New Beginnings

I am married! My name is Samantha Rogers and I am starting over. I've decided to take all labels off. This time, anything goes, which is how it should be. This is not a journal, this will not include any marathons, just me and whatever I care to share. Caring is sharing and sharing is caring. :)

I'm excited to start my life as a wife! So welcome to my neighborhood! Won't you be my neighbor?

Always remember, "Kindness is love with its workboots on."

I really enjoyed this morning. I took my book to the apartment pool, took a short dip, then laid out while reading Redeeming Love. I'm not very far, but it's a good book so far! Sad, but getting happier. It was a beautiful morning! I am so blessed to be able to happily partake of the sun and have cool, fresh, and clean water available for my pleasure and leisure! How are you blessed today?

♥

Fail Blog

Well, I guess I know where they get the term "Fail Blog".

I didn't keep up with my marathon, I've missed two or three weeks now. I'm fine with that. I'm going to actually practice what I tell others to and start exercising every day. I'd much rather ACTUALLY exercise than just tell  about.

So I've decided to quit my little marathon and use my spare time to exercise.

Not that I won't write in this blog, I just want to be able to write about whatever I want. Several times over the past few weeks I have wanted to write in my blog but thought "Wait, that has nothing to do with exercising!". I didn't like the constraints.

Lesson learned: Exercise is important, and a ton of fun, but there are a billion other joys in life. I'm making it my profession, but not my life.

On that note, 26 days until the wedding!!!!!

Week 7: Don't you mean 8?

Okay cool cats, sorry for the missed week!

It's been crazy crazy and I don't know why in the world I thought I could do some blogging marathon in the midst of wedding planning and the hardest semester of school so far. I'll complete what I can, but this gal's taken too big of a bite!

Be back later!

Week 6: Go Big or Go Home

This is the half-way point. I said twelve weeks and this is week six.

I'm not going to lie, with the wedding also being six-seven weeks away, keeping up with this blog every week has been tough. I set the standard in my mind too high for myself. I want to give detailed workouts, but truth be told, this kind of thing is  too personal for generalities. Also, physical things are best learned in 'person'. Kind of makes sense. ;)

So this week is just a tip. Much like how I want to just quit this blog, you are going to want to quit working out. It's going to seem too hard. You are going to get lazy and want to go back to what's "easy". That's not ever going to cut it! No matter what you do!

Science By Samm fact, the truth of the matter is, the work you do AFTER you want to give up is the most rewarding. Whenever you are doing pushups and you tell yourself "I can't do one more. I'm done. This is it, this is my limit, *crash*", that is when I know you have more in you to do! And that is when you build your muscles and get the most out of doing pushups. This applies to each individual exercise, stretch, or even entire workout. Feel like you are going to faceplant on the treadmill if you run one more second? Run another minute! You can! I know you can! Our bodies and minds are connected. You think you know your limits because maybe you aren't used to pushing yourself. So your mind says "Oh no! Stop! This is as far as you can go, I remember!" Well, that was last time, and you've grown since then! Push those thoughts away and push yourself foward and get the most out of Your workout!

Enjoy!

Week 5: Yoga!

I adore yoga!! It's peaceful, it's relaxing, but at the same time, it'll make you pant, grunt, and sweat!

For those of you who may have tried P90X, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

Now the computer I'm on today is being temperamental, and I don't want to do a whole post and then lose it because of technical problems.

Which is why I chose yoga this week! It's so personal, only you know You! And yoga is all about union, whether it be with you and You, with you and Him, or you and nature. Whatever you care to unionize with.

There's no greater tool for this, in my opinion, than making your own Yoga Journal. I love this thing! You design your own workouts according to You! You can design multiple workouts and title them! "Monday", "Wednesday", and "Friday; "Morning" and "Night", or maybe even by mood of "I'm Feeling Strong Today" and "Gimme a Break".  This is how I use it, anyway. You just build "sequences", and you can name them for what the positions look like or even what part of the body you work.

Yes, it's about union, but it's also about staying flexible and toned (the general "use" of yoga in America). You know where your weaknesses and your strengths are. Do you have weak knees? Do you have strong arms? Work on your weaknesses, but keep up your strong points. "Balance" is very punny in yoga, meaning you use it in more than one way.

Go make your own personalized Yoga Journal ! It has a ton of poses and ideas to make the best of your yoga experience! It has pictures and detailed descriptions on how to do it. Go make the best You!

Enjoy!

Week 4: In-A-Pinch!

So, I have  this amazing app on my iTouch called In-A-Pinch. This app tells you what exercises you need to do for a certain area of the body if you are stiff or sore!

USE THESE IN YOUR WARMUPS AND COOL DOWNS!!! :)

For those that don't use smartphones, iPods, or any other app-friendly device, and do not know what an app is ... I'm not going to explain myself.

For those that don't use smartphones, iPods, or any other app-friendly device, but you know what an app is, this is for you!

And finally, for those with smartphones, you stopped reading this two sentences ago and have already bought the Free version of In-A-Pinch.

Which brings me to my next point. In-A-Pinch has a free version! This is why I feel comfortable sharing it's secrets to the blogging world. I wouldn't be sharing any of this information if it wasn't the free version.

But I understand that smartphones are expensive, apps can be difficult, and if you don't know what you are doing, very confusing! So I will be sharing some information from one of my favorite apps ever. Remember, it's free! And this post will not include everything, so if you do have a smartphone, go snatch this app!

It starts out telling you to tell them "where it hurts". This will be my non-interactive, 2D version.

Each section has several different things you can do in order to make it feel better. I will only give one exercise per area to conserve room and, do remember, this is the free free version. Also, these are nearly all stretches. Hold each for 15 seconds, or sets of 15 seconds, for best results.

FRONT
Head-(light blue): Stressed: Breathe!!! Take slow, deep rhythmic breaths.
Neck-(red): Head tilts and turns. Straight back, and just tilt the head slowly front, back, left, right.
Chest-(light green):Seated Wings. Sit crossed legged and have someone grab your wrists behind you and gently pull.
Abs-(blue): Fish Pose. Lay flat on your back with hands palm down by hips. Press elbows into the ground as you left your ribs to the sky. Tuck your head under and rest.
Shoulders-(yellow): Yoga Mudra behind back. Stand with tall spine, clasp hands behind your back, lift up trying to squeeze the shoulder blades together, keep spine straight.
Upper arms- (dark blue)-  Tricept Stretch: Reach your arm all the way up then bend the right elbow and reach down your spine. Use left arm to grab the outside of right elbow. Keep your neck relaxed.
Forearms-(orange)- Flexion: Extend your arm out, palm forward, bend wrist and use other hand to increase the stretch.
Wrists-(red): Wrist Roll: Clech your fist, the tighter, the deeper the stretch, and roll it in a circle one way, then the other.
Hands- (fuschia): Gorilla Hands: Start on hands and knees. With hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips, curl the tips of your fingers under. *Deep stretch!*
Hips -(pink): Come to hands and knees and spread knees as wide as you can. Lower forearms under  your shoulders. Take your heels as wide as your knees and start to press your hips back. Keep relaxed! Using padding under knees and elbows as necessary.
Thighs-(brown): Standing squad stretch: While standing, grab your foot behind you and hold it to your rear. If you need something to help you balance, no need to feel ashamed! Grab a hold of the sucker! It can be a wall, workout buddy, table, chair, child in time-out forced to be your prop, whatever you need. ;)
Knees-(purple): Lower Leg Lateral-rotation: Sit on a chair and lift one foot off the ground. Rotate the leg so the foot points out, then rotate it so it points in. Don't forget to switch to the other side!
Ankles-(green): Flutter Foot: Sitting in chair, extend one leg. Point the foot and toe, then draw it back.Repeat several times. Sidenote: When the toe is pointed, it's called Plantarflexion, and when the toes are pulled back, it's called Dorsiflextion. A little Anatomy and Physiology for ya!
Feet-(yellow): Arch massage. Sit and use your thumbs to press into the arch of your foot. Feel for tight or sore spots. Squeeze heels or bottom of foot, whatever feels good!

BACK
Head-(light blue): Same as FRONT.
Upper back-(purple): Protract/Retract: Sit nice and tall, hands on knees, taking deep breaths. Exhale, tuck chin under and round spine. Inhald, lift chin and chest,pull with hands. Repeat!!
Shoulders-(blue): Same as FRONT.
Upper arms-(light green): Same as FRONT
Elbows-(orange): Supination and Pronation:This is basically just rotating your arm/forearm one way, then the other, as much as you can. (Twisting).
Forearms-(red): Same as FRONT
Wrists-(fuschia) and Hands-(yellow): Same as Front
Mid-back-(pink): CatDog: This is also now as Cat and Cow in yoga. Kneel on all fours, knees under hips, hands under shoulders. Press tailbone to the sky, bellybutton into the ground and hold. Then press your hips forward, your spine stretching to the sky. (one of my absolutely favorite stretches).
Lower back-(green): Pigeon: Another favorite yoga move. Start with hands on knees on floor. Move your knee forward and your ankle under your hip. Lean into this stretch. This is kind of hard to describe so please click here to see what it looks like. Then lean over your front knee for a deeper stretch.
Hips-(light blue): Same as Front.
Hamstrings-(light green): I don't agree with In-A-Pinch here, not comletely, so bear with me. I just like throwing my leg up onto a table or chair, and leaning forward to (try to) grab the toe. The V-sit stretch does this too. (So many good hamstring stretches in the world!)
Calves-(purple): Dog Down Runners Stretch: Another yoga pose, also known as Downward Dog. Place your hands and knees on the floor. Tuck your toes under and straighten your legs. Try to place your heels on the ground. You should look like an upside down V. Then spread your legs shoulder width apart, straighten one so the heel is on the ground and bend the other knee. Keep as relaxed as you can.
Ankles-(brown): Same as FRONT.

And that's all I have for you today!

Enjoy!

Week 3: Spring Break

So this week was super busy!!

Short and sweet:

It's important not to over-work yourself!! There IS such a thing as exercising too much!! Train smart and don't forget to take well earned breaks!!!

Enjoy!!!