I started Gregg Valentino's book Death. Drugs. And Muscle: Surviving the Steroid Underworld. I'm by no means supporting drug use of any kind, I don't use a single supplement (other than yummy flinstone vitamins-cause i'm a child), BUT this man's story teaches a bigger lesson than strength in body building. I love memoirs, I love book's about real life thing's that people have been through. Gregg talks about the stupid ass things he's done, and calls himself an asshole numerous times, he's aware that he has made mistakes but his though processes about his mistakes are what makes the book truly interesting. I would say this book is very much like the movie Blow only with muscle and steroids. Being involved in fitness whether it be bikini or bodybuilding is just a very dedicated hobby, but the issue with self image is a huge problem. This doesn't just apply to the fitness industry. People are rotting their bodies away with testosterone, women are taking every pill that has "FAT-LOSS" typed across it, people are spending over a hundred thousand dollars on plastic surgery a year-for WHAT? Just to look better? I bust my ass almost every day to get to where I want to be at physically, and even though there are numerous times I wish I could do certain things to get that "boost", I am not doing this merely for the physical aspect, I am strengthening my inner self as well. It is so easy to get dragged down into this dark side of the world in anything, but you need to remember who you are and what you value. It's not about having faith or being partically religious but what are your morals? What do you believe in and what do you need to do to get there? If you make mistakes then learn something from them, and learn something from other peoples mistakes-it'll save you a lot of heartache. If you're looking for a little perspective, forget that fact that Gregg is a freaking idiot and has the massive arms..blah blah blah, and read the book you'll be surprised on what "wisdom" he has to put across.

Then again I have a strange taste in literature :)

My favorite quote from the book, and seriously there is like 100 of them is:

"We all have the opportunity to find that place where awareness trumps our actions. And I've reached that place, I can't go back"

I better get back to focusing, well actually I've never actually started focusing-but I will NOW! I got my training in at 6 this morning, so now I have all day free to be productive (or take a nap and lay around all day baking turkey meatloaf-which reminds me I MUST go to the grocery store today, i'll add that to my untouched to do list!). Spending some time outside and then spinning later tonight!

*Note to self: buy a bike. it's too nice to sweat inside.

Oh yeah and I paid off my stupid best buy credit card and chopped that thing right up. I only paid $2.45 in interest fee's the entire time I had it-TAKE THAT BEST BUY, can't suck me out of money!

The Power of Friends & My Fav Cardio!

I had a strange day that went from amazing to downhill in a few hours. I had an amazing morning workout, great afternoon with my siblings and then somehow found my self in a bowl of spanish rice and tortilla chips? I don't know that I was just hanging out with it but rather sitting in it almost bathing in spanish rice. This is also after I busted my a- double snakes on the elliptical doing crazy intervals after lifting...glad I just added all those calories I sweat off right back onto my hips. So to the point of this story is I was all depressive and unhappy about what happened and got the PERFECT pick me up. I went on a long walk with one of my very best friends and felt completely re-energized. I can tell him anything from fitness to relationships to teaching and he always gives me a clear focused mind. First off, no one is perfect and I am not inspired by people who claim to be perfect. I like to hear how people turn around a bad day and make it a great day. I love to hear about women with 4 kids who lose 50 pounds and turn into fitness models, or the people on biggest loser that change their lives and lose 200lbs. Do not ignore the power of a good friend, a personal motivator to make you remember who you are and why you do what you are passionate about.

Now..my favorite cardio! I have gotten a lot of messages about ab workouts, etc. First off, all abs are at least 80% made in the kitchen, unless your using illegal supplements or have crazy unfair genetics (i hate you!). I am going to make some videos of my favorite core exercises, but until I can get that done, I'm going to post some of my favorite cardio routines. I've done A LOT of cardio intervals over the past few years and have come up with some great ones that personally work for me, you can modify them to work for you better, but these are cardio routines that i've literally done in the past few weeks. I rotate machines and interval types, but I tend to have a handful that I rotate around and switch up as I need to.

This is a sample of my treadmill cardio. Normally I'm doing this first thing in the morning or right after a lift (so I don't do too much of a warm up-yeah yeah I know that's probably not good, but i'm freaking tired). This will run you about 30 minutes, and then I usually do 15 minutes on the stair master at like a level 7-9, I have a love obsession with the stairs, but that's another story for another day! I will be posting more as I write them out, so happy sweating for now!

happy easter

Happy Easter everyone! I hope everyone else had a great relaxing day regardless of what you were doing. I drove to wilmington for the day to spend time with my amazing family and laughed enough for 100 crunches! I slept in for once, until about 8ish, and had some protein pancakes=yum! I'm always too ready to eat them that I forget to take a picture. I knew we were eating easter dinner at lunchtime haha, so I tried to have a hearty breakfast so I wouldn't be diving into the mixed nuts before lunch. I forgot to take pictures of ...everything! But my fabulous grandmother cooked up a storm. We had ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, baked beans, coleslaw, deviled eggs(which are also my fav) and then my absolute favorite the traditional coconut cake (with coconut dyed green per my request!) I had a little bit of everything without going too overboard and had a slice of the greatest coconut cake you've ever tasted. I only get to eat it twice a year so I do not ever turn it down.

Today was my only rest day from the gym, so I tried to take full advantage of that, but it's so hard! Amy and I took a really nice walk around the neighborhood after lunch/dinner and it was so hot I think I sweat off at least 1/2 of the calories from that cake. I thought about doing a little circuit training once I got back home, but I know I need rest, so i'll just do it! It's going to be a long week so I might as well rest while I can.

I have a quick paper to type on Child Abuse (..such a depressing sad subject) and then I'm going to read the last few pages of my book. It's been such an eye opening book on such a real issue. One of my favorite quotes from Kerry was..

"Not being able to live without someone is not love, it's need"

Tomorrow is monday, is your schedule set, to do list made and goals written out?

turkey YUM

Just a quick post on the way into the shower and out the door! A very good friend of mine ms. jessica bossler shared a meatloaf recipe with that i tweaked around and is AMAZING, thank you jess! Okay, I realize it doesn't look so pretty but when have you ever really seen a "pretty" meatloaf? I didn't bake it in that container, I just sliced it when it cooled and transferred it into some tupperware for 4 tasty meals. So the recipe..

1lb ground turkey (I used 97% and it was plenty moist)

1/4c chopped onions

1/4c chopped celery

1c dry oatmeal

1 whole egg

2TB ketchup

Mix all of that together in a bowl with your hands, then dump it into a non stick loaf pan and bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. I sliced it into 4 pieces so that I had 1/4c starch & 4oz protein in each slice! I just ate a slice with a little brocilli and dipped it in mustard, and it was like turkey cake..so moist. I'm already thinking about when I can eat it again, hell i'd eat it again in 3 hours if I didn't want to try and savior it! I'm trying to save some damn calories so I can eat ham and coconut cake on sunday It's a little fam tradition & I don't ever turn down coconut cake..or anything coconut related. I'll have to do meal photography for the whole day just for accountability!

Hope everyone enjoyed the sunshine today! :) xoxox

greek yogurt=happiness.

"Though his body says stop, his spirit crys never"

"Hi, my name is casey and i'm a greek yogurt addict." I don't know what I would do without greek yogurt. I think about greek yogurt & egg whites/oatmeal all day long (well i think about peanut butter, ice cream sundaes, mexican food and buffalo wings all day too but thats another story). The funny thing about it is I bought it numerous times and would literally vomit at the thought of eating it and then after throwing enough money out the window MAGICALLY I developed a taste for it, and am in love. Now, the one pictured is Chobani and it's non-fat vanilla flavored which I usually don't buy but my grocery store convientely was out of Oikos non-fat plain and these were on sale, so I didn't complain.

Some of my favorite mix-in's for greek yogurt are :

(obviously not all together)

• 1/4c ezekiel granola
• 1TB coconut oil
• 1TB organic honey
• 1/4-1/2c strawberries or blueberries
• 1 dollup of cool whip lite & 1TB dark chocolate pieces (if you're looking for a dessert fix!)
• cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, or any of your favorite extracts (1/2tsp coconut/almond/vanilla extract)

...seriously you're possibilities are endless and I've barely even gotten started learning all the ways to enjoy it!

As for the rest of the day..

I woke up really late this morning, I don't know why I couldn't sleep last night. So I didn't get into the gym until around 830am, but it's okay because hottie stone cold was there so I had somethign to look at. Ok, Steve Austin really doesn't work out in my gym, but when I first saw this guy I almost asked for his autograph-hell I still might. I trained savage figure for quads and glutes and had to make stuff up as I went along since have the equiptment had the pads removed (for the new ones coming in). I'll be honest, I could care less how pretty the machines look or how nice the paint on the wall is, as long as everything I need is there and in DECENT condition, I'm happy. I don't care about the bathroom fixtures or a fresh pad on the hack squat, cause my sweaty butt is sitting on it and it hurts regardless. So after making my legs feel like jelly I hopped in the shower quick and headed off to teach one of my last math lessons! :) Students are on spring break next week and I'm in desperate need of the break. Love them but I can't wait to not wear dress pants, not hear my name, not see any hands raised, not talk about rounding & geometric figures, and get a little time to catch up! We're starting a fun unit on citizenship when they get back and I need to get a few things finished for that. I'll only be teaching the first week of the unit and then I send them off for the year! I get so excited for my time to end all semester and then the time comes and I miss them all like crazy. I just had some hummus and celery and now i'm off to hop in a spin class! I cannot wait to get some sleepytime tea & my new favorite book "Loose Girl" by Kerry Cohen (i'll talk more about this book later, it's a great memoir) and climb into bed tonight, I need the sleep.

xoxo casey!