Fit Fig & Friends

Thursday’s Workouts & Musings on Rotation Planning

Hi Everyone!

Today is a busy one – I am volunteering at the book fair at my daughter’s school today – my “shifts” are the one right before school and the one after school. I am a big book person so I love being around the book fair. Of course, my daughter picked out some books and so did I. At the moment I’m really into reading young adult literature. It all started when I became nostalgic for some books I read as a teen/tween. I guess what started me thinking about them is watching my daughter’s reading take off – she is pretty well into chapter books these days which is amazing to me because she is only in first grade. The schools seem to push the reading a lot harder and earlier these days as I am pretty positive I was not reading chapter books in first grade. I suppose there are ups and downs to that. Anyway, my current read is an old favorite – Julie of the Wolves. I appreciate it a lot more as an adult than I did when I first read it as a “tween”. I picked up some more young adult literature for myself at the book fair and I’m looking forward to reading some new authors and finding books to share with my daughter when she is older.

Today I started thinking about rotations. I know many of us plan our workouts and design various “rotations” in which to alternate them. I get a lot of my inspiration to design my own rotations by reading about what others are doing, reading rotations that instructors put together for their various “systems”, and just generally having fun with trying to combine different workouts, instructors and styles. It is a bit like fitting together the pieces of a puzzle. Sometimes I’ll find a set rotation and add my own tweaks (as with Stephanie Huckabee’s rotation – I am following her 2-a-day plan, but adding on some additional workouts that I choose). Sometimes I’ll decide on a theme or instructor that I want to workout with for a set period of time. Sometimes I’ll come up with a “generic” rotation where I’ll have a category for the day, but allow myself to pick and choose the workout that fits my mood for the day within that category. It is a lot of fun for me to do this and keeps me motivated. After I finish up with Stephanie Huckabee’s rotation I plan to do the Montenegro Method workouts – not quite sure how I’ll put it together yet, but I have some ideas in mind and some time to plan it out since I still have a couple of weeks left in this rotation. In future posts I’ll be sure to include some of my past, present and future rotation ideas! (more…)

Introducing Donna

And now we welcome our newest contributor, Donna.

Hi Everyone,

Sara invited me to post and Fig graciously allowed me to join up! I’m excited, fitness has been a passion for me all my life and I love to write up my impressions of the workouts I do.

A little about me – I’m a 40-something mother of one. Happily married with a dog, a cat and a bunny to round out the family. I work outside the home so I treasure my 5:00 a.m. workout time as it is my only “Me” time for the whole day usually! For example, right now, after a full day of work, I’m typing this while helping my daughter with her math project. It was pretty fun – we had to create a math game. She did a good job and actually did most of the work herself – including coming up with the concept and designing the board. Why didn’t we have homework like this when I was a kid?

I digress. I have been working out in some form or another since I was in high school. In those days, and through college I was a cardio hound – I ran and ran and ran some more. Didn’t do much strength training or any other cross training. In the early ’90′s I discovered the world of videos. I had a modest collection (it fit in a couple of shoe boxes!) until around 1998 or so when I discovered the FIRM. I actually borrowed the Tortoise and the Hare from the library on Thanksgiving weekend. After that, I was hooked and my collection (thanks also in part to the internet and sites like Videofitness.com) ballooned. I really have never taken a count of how many workout videos and DVDs I own. I think I would be embarrassed if I knew how many there were! I also have collected an array of equipment – BOSU, steps, various weights, stability balls, band, gadgets. We also have a treadmill and exercise bike – got those for DH, but he doesn’t use them often. (more…)

Figaway Giveaway — Travel Workout DVD

I have yet another DVD to give away! This one is called Total Body Conditioning with Summer Montabone.  For more information on Summer, check out her website here.  This workout is designed to work well for travel, as it doesn’t require a lot of heavy equipment.

Here’s how it’s described on the back cover:

Innovative workout options are presented using a ball, a band, or your body weight. Follow Summer and Tanya as they breakdown total body conditioning into warm up, upper body, lower body, core, and cool down. There are endless possibilities for training at home or in your hotel room. Technique tips are given throughout the video. (more…)